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Saw something cool tonite

Started by DanG, March 26, 2010, 11:24:36 PM

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DanG

I had to scoot up to the store at the last minute and got stopped at a rail crossing.  It was a really long CSX train pulling mostly empty flatcars and it was hauling butt.  I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw that the last car was a caboose!!  I haven't seen one of those on the tracks in years!
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

fishpharmer

That is cool.  I can't recall the last time I saw a working caboose.  Any Train Engineer types out there?
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pigman

I thought you were looking at an ice cube. ;)

I don't live far from a mainline and it has been over 20 years since I have seen a caboose.
The union must have required the caboose to be put back on with a crew of ten. ;D
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

LeeB

DOn't strings of over a certain number of cars still require a caboose? You mentioned that it was an extremely long train.
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

CLL

I seen a 137 car coal train today and all it had was two engines in front and one in back.
Too much work-not enough pay.

CHARLIE

Fishpharmer, I started off as a trainman on the mainline of Florida East Coast Railway and ended up as a freight conductor.  The engineer is only in charge of running the engine and its safety. The conductor is in charge of the train and its crew. The conductor determines the movement of the train and the engineer can only refuse if he feels it endangers the engine.

Back when I worked on the railroad, the conductor had to handwrite the switch lists and the Wheel Reports showing movement of the different cas within the train. I spent many an hour at the desk in a caboose filling out reports. At night it would be by the light of a kerosene lamp and in the winter with the warmth of a coal burning pot bellied stove.  I would also sit up in the cupola to check the wheels of the cars when we went around curves and also to wave at people.
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

Don_Papenburg

I was talking to a guy that works on the U.P.   He told me that with the longer trains that the slack was beating the crap out of the guys in the caboose.  He said that they had several with broken arms and a few with rib damage . One of the guys from the Burlington told my brother that they started putting the pushers on their long trains because the couplers would break  from the load.
Frick saw mill  '58   820 John Deere power. Diamond T trucks

ellmoe

  Dan, looking at the title I thought you were sawing blocks of ice or something. ;D No wonder "furneners" say English is a confusing language.

Mark
Thirty plus years in the sawmill/millwork business. A sore back and arthritic fingers to prove it!

Chuck White

Most times now-a-days when we see a caboose, it's sitting on a
short section of track in some rich guys back yard.

Now that you remind me, it's been a while since I've seen one,
except for the one in the rich guys back yard.
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

LeeB

Hey Charlie, how long did you have to stoke the coal box before you got moved up to that spot? :D :D
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

SwampDonkey

It was the beginning of the end when they took our river valley trains out. Only one line through the province I think now and that is under review. Irving has a southern line into the US that I just paid out $18M to service. I mean the Billionaire family wouldn't have $18M? Anyway, I think cabooses are gone here to and all you'll see is a rear engine aside from one or two on front of freight trains. Trucking has taken over, but they struggle to make them profitable. I always said freight should move by train and delivery trucks should be short haul. They did it all ash backwards and is costing a lot of dough to keep highways in shape.

Europe uses trains a lot more than here, even for travel. Here we've gotten too independent with autos and it's costing us a lot more in my opinion to get things done. We have too much wide open space between destinations.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

stonebroke

Cabooses were originally put on trains so the brakeman would have a place to go to. How long has it been since George Westinghouse invented the air brake? The air brake put all those brakeman out of work but the caboose hung on for almost 100 years.

Stonebroke

Coon

Many of our trains around here still have cabooses.  We have a main line going right through the north end of town.  Also here in Wynyard, Sask. we also have a rail yard where they switch cars around.  I can here the trains doing their thing around the clock during the busy season.  This rail line ships mainly to the west with the majority of it being grain.  We do not even have an elevator here in town since they went away from the wooden ones and have gone to the concrete grain terminals.  The closest elevator to here is actually on another mainline about 25 miles from here.  Man 'o' man have I seen some of the strangest things go past on rail cars along with some very weird pieces of art painted on em too.  ;)  I think I might have to go for a lil gander later and see if I can get some pics. 

Coon.
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sprucebunny

The train hasn't come thru my town for 20 years until last summer when they brought a huge transformer totalling 550,000 pounds. Part of it was on  schnabbell car and the crew that works the car lived in the caboose.





MS193, MS192 and an 026  Weeding and Thinning. Gilbert Champion sawmill

SwampDonkey

Coon, when I lived in Rupert, there was steady hauling of coal as well to Port Edward. Big grain terminal there also.



Salmon River Trestle. Drummond, NB.

Bib :D you musta been posting my train. Nice WM CBN sharpener. :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Slabs

That caboose musta been headed for it's last rest.  Kinda like the one we have in downtown DeFuniak Springs.  They make nice museum pieces.

Ya ain't supposed'ta git low enough on Natty Lite to have to wait for a freight train to cross the tracks to git to the store DanG.
Slabs  : Offloader, slab and sawdust Mexican, mill mechanic and electrician, general flunky.  Woodshop, metal woorking shop and electronics shop.

tyb525

Trains often have a caboose when they have a lot of backing up to do. Or, it may have just been in transport to one of those rich person's lawn ;). Old logging railroads were fascinating. I recall seeing a photo of a train cross a stream.. the tracks were IN the stream.
LT10G10, Stihl 038 Magnum, many woodworking tools. Currently a farm service applicator, trying to find time to saw!

Coon

Went out for a gander but the railroad crews must be off for the weekend.  I never bothered to get any pics as there was not many cars there and they were too far away. 

Swamp those terminals are alot different than the ones we have around here... they load ships and we load rail cars.  ;)  The ones we have are designed for storing grain for longer periods of times.   

Coon.
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 w/Kohler,
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CHARLIE

On one end of the Caboose is usually a bed or two. The mattresses are hard as a rock and covered in heavy vinyl. Not comfortable at all.  On the other end, there is usually a stove, a desk with one or two kerosene lanterns mounted on the wall and a commode.  The commode just dumps onto the track.  In the middle is the cupola, where you climb the ladder and sit up high so you can view the train. Today, all the cars have wheel bearings but back when I was working most of the car's trucks had journal boxes. You flipped up the journal box door and there were two mops against the bushing and we would keep oil in the journal box. We would walk the trains and siphon out oil with water in it, blow it on the tracks and refill with fresh oil. Anyway, if a journal box ran out of oil you'd get a "hot box" and smoke would come pouring out. If you didn't catch it, the bearing would break and you'd have a helluva messy derailment. So, the reason you sit in the cupola is to inspect the train as it goes around the curves. You look for smoke.

