I think I should be happy that I was born too late to be a steam loco engineer after seeing this photo!!!!!!!!! http://www.railroadextra.com/ngpg387.Html
Having spent time in a steam loco cab, and never a fan of heat, this is one job I never dreamed about. Being out in a blizzard is another on my list of situations to avoid..... Boxcab E50
Can you get frostbite from looking at a picture? This is one of those: "Sooo... You think you've got it bad..." OR "I...remember when... we only ate snow, and were thankful for it...."
"I remember it well!" It must have been neigh on to a hunnert year ago back in the winter of '89. River ice had taken a section of the bridge out, and we had to lay ice cicles across where the rails had been, just to get the mail through! Yes sir, it wuz so cold even the whiskey froze and had to be eatin'. We wuz rippin' along about 60 when the conductor spit out the winder and shot a moose as we passed by! Thet ole' moose froze solid in his tracks and didn't fall down till next spring!
It was so cold back in the blizzard of '37 I had to carry an arm full of wood to start the school's boiler so the other kiddies could thaw out if they made it. It was so cold the leather on our boots broke, so we had to go barefoot. The only way we could walk up hill was to dig our toe nails in, so the boots wouldn't have been any good anyway, you see. It was so cold the birds had to use ice skates! The Arkansas river froze hard enough that one guy ran his Model "A" up and down it pulling all us kids on a long rope behind him. The most fun was when he would turn around to go back and it would "Crack the Whip" with us! We all skittered along so fast....("How Fast?", you ask). Well, we shot up the side of the river bank and cleared Riverside Drive landing on the grassy knoll at the Kansas Gas and Electric Company's power plant. One kid landed on the road going pretty fast. The last we saw of him he was doing 60 heading west on the Cannon Ball highway. We heard later he was mayor of Denver! My neighbor's dog tried to mark his spot on a fire plug, and we had to take his food out to him till spring. Poor thing walked around all summer with that leg up. We figured he never thawed out completely, but he could howl loud enough to hear him a mile away. The Teacher backed her car out of the garage and her tires froze solid to the ice, so she let school out for the day. It took several hours pouring hot water on them to get her car back into the garage. Yep, it was a bit colder than usual that year!
roflmao lol ok im back on my seat now, that photo surely does make me feel cold... im glad it dosent get that cold in my country!
roflmao lol ok im back on my seat now, that photo surely does make me feel cold... im glad it dosent get that cold in my country!
Oh no Watash! That WAS a cold winter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I like the part about the dog and the fire hydrant the best!!!!!!!!!!!
Diesels get cold too! Several people were taking photos of this one that had plowed its way through some pretty high drifts without a snow plow to help!
I've read about how with both steam and diesel, windows would burst in, and there would be snow, etc all over the cab interior. Not fun. Do you have the story behind that diesel photo? What RR? Boxcab E50
It is just one of a bunch of old photos that were my Dad's. All I remember about this one, is that the engine was covered in ice, not snow. That it was "ice", was why so many people were taking this same photo. My uncle Ray lived up around the Great Lakes and would send us photos of how bad the ice and snow got up there. It blows over-land off the lake, see?
Watash you sure got a humor streak in ya ole buddy! thats some good clean fun an laughter.... The rest of ya'll. imagine meeting Watash in person ??? I can see it now. I'd never forget him! My ribs would still ache 10 years latter!
