People?

[Rule 281]

As a relative newcomer to message boards, maybe I'm missing something...but it seems to me that amid all the vast information posted every day, there are almost no people. You can find out nearly anything about any locomotive, car or track in the world if you look hard enough, but what makes the job interesting is the people. Not to belittle any of the amazing stuff that's out there, the pics and info are great, but where is the crew that let you up in the cab when you were a kid, or your grouchy old head conductor who terrorized your first trip, then showed you everything you needed to know, or the engineer that taught you how to power brake - with or without screaming and cussing. And who was with you when you lugged your first knuckle, or stalled on a mountain, or made that one-in-a-million perfect trip. My wife tells me I work with a very 'colorful' bunch(to put it mildly)and they all have stories to tell. How about spinning your best tale, even if you have to change the names to protect the guilty. http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif

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Rock & Roll all night!

[Alan]

I totally agree!! I love railroaders tales http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif What is normal workaday happenings to a railroader, is mighty interseting to us 'outsiders' http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif

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Alan

The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale!

www.ac-models.com (http://www.ac-models.com)
Andersley Western Railroad (http://www.trainweb.org/andersleywestern/)
Alan's American Gallery (http://galleryusarail_tehcaj.homestead.com)

[NSBrakeman]

I used to post a few messages on here about my old railroad tales. I'll gladly share my stories and enjoy doing so, but because I was one of the few that was open about it, I stopped. If you are newly interested in this, email me at the address below. Talk to you later. Take care

Dave
NSBrakeman@aol.com

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NS "We need more SD40s!!!" Brakeman

[E-8]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by NSBrakeman:
I used to post a few messages on here about my old railroad tales.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

And as a reader of such lore, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed that.

Has anyone read the book Frisco Folks? It is just a little paperback book that was reprinted a couple of years ago. It is full of interesting stories and is one of those books that sucks you right in and tells tales of days gone by.

I would love to see more of that. Maybe we need to resurrect that other thread. http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif

Charlie



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Ship It On The FRISCO! (http://www.frisco.org) | IAMOKA.com (http://www.iamoka.com)

[Rule 281]

Ok-somebody break the ice and have at it. Don't make me tell Lehigh stories...

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Rock & Roll all night!

[watash]

I tried to get "Stories from the Rails" going on another site, but was 'admonished by the webMASTER, that no one was interested in things that happened back in the steam engine days. Today is the Diesel Big Mac 70 days. Besides the stories I could tell, you wouldn't believe anyway. I would like to read yours though.

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Watash

[E-8]

Rule 281 - do tell.

watash - no such admonishment will be forthcoming here. Please indulge us.

Charlie

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http://www.trainboard.com/smiles/066.gif Ship It On The FRISCO! (http://www.frisco.org) | IAMOKA.com (http://www.iamoka.com)

[watash]

Did I ever tell about the 2 mph limit? Old (*) the engineer asked if I wanted to crack a pecan (nut) for him? I said; "Sure"! He said for me to follow him and he would show me how to do it right, and if I didn't move, he would let me crack the next one. He had me hold the pecan against the coupler knuckle of a car some ten feet behind the engine, telling me to stand to one side of the coupler, then he went back to the engine. The fireman was watching all this, and asked me what I was doing. I told him. He said, "No, you are learning how to couple onto a car correctly." Mean while the engine had pulled ahead about 100 feet and stopped. Then the engine started back toward us getting faster and faster! The engineer suddenly stopped setting down on the whistle! The engine was about 20 feet from the car, I was across the yard, the fireman was rolling with laughter! Old engineer calmly walked over and told me to remember, anything up to 2 miles per hour is a couple, but 4 miles per hour was a wreck. "Wheres my pecan?", he wanted to know. He said I had learned three lessons for sure. One was not to stand between cars when a couple is being made, not to crack pecans between couplers, and that when coupling, the slower the better. I never forgot, and I never found his pecan either. Both of them would laugh their heads off every time he would ask me, "where's my pecan"!!. http://www.trainboard.com/rolleyes.gif That was on the Darlington, Kensit & Searcy RR 1944 WW II

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Watash

[This message has been edited by watash (edited 24 September 2000).]

[watash]

Well, I 'broke the ice' with a nice story, no blood, hair, and eyeballs, just a joke on me when young. Now tell me a Lehigh story, its your turn. When you started to worked in the roundhouse did anyone ever send you to get them a left handed Stillson wrench, or a half inch lag screw nut? Well, ole Watash wasn't borm yesterday, and I still got all my fingers, and five teeth. I'll tell about the run away next time. Out-

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Watash

[Alan]

Thanks for the story, Watash. I will think about it when I am eating nuts!!

