Well today we just about killed 3 MOW people in less then 30 minutes. Nbd Starlight Had a mechanic working on rail gangs equipment. He had his truck on one side of the main with welding or some other hoses stretched across main to siding. When we came whistling thru he jumped and raced across dragging his hoses with real big eyes. Then 20 minutes later in Springfield Ore. 2 welders are working on a switch point with their backs to us with ear pluggs in. Had to plug it they stepped off a pole length before we got there and looked up with this big question on there face. Why did ya stop we got out of the way? They just didn't get it, but they almost got the plow and would have been pushing up Daisies.
I thought all of the many pages of "Roadway Protection" would have eliminated this. On one occasion an "employee in charge" stopped me outside of his authorized limits to clear me. And on another I was cruising on a long stretch of tangent when I came over a rise to see a gang about a half mile ahead who was just finishing a rail replacement under definate train location(since eliminated as a rule). No one told us they were out there. They reacted like,"No big deal. You got stopped for us!"
Yesterday I was visiting with my dad, telling him about the Frisco Line bulletin board. He shared a story with me that I had not heard before....very much like Chris Dante and eddelozier's experiences. My dad was about 5 years old (circa 1919) and was spending the day with my granddad at Windsor Springs telegraph station in Kirkwood, MO. My granddad knew how much my dad loved the trains. An engineer, who was a good friend of my granddad, pulled up in a lone engine. He was making a work run to Pacific, just west of Windsor Springs and my grandad asked if my dad could ride along. It was great to see my dad's face light up as he described sitting between the legs of the engineer as the engine headed out, and the excitement he felt as the engineer showed him how to pull the whistle cord....and then letting it rip! He doesn't remember being overwhelmed by the noise, as he had grown up with the trains all around him, but he did remember the swaying back and forth of the cab, wondering if he was going to fall off...and very glad the engineer had a good grip on him. Simply put: he felt like he was king of the world! I am surprised he had not shared that roundtrip ride with me before. I'm glad that I told him about the Frisco Line BB and that it rekindled a great memory for him. Karen
That's an excellent story (especially since it's Frisco). It would be nice to see a thread started about stories from the steam days if we have others around with steam recollections. ------------------ Ship It On The FRISCO!
the engineer was probably sleeping and the conductor was running as usual.ha ha ha ha ------------------ bnfan99
Engineer here for CN (Grand Trunk District) I hired out as a switchman/conductor in 1994 and was promoted to engineer in June of 1997 . I was 20 when I hired out at the railroad , it's a pretty good job , unlike any job out there
Back during the start of WWII (1942), they were hard up for manpower, since all the able bodied guys were going off to war. When harvest time came around, I drove a tractor plowing wheat stubble under after the field was combined. Then I went to work as a Go-Fer at the roundhouse at ElReno, Okla the rest of that summer. Since I was sorta big for my age, and had a lot of time around trains, my dad asked if I would rather work for a railroad on the Student Work Program. It had been traditional that you started out on a track gang, or at least no more than a trackman (Brakeman), then you could be a Fireman, then Engineer, then a Conductor, etc. You could get a short cut if you worked in a roundhouse. So I worked at ElReno, Okla for the summer of '43, then off to Boarding School, where I started as engine tender two evenings a week and Saturdays. As a Hostler's helper at ElReno, I had learned to move engines, not run them, just move them, so when I got to Searcy, Ark. I was way ahead of the other boys in experience. I spent a month there when one of the regular employees was called up to the Military Service, and I was made temporary Brakeman. A few weeks later, when the replacement arrived, he knew nothing about firing a steamer, so he became the Brakemen, and I got to be temporary Fireman. I had already be starting the fire and getting up steam, watering, oiling, and dumping the ash pan, so it was no big deal. We never got another replacement so things rocked along into the next year. We finally got a replacement and everybody moved up a notch, and I became engineer trainee, so now I got to officially run the engine as long as the official engineer was aboard. By then I had already learned how to make a good couple, how to bunch the cars for a heavy start, how to apply the brakes, and walk the train looking for broken equipment and hot boxes. When I was fifteen, (Jack) the engineer was sick with flue when we needed to deliver 6 box cars full of compressed cotton to the junction, and bring back some empties for the gins in town. That was my first all-alone run with the fireman. It was a very careful run, there was no way I was going to risk getting shot for wrecking this train! After this I got to make the run many times. Then when I became 17 my dad prevailed upon me to become a design engineer like he was, so I went to school and spent my life designing and building prototypes of automation and robotic machinery. I only had one cab ride in an early diesel streamliner engine, and was convinced the romance of steam would soon die. Dad was right, and now I have all the good memories of the age of steam in all its glory. It doesn't seem like that was fifty four years ago, how time flies!
Great story Wayne! Do you ever regret not staying with railroading? Or are you purely a steam fan, and would not have enjoyed riding diesels?
Alan, I have been a passenger on the Super Chief several times back when it was safe and all luxury! The thrill of handeling a living Steamer was dying the future for steam was in the "Handwriting on the Wall". My dad was wise, and being as young as I was, he said I could learn easier than the older fellows, or I could have a clean higher paying job, and have time to be home with my wife and kids if I went to school and followed in his footsteps. I took his advice. The short "Get aquainted ride" in the diesel was a downer. It was all noise and vibration. The fellows I was with were almost in tears, while some guy my age was trying to convince us that this is the future and we should all sign up quick for re-training. Some of those old Hogs had over 40 years making friends with their steam engines. A Diesel is just like a car to them, its anybody's car, anybody can run it, so who cares, you don't know the engine, get to care about it, have pride in it, heal its wounds, keep it in shape, oil it, clean it, pat it good night, tell her good morning, ask her to give you a good run. One old salt muttered, "You see that bitty throttle thing? The handle on my toilet is bigger, and they expect us to handle a whole train with a toilet flush?" That was pretty much the sentiment toward the diesel, afterall it was going to kill their jobs. Railroading was going down hill, it would never be the same. Dad was right, it was over, and it is over for the diesel now too. I have done some designing on the new future trains. You guys will feel as I do, that you lived to enjoy a special piece of History, and watch it come to a close. Your memories will be as precious to you then as mine are to me now. Dave, there are a whole list of these stories in "Tales From the Cab" in this Forum. Its where those funny, strange and sometimes tragic tales can be told as if we had all sat down for a cool one between runs. That reminds me of a time... but this isn't the place for that. Later all.
Hello Ron, Just read your post in the locomotive engineers message page.If you are still interested in Colorado, have you tried the BNSF? I was the same age as yourself when I got hired by the BNSF Try it!
I'm an engineer on the UP right now but I started with the Rock Island and then the MK&T. Looking forward to retirement.
RIHogger, come over to the "Tales From the Cab", and tell us of some of your experiences while running. The guys here enjoy the funny things, exciting times, even the screw-ups. Please?
