Summertime memories in deep mid-winter. When I mustered out of the Army, I lived with my mother for a while. I also had a purebred female Irish Setter named "Ginger". I have always lived near the GTW(now CN/IC)main line or what was the main line out of Chicago. Now that segment of the (former)main line is known as the Hayford Siding. My mothers house was 1/2 mile east of the GTW, I now live about 150' west of the same track segment. GTW hadn't operated any steam out of Chicago since 1960 and that last operation was some 0-8-0 switchers in Elsdon Yard. It was a hot midsummers night,in 1969 IIRC. I had a 1968 Buick GS400(I wish I still had it). I was working 2nd shift with the airline at that time, in the Chicago Loop office. I had come home,read for a while, went to bed and fell asleep rather quickly. I was jolted awake about 2 AM by a strange noise; I heard a steam locomotive whistle. My bed was adjacent to the bedroom windows,which were tightly closed, the room was airconditioned. I shook it off as a dream,lay back down again, heard the whistle again, and then again. I said to myself I gotta see what's happening! I threw on my clothes,woke up the dog and we jumped into my car. I fired it up and headed to Elsdon Yard. When I got there, I stuck my nose into the yard office,which was adjacent to a public street. A couple of switchmen there saw me and asked me what I wanted. I told them I thought I heard a steam locomotive whistle and wanted to know what was up. One switchman said, "you mean that whistle"? just as the locomotive whistled for the crossing. IIRC is was the 6325, and it was in town for some railfan excursions and the crew was exercising it! (I think they were playing with it!!!LOL) I watched it go by and enjoyed the brief encounter. I got back in the car satisfied that I wasn't hearing things. The dog was happy that she got a car ride. CT
Story Idea? Charley, I seen a long tank train setting on the siding track split at a road crossing. What is it like to have to walk the length of the train to split it. Then walk back to the engine in cold weather knowing you will walk it a couple more times. Connecting and return to the engine later when you get a green light.
Tiring!!! You're not going to do that unless the dispatcher tells you that you will be in the siding for an extended period and will have significant road crossings blocked. Emergency responders(fire dept.,EMS,Police)have alternative routes to take when a crossing is blocked. Walking a train involves more than just walking back to the crossing and breaking the train. If you've already pulled all the way up in the siding, you may have to shove back some to get room. That means you have to protect that shove before you can make the cut. Once you get the room and make the cut you have to spin some hand brakes. The number is specified in your Special Instructions. Weather is not much of a factor unless you have deep snow, then it really taxes your energy. Summertime can mean a walk in blazing hot sun next to hot steel "ovens" or a stroll thru a raging thunderstorm.You can alway count on a T-storm holding off until you have a "dynamiter" in your train or you have to make a cut. Then the heavens open and the lightning goes dancing.It is Murphy's Law! Or you can take a train through East Dubuque and have a "dynamiter" or a board drop in your face and you block Obie's crossing. Obie(and now his son) was/is a genuine &*%$((*^. and if your train stops for more than 30 seconds, he is on the line to BNSF HQ in Ft.Worth screaming lawyers and lawsuits. I am happy and proud to say that I did it twice. once as a conductor trainee(at about 2 AM) and another time as an engineer(at about 2:30 AM). He musta been finally asleep since we never heard anything. You mentioned tank cars, that may very well be a train carrying hazmat, in which case you have to be extra careful! Intermodal trains are tough too since you may have to pull or shove quite a distance until you reach a coupling. All in all, it's not something you want to do,but in certain instances must be done. Also odds are that if you are told to cut a crossing, it is very likely that you will be tying the whole train down and be relieved. I've done it both ways. I've also been on dogcatch when we had to put the train back together and do an air test. That is time consuming! Charlie
Thanks another fine story Quote from C "I've also been on dogcatch when we had to put the train back together and do an air test. That is time consuming!" Ohhh I hear another story or two coming. Dogcatch? back together air test?
I am excited to recommend a couple of "threads" to you on Trainboard. They are both in the "Fallen Flags" board. First of all under the "Atchison,Topeka & Santa Fe" board is a thread about Santa Fe Operation in Chicago, a Brian Morgan is the author of that thread. I turns out that Brian and I were unknowingly neighbors and many of his railfanning experiences are similar to mine. He makes reference to the Panhandle Roundhouse of the PRR, the same one I have "talked story" about. He also lived near the GTW and can tell you about Elsdon Yard as have I. Stop by and say hello to him, maybe some of you can help him with his quest. Secondly stop by the "New York Central System" section of "Fallen Flags" and read the very informative air brake instructional by LEW. He knows of what he speaks!!! And as always, I thank you for your interest and your gracious comments on my thread, "Storytime with Charlie" CT
"Dogcatch" is the term used when relieving an outlawed crew or retrieving a train that has been tied down in a siding or on a main line. It is one of the more interesting jobs a crew can have since it may involve having to travel a good distance by road(or in very limited areas,by train). You get a chance to work on some railroad, online or offline,that you haven't worked in a while(provided,of course, that you or other crew members are still qualified on it). You get to work a variety of trains and get a chance to kick back and enjoy the ride since it usually means just getting the train to its next terminal ASAP. At some terminals a crew may be ordered to perform "multiple dogcatch" vs a one time shot. I only ever did the "multiple" thing in Galesburg since that normally meant relieving crews who expired just short of reaching Galesburg. Galesburg, for those of you not familiar with it, has operations from all four directions and from both the BN and ATSF sides. However for both railroads, operating directions are East and West. So in that case we would go to a train,relieve the crew, they would take the van we just came in and we would yard the train in Galesburg,or turn it over to another road crew. After delivering the train we would sit around and wait until the YM would notify us of another "dying" crew. I worked with a hogger on one of these "multiples". I knew him from Chicago and he was a lot