Mercy! I haven't been hunting since the early '60s! I wouldn't mind hunting again but I don't know how my family would handle it. I guess I'd rather be target shooting. Nobody gives a hoot if you put holes in paper! I've been running a lot of stuff through my memory bank lately. I have a monthly calendar hanging above my computer. I got it as a membership benefit when I renewed my membership in the Shore Line Interurban Society. This year's calendar features photos of the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin RR, the defunct interurban which ran to and thru the western 'burbs here in Chicagoland. The railroad served all the terminals in its corporate name and was given the appelation of "The Great Third Rail" by local railfans because of the railroads somewhat unique although not unusual, method of electric current collection. This month's picture shows a train of wooden interurban cars,westbound, coming into Wheaton IL. Most of the cars were almost,if not already, 50 years old when the photo was taken in high summer of 1955. Still, after 50 years of heavy duty, they are still capable of 70mph and since they were well maintained, they look just as good as when brand new! This was in an age before air-conditioning was wide spread, and all the car windows are wide open to give the passengers inside a breezy ride. I had the pleasure of riding that railroad a number of times when I was a kid, and took a couple of railfan special trips as well. There was an interchange with the C.B.&Q along the east bank of the Fox River, in the "Pigeon Hill" neighborhood of Aurora. What is now the West Chicago branch of the BNSF still goes thru the area where the interchange was. It is just a broad spot in the R.O.W. I worked with a veteran hogger(now retired) a few times who remembered the interchange quite well. I also am a member of the Fox River Trolley Museum and our operating R.O.W. is a former interurban, the Aurora,Elgin & Fox River Electric Rwy.(A.E. & .F.R.). The entrance to the gambling boat on the Fox River in Aurora is located on the opposite shore from the former C.A.& E. terminal. Much of the R.O.W. of the interurban is now a bike/hiking path(Rails to Trails) and there are historic markers indicating the connection and history of the C.A.& E. At one time Aurora was #2 in Illinois cities served by electric interurbans, with 5 railroads. Chicago,of course, being first. The Aurora Transportation Center, served by METRA(BNSF Racetrack), PACE bus, and Greyhound bus, uses some of the historic outbuildings of the former C.B.& Q. backshops which were located in Aurora. Walter Payton's restaurant and mini-brewery is in the historic and highly unique 360 degree former roundhouse of the C.B.& Q shops. If you ever want to experience a ride on one of those wooden interurban cars I just talked about, come on out to FRTM anytime and you can ride #20, a wooden Niles Car Co. interurban built in 1902. I guarantee you'll enjoy it! CT
Not too much happening lately to trigger any memories. If anyone has any questions they would like to ask, please be my guest! Charlie
Just thought of one... If prototype operation practices interest you, this will be right in your area of interest. Every fan should probably be aware of dragging equipment detectors and what their purpose is so I wont go into the whys and wherefores of them. On the "Aurora Racetrack" there is a "silent" dragging equipment detector just east of the Riverside station for WB trains. By "silent" what I mean is that the detector gives no audio response UNLESS there is a piece of dragging equipment. This particular detector protects the bridge over the DesPlaines river. I was working as a collector on job #1200. That is the first day job of the dinkie parade. On duty 03:30, pull at 04:30. Pretty good job especially in summertime! 3/4ths of the job was accomplished prior to 9:00AM. There was about a 2 hr layover for servicing of the train and "beans" and then one WB trip and tie-up. I would be home by 1PM latest(it was an 80mi round trip commute for me). Enehay, the HOT WX we've been having lately triggered this memory. It was High Summer and as I mentioned I was working as a collector. We were on our final WB trip when suddenly we heard the detector indicate "dragging equipment". The hogger told us later that he was momentarily stunned by the report but regained his composure and brought the train to its regularly scheduled stop at Riverside where we could then inspect the train for defects and would not be blocking any streets. All of us trainmen(3) hit the ground at Riverside and began to inspect the train. As you might guess we were quite concerned as to what we might find that would have triggered the detector. The station agent at Riverside was monitoring the radio and came out on the platform to help us by inspecting the train from his vantage point. He suggested we check the tail hose. We did and noticed that the strap hanger had broken causing the hose to dangle free. The hose looked to be a tad longer than normal and in the warm weather it would be more supple and in the slip stream of a 70mph commuter train it was probably flying quite loosely. Since we didn't have a spare hanger strap,we jammed the free end of the hose up into the empty space of the drawbar guide.. Believe me, we were all quite worried that we would find something more serious. We were able to finish our trip,and we reported the defect. The train was turned over to another job but repairs were made prior to their departure. The trainmaster found a spare hanger . All that happened is that we got our white summer uniform shirts dirty,but that's railroading. Charlie
