My late grandfather told me a Q 'hunting' story that involved the
Lushton, Nebraska branch line. For you city guys, the Lushton branch
diverged from the Lincoln to Denver Mainline at Sutton, NE (a couple of
blocks north of Grandpa's house) and ran a few miles to the Northeast.
It was a typical branch line, with minimal ballast and lots of great
cover along the right of way.
A common 'operating practice' by one of the engineers assigned to the
local was to allow a couple of his Sutton buddies to ride the front end
of his locomotive, probably a 10-wheeler, so that they could hunt for
pheasants as he rolled up the branch line at a slow speed. It was a
perfect arrangement until a railroad official discovered what was going
on. The engineer was disciplined.....and received an unpaid 'vacation'.
(What other industry 'fires' people....for all kinds of reasons......and
then hires them back?!?)
Years later the hoghead (who will remain nameless) was at the throttle of
the California Zephyr on a regular basis.
Don Zinnecker
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