In TSW, I can't help but notice how empty freight yards are in the game, despite the passenger stations bustling with passengers. I can't say whether that's realistic or not, so that's why I'm asking, is it? In Germany for example, most couplers are hook type manual, and even in places with automatic buckeyes, you still need someone to tie the brake hoses. And not only this, but also someone to direct the driver over radio, since he won't be able to see where the end of the train is going during shunting. Is the driver really expected to do all of the coupling and uncoupling by himself, and also drive blind(no boom camera or free camera in real life, only the cab view) into cars? Also especially in the US it doesn't sound practical when the trains are so long that walking back and forth between the locomotive and the coupling point(or brake hose point in that case) would not only take a lot of time but also be too physically demanding. But it could really be like that, because real life photos of railyards also look pretty devoid of people so I don't know.
Not in the US, as there is at least a minimum of 2 crew per train (Even though the railroads keep trying to push 1 man crews, Lac-Megantic is a good reason why that should never happen). There is always the Engineer at the controls and at least the conductor, who in switching operations would handle coupling, uncoupling, connecting air hoses, and being eyes on the ground to spot for the engineer. Obviously this isn't possible in game due to there being only the player on trains. There is RCL technology, but thats a whole another story.
How do brake hoses connect to each other automatically? And doesn't pretty much every rail car in the US have manual wheel operated handbrakes as well? And someone also has to put the EOD on the rearmost car. Yes there's the conductor but I don't know how he can cope with walking 10 miles a day. I mean yes people run 42km marathons but railroad isn't exactly an athletic job. I guess on some big railyards like Barstow they use stuff like Golf carts? So the driver is alone in the yard in Germany or not? Even if it's possible and not difficult to do all of it alone, in any situation where there is a risk of fatal injury(dealing with potentially moving rolling stock while being on foot definitely qualifies for that) it's much better to have at least another person on the site from an occupational safety standpoint. But I know that in Germany and US alike, as in most developed countries, there are huge labor shortages so I can see why the railroads don't want to have anybody down in the yard whose sole job would be car coupling.
From what I have seen in European cab ride videos, the driver of the train is alone, but when shunting is required a second, ground man is there to do the work of directing, coupling/uncoupling and watching for the standing brake test. Also, as a poster mentioned above, here in the US, many yards use the remote control with the only person working that job on the ground most of the time doing all the work.