If any of you enjoy watching someone when "the light turns on", you might enjoy this one... When I was working out of Galesburg, I worked a couple of times with an "old head" hogger who we will call "PJ" for privacy's sake. Ole PJ had been around for a while, knew his territories in and around Galesburg and was more than happy to help out a "greenhorn" conductor like me who worked a different stretch of railroad almost every time I was ordered. At any rate this one particular trip, we took a train to Chicago. No major problems coming in. I had a "reverse lodging" arrangement with crew desk so I would stay at my actual home whenever I was in Chicago. I gave PJ my home phone # and address so he could call me if necessary. The next day we were ordered for a manifest freight and for Corwith Yard. The manifest freight was in the IHB yard in Blue Island IL and there was a van waiting to transport us to Blue Island. No problem, ole PJ knew the drill backwards and forwards so when we got to the IHB yard office, he told me the fastest way to get the paperwork and track warrants etc. After we got our paperwork, the IHB messenger brought us to our train. It had already been made up and air-tested.This was a step-on, step-off train. Well we got out of Blue Island and headed for the connection with the (former)ATSF main. As we neared that point on the IHB,we passed by the CPC International processing plant in Argo IL. Ole PJ looked over to me and said "CPC International... gee I've always wondered what they make there!" I looked at him, somewhat in disbelief, and said "corn starch". The light turned on..."Oh Yeah" he said, "Argo Starch. Now I know how it got it's name...we're in Argo!" Sez I..."You got it!" There is another tale to tell from this trip, remind me to relate it later.
Hey Charlie, You said to remind you later, and you would tell us another story about the one above. REMIND REMIND So..."Once upon a time, long ago..."
Actually, TWO parts..... What I didn't mention or fail to make clear is that on this particular RT, I was actually the pilot, The conductor was a young kid, also junior to me in seniority. He was a youngster who had been force-assigned to Galesburg from Corwith Yard on the Santa Fe side. I guess he was a nice enough kid. He didn't bring much with him to Galesburg, but he did bring an attitude. We came into Chicago on the "Main Line"(former C.B.&Q.). That route is pretty much straight-forward railroading(CTC) but as we got close to Aurora and the junction with the C & I I wanted him to be attentive to the instructions I was giving him as to what he should expect and watch for and what would be coming up next. There is a good deal of railroading that happens within that junction area. The trackwork is convoluted and you have to know what signal to look for,which ones are governing your track and what aspects to expect, then you have to deal with the commuter train leads and the crossovers and leads for Eola Yard. It seems that my "student" was more interested in talking on his cell phone during this interlude so I dont know if he understood or even heard any of what I was saying. At any rate we completed our inbound trip without further incident. Now we resume the original tale for the return trip. As I mentioned earlier, we were ordered for Corwith Yard and taxied to Blue Island on the IHB. However the hogger and myself arrived first and we were waiting for the conductor. After about 1/2 hour he failed to show up so we decided to call crew desk and advise them of such. They told us they were unable to reach him at the phone number they had on file but to wait and they would call us back. After another period of waiting crew desk called back and asked if I would take the conductors slot and get the job going. No Problemo! Then we resume the trip/tale going past CPC Intl. We were to find out later that our young conductor with the attitude had become rather ill and had his family take him to the hospital. He was staying at his family home and he neglected to call the RR and/or ask his family to notify the RR! So much for that. At any rate, before we arrived in Galesburg we were told to report to a safety meeting on arrival. Our train was destined for Kansas City and we would be relieved on the main. Enroute to the diesel shop, where the safety blitz was being held,we were told that we would be "randomed". Oh Goodie... a whiz-quiz!! Well, when we got to the diesel shop we were met at the door by the tester and ushered into the conference room. Ole PJ got this sorta sick look on his face,took me aside and sheepishly asked me if I would test first. It seems that ole PJ suffers from "shy bladder", an actual physical abberation, and the tester was female. He had to ask her to leave the room while he went into the lavatory to get his specimen. He knew the problem he was about to face, thats why he asked me to test first, since it would take him a while to "get up the nerve" LOL. I accomodated him and when I completed my test(breath-a-lyzer and specimen) I went to the safety blitz. There was all sorts of food and beverage there and the TM was holding the video tapes for us. There were about 20 other rails in there waiting for the program to begin. This particular TM had been a pretty nice guy to me before, but now he had done a "Jekyll and Hyde" on me and was acting like a real jerk . He sez to me..."where the *&%$ is your hogger?" I sez, "cut him some slack, he has a shy bladder and he'll be here when he finishes *&$#^@+ !!" At any rate, the TM decided to start the program. Ole PJ finally shows up about 1/2 later and joined in the "party". Never did see that young conductor again, nor did I care to! CT
He is probably in Management now! Thanks Charlie, enjoyed the "Rest of the Story". A similar occurrence lead to my first time to actually "Run"-"Drive"-"Operate" a steam engine all by my lonesome. (Whatever people call it now days.)
