Hi Leo and folks:
I can relate to your derail story. One night I was running 369 (Edge. to
Gill. Local) and the FRA had been out all day red tagging the SD-9's on all
the work trains we had at the time. I had "Drawbar Willy" (a future...and
past... RFofE) firing for me, and our current Griever as head man.
Well....we'd been trading out our SD-9's for red-tagged motors all the way
over the road. Willy had been pestering me to run, so when we got to
Minturn (six miles out of Gillette) to pick up the second motor off Sharon
Luth's work train, I said "OK, you go in there and bring that motor out".
The move was: I'd pull ahead with the motors we were keeping, he would come
out and set the out of service motor over onto my motors, then pick the
first motor off the rest of the consist and get back in the siding. We cut
the power and I'm standing on the ground between the main and siding. First
thing Drawbar does is close all the angle and MU cocks between the two
motors he was going to bring out. Now...he can't get the brakes to release
on the second motor (can you see why I wasn't letting him run...and how he
got to be an official?) and comes to ask me why. They got #6 air, so I tell
him, "just bail off the drivers on the second motor and get that thing out
here". So he does that, and I'm watching them pull out to the main,
when....rock, rock, rock, goes the lead motor and he stops. Oh Gawd, he ran
over the derail! Both of 'em walked right by that five-foot tall sign that
says DERAIL and they never threw it. Well....so much for that pick-up. I
walked back to the phone and called the Dispr. and told him why we weren't
going to get it done, and that he might have a track indication there after
we left. We went on into Gillette, and while I was over at the house
putting the motors away, Drawbar and Bradley are in Flip Wilson's office
spilling their guts. When I got to the Depot, Flip says "Well, what
happened?". I told him we spaced out the derail. He asks if that's what I
want him to put in the report, and I said "Sure, that's what happened." He
says: "OK, we'll go out in the morning and pick it up." End of
story.....the way it was in the "old days", today there'd be a whiz quiz and
at least a party.
Mike Decker
----- Original Message -----
From: <BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com>
To: <BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2001 21:45:03 EDT
> From: qutlx1@a...
> Subject: Waycar on the ground
>
> Leo
>
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