I think there are the 'go fetch a left-handed . . . ' etc. in any trade. We had the same thing in the print trade years ago http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif

We also asked a lad to go for a 'long wait' http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif He did, and stood there until asked if he had waited long enough yet http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif

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Alan

The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale!

www.ac-models.com (http://www.ac-models.com)
Andersley Western Railroad (http://www.trainweb.org/andersleywestern/)
Alan's American Gallery (http://galleryusarail_tehcaj.homestead.com)

[Colonel]

Athough not rail related i thought I'd share this story with you. My young nephew was recently doing work experience when one of the trademen sent him to his boss to get a 9 inch population tool lol. I can tell you of times I have told the apprentice that the white lever of a large interlocking frame was the sand lever(the white lever means a spare lever)

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Paul Cassar-# Member number 50
ICQ 61198217
http://users.bigpond.net.au/railroad2000

[watash]

I heard about "go get a population punch, and sharpen it". I was told to go hold "that" empty flat car so it wouldn't blow over when the express came through. (I kept it on the ground until the express had passed, too!) How was I to know, don't confuse me I'm a new 'man' http://www.trainboard.com/redface.gif Did you know that if you use a table knife and place a penny tightly between the front side of each driver and the rail, that a steam engine can not move foreward? It can not generate enough power to raise its own weight. True, I tried it. Got severiely repremanded too! http://www.trainboard.com/mad.gif I'm not sure if this is true of diesels, and I'm not about to try it! http://www.trainboard.com/eek.gif

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Watash

[locoengrneal]

An engineer and fireman were riding to work together one morning. They were struck broadside by another car that ran a red light. The impact drove their car across the street and into a light pole. The fireman ended up on the engineers lap with their noses only an inch apart. Then fireman said, "Here I was with broken bones, bleeding and hurting like hell, when the engineer said the funniest thing I've ever heard in my life". He said, "THAT WILL DO"!

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Engineer, Elgin Joliet and Eastern Railway

[Rule 281]

I didn't forget you guys. I got bumped to the extra list and suddenly don't have a life. I promise if I get a couple of minutes in a row when I'm not sleeping or getting called, I'll spin a couple.
Later

[watash]

You don't worry about us, Rule281, you get some sleep, run safe and alert! That borders on a storey I remember. When you get time, tell me if running extra today, is still running in addition to- or has the 'guvment' allowed us some sleep between regardless?

JUST YOU RUN SAFE, HEAR!!!

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Watash

[watash]

OK NSBrakeman, its your turn, while we wait on Rule281, tell us a tale. I just got to hear about something from the cab, the rails, even the weeds along the ballast! GIVE!! I'll put the can on and make some hobo coffee, there's slumgullian already hot! GO for it! http://www.trainboard.com/rolleyes.gif

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Watash

[AFN]

Shortly after I hired out on the CSS I was on a collectors run with an engineer and conductor who did not speak to each other and the conductor would make nasty comments behind the engineers back. He told me the story of how he and this engineer(who was working as a brakeman at the time were switching cars out of a track. The conductor gave him a handsign telling him he wanted to "kick" one car. This sign is made by making two fists and tapping one on top of the other. One tap, one car, two taps, two cars,etc.... The brakeman repeated the sign to show he understood. the conductor then signaled the engineer to give em' a kick. when sufficient speed was attained the conductor signalled for a stop which should have produced a free rolling car. But the car was still on the end of the cut. Sometimes a pin will fall after it has been pulled so the conductor assuming this repeated the "kick one" sign which the brakie acknowledged and the procedure was repeated. Again, after movement had stopped the car was still coupled to the end of the switch cut. The conductor then asked the brakeman if he understood that he wanted one car to be kicked to which the brakeman replied, "Yes, but you didn't say which car you wanted kicked."

[watash]

Hey, AFN, I can emagine what the engineer felt like after having been drug along by those cars too. Ha! I would love to have a movie of that.