Well, my 'very first' time was...1943. I grew up around trains, since I was 6 years old, particularly around the roundhouse and shops, since my Dad was working as a specialist for casting, fitting, oil grooving, and did scrapeing on babbitt and large bearings called "brasses", for Peerless Bearing & Babbitt Co. when I was about 9 or 10. When I would go with him, he or one of the workers would teach me to hand grind lathe tool bits, set up and run various types of machines, and prepare molds for castings. I got a summer job as apprentice machine helper at the Rock Island Roundhouse at El Reno, Oklahoma when I was 13. During the war, things happened fast and furious, and one day both the hostlers were out running engines, and the Shop Foreman needed a finished engine backed out and another engine pushed in for repairs. It was close to lunch time when he grabbed me by the shoulder and asked if I felt I could back this engine out and stop it on the ready track alone? (I had been training with the hostlers several times, so knew what to do and how to do it.) I said I thought so. He said just be careful, we have to get the other engine in here, and to let the yard crew worry with my engine once I got it over there. While he went out to tell the turn table operator, I walked around the engine checking all the wheel chains, then climbed up into the cab. A worker in the cab was finishing up checking the water and oil gages and said he would ride along with me and watch the fire. (I later found out he had told the Shop Foreman I could run the engines OK). I pulled the engine brake on, then pulled the throttle back about 4" then shut the throttle off, all in less than a secant. The worker had jumped toward me, then asked, "What did you do that for?" I told him it was to fill the steam chest, so I could ride the expansion out onto the table and use the reverse gear to stop and hold while we were being turned. He relaxed and said, "Well, I guess you did learn pretty well kid." I backed it off and down the ready track using just a bit of steam, then handed off to the crew, and we walked back to the roundhouse together. They called me 'Lil Hoss' (little hostler), after that, and I got to run three more engines out later. I never expected to run one 'into' a stall track, because positioning was very important, I wouldn't have trusted that to a kid either, no matter how well mannered or trained he was. It was still a big thrill though, and built up my self confidence a lot! The other two kids were more on the rowdy side, playing tricks and not too serious about trying to learn much, so they got a bit jealous. They would grease the handle on a heavy wrench then hand it to you and let go just as you tried to grab it. One guy got a mashed toe, and knocked the kid out. The other kid finally got fired too, but I don't remember what for now, but something about as stupid. The next year I worked Saturdays on the DK&S at Searcy, Arkansas, and got to run that old engine from Searcy to Kensett occasionally. The early years are fun, then it becomes work.
CT, Got any stories about trains sneaking up on you? I have heard they can run quiet when your not looking.
===================================================================== Yeah I almost got run over by an Electroliner once! I was with a couple of other young railfans(we were teenagers) and we were out photographing on the (now defunct)North Shore Line up by Skokie Shops of the CTA. We were crossing the main line by the North Shore Channel bridge when I turned to my left and saw the 'Liner about 2 car lengths from me. I was just stepping over the inside rail at the time, so I was in the clear when it passed me. At Cicero Yard on the BNSF(former C.B.&Q.)when it was a hump yard, you had to be really careful down in the "bowl" when cars were being humped, most especially at night cuz it was so terribly dark down there. You had to make sure you were not in the foul of any track since you really couldn't tell how wide a car was, nor could you hear them since the ballast was mostly fines and cinders and they deadened the sound quite well. Empty flat cars were the worst cuz they had no "profile" in the dark and you had no idea of how wide they were. On switchman told me of a "close encounter" he had with an empty flat one dark night. He went thru a pack of smokes that night to calm his nerves! Also at the east end of Cicero the 3MT main lines are on a right curve and the bowl tracks were adjacent to them. You had to be careful so as to not stray into the foul of the MT since approaching trains from the west would not see you,or you them, until the last moment. Eola is another tricky yard although it is a flat-switch yard. It has a "table roll" from east to west so when you kick a car(s) into a track, if it fails to make a joint, you will get that sucker rolling right back atcha without any warning. You can hear the wheels on the rail and joints if you are adjacent to the movement, but if you are upwind of the movement(usually the case) you wont hear it. The first thing you learn as a switchman is to never turn your back to the cars. One night I had a cut of loaded lumber racks roll back out on me, but in the meantime I had kicked a open auto rack onto another track. After I pulled the pin for the kick, I was heading up to the loco to get my raincoat since it was starting to rain. My field man was up another track to throw the switch after the auto rack cleared. Well, that cut of lumber racks rolled back out just as the open auto rack was going down the lead. The lead rack peeled the plastic netting off the whole side of that open auto rack and messed up a couple hundred bucks worth of lumber in the process. Never heard a daggone thing! The field man was the only one to see what happened. Short ending... I was going to plea bargain for discipline on the investigation, but the charges were dropped, no cars were damaged(they were used cars anyway)and the lumber damage was within acceptable limits. The reason I was going to cop a plea is that I was accepted to engineer training and was about to start my preliminary training. I didn't want anything to foul that up. Got one or two more about cars sneaking up on ya. Save for later! CT
CT, Always a pleasure to hear aboutyour adventures! Watash, Thanks for sharing! That was pretty cool. Too bad nowadays doing that could get people fired...
