Just thought it would be fun to see how some of our real railroad folk have celebrated Christmas. Here's an example from the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, at Squamish, British Columbia: Although on a 31 train order, simply used as a message form. It is attached to a full, issued set of orders. Usually a no-no, they'd let these occurances slide at this time of year. Boxcab E50
Ok here it is. During my student engineer period, my Road Foreman told us re: the Holidays, "be where you need to be", which meant he gave us free license to arrange our scheduling to be home with our families. I was lucky in that my engineer mentor's position on the board would provide that I(and he) would be at home for on the holiday. We were at our away from home terminal in LaCrosse WI when we were ordered for a stack train to Cicero IL. It was for a late afternoon departure which would probably arrive Cicero just before or very early on Christmas Eve day. I was far enough along in my qualifying trips so that I was running for the complete 300 mile trip, my mentor just observing my actions and commenting appropriately. He enjoyed listening to audio books and would bring his disc-man with him. Myself and the conductor pretty had the run to ourselves. Well, once I was close enough to Chicago, I got on my cell phone to call my wife & tell her to be ready for my call in X amount of time. She would normally drive me to the yard & pick me up. This would leave both cars available at home, as we still had both daughters at home and someone would always need a car. Anyway, once we were approaching the governing signal to the yard, I gave my wife another call and told her to head out. She told me that she would have our youngest daughter and her boyfriend with her. My wife mentioned that ________, had something he wanted to ask me. We both knew what that was! We made the trip without incident and I yarded my train and was given permission to head to the roundhouse via an empty track. I needed to proceed back to the west end of Cicero Yard, to the ladder lead and then a simple short series of moves to the roundhouse lead, none of which were difficult or involved or time consuming. Well we reached the lead and called the switchtender for permission to take the lead(governed by a dwarf signal),and then to the "dirt pile" track, and then to the RH lead. We were told by the switchtender to stay in the clear because "TV-30"(a transfer run to Conrail) was on the move. Well this switchtender was a woman of Amazonian proportions with flaming red hair and a mouth the equal,if not better,than Howard Stern. I questioned,(with some colorful terms)why she was holding us up for this transfer run,since what we had to do would take about 3 minutes at the most. and the transfer run worked from the east end of the yard and we were at the west end. At any rate we wound up sitting there, stewing for about 1 1/2 hours (all the time commenting on the abilities of this switchtender) before she finally realized that TV-30 would only require the tracks and signals at the EAST END!!!!! She finally gave us the lineup and the signal for our move. I got my consist of 2 Dash-9s onto a clear fuel track at the RH and we climbed down an made our bid our adieus and holiday wishes. Now my wife,daughter and her BF had been waiting for me well over an hour. I was the closest to home. The conductor and my mentor had to take the transport van to Eola yard where their trucks were and then drive at least another 45-60 minutes to their respective homes. To say I was angry was an understatement. I was so damn mad,I was yelling to myself about the railroad,the switchtender,the cold weather, ANYTHING! Well I climbed into my car, greeted my family and we went home, with me still fuming and fussing about my adventure just to take my locomotives to the service track. I guess I frightened _____________so much that he never did ask me the question he wanted to. He did propose to my daughter later that Christmas Eve day and we wound up having a wonderful holiday, my daughter married about a year & 1/2 later. Sadly the marriage hasn't lasted as long as my Christmas Eve memory. I also have a New Years eve reminisence about the same holiday period. CT
Jes' for the heckuvit I think I'll tell you the New Years Eve sequel to the above Christmas memory. Lemme set the stage first... My family had been going to Wisconsin Dells WI on family vacation since well before Tommy Bartlett's Water Show moved there. One of my first memories was going there when I was 3 years old. We went on a bus and it was one helluva long,uncomfortable ride and I recall that I hated it and made the ride difficult for everyone. After that we took the Milwaukee Road trains to Wisconsin Dells. At the time we used to go there, Wisconsin Dells was little more than a fishing resort, we would stay in a "guest house" now known as 'bed & breakfast". Americans weren't so pretentious then. It is my memories of the Dells and the Milwaukee Road trains that enhance the following tale... We had brought a WB stack train to La Crosse arriving in the early AM of New Years Eve. We called the hotel desk for our transportation(Days Inn-French Island-Onalaska WI)as usual the van arrived quickly and we checked into the hotel, checked the computer for any updates to our position on the board. It appeared that we might get out that night or early New Years Day. I made my way to my room, called my wife, had a little snack and watched some TV until my eyes were too heavy. I was soundly sleeping when the telephone knocked me out of bed. It was mebbe 10:30 - 11:00 AM or so and the crew caller was on the line telling me that I was to deadhead home on AMTRAK at (whatever), check with the rest of my crew to see if they had arranged for transport to the depot and that my ticket would be at the window. I told them that I was a student engineer(we were not supposed to deadhead,but work with another crew), crew caller sez... "makes no difference, the hotel wants you outta there!" Well, I dont have to be told twice! I freshened up,dressed and headed downstairs to meet the rest of the guys and take the van to the AMTRAK depot in LaCrosse. We were riding #28 the "Empire Builder". What a treat!!!! We got our tickets, waited for the train to arrive(about 1/2 hr off sked.) boarded the train,finally found some empty seats and settled in for the ride. I bought some coffee and brought it to my seat. The train was on the former Milwaukee Road and as we pulled into the (new)Wisconsin Dells depot, all those childhood memories flooded back. I remembered the nights my Dad & I would go to the old depot and watch the trains go by. Wisconsin Dells was a lot different then, the main street was a few souvenier shops and various clothing stores,tackle shops and eating places. Watching the trains was just about the only thing to do at night then. Suddenly I was a 5 yr old again! When we reached Milwaukee, I remembered the trainshed and remembered the trains when they were pulled by steam locomotives. It was a memorable trip. The only time I've ever been on the "Builder". It was also one of the last times I ever deadheaded to/from an assignment. I am guessing that the reason why the hotel wanted us out was for their New Years Eve party,otherwise we would have waited for an assignment. At any rate it provided me with a great reminiscence! Thanks ! CT
Wonderful memories. If ever we can take snapshots from our minds, you'll have some great views! Boxcab E50
It's great when old memories are triggered by an event or revisiting a site. I tried but had no luck a few years ago when I went through Tucson on Amtrak. We had an extended cigarette stop for all the smokers, riding the Nonsmoking Sunset Limited, to get off and do their thing. I got off and wandered through the depot but could not remember a thing. No dé jà vu, no nothing. I know for a fact that I departed and arrived there many times back in the mid 1950s but for the life of me, could not find anything to trigger a memory.