For a regular boxcar, 100 cars equal one car length of slack.  So if you were in a caboose of a 250 car train and you had a lousy engineer, your caboos is going to travel 2½ boxcar lengths before slamming into a stopped box car. This would cause anyone in the caboose to go flying from one end to the other, plus it will tear up the caboose.  I had a lousy engineer like that once. He DanG near killed me everytime he was stopping the train. He would literally trash the caboose. The toilet would rip from the floor and the windows would start falling out. All the other engineers were good and knew how to stop a train.  The engine has a brake lever that has a "release" valve under it. When the engineer wants to stop the train, he first increases the throttle a notch, then he starts setting the brakes on the train. He does that by drawing the air off the train brakes while pushing down on the "release" valve with the brake handle. The release valve keeps the engine's brakes released.  As the train's brakes start dragging the train down, the engineer increases the throttle another notch or two. The object is for the engine to be pulling while the train was dragging, which causes it to stretch out. When the train is almost stopped, the engineer will back down on he throttle and start using the engine brake too.  With the train stretched out, there is no slack and the caboose will just come to a stop.  The problem is when an idiot engineer applies the engine brake at the same time as the train brake and doesn't increase the throttle.  Without the train brakes set and dragging and the engine brake set, the train starts running into the engine and the people in the caboose are in for a bad time of it.
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

DanG

I didn't think this topic would even get a reply, but it did and I'm glad.  I love trains and it's a DanG good thing because a track runs less than 200 feet behind my house.  Now I live exactly on top of the only hill in Florida, at least on top of the ridgeline that runs across the whole Panhandle, and I never knew until I moved here that those engines shift gears.  I guess they must use my barn to indicate their shift point, but they shift right here everytime they come by.  When there's about six engines duct taped together, it is an awesome sound.  In fact, it's pretty cool if there isn't but one!  There is just something about the sound of those big diesels combined with the whiney buzz(or is it a buzzy whine?) of the motors that I will never grow tired of hearing. :)
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

LeeB

I guess I don't get tired of it either. We use the same engines and motors on the rigs as they do on the trains. Well, maybe that ain't alltogether true. I would like to hear them no more in another 10 years when God willing, I can retire.
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

SwampDonkey

My grandmother was real fond of trains. They used to stop like taxis at all the sidings and watering stations when the steamers where still around. I can remember only diesels and my grandmother would say to me "there goes the old Tobique" when it went by the house going up or down the Tobique River valley. It blew the whistle each time it passed by the Tobique river dam above the house. It used to haul wood up the river to the mill and chips back down to go up the Saint John river to the pulp mill in Edmundston when I was a kid. All the mills moved wood products by rail when I was young and even the potato processors and farmers hauled by rail. I have loaded rail cars with burlap sacs of taters when I was in my teens. It used to come into town here to the feed mill as well when I was going to school and that was a dead end line. It had a fertilizer blending plant to go bye on the way. I believe when they stopped investing in those sidings, letting them deteriorate was when she started the backward slide.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Papa1stuff

My dad worked for the Boston& Maine railroad for about 50 years ,mostly as a track Foreman ,I looked forward to working there also ,until he took me with him on a cold winters nite to check track,now on an open motor car ,it wasn't much fun and that cured me from wanting to work on the Railroad ;D.
I als had an Uncle that was an enginneer for the New York Central and one for the Candian Pacific,also my Grandfather was a switchman for the Boston & Maine in the Concord NH yard

I had the pleasure of riding the train (started out on steam engines ) to high school in the next town from us (8 miles away) everyday,the train wa filled with school kids and the poor conductor I'll bet was glad to see the week end ;D ;D
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SwampDonkey

My mom's uncle worked on the railroad for 40+ years as well. The only trip he ever took was in retirement and the rail road paid for the trip. He went across Canada to Prince Rupert and a ferry took him up to Alaska where they saw the glaciers. He was very tight with his money and that was the only way he would ever have been on a  trip. He never went far from home very often, 50 miles was a long ways. He took old video of the Tobique steamer back in the day and also building of the Tobique hydro dam in the 50's in full color no sound. He was 90 when he died. He was rather tall and he never slouched. He mowed his own lawn and gardened until the end. Always had a pipe, but mostly smoked matches because he would be talking and the pipe would always go out. :D He trapped fur and skinned fur for himself and others and sold to the Bay auctions. He could take a road kill that was torn up bad and use floss to sew it up and the fur buyers could never detect it. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

JohnG28

My great grandfather was an engineer on the New York Central also, and must have passed some of it down to me.  I love watching trains go by, its something Ill never tire of either.  In the Adirondacks they resurrected an old stretch of a former NYC line and it is now a tourist railroad, they run old diesels, some cool old Alcos and have some GM F units.  I love seeing those vintage locomotives running again.
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nas

I have a track about 200yds behind my house.  It actually cuts my property in half.  The kids never seem to tire of watching trains go by.  Occasionally we get to see unusual things like cabooses or old steam locomotives, and of course at the beginning of December the Christmas train always goes by our place.  A real treat for the kids, and as I recall, it has a caboose. 8)

Nick
Better to sit in silence and have everyone think me a fool, than to open my mouth and remove all doubt - Napoleon.

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Bro. Noble

Hey, Charlie,  those were interesting and informative posts.  Thanks :)

You must have had lots of interesting experiences,  why not tell us some more.
milking and logging and sawing and milking

SPIKER

growing up my sisters house was only 43 feet from the high speed track through our little town.   It had a dual set of tracks one was a bypass slow track other was fast track.   We used to hop the slow trains across town or head out to the river to fish. usually speed got going rather fast accelerating faster then most people know.   I think one to both of us had gotten nasty gravel rash from eating it when jumping off...
:o   We saw many a neet thing go by as well as one or two BAD things came home to find her yard full of cops fire rescue and a HEARSE.   19yr old girl  was t-boned by a fully loaded 45mph train.  :(   The car was drug out past her garage in 3 or 4 hunks :o

This was maybe 1978

Mark
I'm looking for help all the shrinks have given up on me :o

easymoney

i dont know when the steam engines was retired but in 1950 we moved to within 1 mile of a railroad track. we could hear the train going by during the night. one night the train had a different sound. they had switched from a steam engine to a diesel. the tracks are still there and the train still runs to my town. i do not know how often or what is hauled from our town other than rr ties,but it ends here at our town.