This is the story I referred to in the "Engineers Class" board,I didn't find it in the "Storytime" thread, but I think I may have told it before. I apologize for the repeat. Cars accepted in interchange.... There is a rule for that and basically it is an "Initial Terminal Air Test", but it governs air brake testing for cars accepted in interchange. There is a small yard just off the "main line"(former C.B.& Q. transcon line)approximately in Montgomery IL and it is called the "Sheepyard" . A couple of jobs use it,the "Cat Job", which switches the Caterpillar plant in Montgomery and the "Armour Job" which switches The Dial Soap plant in Montgomery plus a plastics plant and a waste paper recycler. The Illinois Railnet interchanges cars there with the BNSF. The "Railnet" is the former Fox River Branch of the BNSF(C.B.&Q). They bring a lot of loaded covered hoppers of sand there plus empty lumber racks. They pick up empty hoppers and loaded lumber racks. The "Sheepyard" gets it's name since it was an animal feedlot in antiquity and there is(was?)the remains of a small feed grain silo there. I was working 2nd shift East Yard. I was the foreman and I had a relatively new guy as my field man, but he was competent and a good worker. At any rate the YM barks out on the radio that he wants us to go down to the "Sheepyard" and pick up TWO(count 'em 2) days worth of cars there since the cars hadn't been picked up the previous day. Since we had just completed a brace of switch lists we were ready to take a break and go for a little ride. The weather was warm and pleasant and it would be a welcome break to the monotony. HOWEVER..... I had a score to settle!!!!! Seems this YM, and he was one of the 2 regular 2nd shift YMs, had been taking advantage of the good graces of the switch crews lately(too involved to enumerate)so A LOT of guys wanted to get even with him! I had MY opportunity. I was also stopped by one of the "old head" switchmen in the yard office and he told me, "remember those are 'cars accepted in interchange' '' and he winked! We got our track warrants and paperwork,a FRED, called the DSPR, told him our loco # and what we needed to do. After a few minutes he got us the lineup and gave us our highball. Off we went! Now mind you...we had 2 days worth of cars so that was btwn 40-50 cars.These are cars accepted in interchange and the air test is the same as "Initial Terminal Air Test. When we got to the "Sheepyard",which is down a steep grade from the "main line", I was quite explicit in my instructions to my field man and he understood completely and was capable of performing those tasks.We had to "double" 4 tracks of cars,couple their air hoses, cut in the air,hang the FRED,test it, and walk a complete set and release of the air. The field man made the joints,coupled the hoses and tested the FRED. I walked the complete set and release. When the field man finished his work he went to the cab and waited for further instructions. I walked the air and as my luck would have it(and to my advantage)the "Cat Job" came in to pick up an errant flat car, and then after him, the "Armour Job" came down and did some switching. Now all these jobs had to use the same lead, and I wasn't about to try and move a heavy loaded train of mostly damp sand up that grade while another job was trying to get in & out . The 2 GP-38s used all the muscle they had to get that train up the grade. So when the coast was clear, and the air test was done, we boogied our way up the grade, inched up to the junction with the C & I, stopped and called the DSPR. I should mention that the YM called while we were still down in the "Sheepyard" wanting to know what we were up to. Well we called the DSPR and let him know we were on the "Sheepyard" lead and wanted to get back to Eola. After a few minutes we got the signal to enter and we headed back, called the YM for a track to yard the train. The YM was fuming!!!! It had taken us 4 hours to do that move, but it was all by the rulebook!!!! That pretty much took care of our shift, any more major moves would result in us going on overtime while the 3rd shift sat drinking coffee in the lounge. The hogger was laughing about it. he thought it was great. He wanted us to do it again the next night,MOF he called the YM on the radio the next evening and asked him if he wanted us to make the pickup in the "Sheepyard" LOL Well I got my revenge and a bunch of kudos from my buddies in the yard! CT
Anybody got any questions about prototype railroading,steam,interurban or trolley? I might have a story to share or be able to shed some light on your questions. Charlie
