Heres a true story(scouts honor and on the bible) concerning Mars lights on
the units.
It also involves one engineer with the nickname Honest John. The equipment
involved is of Q origin but by the time of this incident its painted BN
green.
Our crew was deadheading home from one of those extended stays in luxurious
Savanna wherein we collected all the "rule" and then some.SInce we were being
transported east on one of the infamous multiple section 98's.(you know one
of those 93 loads of lumber and 2 mtys,just it get there someday trains) we
chose to ride the waycar.
After 12 hours of "high speed" travel we arrived on the running track at Eola
where the working crew was dying(under the hog law). As the w/c cleared the
west end of the yard an eastbound off the C&I offered to p/u anyone wanting
to continue on to Cicero.
Now Marshall Aull was my partner at the time and his car was in Cicero as he
lived in the Northwest burbs at the time. So he gladly took Honest John up on
his offer to slow down and let him swing aboard as the lead unit went by the
w/c. Marshall was very happy about this stroke of good luck and brotherly
care as we had been gone far too long and would probably get the call that
night to start the process all over again.He really wanted to get home. Grip
packed,standing on the back platform as John rounded Wood St,crossed
Farnsworth and asked where the hack was Marshall was all set to hop aboard.
As Johns lead unit was alongside Austin Western he came on the radio and
asked his rear end crew "did you do that" they came back w/ a no?! About this
time the Mars light went into its figure eight gyrations and Marshalls hat
went flying his grip hit the ties and the air was blue for a few moments.
As some of you know what this meant is that Marshalls cab ride had just ended
as the radio conversation and the Mars light meant that the "taxi" was in an
unplanned emergency application.A long walk and delay would follow trying to
find the problem.
Marshall would now spend an extra hour or so at Aurora waiting for the next
Eastbound dinky and then enjoy all those stops until Cicero.He was despondent
to say the least.
Finally when he could stand it no longer Honest John turned off the Mars
light and the headlight back on and came on the radio advising Marshal that
the cab would be there momentarily! Everbody except Marshall enjoyed a good
laugh.
The punch line is yes indeed the Mars lights had manual controls in the cabs.
Leo
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