of fun to work with. He had cut a deal with a YM , the deal was whenever we had finished one movement, he would allow the hogger to go home(he lived close to the yard,as did I)and the YM would call him at home and tell him that he had another "dogcatch". The hogger told me about that and I gave him my home fone and he called me when he got the notice. It all worked out well. BTW, those of you familiar with Galesburg, I shared an apartment near the "Academy Plant". It was roughly across the street from some of the co-ed dorms of Knox College. Young Bob N. thought that this was an ideal location! Now doing the air test... At that time, if a train or any part of a train had been disconnected from its air source for 4hours or more, it would require an "initial terminal" air test which would require a walking inspection of a brake set and release. If a train had been "broken" for the crossing and had sat for 4hrs or more disconnected, "set & release". If there was no certification of an initial air test... same thing. If the power had been removed and the train was in the siding,fully connected,for 4hrs or more...."set & release". This is not something left to the caprice of the crews. This is an FRA requirement. YOU WILL NEVER WANT TO MOVE YOUR TRAIN ON MAIN TRACK UNTIL YOU ARE CERTAIN ALL THE BRAKES WORK AS INTENDED . ! Of course if you want to get fired and face a 5 figure fine and some jail time....your call! It's not something you need grouse or complain about, it's part of the job and it was something that could work to your advantage. If you were on a road train and you were required to do station work enroute, you would uncouple your power from your train,whether on the main or other than main track. Depending on circumstances and the skill of the crew, it could mean that your power was away from the train for 4 hrs or more. This is not unusual,especially in larger terminal areas where there are multiple train operations occuring. You may have to wait for the switch crews to switch out the cars you need to pick up, you may have to "double" some tracks which means that you may have to work around other crews. You may have to make-up the brake hoses on your pickup then put air in the brake line and then release hand brakes.This is all time consuming and then you discover that you have exceeded 4hrs away from your train. This is NOT unusual and this just sets up the possibility of calling a relief crew to relieve your crew or possibly having a "dogcatch" further up-line. It's all quite rewarding in the pocketbook! Does that answer the ?? CT
Your's Truly has had another letter to the editor published in a major quarterly railroad themed publication! CT
If I get the moderators permission, I will post the name of the publication. I dont wanna give any freebie advertising. CT
Charlie: I am sure it is fine to post the name of the publication and even link to it if they have a website on line. I wouldn't post magazine pictures or copies of the article here as the publisher may have some proprietary issues with that action even though you wrote the article. "Advertising" would be where you link to a page that sells the magazine because you get a cut of the sales. Congratulations on getting the article published! :thumbs_up:
"Classic Trains" Summer 2009 issue, first letter in "Fast Mail"(letters to editor) entitled "Down Memory Lane". Heavily edited from the e-mail I sent, but captures the hi-lites. The first letter of mine they published was in the Winter 2007 issue, that was letter about my personal experience with riding the "Midnight Special" on the G.M.& O. It was in conjunction with a photo essay about St.Louis(MO)Union Station. CT
Ring ring Oh Charlie got a question for you. I have been seeing some stack train with the engines like this Fwd-fwd--backward-backward (cn you picture that) Are they doing this to turn the power faster at the end of they run? Feel free to add a story. :shade:
==================================================================== There could be any number of reasons why that is done. Normally if there are two or more units in the consist, the railroad will want the first two to be facing the direction of travel,or forward. This is a safety precaution, if the locomotive number lamps should become disabled, by rule the second unit locomotive number lamps may be lighted with the knowledge and approval of the dispatcher and that unit may be used as the identifying number for the train. I was a conductor on a train once on the Santa Fe side, we took a relatively short "bare table" train from Joliet to Galesburg. We had an SD-40(?) and it was facing the wrong way for our direction of travel. We asked the trainmaster if we could take it somewhere and wye it,but there was no place where we could take it. At any rate, this TM was a real jerk and I knew him from Chicago(he has since retired)and he told us to take it as it is and to "get outta town". So the hogger was sitting backwards all the way to Galesburg. He was also on the wrong side for the signals. By the time we got to G'burg, he had one heckuva crick in his neck. I told him that he should lay-off sick and I would back up his claim about his disability. By having the consist like that does not necessarily make turn-around any easier. In all likelyhood, the consist was put together that way because that's the way they were facing when the power was scheduled for the train. Most major terminals have a turntable or wye or some sort of turning facility if they need power facing a certain way. When we would take a consist to the BRC to pick up a train that they had made up for us, their DS would sometimes ask if we wanted to wye the power once we were told what tracks our pickup would be. If not, we would ask if we could wye the power. There is a wye toward the east end of Clearing Yard(Cidero Ave) and it is a snap to wye the power quickly without disrupting their operations very much,if at all! Help you out any? CT
"bare table" train? Quote from CT "we took a relatively short "bare table" train" Thanks C. I had seen a least two different trains like this thought maybe it was something more then just, what it was. Now you caused another question "bare table"? Good excuse for another story
"when she got there, the table was bare..." just more railroad jargon for a train of empty intermodal cars. Spine cars, well cars, trailer flats, etc. They are cars bound for storage or for need elsewhere. Normally only one high horsepower unit is assigned to a "bare table",since they are empties. It usually works out that you get a "beater" loco. that the motive power supervisor wants to get out of his hair. It's an easy enough train to work or handle but sometimes you get some real rolling junk in those trains! They are also extremely low priority trains so you can normally count on "outlawing" on the job without really putting on that much mileage! CT