CHARLIE

Brother Noble and fellow July 21st birthday boy. ;D  I love trains and I love railroading. I could talk about it all day.  I'll do a little education and maybe tell some stories too. I'll be back!
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

DanG

Yeah, that'll be cool Charlie.  Too bad Tom won't let you tell the really good stories.
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

Brucer

When the CPR retired most of its cabooses, they were selling them off for $8000 each, delivered. That is, delivered to the nearest CPR siding to where you lived. Unfortunately, for me that was 6 miles and 1500 vertical feet downhill from me. I DanG near bought one anyway and I'm kicking myself for not doing it. Image the playhouse that would have made for my daughter ;D ;D.

I have two of those kerosene caboose lanterns in my living room. They're mounted on a couple of posts. Most people think they're some kind of cutesy decoration but they are the real thing and they've helped us through more than a few power failures ;D.

Back around '78 or so, the BC government assembled "the museum train" and sent it around the province. It had a working 2-8-0 steam engine, a tank car to supply water,  half a dozen of the old-fashioned heavyweight passenger cars that housed the museum, and a couple of flat cars that carried various steam-powered machines -- all operational.

The CPR executives would not trust that train to run on their tracks, so they hauled it around with a pair of SD-40 diesels. They had to keep the steam up on the engine while dead-heading it, but it was not allowed to pull it's share of the load.

The place they were going to set it up (just down the mountain) was an old siding that switched off a branch line on a very steep hill (5.5% grade, Charlie) on a sharp corner. The diesels had to push that train up the hill so's they wouldn't be trapped on the siding. The local yardmaster was scared stiff that those heavy cars would derail if they were pushed uphill around the corner. So he assigned a couple of switchers to pull the other end of the train up the hill. Just one problem -- they had to stop and uncouple the puller engines just before the siding. No way were those two road engines going to get all that weight moving from a standstill on that kind of grade. After 10 minutes of wasted effort, the conductor ambled along to ask the engineer (72 years old) of the steam engine his opinion. Could the steam engine supply enough extra traction to at least get things started? The engineer just grinned.

Before the conductor had got off his radio to the road engines, the steamer had pulled all the slack out of the train. His drivers were slipping, but he just kept shooting the sand to them and each time the train would move another 4". He hollered to the conductor, "Tell those guys to get moving, they're holding me back."  ;D

This little tale is from first hand experience, by the way. While theoretically in the office, I was actually standing on top of a little cut beside the steam engine as it added a "little" extra traction. The only guy I saw that could have turned me in for being AWOL was my boss -- but he was too busy shooting movies to notice me :D :D.

The train pulled out two days later, right at midnight. Barb and I were asleep in bed, but we both woke up for some reason. Just as we did, that uppity steam engineer hit his whistle for the highway crossing out of town. It echoed up and down the whole valley -- I still get shivers down my back when I remember of it. An air horn just ain't the same.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

Brucer

Just in case you hadn't noticed ...

"I like trains, I like fast trains, I like trains that call out through the rain.
I like trains, I like sad trains, I like trains that whisper your name."

Words and music by Fred Eaglesmith.

Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

SwampDonkey

They've turned an old passenger car into a restaurant in one of the local towns. It sits on a  site that has been a museum for years, the museum is the car. Much of the past rail network has been removed and scrapped along the river valley and turned into trails. Eventually those will grow up because not many people use them unless they have horsepower under their butt.  ;) Only old railroad men would have pictures and memorabilia of the rail roads around here. Never see a picture in a library, no books on the local rail road. Never even see anything much about old Boss Gibson that built the rail road. It's like someone erased those times.  I blame the schools and Universities, they spend all there time in Egypt and Rome and forgot about their own. ::)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

JohnG28

Good story Brucer, I have an old kerosene brakemans lantern that belonged to my great grandfather, has the red/green colored lights alternating on the sides. Its very cool, all original, and still works great.
Stihl MS361, 460 & 200T, Jonsered 490, Jonsereds 90, Husky 350 & 142, Homelite XL and Super XL

CHARLIE

Railroading is manuvering and transporting very heavy cars. Figuring out how to build your train so when you deliver the cars, they will always be next to your engine. Dirt, grit, grease, iron filings, staying out of the way of something that could mash you in two. Throwing switches, tooting the whistle, ringing the bell and waving. Oh.....and back when I worked on the railroad there were not computers so I sat many a day or night in the caboose at a desk creating Wheel Reports and Switch Lists via a Kerosene lamp. In the winter months I'd stoke up the coal burning stove for warmth.

When a train is approaching a crossing, you'll hear the engineer blow the whistle.  Two long bursts, One short burst and then one real long burst that he holds until he is past the crossing. If you hear an engineer toot his whistle three short bursts, that means he is going to back up. If you hear him toot his whistle two short bursts, he will be going forward and if he toots the whistle one short burst, he is stopping. The Conductor or Trainman tells the Engineer how to move the engine and the Engineer responds by tooting the whistle so the person on the ground knows he understood. Also, others on the ground knows the train will be moving and in which direction.
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

CHARLIE

I read an article recently that referred to people being "Train Hoppers". I had never heard that term before.  I assume it is a person that will hop on a freight train just for the thrill of it. We had Hobos back in the '60s and there are four instances of Hobos that I remember. I'll relate one to you. At this particular time, I was the conductor of the "Cane Train" working from Canal Point, Florida to Lake Harbor, Florida during the sugar cane seasons. My train made 12 trips per day (6 round trips during long 12 to 14 hour days)picking up loaded sugar cane cars at sidings on the way south from Belle Glade, Florida and delivering them all to U.S. Sugar Corp in Canal Point. I'd then pick up empty cars from the sugar plant and distribute them to the sidings on my way back to Belle Glade. Then head north towards Lake Harbor picking up loaded sugar cane cars and leaving them in a siding (usually over 100 cars) for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) to pick up and deliver to the Clewiston Sugar Mill, which was also owned by U.S. Sugar Corp. I would pick up the empty cars left by ACL and deliver them to the sidings on the way back to Belle Glade, Florida. Once a week, and I don't remember the day now, but it was always the same day, a hobo dressed in khaki pants and shirt and wearing a Khaki brimmed fedora and carrying an army surplus knapsack (not a backpack) would jump up on the loaded cane car that was directly in front of my caboose during my first stop at a siding north of Belle Glade. One of the things I remember is that he seemed to always have about a 2 day growth of beard. He would sit up on the very top of the pile of sugar cane and ride all the way to Lake Harbor where he would get off and walk off away from the tracks. What struck me as strange was that I never saw him ride the train from Lake Harbor to Belle Glade. It was always from just outside of Belle Glade to Lake Harbor. I have no idea how he got back to the Belle Glade area but it must've taken him a week. He seemed to be a nice man. He never spoke to me and I never spoke to him, but he knew I'd let him ride.



Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

Brad_S.

So you weren't like Ernest Borgnine in "Emperor of the North"?  :D
Count me in as a rail fan. My grandfather was an Erie man, and the Erie Lackawanna right of way ran through the family land when I was growing up. My earliest memories are of toddling over to the big bay window to watch freight trains pass by. I never out grew that love.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." J. Lennon

sprucebunny

Sorry you can't see Utubes, DanG.

Here's one in my home area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d16MFj960ug

I used to follow the Maine Central train up thru Crawford Notch when it still ran. The road is near the tracks. I bought the house I own because it was within a block of the tracks. I really miss the trains.
MS193, MS192 and an 026  Weeding and Thinning. Gilbert Champion sawmill

SwampDonkey

I traveled on a train down near mount Washington one time, been 30 years ago I think. Was nice. :) I have also traveled on the day liner a few times back in the early 80's here in NB. We went on 3 hour trips to Moncton and back.

The demise of the train is happening to buses here. You can't run a  bus line on 5 or 6 passengers. When I was going to college those same buses were booked solid, $20 bucks return ticket. I think they started getting greedy and it's now cheaper to take your own car. But there were a lot more college students in my generation to. The number of schools and little youngsters out there going to school is way down in numbers. Most anyone I can remember in school, have left this place. Few still around, but few of them that are ever went to college.

Same with flying now, I can drive across the country for $800 and to fly it's $1200 or more. There should be a lot wider margin , but the either way around. Something wrong, but maybe we are now paying for convenience and security and before it was a trip. :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Slabs

Quote from: Brucer on March 30, 2010, 01:20:39 AM

The train pulled out two days later, right at midnight. Barb and I were asleep in bed, but we both woke up for some reason. Just as we did, that uppity steam engineer hit his whistle for the highway crossing out of town. It echoed up and down the whole valley -- I still get shivers down my back when I remember of it. An air horn just ain't the same.





I found out a few years ago that the train whistles were mostly multi-note "chimes".  They varied in notes from two to six and that probably accounted for the "wail" of train lore.

I enjoued hearing Johnny Cash try to mimic a train whistle in his rendition of "Wreck of Old 97".  He did pretty good at it.
Slabs  : Offloader, slab and sawdust Mexican, mill mechanic and electrician, general flunky.  Woodshop, metal woorking shop and electronics shop.

SwampDonkey

"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Brad_S.

Quote from: Slabs on March 31, 2010, 08:49:48 PM
I enjoued hearing Johnny Cash try to mimic a train whistle in his rendition of "Wreck of Old 97".  He did pretty good at it.
I don't know how to embed youtube videos but Box Car Willie does a multi-note imitation of a train whistle that you would swear was the real thing.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." J. Lennon

CHARLIE

Building trains: When I was conductor of the Local that worked from Fort Pierce, Florida to New Symrna on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and from New Symrna to Fort Pierce on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday the first thing I would do in the morning is build my train. The cars I needed were in various tracks in the yard and in various positions. My objective was to identify the cars I needed to deliver to the businesses in the various cities between Fort Pierce and New Symrna (or the other way around), separate them out by pulling them out of that track and "Kick" the cars onto my caboose on another track in a sequence that would put the last cars delivered in the back of the train and the first cars delivered in the front of the train. The object was to build your train with the fewest "moves" as possible. I would throw the switch to the correct track and then reading my switch list, use hand signals to my trainman as to how many cars for him to uncouple. I would then signal the engineer to start pushing the cars. Once they got moving I gave him a signal to stop. When he stopped, the cars previously uncoupled kept rolling down the track until it ran into my train. This is called, Kicking the cars. To build a train, we would drag a bunch of cars out of a track, kick some to my train and some back to another track. We'd keep doing this until we got all the cars we needed to deliver in the correct position. Once my train was built, we would connect all the air hoses and do a brake check. My trainman would go up to the engine and I would go to the caboose to do my paperwork (Wheel Report) on each car in my train, where I picked it up, what it carried, its weight and where I set it off. As my train worked its way down the mainline, we would collect loaded cars from different businesses and when we got a bunch we'd set them on a siding for the Through Freight Train to pick up. I would leave a Switch List in the knuckle of the first car for their conductor. The switch list told him the number of each car in the order I had left them. Building a train sounds easy until you try it. Conductors took pride in being able to build their train with the least moves as possible.
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

billdiesel

Quote from: CLL on March 27, 2010, 12:35:35 AM
I seen a 137 car coal train today and all it had was two engines in front and one in back.
DP=Distributed Power. Probably around Rose Lake? More than likely from Powder River Basin headed to Illinois via Indiana.

