Tales From The Cab !

watash Feb 18, 2001

  1. watash

    watash Passed away March 7, 2010 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    Hey that's great! I didn't lose my calluses until well into my 40's! HA! You know how the diesel cab bounced and swayed going down the track? Emagine sitting fifteen feet back behind the diesel on a pole going down that track! The steamer's cab is a good ways behind the drivers, so it is like riding a bull whip, up, down, sideways, push, pull, shove and burp! Like a roller coaster, and fun as hell unless you get sea sick easy! :D
     
  2. BN9900

    BN9900 TrainBoard Member

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    Watash, this is why I'll stick with diesels thank you.
     
  3. watash

    watash Passed away March 7, 2010 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    You are right BN9900, the shiney diesels are prettier, smoother riding, and easier to "drive". You get the Cadillacs, we were half scared of the monster Model T's we were hanging onto for dear life! HA! But its a thrill either way, isn't it? :D
     
  4. BN9900

    BN9900 TrainBoard Member

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    Watash, with only having one working hand a diesel is much easier. (I have a disability called Hydrosyphilis) So the diesels are my #1 choice. [​IMG]
     
  5. watash

    watash Passed away March 7, 2010 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    I do understand old Buddy, I coated the inside of my lungs with polyurethane while experimenting with all kinds of pourable plastics to encapsulate an electric motor for use as a pump under water. It is like trying to breathe through a balloon. I would not be able to breathe around the old steamers anymore. Even diesel fumes get to me now. My railroading days are over, so that is why I enjoy the models so much.
     
  6. BN9900

    BN9900 TrainBoard Member

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    That's not good Watash :( I remember seeing the old E-s on the BN out in Chicago doing what they do best, hauling passengers, even though they weren't haulin' name trains like the Empire Builder, North Coast Limited or California Zephyr, they were still quite a sight to see racing west into the golden sun set. Man if only I could have had a cab ride in one of those :( That's the main reason I like diesels so much, the memories from those units are just like yours and steam. Did have a cab ride in a cab car for about 10 miles once but that's for another time. Long live the Es [​IMG]
     
  7. watash

    watash Passed away March 7, 2010 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    I think the ElCapitan was an E-8 (long with 6 axel) for passenger. The 4 axel ones were for freight. Back then they were noisey inside when they reved up the engine! They bounced back and forth between the rails, but that could have been the track too. My guess is there is quite an improvement now, so the new diesels of today must be a good ride! I'm just glad you are getting to ride at all! Some of these guys will never have that thrill of the rails, so we have to try our best to put it into words. :D
     
  8. BN9900

    BN9900 TrainBoard Member

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    Well I will try to do that. The SF used their E-8s (all 4 or 5 of them) in second hand train service like the La Junta-Denver and on the west coast. The main reason why the SF didn't use Es was the same reason as the GN, the traction motors would have burned up so they used the Es on lighter trains. Granted the ATSF Es came into Chicago once or twice it wasn't often most of the time they had awsome sets of ABBBB or ABBBBA sets of Fs.
     
  9. BN9900

    BN9900 TrainBoard Member

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    Do we have one room for one more Cab story? Well this one takes place between Aurora and Lisle Illinois on a commuter run east-bound. I was about 12- or 13 at the time and I always liked riding in th e cab car. This was the last car of the train, and when traveling east bound it was the first (push-pull) Well when heading east people loved to stand at the door and look down the track, kids loved (and love) to do that to imagine they were engineering the train. It was a weekend run so people traffic was light and the conductor asked if I would like to go to the second level of the car and visit the Engineer. These were my favorite trains so of course I said yes. We went up there and stood behind the engineer as we took the train into Chicago. It was a cool ride, I was only 13 so he didn't allow me to actually drive the thing but he let me blow the whistle at the "W" post and it was pitiful. The old cab cars still had the cord to pull for the whistle, and I was so weak all I could do was make it hiss....that was pathetic and I was a little embarressed. Oh well, I had a blast and will never forget that. [​IMG]
     
  10. watash

    watash Passed away March 7, 2010 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    You may have felt embarrassed, but the thrill far over shadows that! You will always know how it feels, smells, and sounds even if you never experience that again. It never really goes away! Thank goodness! :D

    I'll tell another tale later.
     
