Ok,here's another true story from the OLD days.Its during the BN (some would
say Bad News)days but it was former Q thru and through.
One day we're ordered out of the C&I pool for a work train(the discussion of
the logic of using highly "skilled" pool train and engine crews in work train
service could fill another email) to run from Eola to Rochelle where we'll
meet the section and p/u rail,angle bars,tie plates,etc from where the rail
gang has gone through installing new rail.
Upon approaching Shabbona we receive a "head in" board at the East end. The
answer from the DS to our query is that 353 is ahead w/a burned off journal
and we'll be in the siding until he clears up and traffic moves past. Being
somewhat confounded we suggested maybe we could leave out train in the siding
and proceed up behind 353 and pull the rear end back to Shabbona and then go
back to Lee to try and help with the lame car. Same was agreed to and we
stuffed our train of mty gons(and of course the w/c{remember this is the good
old days}) into the back trk downtown. Headed out the west end up to Lee
where we found a 'J' gon w/a burned off journal resting comfortably directly
on top of the detector sensors(no I'm not exagerating one bit).
To make a long story shorter we pulled 353s rear end to Shabbona,went back
and helped the rip track guys from Eola and 353s crew chain up the truck and
then inched that car down to east of Lees' back trk and shoved it in ever so
gently into the clear for later attention by the mech guys.
We then went back to Shabbona;ducked in the clear on the siding and 353
shoved back onto their train and again headed west for further
adventures.After resting in the siding while all the traffic that had piled
up in both directions went bye we went on to Rochelle where we spent the
balance of the day trying to get rail in one gon,tie plates in another,angle
bars in yet another,spikes in their own,etc.But thats another story for an
other day.
Leo
|