Bro. Noble

Well, Charlie,  I been thinking about that Kakie Klad stowaway you ltold us about and I'm pretty sure I have it figgered out. ;D

He hopped on on a Friday and in his duffle he was carrying  his cameo uniform that he used on his weekend job of wrestling alligators.  When he returned home Monday (also on your train) he was still wearing his cameo outfit and carrying the kakies in his duffle.  Between your bloodshot monday morning eyes and his cameo duds,  you just didn't see him ::)
milking and logging and sawing and milking

CHARLIE

Hmmmm.....I never thought of that Brother Noble! It takes a man like you to think out of the box and come up with solutions!  Now my mind can rest and I can quit trying to figger it out. ;D
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

CHARLIE

Sometimes, during the course of a day, a train crew would have to get a car onto the otherside of the engine. There are a couple of ways to do this (i.e. Use a 'Y' usually found in the yard), but out on the mainline, the only method available is "Dropping the car by". It is somewhat risky but acceptable as long as everyone does their job and common sense prevails. To do this, a siding has to be available. The engine, with the car that will be dropped is positioned down the mainline a small distance and the trainman is on the engine down by the uncoupling lever, which will pull the pin. The conductor places himself at the switch to the siding and has aligned the switch to the siding. The conductor will then give the engineer a "Highball" sign (Go forward quickly). The engine will gain speed and when going fast enough the engineer will back off on the throttle. This lets the car run against the engine and gives the coupling knuckle enough slack to allow the trainman to pull the pin and uncouple the car. The engineer will then hit full throttle and put distance between the engine and the car. The greater the distance, the safer it will be for the conductor. The engine will then be directed down the siding and when it clears the switch, the conductor throws the switch back to align it to the mainline, which allows the car to travel down the mainline. The conductor then re-aligns the switch to the siding and allows the engine to come back onto the mainline and then he re-aligns the switch to the mainline and locks it. The engine then travels down the mainline to get the car and voila! The car is on the other side of the engine. Sometimes because of intersections, the trainman must ride the uncoupled car and apply the hand brake when it clears the switch.
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

CHARLIE

Of course, all of you know what a passenger train looks like but on the freight side of the business you have Switch Engines run by switching crews. They are usually smaller less powerful engines and are used to move cars around in the railroad yards. Then there are "Locals". Locals are trains that work on the mainline delivering cars, picking up empty cars from customers and is sort of like a switching crew that works on the mainline. Sometimes a Local will have one engine and sometimes two depending on how many cars he has to handle that day or what kind of grade the track has. Of course I never had to worry about track grade in Florida. Not many hills there. Then there are the "Through Freights".  Through Freights will have from 4 to 6 engines and will be pulling over 200 cars. They basically just set off cars in sidings and yards for the switching crews or locals to work or pick up strings of cars from a yard or a siding on the mainline. They have superiority over Locals on the mainline. That means a Local has to get out of the way for a Through Freight when it is coming down the rail. Woe be unto the conductor whose train holds up a superior train.

Here's one of my railroad stories. It happened before I became a freight conductor. I was a trainman and my conductor, Clarence Sasser was, to me, the best railroader I've ever met and taught me all I knew. We had a train of about 100 cars full of raw sugar and were taking them from Belle Glade to Fort Pierce. We had an engineer, Jack, that I didn't think much of and in my opinion wasn't very good even though he'd run an engine a long time. Now, raw sugar is a heavy load and could be compared to pulling cars full wet sand. Clarance, me and Jack were all in the engine and no one was in the caboose. A "Hi-Rail" was running ahead of us. A "Hi-Rail" is just a car or station wagon that is setup to run on the rails. Ahead of us several miles was a lift bridge over a river. When the bridge was up, big steel gates would come down to block the track. Well, on this trip, the bridge was up and the Hi-Rail was stopped right at the steel gate and had radioed us about the bridge being up. Clarence said, "Jack, you might oughta be slowing this thing down and start stopping because we have a lot of weight behind us." Jack didn't pay any attention to Clarence and kept on pulling. A little bit later Clarence told Jack again he ought to be  stopping because of all the weight pushing us. Again, Jack said nothing. The Hi-Rail came into view and we were probably about a mile away when Jack decided to start stopping. Jack eased on the train brake and kept the engine pulling to stretch the train out. As the train brakes set, Jack started applying the engine brakes. The train hadn't slowed a bit. The heavy cars of raw sugar were pushing us hard. We were getting closer to the bridge when Jack threw the emergency brake on the whole train (that's called "blew the air"). We were just literally sliding down the track towards the Hi-Rail and the steel gate. Clarence said, "Come on Charlie, we're getting off this thing." We went out the door to the front of the engine and down the steps and prepared to jump. The train is just sliding along. The two men in the Hi-Rail bailed out of the car and took off running. The doors on their Hi-rail left wide open. The train was now slowing a bit and it slid up about 6 inches from the Hi-Rail's rear bumper before it just stopped. Now that was just plain scary. I don't think Clarence thought much of Jack either.
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

Brucer

Years back I worked in the design office of a large smelter. The CPR had a large switch yard right in the middle of the plant. All incoming concentrate cars had to be weighed, and the scale was on a siding that ran right beside the design office. The tracks beyond the switch yard curved around one of the smelter buildings, so the engineer couldn't see the string of cars he was pushing onto the scale track.

For some reason, one day they decided to have the road engines (4 of them) push the concentrate cars onto the scale track. I happened to be in the design office conference room at the time, overlooking the switch leading to the scale track. The first two cars entered the scale track, but the third car "split the switch" -- the wheels on one end running on the siding, the wheels on the other end heading down the main track. The next car just jumped off the tracks, and so did the next, making a zig-zag arrangement. With four 6000 HP road engines pushing, the engineer didn't feel a thing. As he kept pushing, more cars jumped the tracks, and they started getting awfully close to the design office. The trainman at the switch hightailed it out of there -- but he was too busy making sure he didn't get run down by a passing switch engine to radio the engineer.

By this time, everyone in the conference room was looking out the window. Someone wondered aloud if the train was going to hit the building. I hollered from the conference room doorway, "Why the he-- do you think I'm over here, dummy?"

The building survived and no cars overturned, but there was a heck of a mess to sort out. They actually had to cut back production for a couple of days because they couldn't weigh the incoming cars until the track was fixed.

Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

DanG

Hey Charlie, do you remember the big crash on the FEC line just south of Cocoa in '65?  The wreckage spilled out onto U.S. 1 and blocked half of it.  I remember sitting at a crossing in Cocoa as that train zipped through town at about 60mph, a couple of minutes before the crash. :o
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

CHARLIE

DanG, I have a couple of books about the Florida East Coast Railway and there is a picture of it in one of the books.  I remember hearing about it but never saw a picture until I got that book about a year ago.  I bet the crew was ready to quit after that one!  I can only say,"Holey Schmolee!!!"  Maybe I'll write about the wreck I was in (wasn't as dramatic as the one you mentioned but dramatic enough for me) and maybe a few incidences that happened to me.  Once, my Trainmaster said to me, "Charlie, you don't put 'em off the track often but when you do, you do one helluva job!"  Why did he say that?  Because a couple of times they had to call the wrecker to come up from Miami to lift the cars back onto the track and repair the tracks. I'm here to tell you DanG, I've got the best Guardian Angel in the world. By now though, he's about worn slam out keeping me out of trouble. :)  Of course, when I start telling my stories, y'all have to remember that I had a lot of good days where everything went right.  ;D
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

CHARLIE

Derailments: Usually, when you read about a derailment it is basically a train wreck and newsworthy. But derailments do happen that you never read about. Why? Because they aren't newsworthy....but, I will say they are a pain in the patooty. They are low speed mishaps. Things like sand covered tracks can cause a car's set of wheels to come off the track. Also, when a city paves over the track with asphalt, that will cause a car to derail. Don't ask how I know this. After over 40 years I'm still mad about that one. Anyway, how does a crew get that heavy car back on the rail? In the engine, the crew keeps a sledge hammer, an ax and a Re-railer. A Re-railer is a 'half moon' shaped chunk of steel that is flat on one side and sort of round on he other. After coupling the engine to the car, the crew will place the Re-railer against one of the car's wheels. The conductor or trainman will then signal the engineer to pull forward, which will hopefully pull the car up onto the Re-railer. As the wheel gets to the top, it slips off the rounded side, which moves the wheel over about 8 or 10 inches (I can't remember the "Re-railer's width). Sometimes, that is enough to drop the wheel back onto the rail. But sometimes the wheels are far enough from the track that it takes several attempts to work the wheels over to and onto the rail. A set of wheels coming off the track can really take a crew from 1/2 hour to an hour to re-rail it and will throw them behind schedule. It's a bad deal all the way around. If a crew can't get the car back on the track, they will have to admit defeat and call for the railroad to send one of their cranes to lift it back onto the track, but that is a rare occurence. That happened to me twice. Once in a train wreck and once in a stub track mishap. Derailments don't happen often but no one likes it when they do.

Have you ever thought the bell and whistle of the train's engine is loud? Well, you ought to be inside the engine's cab and hear it. I can't talk about the engines of today, but back when I worked on the railroad, we used GP7 and GP9 engines and the interior of the cabs were all metal. Also, back then there was no OSHA and no one wore ear protectors. When I first started working for the railroad, and would be sitting in the engine the bell and whistle was painful to my ears. But it didn't seem to bother the Engineer or Conductor. I didn't know why it didn't. I figured 'cause they were tough. I certainly didn't want to appear weak, so I just gritted my teeth and bore it out. Later in years I figured out that they weren't all that tough.....they were dang near deaf! My hearing has suffered (at least my wife tells me I'm hard of hearing) and I'm sure the bell and whistle are a part of the reason. On the old GP7 and 9s, the Engineer had a rope with a handle tied to the whistle lever above and his dash below. He would pull the rope to blow the whistle. Over on the left side of the engine cab were 2 seats by the window and a door in front of the seats. To the right of the door was a switch you flipped to the right to activate the bell and to the left to turn it off. We always used both the bell and whistle at crossings.
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

thecfarm

Nice stories Charlie. Not many cabooses around either.Saw one last year,was surprised to see it.When we go to Lancaster County,Pa there is a caboose motel.You can stay in a caboose. Seems like he has many different companies represented there.This is probably around Gap,PA. Seems like there is a model train building right next to it.Should remember all this,been by it dozens of times.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

CHARLIE

I never slept in a caboose even though I spent a lot of time in them.  When I was running the Local from Fort Pierce, Florida to New Symrna, Florida we (the crew) would find an old sleeper car and sleep on old mattresses that only the Lord knows who slept on it before or how many slept on it over the years. We showered in the shop.  New Symrna is where Florida East Coast Railway had their shop to fix engines and cars.  After a 14 or 16 hour day, we were too tired to even think about walking into town. 
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

CHARLIE

Some of this is redundant information that I typed into my first response but I just didn't know how to tell a complete story without including the info again. Apologies in advance.

Engineers: Being a Railroad Engineer, in my opinion, has to be one of the most boring jobs on the planet. They have to sit in their seat all day either looking out the window or looking in the rearview mirror. I couldn't do that. I have to be moving around. The Engineer is responsible for the safety of the engine but follows the direction of the train's Conductor as far as movement. Being a Railroad Engineer is a skill and there are really great Engineers and really bad Engineers. Believe me when I say that there are some bad Railroad Engineers. I've been thrown from one end of the caboose to the other by a couple of bad Engineers.....and it hurts. I've seen a caboose that was destroyed by an Engineer. It just started coming apart inside and out. Today, trains don't use cabooses, so starting and stopping a train isn't quite as critical as it was way back then. The Engineer sits on the right side of the engine with one foot on the "Deadman's Pedal". The "Deadman's Pedal" has to be pushed down while the engine is running or the train will go into an emergency stop. This is a safety feature in case the engineer has a heart attack. I can't talk about the engines of today but I can't imagine they've changed too much from the GP7 and GP9 engines we used. Anyway, what I'm writing about is about the GP7 and GP9 engines (antiques). On the Engineers left is the throttle lever that has 8 positions, a train brake lever that allowed the Engineer to release the engine's brakes independently by pushing it down. And a forward and backward lever (hither go yonder stick). On the Engineer's right is the bell lever located on the wall by the window and the whistle rope. I do not remember where the light controls are but I believe they were in front of the engineer slightly to his left.

Starting and stopping a train: A train's brakes operate with compressed air. The ground crew will couple all the air hoses between each car in the train. The very last airhose at the end of the train has its valve closed. Before the train can move, the ground crew must do a brake check. This is a pain in the butt when you have a long train and a hot day. The Engineer will bring the train's air pressure up to operating pressure and then set the train's brakes by releasing some air (reducing air pressure). This causes the brake cylinders under each car to extend and set the brakes (steel shoes against the steel wheels). A member of the ground crew, trainman or conductor, must walk the length of the train to make sure all the brakes are set. He does this by looking at the cylinders to assure they are extended. Then he signals the Engineer to release the brakes. Then he walks the length of the train again to assure the brakes are all released (cylinder retracted). Then the train may leave. Not bad if you only have 30 or 40 cars but a PITA if you have a 150 or more cars.

