That's quite some "high iron" in the foreground. No visible ties or ballast - just pairs of rails almost buried in the earth.
Those are yard tracks, not 'high iron'. The high iron is just out of sight behind the photographer. And. yes, that borders on being kinda sad.
You think this is bad you should see the west end . This yard is laying east - west and you are looking west . The office bldg . is the crew dispatcher's office ,locker room and round house foreman office . The crew dispatcher called only engine crews and the yard office called train crews . The cars you see at the base of the stack are on the clean out and rip track location. I think there were 3 or 4 tracks . To the left of the photo is the ash pit and a track they used for coal for the the coal dock . #1 track was to the right next to the siding and held about 90 cars at that time ,today that would be somewhere around 70 cars. On the west end we would come in with a U-3 0-8-0 And if I remember ? #12 track The rail was in the ground so deep that as the main rod came around it would lift the loco up and if you stopped it would be a chore to move it out of that location . We did most of our kicking cars on the west end because the yard was a bowl and cars did not roll out from that end . One yard crew was good to work with but you had to watch because they always gave a signal for any move . I had a young fireman and I asked him if he had run the engine when switching and he said no . Get in the seat and watch them and don't take your eye off of them . Just leave it out in #8 until they give you a stop signal . Away we go they give a stop signal he closed the throttle applied the brakes and we go a small distance by the man on the ground . We did not move and I said are you going to move and he said no signal . This is what I knew he would do and I said yes he did , look out the window and ask or looks up and gives you one . Now on the next kick keep your eye on him and if we go by him get your head out and keep your eye on him . I asked did he give a signal , yes he did but he was under the cab window when he did . Yes but he gave you one and that part of your job and I bet he gave what I called a glove signal , the brakeman held a glove he had removed and held it between his thumb and fore finger , yes he did end of story . Just one of many little things you learned when firing an engine . LEW
