Karl
That's right EVERYBODY let the fireman think he was
hated. Remember, the fireman never told the engineer
to stop. It was always, "That'll do". You sort of
suggested it was time to stop. I never met an oldtime
engineer who didn't think he was the only one who
could run an engine and most claimed they learned it
all on their own! And their fireman would NEVER be an
engineer. Boy, you said it when you said, "MY ENGINE".
John
--- qrailroadman <karl5631@a...> wrote:
> 2 in 1.
>
> Russ,
>
> What was said on the radio, about how old the break
> was, was STUPID.
> I'll reply to Jan's query about alleged animosity at
> the end of this
> message. While I never got knuckles and drawbars
> (don't everybody
> laugh at once)even if I had I sure wouldda never
> left myself that
> wide open.
>
> Yeah, a "drawbar Houston". This was the term
> applied to the Houston
> loads called Q or K50's. In the beginning an
> Engineer wouldda
> received a comendation had he been able to "get" a
> knuckle. Always
> the rotary end and always between 10 and 20 cars
> back.
>
> Yeah, again. The "new way". It'll probably still
> be called that in
> the 22nd. century, kinda like the "new track" in the
> West yard at
> Eola. No one living can remember when it was put
> in.
>
> I'll give you some MAC Facts off the Q list.
>
> Jan,
>
> The usual "division" between on-train employees was
> that between
> Engine Service and Train Service people. Each
> "hated" the other.
> Hated, that is, until the common "enemy", the
> Company, needed to be
> dealt with. Then, in the old days, everybody joined
> hands and put up
> a solid front. Sigh, the old days.
>
> Each craft had a "right of passage" in that no new
> guy was "accepted"
> by the "old heads" until a certain amount of time
> passed and the new
> guy began to fit into the group. Sometimes this
> period of time could
> be quite lengthy. Some never made it.
>
> Engineers hated Firemen. Why, 'cause they were
> SUPPOSED to. In
> steam days there were countless ways to torment the
> Fireman. When
> Diesels showed up the Engineer had to search for new
> methods of
> showing his disdain for that "bottom feeder" on the
> left side of the
> cab. Even the head Brakeman didn't like the
> Fireman. The Conducter
> didn't much care about either of them unless one of
> them spilled his
> coffee, or some other beverage.
>
> The Engineer "owned" his engine while the Con.
> "owned" the train. I
> suggested to a Con. one time that, to settle a
> dispute, what ever it
> was about, I'd cut "MY" engine off of "HIS" train
> and go on in. He
> could get in any way he wanted to. There was
> resolution before the
> suggestion was implemented however.
>
> In only a very few instances that I'm aware of was
> there any REAL
> hatred between crafts. It was pretty much just the
> way things were.
>
> Karl
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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