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Watash

[Greg Elems]

When I hired out as a brakeman, I used to love to get called out on a local that went past my parents house. My dad took a picture of me and the engineer looking out the firemans window. The engineer has passed away, the engine we were on has been scrapped, the WP is history and now I'm an engineer. One trip I was called as the rear brakeman on this local, which meant I rode the caboose. We stopped the train next to my parents house and took part of it to the local interchange. I was left with the train to keep kids off the caboose. Well my dad brought my sister by and she came up on the caboose to have a look around. Her comment was, "now I know why you come home smelling the way you do." Those were the days.

hogger

[watash]

Yep, those were the days, and I sure miss them! There was a 2-8-2 that had just been serviced out for the road, that was run out onto a holding track and 'parked'. At ElReno, Okla. roundhouse, it was common practise to set the Johnson bar centered when steam was up, but not always set the engine brakes, if just parked for a short time. A road diesel came in, cut loose, and that crew left. A caboose was just ahead of the 2-8-2, some how the caboose got bumped, or rolled back and coupled onto the 2-8-2. The new crew for the 2-8-2 checked it over, blew out the cylinders etc. The engineer sent the fireman to find out if the caboose was theirs. No, it was to go with the diesel. The 2-8-2 crew pushed the caboose up and coupled it to the diesel, pulled the release lever to cut loose, but didn't back up. (They said).The diesel crew got in, and started forward at the same time the 2-8-2 crew were getting ready to back down to get their caboose. The 2-8-2 dragged the diesel quite a ways, before discovering they were dragging the diesel! That's as short as I could make that story, but faces were red! (I think it was no accident). Ha.

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Watash

[Patrick]

These are great guys. Keep it up. Wish there were more books published about railroaders experiences!

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Residing in BNSF's St. Croix Subdivision near Trempealeau, WI

[E-8]

If this keeps up we could publish our own book. http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif

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http://www.trainboard.com/smiles/066.gif Ship It On The FRISCO! (http://www.frisco.org) | IAMOKA.com (http://www.iamoka.com)

[ChrisDante]

Outstanding, keep it up guys, this is what RR is all about. It's the people that make it happen and give us the laughs and tears. Never stop telling stories!

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When in doubt, empty your magazine.
Member #33

[watash]

Back about 1937 or 8 while on vacation my mom and dad liked to camp out, tent and all. We were in northern Colorado, or maybe across the border, but one morning my dad hollered for mom and I to come see the train across the valley! It was too far to identify the engines, but there were 3 on the head end, 2 about the middle, and 2 more on the end with a caboose behind them. All steamers, with great high billowing plumes of smoke and steam, really pulling hard. They reached the top I guess, because the 3 front engines pulled the cars apart from the 2 engines in the middle and went ahead a ways. The 4 engines left pulled on up over a ways, then the 2 that were in the middle pulled ahead, then backed up on the mountain side of the train. The 3 lead engines backed up, coupled onto the down hill cars, and the whole train pulled almost half the cars up over the hump and stopped. Then the 2 rear engines and caboose backed up in front of the other 2 helpers and stopped. I saw the caboose keep on going and hollered to dad to come see. When he got there, he pointed out that the caboose was on another track beside the 2 original helpers, as the caboose went behind them. In a minute the whole train began backing up, and a small engine came out pushing the caboose toward the train. Dad said they are going to hook the caboose on and go on down the hill the other way. Well, before the caboose got there, the train stopped. Then we could see several figures running toward the last car of the train, and due to the distance about then we heard a BANG from over there! Dad and I looked at each other, then back. The caboose had stopped in his tracks! The three engines were still stopped, but the line of cars were slowly rolling back down the grade!! The 3 lead engines pulled ahead and one of the helpers came out of the hole making a lot of smoke and blowing the whistle in 3 short toots. Then he reversed and chased the cars down hill! We watched til they rounded a curve and went out of sight, but the engine was caching them slowly. Mother came over to see as dad and I were getting ready to leave. Mom said here they come again, so we looked. The engine was flying and had caught up. A man was riding on the back of the tender! They stayed that way following the cars. Dad said they were going to couple on and try to hook up the air brakes. But as we watched, the cars out ran the engine, so he started slowing down to a stop. The cars rounded the mountain going on out of sight. The engine went back to the top and backed into its siding. Then we noticed a lot of people milling around the rear of the tender on the last of the 3 lead engines. We couldn't see what they were doing, so after awhile, dad said we would have to go on to the next camp site. The next day we stopped at a cafe to eat breakfast and people were talking about the run away wreck! We drove out as far as we could get and watched the big steam wreckers for an hour or so, then had to go on. As I remember, I think they told us the coupler shank had broken off the first car, (but maybe it was off the tender), anyway, when the chasing engine got there, there was nothing to couple onto, and they couldn't keep up to pump air, so had to give up. All the cars were filled with rock, or ore of some kind, so would be salvaged. I tried to find out more about it for awhile, but railroads don't talk about those things, so I gave up, But, it was exciting to me at about 8 or so! http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif

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Watash

[Alan]

WOW! Quite an experience http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif I never had that sort of excitement when I was young!