Starting a train: The more cars in a train, the harder it is to get moving. When a train is stopped, all the "slack" is stretched out, so the Engineer will start backing up to compress some of the cars so he can get a running start. You'll hear the cars banging together as he backs up. He may compress 10 or 20 cars or more before putting the engine into forward and opening the throttle. You'll then hear the slack coming back out of the cars as the engine gets a running start. Sometimes, it will take a couple of tries to get the train rolling.

Stopping the train: There is slack between each boxcar. Slack is the movement at each drawbar that holds the knuckle used for coupling. 100 boxcars will have as much as one car length of slack in them (different types of cars have different amounts of slack but we'll stick to just boxcars for the illustration). When an engine is pulling a train, of course the train is "stretched out". One of the skills of the Engineer is stopping a train without injuring whoever was riding in the caboose. If the Engineer, who was pulling 150 cars, just applied the engine brakes, by the time all the cars slammed together, the caboose would travel 1½ car lengths and then slam into the preceeding car. This would cause the person in the caboose to go flying from one end to the other. It will also eventually tear up the caboose. So, an Engineer must mentally calculate when to start stopping the train so it will be stopped where it is supposed to be stopped. This is learned by experience and the longer the train, the further distance he'll need to get stopped. Sometimes it will take a mile or more to stop. The first thing the Engineer does is start setting his train brakes, increasing his throttle a couple of clicks and keeping the independant engine brake released. So the cars are setting their brakes and the engine is pulling. This causes the train to stretch out. Once the train is stretched out, the Engineer will start using his Independant engine brake too. The train will come to a nice smooth stop because the cars are dragging the train to a stop, so the train remains stretched out. The person in the caboose is happy.

It takes a good Engineer to run a train. Yep, I said, "Run a train". You cannot drive a train because there is no steering wheel. The engine just runs forward on the tracks or backwards on the tracks. A good Engineer knows how to get his train stopped and started smoothly. A good Engineer is observant and watches for signals for the crew. The Engineer owns the engine and the Conductor owns the train. They have to work together.
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

Brad_S.

Charlie,
I am enjoying these stories. Thank you. I don't think they are allowed to kick cars anymore, are they?
Quote from: thecfarm on April 05, 2010, 07:32:49 AM
When we go to Lancaster County,Pa there is a caboose motel.You can stay in a caboose. Seems like he all many different companies represented there.
There's one in NY too. Have wanted to stay there just for fun but haven't yet.
http://www.caboosemotel.net/caboose.asp
I have often thought of buying one to live in now that I am a batchelor again.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." J. Lennon

CHARLIE

I don't know what the rules of the railroad are anymore, but I cannot imagine being able to work on a railroad and not be able to "Kick" a car.  I mean, building a train would be a nightmare of having to shove each car(s) down each track. Heck! it would take all day to build a train.

Here's a story about kicking a bunch of cars.  I have several "Kicking" car stories.

My train was working it's way north from Fort Pierce.  We were at Melbourne, Florida where there was a nice sized siding where semi-trucks could back up to cars and load up.  I would always go in and take out the empty boxcars and deliver loaded boxcars I had in my train.  Well, this particular day, I was not in a very good mood.  I took the engine onto the siding to pick up all the empties. As we were starting to drag them out, I spotted a hobo run out of the bushes and jump up in a boxcar.  I dragged the bunch of cars out to the mainline and needed to kick thim down to my train, which was a ways down the track.  As I said, I was not in a good mood.  So when I gave the engineer the highball sign to start pushing the cars, I let him get up pretty good speed before I had him stop. The boxcars separated from the engine and rolling toward my train at a pretty good clip.  Pretty soon they slammed into my train enough to knock the dust off 'em.  I stood there  and watched and pretty soon that hobo slowly climbed out of the boxcar and hobbled away.  I've always felt bad about doing that.  I imagine he had quite a trip from one end of the boxcar to the other.  I'll tell another "Kicking" story later.
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

SwampDonkey

"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

CHARLIE

Wow! Dat's not only interesting to see, Dat's a long train too!
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

SwampDonkey

There's some other videos that come up when you finish watching this one. They're from different vantage points. That's in the YOHO National Park in BC and there are some shows they put on in the summer, one I think is a history behind the Kicking Horse Pass.  I see they have an old steamer picture just entering the tunnels on their website. :)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

CHARLIE

Another "Kicking" story:  :o  It was perishable season in the Belle Glade, Florida area and I was the conductor of the
South Bay Turn.  South Bay was a small town west of Belle Glade and my crew went on duty at 7:00pm in Belle Glade and immediately made a run (cab light....that means just the engine and the caboose) to the packing house in South Bay.  We picked up the full loads, which the packing house always had first on the siding and then respotted the partial loaded cars for the packing house.  We then we hauled the loads back to Belle Glade and dropped them off for the Belle Glade crew to build into the train they were preparing for the Through Freight due in from Fort Pierce.  Then my crew headed toward Canal Point to work another Packing House.  The foreman at that packing house did not like the railroad for some reason.  So he would scatter his loads throughout the siding and make sure the last car was a load.  This guy cost me a lot of time every night!  I'd have to drag all the cars out and separate the loads to my train and the partials to a 12 car stub track.  I had to handle the partials carefully so I didn't cause any damage to the unstable crates inside.  Well, one night I wasn't particularly in a bad mood but wasn't in a good mood either.  I was running a bit behind and when I got there and saw that he had done it again, I got fed up.  I dragged all the cars out of the siding and then set a partial load at the bottom of the 12 car stub track butted up against the wheel stop.  I set the brakes on that car.  The stub track was slightly downhill.  I then dragged all the cars out to the main line and started kicking the loads to the train on the mainline and the partial loads to the stub track.  I gave the partial loads an extra little bit of speed and seeing as it was downhill, they'd hit the car(s) at the end with a resounding and satisfyiny BOOM!  Once I got the loaded cars separated out and onto my train, I went down to hook onto the partial loads to drag them out.  They wouldn't budge.  So I walked down to the end of the stub track and Lordy, Lordy....I done caused that last car to jump the wheelstops and then drove the end of the car down into the ground.  So, I uncoupled it and dragged the rest of the cars out of the stub track and shoved them down the track to the packing house.  I didn't spot them to the doors either. I just left them all hooked up.  I then got my train ready for the Through Frieight to pick up, which included putting a Switch List in the knuckle of the first car for the conductor.  After the Through Freight was headed back to Fort Pierce, the Belle Glade crew knocked off after their long day.  We still had a lot of hours to go because we were working about 14 to 16t hour days.  So from about midnight until 7:00 a.m. I was the only crew working.  We finished our day, I called in the crew's times to the dispatcher in New Symrna and we went home.  Well, at 7:00 pm I showed up to work again and everyone was in the Yard House waiting for me and really laughing hard.  You see......no one liked that foreman at the packing house and he had called that day...before I got to work.....and was madder than a wet snake. He said every one of his partials were distroyed and the crates had swapped ends of the cars and broke open.  He had to unload the cars, recrate the corn and reload the cars.  When I got to that packing house that night, the loads were first on the track just like they should be and I never had a problem with that foreman again.  Believe it or not, I did not get into anly trouble at all for that.  Now, about that car that jumped the wheelstops and got driven into the ground.  The Trainmaster had to call the wrecker to come up from Miami to get that car back onto the track.  Then the Section Crew (they are the men that lay new track and repair damaged track) had to shorten the stub track by half a car length.  From then on, that stub track only held 11 cars....and I imagine it only holds 11 cars to this day.....thanks to me. ;D       
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

