I got called for the "Q LACATG," Which goes from Los Angeles to Atlanta, Georgia. We had a student engineer. It was a big train at over 10,000 tons, with 3 motors on the head end and 3 in the middle. They didn't run us very well. We were dog caught at Perrin. I got to the hotel around 1 am and slept for a couple of hours, got up for the free breakfast at 6, went back to bed, and got my call at noon, Pacific time. I was called for the "Z ALTSTO," going from Allliance, Texas to Stockton. When I got down to the depot I found out that our train had a set out. I was hoping that the inbound would do it, but the trainmaster said that we had to do it There was a "herder" on duty. I waslucky I aslo had a van driver than knew exactly what we were going to do so he was by helpful. This was going to be more complicated than it needed to be. My engineer would have to pull all the way through the yard to the west end, and shove into the yard. We had one car on the rear that was going to stay with us. I was told to put that in track "26." Somebody told me it was "the first track on the left." My van driver knew where it was. I lined the swtich and shoved us into track 26. The herder came out and helped us. He tied the brake and did the "squeal test." He made the cut. I had my engineer pull over the switch and shoved him into track 19, where the cars were going. (Track 19 is next to track 26, which makes it even more confusing). Once we were past the clearance marker I stopped the shove and tied 2 brakes. The herder tied 2 more. The train rolled. The herder tied 4 more. The train still rolled when the brakes were released. My engineer said the a release test was not practical since the weight of the rest of the train was making it roll. So we called it good. I made the cut, and had my engineer pull over the switch, threw the switch, and sent him back to that one car in 26. The herder took over the shove, laced the hoses, and released the brake. The van ran me up to the head end. I think we had been on duty for 2 hours when we departed. I saw an elk near the tracks just outside of Flagstaff (a big buck) and then a doe. There was a Q train ahdead of us that was only going about 55. We didn't know why. They should have been going 70. Also, here was a train doing some work near WIlliams Junction and a another trian was broken down at WIlliams Junction. All of this slowed things down. We had to stop a couple of times. We got dog caught at West Berry. Ater I tied up and was walking out to my car in the parking lot I saw my train coming in. If they had left us on the train we would have made it in. I'm projected to go to work on Monday around noon. I have attached a picture of a sign on the back door of the depot that says, 'Work Safely Today, Remember, Somebody Expects You Home Tonight." A reminder that what we do is dangerous.