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Alan

The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale!

www.ac-models.com (http://www.ac-models.com)
Andersley Western Railroad (http://www.trainweb.org/andersleywestern/)
Alan's American Gallery (http://galleryusarail_tehcaj.homestead.com)

[Rule 281]

Ok troops, I'm 4th out and probably won't go anywhere tonight so as promised...
One of the first (and worst) experiences I had as an extra conductor was the day I was called for a work train with a young engineer with a reputation as a screamer. I was pretty nervous anyway since I'd never caught a work train before and this guy was known for being hard on new hires. Well, the day went fairly smoothly and we managed to get a bunch of ties picked up and were finally ready to put the train away in a siding. We had to pull out on the main for one more move so we got permission and I went ahead to open up the switch, knowing I had to throw it then walk back and take off the derail (you can't take the derail off before you open up or the electric lock will never let you throw the switch). I was tired, having walked too much as most new conductors do, so I hoofed up to the switch without ever turning around to look back. As I locked the keeper and started to turn around, I saw the engine coming up the track and almost fainted as I watched the bright orange derail dissappear under the plow. I knew I never took it off and I never told the engineer to come ahead. I must have jumped 4 feet in the air trying to get my radio button and swing up the engineer all at once, convinced that I was going to see my first actual derailment on my first assignment to a work train. I was still in shock and totally baffled as the train came to a nice easy stop, still on the rail about a car length away. Then I noticed that my co-worker appeared to be having some kind of seizure in the cab, pounding on the control stand and holding his sides. By the time I got to the engine, he was in control of himself enough to just laugh in big gulps and try to tell me through the giggling that he got down while my back was turned, took off the derail and jumped back up in time to run ahead a length or two. He was convinced that he'd never seen anything quite as funny as the look on my face and the altitude I achieved when I saw that engine moving over the derail. Fortunatly, my sense of humor survived the adrenaline rush and I got a good laugh out of it while swearing revenge at the earliest opportunity. He and I are friends now but I did get to see him take a turn sweating bullets on another occasion...but that's another story.
Run safe guys, the list will be calling and I'm gonna get some sleep.

[Craig Martyn]

LOL!!! That's a pretty cool story!!! Thank you for sharing!

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Craig Martyn

Best Looking Models Around
Custom detailing

AND N scale detail parts.

BLMA N Scale Detail Parts (http://users4.50megs.com/blma/)
BLMAinfo@aol.com

[watash]

There were some advantages when working a short line. In fact, I just found a photo of the Searcy end of line Depot today. It is at 412 South Main in Searcy, Ark, the D,K&S. The tracks were still there about fifteen years ago. Someone would call and tell where to go pickup some cars, and the numbers, while someone else would run the way bills by the office. It was real easy going, only one loading dock, 3 cotton gins and one cotton compress and one oil consignee in the whole town. The old engine was sold to a lumber company in Texarkana, Tex, totally overhauled, then sold to a tourist road now at Reeder, Arkansas. An old Porter 2-6-0 #2.

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Watash

[ChrisDante]

I love your stories Rule 281, now what is Rule 281?

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When in doubt, empty your magazine.
Member #33

[Rule 281]

Thanks Chris-and in the world according to NORAC signals, Rule 281:
Name: Clear
Indication: Proceed not exceeding Normal Speed. (who said I was normal?)

In answer to an earlier post...life on the list is not that bad, just unpredictable as always. I've been getting called from 3 or 4 deep to work as a pilot because the guys in front of me aren't qualified everywhere yet. NS (even with all their other faults) is pretty good about making sure you get rest. 10 hours with a 2 hour call time is the minimum at your home terminal, unlike Conrail where you could get called in 6 for 8. By the time you drove an hour home, took a shower and had a snack, you were just about getting to sleep and the phone would ring again. Man, that was fun.

[watash]

Rule 281, keep your chin up, it'll get better one of these days! Haven't you heard yet? These new fancy painted Kiddie Kars are just a fad. When these younger inexperienced CEO's runnin' the Railroads today begin running out of money, they will learn or be replaced by cooler heads. Its obvious they don't know it takes four to six of these painted funny cars to equal one C&O 2-8-8-2. I put a photo of one on Steam Rail and Railfan forum if you want to see a real engine!! Gads its ugly, but it sure is a beast! Ha. http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif

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Watash

[watash]

Who's next? Are we the only ones chewing the fat? Any one have an experience like Art, where he had to carry a new knuckle from his caboose up about 50 cars to where the (Blankity Blank) engineer tried to pop a wheely and snapped off the knuckle in the middle of his train? Now I know of three cases where that happened. You got any idea how much a knuckle weighs? Poor Art.