  11. BN9900

    BN9900 TrainBoard Member

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    That's true, I would like to thank all the Railroad Crews out there past and present who take the time to show some kindness to the young railfan (and old ones too) instead of just looking the other way. You guys really do make an impression on us younguns, thank you.

    A special Thanks to the Crews in IL and WY
    :D
     
  12. rsn48

    rsn48 TrainBoard Member

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    Back in around 56 my grandfather was a CN engineer in the Canadian Rockies. When I came out to live with my mother and grandparents in the Rockies (Jasper, Alta) because my father was on a peace keeping mission during the Suez Canal Crises, my grandfather had me up in (I'm guessing here, but I think an F unit) probably F7. All I can remember is crying because it looked like the engine was going to fall off the curves in the Rockies and I was scared. I can remember not liking that you didn't know what was around the next bend. Needless to say, he was embarrassed as something special turned into a hassle for him. I did eventually get back into his good grace as went on other rides (and didn't cry...lol).

    But I also remember the F7's had a shrill whistle that was a signalling device that I didn't like. The sound use to scare me. I was around 7 years old at the time.
     
  13. watash

    watash Passed away March 7, 2010 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    Seems like I recall there was an early development of some sort of wheel slip device for those old streamliners that gave a shriek every time the wheels spun. That would drive you up a wall in curving mountain rightofway!
     
  14. NSBrakeman

    NSBrakeman E-Mail Bounces

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    All first generation diesels had wheel-slip lights in the cabs, but those were the extent of the electronics in those days, nothing like the computer crap they have today.

    Dave :mad:
     
  15. watash

    watash Passed away March 7, 2010 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    This is a test to see if a post will work. Haven't been able to read any post beyond page 2 for the last several weeks. What good is it to post if we can't see it? Try this:
     
  16. watash

    watash Passed away March 7, 2010 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    Sorry folks, I'll try posting again tomorrow or the next day if the white page lets me. :(
     
  17. 7600EM_1

    7600EM_1 Permanently dispatched

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    Hey BN, and Watash,
    I got to cab ride in a new AC6000 "CSX" like 3 months ago from Meyersdale, PA to Connelsville, PA
    what a thrill that was, It was almost new they had cleaned it up, and their was like 3 or 4 other loco's behind it! It was a AC6000 on the point, and then an AC44CW-9, and I think 2 SD50's. What a wild ride that was! :D Its nice when ya know an engineer let me tell yeah! Bad part of the whole excursion was I didn't have my damned camera along with me! :mad: I'll have my chance again the next time the old camera is going with! :D
     
  18. watash

    watash Passed away March 7, 2010 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    A number of years ago, during heavy rains, a couple of spans of an old wood tressle washed away just north of Grand Prairie, Texas. An engine had gone south to pick up some box cars and several flats that were to be spotted back in a north yard. As this engine pushed the flats while pulling the boxes, the engineer suddenly saw a black gap in the rails ahead! The driving rain was blurring his vision, so he was intently watching for high water, trees or other debris that might wash against the tracks. But there were NO TRACKS ahead!! He slammed the old steamer in reverse, and hit the train brakes. The result was, he and his fireman lived, and the engine was saved, but he lost the two front flat cars in the river. You can see how high the water was if you notice the weeds and brush laying on top of the ties of the near end of the tressle! When I took this photo on the way home from work about twilight, one of the flat cars was still under water about the center of the gap. It was the last run the old steamer made in revenue, and this section of track was never repaired. It was soon abandoned and all the rails removed.

    [​IMG]
     
  19. watash

    watash Passed away March 7, 2010 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    Well its been a while since we had a mystery story, so here is one I have to say "I over-heard being discussed", to protect the by-standers who were not involved. Ever since I heard about this, I have wondered what all is hauled in those big covered hopper cars?

    You know how sometimes you used to make a phone call, and you could hear the person you were calling, but you could also hear someone else on the line also, but they could not hear you? Well, one time, late at night, there were two people discussing an incident that must have happened a few weeks before that.

