Great Poem,Pete!! And great clarifications, too. There's just a few
terms/expressions,
tho, that I'm curious about:
"give a yank" I assume that's a whistle blow
"drawhead" ??
"drawbars down" I assume is broken couplers
"break the chain" ?? attempt at breaking a coupler/train?
Thanks for tolerating my ignorance!
PSHedgpeth@a... wrote:
> Well it's been a couple of days so here goes another one for Leo, Karl, Bob
> and any other train service guys....I'll include appropriate definitions for
> clarity for the uninitiated.
>
> THE HOGHEAD'S LAS REQUEST
>
> A hoghead on his deathbed lay;
> his life was ebbing fast away.
> His friends around him closely pressed
> To hear the hohead's last request.
> He said: "Before I bid adieu
> One last request I ask of you:
> Before I soar beyond the stars
> Just hook me on to ninety cars.
>
> And let me set on that engine there
> See how rough I can handle the air;
> Oh, let me at some water tank
> Make a big-hole (1) stop, and give a yank.
> Then from the corner of my eye
> I'll watch the pieces as they fly;
> Then I'll calmly turn around
> And watch the dust cloud settle down
>
> Oh let me pull a drawhead out,
> Then take my can with its long spout,
> And when I'm safely on the ground
> I'll take my time and oil around.
> Then far behind in that red caboose
> I'll hear the conductor cutting loose
> A few pet names, as in days of yore
> I've heard a thousand times or more.
>
> Oh, just once more before I'm dead
> Let me stand a conductor on his head
> and see him crawl from out the wreck
> With a windown sash hung around his neck.
> And when he comes and wants to fight,
> I will look so innocent like;
> And the old excuse I will proclaim
> There's a dynamiter (2) in the train.
>
> Oh, let the train with the drawbars down
> Have every crossing blocked in town
> And when they chain those cars together
> Oh, let it be in sloppy weather.
> And on my tombstone put no name
> If I can't start and break the chain.
> And you kind friends, I'll have to thank
> If you let me die at a water tank.
>
> Let my ears hear that familiar sound
> the tallow (3) pulling the tank spout down;
> Oh let me hold in my greasy hand
> a bunch of waste and my old oil can,
> And let me die there on the ground
> Where I've spent my life oiling around;
> If a hoghead dies with conditions like this
> I know he will die in perfect bliss.
>
> And when at last in the grave I'm laid
> Let it be in the water tank shade,
> And put within my lifeless hand
> A bunch of waste and my old oil can,
> A marble slab I do not crave;
> Just mark the head of my lonely grave
> With a drawbar pointing toward the skies
> At the spot where this poor hogger lies
>
> Then fainter grew the hoghead's breath
> His friends around him closely pressed;
> His mind was wandering far away
> Perhaps to some far distant day
> When he a hogger of great renown
> Was turning cabooses upside down.
> Perhaps his mind had wandered back
> to a drawbar lying beside the track.
>
> When he in trying to start the train
> Was doing his best to break the chain.
> His face lit up with joyful light
> And his soul prepared to take its flight;
> His friends bent o'er and called his name.
> He smiled and said, "I broke the chain."
> Then closing his eyes, he said no more,
> He was doubling the hill to the other shore.
>
> RAILROAD MAGAZINE October 56
> Author Unknown
>
> (1) big hole stop.....emergency air brake application
>
> (2) dynamiter....defective triple valve on a freight car which causes an
> emergency application of the air brakes even when a service or lesser
> application is made.
>
> (3) tallow...early day slang for fireman short for "tallow pot"....Derived
> from the early use of tallow (animal fat) for lubrication of the valve
> mechanism on a steam locomotive...A can of this material (a pot of tallow)
> was always kept sitting on the backhead of a steam engine to keep it hot and
> thus liquid for ready application by the fireman, whose job it was to go out
> over the running board to the front of the engine while running and apply
> said material through the relief valves to the valve mechanism..
>
> Pete
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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>
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