pigman

 Charlie 
QuoteWell, one night I wasn't particularly in a bad mood but wasn't in a good mood either.
I would hate to see what you would have done if you were in a real bad mood.
I like your stories. I have learned a lot about trains and how they operate.
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

CHARLIE

The diesel engines (GP7 & GP9 and the engines for passenger trains) back in the 1940's, '50's and '60s had the normal two lights that shined straight forward, but they also had a huge light on the front of the engine that would flip flop back and forth.  That light was called a "Mars" light and the engineer could make it stop anywhere during it's cycle.  The "Mars" light was a lot brighter than the two lights that shown straight forward.  It allowed us to see very well on each side of the track and I'm sure it was an attention getter for people on the tracks or crossing the tracks.  Several times in the Belle Glade area, couples would park behind big bushes that shielded them from the road, but not the railroad.  I once had an engineer named Grant that liked to stop the engine, turn on the "Mars" light and let it flop over to illuminate the car.  Then he'd ring the bell and toot the whistle softly.  The engines used on the railroads today don't seem to have a "Mars" light.  I reckon they are the thing of the past.
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

Brucer

As I recall, the Mars light oscillated in a sideways figure 8 pattern. They were thought to be more effective at helping the Engineer to spot something moving -- if you focused on one spot ahead of you, the light created a strobe effect. If you kept your eyes on the brightly lit area, your eyes were always moving. In either case, it was easier to pick out unusual movement. They also lit the sides of the track for quite a distance without projecting light up high where it wouldn't be much use.

I saw a few road engines with them in Washington state in the late 80's and early 90's.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

DouginUtah


A trivial question for Charlie or anyone who knows...

I watched a bit of Trains and Locomotives today and got to wondering what provided the power for lights on steam locomotives.  ???
-Doug
When you hang around with good people, good things happen. -Darrell Waltrip

There is no need to say 'unleaded regular gas'. It's all unleaded. Just say 'regular gas'. It's not the 70s anymore. (At least that's what my wife tells me.)

---

tyb525

There were usually steam generators (turbines) that produced electricity, after it became popular enough that it was used on trains. They used a small amount of the engine's hot steam to spin a turbine generator.
LT10G10, Stihl 038 Magnum, many woodworking tools. Currently a farm service applicator, trying to find time to saw!

SwampDonkey

Without Googling I would surmise something like a steam turbine. We had steam engines here until the 50's, my mom's uncle took silent videos as the same era as they were blasting for the hydro dam on the Tobique. He worked on the railroads for 40 years or more. My grand parents and the locals named the steam engine train up the along the Tobique River, the "Tobique Train". Even when it was replaced with diesel, grandmother always remembered it as the "Old Tobique" as it tooted at the crossing by the hydro dam.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

WDH

Speaking of trains......my FIL passed away this spring.  He has an extensive model train collection, mostly Lionel.  His Dad worked on the Seaboard Coastline railroad.  It is a shame, but we will sell the collection as part of the estate settlement.  His collection of model trains is most impressive.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

SwampDonkey

My brother is some-what of a collector as well. It's hard to find the quality sets around here that we had as kids. My uncle had a model train like an old steamer, but we was real young, when before we knew better, and the train was run like a toy dump truck in the dirt.  ::)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

nas

Finally got this picture off my phone.  This is out of my back window in April.




Nick
Better to sit in silence and have everyone think me a fool, than to open my mouth and remove all doubt - Napoleon.

Indecision is the key to flexibility.
2002 WM LT40HDG25
stihl 066
Husky 365
1 wife
6 Kids

sawguy21

I have really enjoyed this thread. I have a Brownie snap shot of the last steamer through the Okanagan valley here in B.C. taken about 1958. I loved the sound of a steam whistle, it carried for miles on a cold night. Horn on the diesels is not the same.
My grand dad was a crane operator for the NYC in southern Ontario. The line crossed into Canada at Buffalo then re entered the U.S. at Detroit saving the long run around Lake Erie. They had almost thirty trains a day running through (5 roads) and the kids were not allowed to be on the tracks for any reason. He would have lost his job over it.
Charlie talked about building trains. There was a nasty wreck not far from here a few years ago, tank cars derailed and dumped hazardous chemicals into the river. Paul H will remember that one well.  Pretty much wiped out the marine life. Report came out that they had lightly loaded and empty cars in the middle, the train was on a long grade and it literally straightened out pulling the lighter cars off the tracks.
The CN and CP branch lines split in the town where I grew up, CP continued north and the CN looped around and headed south west. The latter crossed the road about 1/2 way home so we would hop into an empty car then jump at the crossing, the long trains were still building speed.One day I made the mistake of hopping a short freight. It was going at a good clip at our crossing, I had the choice of jumping or riding the 65 miles to Kamloops then finding my way home without getting caught. I jumped spraining both ankles in the process. I was sitting by the road feeling sorry for myself when a vehicle stopped, it had to be my dad of all people. Never did that again. :-[
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

Magicman

Here in the South there are too many trees and hills to see very much of a train as it passes by.  You only see a few cars at the time.

In 1973 when I made my first trip "out West", while crossing Wyoming, I got a chance to see my first "Whole Train".  And that coal train was loooong.  I was anxious to get back home and tell folks about seeing a train from "engine to caboose".
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Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

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