OK, tonight resurrected one of those long forgotten stories. Granny was one
of the most untalkative guys on the division. He also was one of, if not the
hardest working. Now Granny's' seniority date as a brakeman was 1948 so I
believe the story as told by Don the whopper Willett to be true. One night
while enjoying a break between pulls at Carnation at Rochelle Don entertained
us w/the story of Granny as a young brkmn westbound in the C&I pool stopped
at the Coal Chute for coal and water. Seems it was a night somewhat like
tonight (cold and blowing in the middle of a real winter).Granny as was the
practice, climbed up on the tank to top off the water while the fireman and
engineer tended to other matters of coal and oiling around. Well, as fate
would have it while Granny was pulling the spout from the tank he slipped on
the accumulated ice and fell into the tank! He spent the rest of the trip
drying out next to the firebox. Granny didn't have much in the way of
comments as he listened to Dons version of the story that night.
Anyone else ever hear of a similar incident?
Leo
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