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Watash

[This message has been edited by watash (edited 19 October 2000).]

[Rule 281]

I'm still around but working the usual unusual hours. Hard to get near the computer very much. Since this seems to be 'Bash the engineer' week, I've got to tell you a conductor story, just to balance things out a bit.
I worked with a guy a couple of trips who seemed to know what was going on even though he was fairly young . But he got me good backing into a track one night. There were almost no lights in this place and we had to set off 25 or 30 loads in a blind curved track so he says he's going to ride them in to watch the rear end. We pull down, make a cut and start shoving in. He's doing a good job giving me car counts to the stop so I think he's riding and looking out. Wrong answer. He's telling me I have lots of room left when I hit the hidden drag of cars so hard that everything, coffee, grips, papers, and of course, my whiplashed self bounces off the back wall and lands in a pile. After I get untangled, I look out and there he stands, by the engine smiling up at me. "Do you think we hit something?" is his kind of silly question. Now many, many replies come to mind at a time like that but I limit myself to a mental comment about the likelyhood of a plane crash on our last car or a sudden earthquake causing anything like the collision we've just had. Then I ask a couple of questions of my own while I recover, "Are we on the ground? Why are you standing here when the you said you were watching the move? Will I be able to strangle you before I become paralyzed?" Fortunatly, the cars we ran into had air and hand brakes on them so they didn't take off for the next zip code and for some reason, we didn't derail. Unfortunatly, the rest of the trip was a little tense while we discussed the bad manners and risks involved in backing up blind when you don't know what's back there and running your engineer into solid objects at 'greater than coupling' speed. No, I didn't have to carry a knuckle, but I sure felt like I had.

Seriously folks, all this conductor vs. engineer stuff flying around seems pretty normal to me but the truth of the matter is that 99.9% of the time you work as a crew and most of the guys I've met would do just about anything to help each other in a fix. You just have to learn who you can work with the best...and who backs you into things.

[watash]

You guys are probably too young to remember when box cars had hand wheels up on top to set brakes with, but they did! I wont go into the history of it, I just was reminded of a funny thing I saw happen.

A new guy was climbing up to the top of a box car with his axe handle to get ready to set the brakes to slow the car down, that was being 'kicked' off into a siding that would hold maybe four or five cars at a warehouse. He started turning the wheel when the engine shut down and let him go. He kept turnig and turning as he went past me. He didn't get the car slowed, nor stopped, and when it hit the end-of-track safety stops he stepped off into midair axe handle and all! He fell into a big pile of used cardboard boxes so wasn't hurt, but the engineer and fireman were laughing their heads off!

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Watash

[E-8]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Rule 281:
Seriously folks, all this conductor vs. engineer stuff flying around seems pretty normal to me but the truth of the matter is that 99.9% of the time you work as a crew and most of the guys I've met would do just about anything to help each other in a fix. You just have to learn who you can work with the best...and who backs you into things.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's good to know LOL! http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif



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http://www.trainboard.com/smiles/066.gif Ship It On The FRISCO! (http://www.frisco.org) | IAMOKA.com (http://www.iamoka.com)

[Gats]

An excellent recount, watash! Must have been a thrill to learn you saw it unfolding from the beginning.

Gary.

[watash]

Gats, I had seen them kick cars before, but they let the cars 'go' just barely rolling, not as fast as this one! Everyone knew about the big pile of boxes because we had jumped off the box cars onto them before. When they had kicked cars before, there were usually one or two already sitting there, and the cars just bumped the cars and barely rolled after that. I figured right quick that it was going too fast, and the new guy was using the axe handle to turn the brake wheel about a quarter turn at a time, and he wasn't watching where he was going! "Ole' Watash wasn't born yesterday!" I knew the guy was going to learn to fly, and it was funny! http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif

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Watash

[watash]

Rule281, you were reminded of a story you were going to tell on the "People" Forum.

