Ok,before those who know interject I'LL admit there was another step off.It
was not sanctioned,winked at or tolerated in any way but it did exist right
up until the carrier decided that it was good business to supply
transportation back to the source of supply(Aurora) for C&I frt pool
crews.Understand this happened in the form of cabs back to Aurora between
certain hours sometime in the 1990s.Think it was part of the expanded
agreement covering road crew deliveries in the Chgo Terminal to foreign
terminals.
What I'm referring to is the common practice of dropping the rear brakeman
off at the West End of the Aurora platforms on Sat night/Sun morning from
Eastbound C&I trains.Why you ask? Well the westbound dinkies were very scarce
during these periods and if a crew arrived in Clyde anytime from 2A.M until 7
A.M. it was a long dry spell for the ride home to Aurora. So Yankee ingenuity
being what it was the crew while leaving Savanna would agree on some code
word that meant the rear man detrained and drove to Cicero to pick up the
rest of the crew there and then returned to Aurora on the rubber tired
vehicle. More than one crew was caught doing this and sanctioned but it
continued.
I once bailed off a Taconite train on Sunday A.M. and drove to HY and talked
to "smitty" only to learn the train was held at Downers.Remember this is pre
portable radio everywhere days. Drove back to Downers,caught a non approved
rest of my eye lids in the W/C and then drove back to Hy and chauffered the
balance of the crew home upon arrival at Hy.
Leo
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