When it comes to handbrakes, the worst kind has to be the old wheel/latch type
from years ago. After spending 13 years switching these in an agri-chemical
plant at South River, MO. I had enough and bid to another job (Behind a desk
with a computer--somewhere where I could read RR magazines and not run over
anybody while I was daydreaming of F units and blackbirds!). If you had a tank
car with this type of brake and you tried spotting it at a platform for
unloading you sometimes had to wait for the sloshing (There's that lack of
baffles again) to stop or you would never be able to get the wheel-chocks to
stay put. When we would weigh inbound cars our scale track was kind of in a
bowl of sort's. If you didn't shove them hard enough they would slosh back onto
the scales, then again if you shoved them too hard the would roll down through
the plant and hopefully not tag someone or something at a crossing.
Our suppliers sometimes marked bill of ladings "Shell Full" but most often the
weight of the material was more than the shell capacity of the car. It was no
fun trying to stop at a crossing when a truck pulls out in front of you with 3
or 4 loaded tank cars trying to shove you through (An our shop people wondered
why the train line air brake handles were so loose and the disk brake pads on
the trackmobile itself were worn out in no time). Lord what I would have given
for a heavier unit to switch with (Sant never brought me that SW1 I asked for!).
As for the Hannibal Connecting RR , I saw a picture in Hannibal years ago that
showed what looked like a Whitcomb center-cab diesel in black with a white HC
emblem on the cab side. A few years back a retired firefighter in Hannibal,
Becker Spaun was selling HO 40-ft boxcars with the HC logo on them. Real nice
little cars, I believe they were modeled after a HC 40-ft car that serves as a
storage shed at a scrapyard in Hannibal.
Sincerely,
John C. Jacobs
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
|