Quit playing with that old diesel, and tell us!! http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif

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Watash

[Rule 281]

Geez, I forgot about that. You were talking about the shovel-to-firebox technique of 'takin' care of business' and I remembered what happened to one of the guys I trained with.
He was assigned to a night switcher crew, told where and when to show up and that was that. He had no idea where he was going on this train or if he'd ever be back. We didn't even have our radios, lanterns and keys yet so the crew tossed him on the second unit and said "Read your timetable, we'll call you when we want you, and don't touch anything." Of course, they never did call and as time went on, coffee and nature took it's course and now he has a problem. We were all new and most of us had never been on an engine before, so here he was, alone in the dark cab with no idea where the lights were, and worse, no idea how to fix his screaming bladder. He didn't dare go out on the platform for fear of falling off but he had to do something pretty darn soon. Finally, he spied a dim light down in the nose and fumbled his way down until he ran into what he thought was the wall. He could still see the light through a crack in the wall and he remembered someone saying that the toilet was in the nose of an engine. Desperation had set in so he decided that he was as close as he was going to get and let go with a shot in the dark, hoping he was on target.
A while later, the rest of the crew came back to change ends and run from his unit heading home. Everyone instantly started opening windows and doors (this is January), trying to figure out what smelled. To the poor trainee, the answer was pretty obvious now that the lights were on. What he hoped was the right spot was only the door to the nose compartment (closed) and the puddle down there was not melted ice from the cooler. The light he saw was shining through a hole in the latch on the door of his salvation. He spent quite a while down there with crew-pack towels sponging up the disaster, wishing he'd never heard of the railroad while the other guys talked about his probably limited future in transportation.
He actually told the rest of us about his escapade (knowing we'd find out anyway) and it went down in history as one of the classic screw-ups of the year. There were many more, but that'll be another day. I've got to catch a snooze before work. Your turn Watash.

[watash]

Trainees have all the luck! All bad! Ha. We had some of the dumb and dumber too! We had the County Commissioner's 16 yr old son an board for a ride to the next town for his birthday. Ride arranged for by his dad, who went on ahead with the rest of the party to see him get off after 'driving' the train all of 4-1/4 miles. The kid "just had to go", so the engineer told him to step over to the side between the tender and engine, and make sure none got into the coal, or it would make a hell of a stink! He was one of these 'smart kids' and none of us liked him. So we all turned our backed while he tried to find it. Then we turned around and he was done about two minutes before we would stop. The kid stepped up to the engineer's window, (which was pre-arranged), so he could lean out the window and wave at everyone as we arrived. Several people had cameras ready because this was a big event. As the engineer got us stopped, the kid stepped to the engineer's side and raised both hands in the victory hand shake over his head and all the flash bulbs went off. Suddenly everything got very very quiet! The kid climbed down and his dad rushed him into his car. After he left, the whole crowd flat out broke up!! The kid had done his whole bladder into the wind, and the front of his light blue pants down to his knees had turned a midnight blue black! Those photos were secretly circulated of course, and the kid went off to a boarding school shortly after. http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif

Even some trainees don't thimk when they should have thunk!

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Watash

[watash]

Where is everybody? Getting ready to go trick or treating?

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Watash

[Rule 281]

I'm still around Watash but I just got in from a trip and I'm bushed. Checking to see what's going on. Did you and Art take over the store while I was out? http://www.trainboard.com/wink.gif I can't believe nobody else has got a story to tell. Come on people, I need entertainment too ya know.

[watash]

Any one know anything about them having to re-inspect all the couplers on the new Acela trains? Seems the knuckle pins vibrate out at high speed. I always liked my coaster wagon. But coasting on a train at that speed? Everybody drag your feet!!

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Watash

[Rule 281]

I don't know anything about Acela's but you did remind me of my favorite Lehigh story.
When Sayre was a busy place, one of the local jobs used to spot coal hoppers on a steep trestle up the hill from the yard for a local vendor. Once they were spotted, the guys from the plant would move the cars around by letting the handbrakes off and rolling the cars downhill a bit. As could be expected, one of them let the brake off all the way and by the time he realized what was happening, the loaded car was scooting down the hill into the yard. For some reason, the poor coal-spotter rode the thing (screaming) all the way down rather than bail off. As it turned out, the switches were all lined into a stub track that ended right next to the yard office parking lot. A lot that was full of crew's cars. The hapless rider finally jumped off just before impact as the load rammed over the bumping block and ate up the line of cars parked in the lot. Luckily, no one was hurt but the cars were demolished. The only casualty was an engineer who came out to stand next to the wreckage of his (ex)new baby blue Cadillac shaking his head and throwing up. They say he was never the same.

Oops, there's the phone. Yup, it's a caller looking for me. Here we go again.