A couple, and I think I may have told both of them on other venues, but I'll start with this one and mebbe do the other one later. The engineers class I was in was the first class that my R.F.E. had following his promotion to that job. I had worked with him a few times and I knew him to be a good engineer and hoped that he would also be a good manager.Since he was a working engineer, he also knew what was important to the "health and welfare" of the operating crews,especially engineers. The Christmas/New Year holiday period would occur during our qualifying run period. The R.F.E gathered us together for a "pep talk" and one of his several "pop quizzes". At this particular meeting he told us that we should work our qualifying schedule so that we would, in his words, "be where you need to be for the holidays". None of us needed any more clarification than that. It so happened that the turn and engineer mentor I was assigned to was called for late PM, Dec.22nd WB to LaCrosse Wi arriving there in the early AM of Dec 23.We got out on our rest for the EB trip arriving back at Cicero Yard early,early in the AM of Dec 24th, Christmas eve. Those are the facts, now the rest of the story... I was at the point where my mentor was letting me run the whole trip both ways. he would sit in the brakemans seat,listen to a recorded book or read the paper or just shoot the breeze and offer reminders and critique my performance. When we were about an hour out, I got on my cell phone and telephoned my wife. She would pick me up at the roundhouse in Cicero. That was the usual arrangement. She would drive me and pick me up. That method allowed both cars to be at home. My youngest daughter was still living with us and that way both my wife and daughter would have a car available to them. When my wife answered the phone she mentioned to me that my daughter and her B.F. would come with her and that the B.F had something he wanted to talk to me about. I was pretty certain that I knew what it was he wanted to tell me. I was also pretty certain that considering how the trip was going we would be able to yard our train and tie up the power at the R.H. and not have my wife waiting very long for me. Well, we yarded the train, cut away and got a running track back to the west end of Cicero Yard to access the lead to the roundhouse. When we got to the west end, I called the switchtender for a lineup to the roundhouse but she told me to wait a few minutes for "TV-30" (TV-30 is/was the designator of a transfer job from BNSF to Conrail). I wondered aloud to my mentor why she wanted us to wait for TV-30 since they worked out of the East End. He just shook his head in wonderment. Well we waited and waited and waited and waited. I called her a couple more times and got the same answer about waiting for TV-30. Now all we had was a pair of Dash-9s, there was NO other traffic in our way, there was NO eastbound activity that would hamper us or would interfere with their movement. All we needed to do was run a couple hundred feet more WB to clear the roundhouse lead switch, get the proper lineup and book up the lead to the new fuel rack. It would have taken us 1 1/2 -2 minutes tops to make this move. After waiting about two hours(and my wife waiting all this time at the R.H. and her cell fone is at home so I cant call her)the ditsy switchtender realizes that TV-30 works out of the EAST end of the yard and they are killing time cuz they know that they are not interfering with any moves at their end. And this bimbo has the audacity to acknowledge OVER THE RADIO that TV-30 just needs access to the EAST END!!!!! By this time I am fuming cuz I know that my family is waiting for me, it is early,early Christmas Eve morning and I am eager to get home and celebrate the holiday with my family. My mentor, normally a laid-back guy, is also quite disturbed. He lives in Shabbona and he has about a 2 hr drive ahead of him yet. The conductor is so angry, he isnt even talking! Well, we get the OK to make the move, and MOVE we did. I spotted that power in fuel rack, my mentor was already outside tying on a hand brake as soon as I stopped. We jumped off that power,and I was cussin' a blue streak about the switchtender, the railroad,the weather and anything else that crossed my mind. My wife could see me getting off the power and she could see I was visibly upset. The three of us made a bee-line to the register room to tie up and drop off the paperwork. We shook hands,wished each other a "Merry Christmas" and headed straight for our vehicles. I was still %^$#**^!@# when I got to my car. My daughter and her BF were rather silent. He never did ask me what he wanted to, I guess he could see I was in no mood to discuss anything. At any rate,later that day, he did propose to my daughter.They married about a year and a half later. Unfortunately the marriage didn't even last 2 years, but I dont think my attitude that Christmas Eve had anything to do with it Got another story about that holiday period, but save for later. Also I have the "Polar Express" story,which some of you may have read before. We'll save that for later also CT
