Commuter jobs benefit from repitition - same locomotive, same number of cars, same schedule every day. Student Engineers (aka Pups on the C&NW) would watch in awe as the 'old head' brought the train to a quick, smooth stop station after station. How'd he do that? What was the secret? The Set 'Em Up! Since the number of cars and train speed would be the same every day, a regular Engineer would develop a series of Set 'Em Ups - marks along the right-of-way that could be spotted easily: a milepost, the end of a fence line, the back door of a house - anything could work, and he probably had an alternate set of marks on the other side of the tracks in case a passing freight blocked his view. At the Set 'Em Up the Engineer would set the big brake - the automatic air brake on the train - to full service and shut the throttle to Idle. A good Set 'Em Up would actually stop the train a little short of the station platform, so the Engineer could release a little brake and adjust the final stop to use the whole platform. The air brake on passenger trains is set for Graduated Release, so it can be set, partially released, and then reset - as long as there is air in the car reservoirs. Some Engineers have been caught by making too many adjustments so that there is finally no response from the brake, known as 'pissin' away the air'. Along with the Set 'Em Ups, Engineers worked with Spots - the precise location for a station stop that, for example, would allow crossing gates behind the train to clear up or that would keep car doors away from a depressed crosswalk.

Controlling slack and running a smooth train called on the Engineer's skill with both the brake and the throttle. Slowing down for a speed restriction - for example westbound at Western Avenue crossing the Milwaukee Road - the Engineer would set the big brake on the train, but bail off the engine brake, then reduce the throttle to Run 1. He'd release the brake and hit the diamonds right at 30 mph, then get right after the throttle to pull the train out of the restriction smooth and fast, with no slack action. Eastbound, again the Engineer would reduce the throttle to Run 1, but never to Idle. The old F7's and E's would hang on to transition in Run 1. If the Engineer went to Idle and then opened the throttle again, the locomotive power contactors would drop out, then pick up in series, but drop out again because of speed and then pick up in parallel. While all this was going on, the train was just drifting. When the locomotive finally decided to go to work, it gave the train a pretty good boot.