Leo et all
They probably did it in every yard on every railroad in the US, but I
specifically remember that when I was Asst. TM at Joliet on the RI that most
of the dunnage was removed from flatcars headed back to the Caterpillar plant
by our yard crews...Most of it was used for building fires along the lead in
the wintertime, but a good portion of it went home for various uses as you
described.
We had one engineer who hated (even more than most) every switchman...These
guys would pry the dunnage off of both boxcars and flatcars and pile it on
the running board of the engine...they would then haul it down to the yard
office and load it in their pickups...Floyd (the engineer) would sometimes
refuse to move the engine until they removed the "load"...he worked up such a
hatred for these guys, and they tormented him so much that one night he
refused to move the engine...said he couldn't see the switchmen....just
"bulling" again.
This crew...which was the worst of the lot....brought the engine down to the
yard office and said they refused to work with this guy....I went out, got on
the engine and told the engineer to take the engine back up on the lead and
we were going to see why he couldn't see the switchmen.....
Said engineer said to me...."now I'm gonna tell you something BUSTER"....well
that ended things right there....I sent him home for insubordination and
after a many times postponed investigation he was fired....wasn't the first
time for him.....Well guess what my nickname was for the rest of my tenure at
Joliet?????
I was told that he pulled a like trick a few years later working a yard
engine at the Blue Island Terminal....In this instance the Terminal
Superintendent went to the engine and inquired as to the problem...Floyd's
final words spoken as an employee were..."You go run that office and I'll
run this engine".....His firing that time was permanent.
Didn't have much to do with wood or coal...but the memory surfaced and, of
course, it had to be recorded for posterity.
Pete
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