    When I realized they could not hear me, I started to hang up and try again later to make my call, but by then I realized they were talking about some cars that had dissappeared right out of a yard; so I eves-dropped. As best I remember, this is how it went:

    It seems that somewhere way out in the boonies, there must have been an abandonded section of track, that used to connect to a semi-main line. As I piece the happenings together, four or five people uncoupled five of those big hopper cars, and rolled them back into the darkness away from the active yard personel and other activity. There were truck tire tracks where a large truck must have been chained to one of the cars and pulled the string down to another switch and out onto an industrial siding where they could be hidden from general site between the buildings.

    Someone had keys to open and re-set the switch. They may have pulled one car at a time, or all at once, that is not known. Sometime that nite, they suspect markings were changed so the cars could be sent to a destination along the main and switched to a less used track and set out at a small town several miles away. Someone would have had to alter waybills, and had the authority or cunning to get the cars picked up, and tied into the proper train. From that point on, the cars simply dissappeared. An investigation started when the customer began inquiring about his order for the cars, "Where were they, and when do I get them?" Traces were sent, and investigators found people who had vagely remembered seeing a small string of hoppers that had arrived, and had been sitting in the yard when they went off duty. People who had come on duty, had not noticed them at all. They may have been there, but they just didn't notice them. There was no trace of them ever leaving the yard, and no trace of them passing through the yard, nor on any train around the time they would have been expected to have arrived, or been waiting for the train to take them on to their destination. Evidentally the days passed and cars were checked on all the industrial sidings, there were no such cars. One car was found in another yard with the markings they were hunting for, but it was empty and had been loaded with another product, with some residue still inside.

    The phone call was telling what had happened after the investigation. When the cars were re-marked, they had been separated and set onto different industrial tracks during the night time switcher. One car was set out in another yard for pickup by the next train through that same night and had gone out just before daylight. Another was sent out the following night and went to another town and set out. The two next went the same night to a different town, and the last car went out the next night to a town only 12 miles away. It was picked up during the morning and came non-stop right through the yard it was stolen from and was dropped off at the same town the two cars were dropped of at. The rest of the cars were shifted around the same way until each car arrived at this little town one at a time, and always at night.

    After the customer set up a ruckus to find his product, a track inspector noticed some fishplate bolts were missing the nuts and lockwashers, so he had the track gang replace them and tighten them up again. The investigators ran agross his repair order and inspected the spot that was repaired.

    A section of rail had been removed and replaced, but seemingly nothing else had been disturbed. They walked the track almost all the way back into the little town, but found nothing. A few weeks later, the investigator was back and found the abandoned rails that lead to an old sand pit. At the pit was parts to a switch frog, fresh cut rail sections, and an abandoned crawler tractor that ran as soon as they tried it. There were no rail cars anywhere to be seen. There were a lot of tire tracks where large semi-trailer trucks had made several trips, but they lead out to a paved road.

    No one in the little town had seen any trucks, or sold gas or food to any strangers except a couple of tourists, and no body had reported a stolen tractor. The pit was too far from town to have heard any activity, and no one had stayed up late enough to have seen any lights out there. The cars were gone!

    The guys on the phone were speculating that someone knew the train schedule through that town, and had set the cars out on a siding as usual, probably one at a time. When the second car arrived, the bandits had set their switch in place, pulled the car through it onto the abandoned spur, removed their switch, replaced the rail, and unloaded the car into trucks. The next night, the guys must have pushed the empty onto the track, pulled it back to clear the switch, and pulled the new car into the sand pit. They then pushed the empty back up to the siding and left it, while they unloaded the second car and hauled the contents away again. This must have been repeated until all five cars were empty. As the cars accumulated on the siding, they were mixed with box cars. At some time or another the empties were picked up and sent back east to some yard where no one could figure out where they came from. They were not damaged, they were just empty.

    In their haste to get away, the guy left to finish fastening the replaced rail bolts, didn't really finish it up, or the old sand pit wouldn't have been discovered, because it had been abandoned before this railroad ever bought the right of way!

    Except for the customer, no one knew what was so valuable that someone would go to the trouble they did to steal five covered hoppers and haul the load off in trucks.

    I do not know to this day what it could have been, maybe I don't want to know!
     
  20. GP30

    GP30 TrainBoard Member

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    from "The Guage". :(

    Tim was since like april a member of trainboard.

    June 14th, 2001
    "I learned that Tim Marletter (T.K.Marletter) passed away yesterday afternoon at his home in Frostburgh,MD, he was 73."

    (wt&c (me) posted this there)
     

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