You would have to be brakeman/conductor to explain this one:
(paraphrased)...when aligning a siding switch for a meet, align the switch, lock it (when provided), then go back to the fouling point or the opposite side of the track from the switch stand... We are all familiar with the rule, but what is the underlying reason? Who has a story? Then, I will share a few thoughts.
Way back in the BC (Before Children) I volunteered at the Illinois Railway Museum. What happened one day is someone threw the switch, panicked when they realized they did it wrong, and tried to switch it back. Whatever it was (Nebraska Zephyr?) half went one way and half went the other way, making for a rather nasty derailment instead of just a straight on collision (or maybe nothing at all). So have the switchman go to the other side of the stand so he/she can't change their mind.
(I just did whatever menial tasks that needed to get done like needle chipping and once I was trimming copper rings, I assume they were for tubes in one of the steam engines.).
