One the most serious non-fatal accidents that I ever
witnessed involved a flat car being caught "on the
fly". Conductor Curt Newton was in his normal
condition (please refer to Rule "G"). He caught an old
company service flat with loose ties piled on it, on
the yard lead, at Herrin Junction and was going apply
the hand brake and ride it to rest. As he pulled the
drop hand brake staff up, he found it was not
connected to the chain. He jumped off just before the
flat hit a standing hopper. The ties came flying off
and covered him up. If he hadn't been drunk, it would
have killed him. As it was, he ended up in the
hospital and shortly retired.
John
--- Virginia Edgar <vje68@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Memories are coming back now (it's been 15+ yrs) -
> we did prohibit boarding
> Trailer Train flats on C&NW but not conventional
> ones. I only recall
> boarding a flat once while working Proviso during a
> BRAC strike. This was
> one case where height was a disadvantage whereas
> boarding house cars was
> tougher on shorter men (& I keep using the male
> pronoun as all train service
> people at the time were men; ironic in a way as C&NW
> had a big push at the
> time for hiring minorities in train service but the
> thought of women working
> trains didn't even cross anyone's mind). That said,
> men switching flat
> yards were generally in good shape as the constant
> running to switches,
> boarding and stepping down from cars AND hanging to
> the sides could be bone
> wearying especially with hot weather and long switch
> lists. The romantic
> photos of guys hanging "off" the sides of box cars
> are just that - real
> rails held their bodies close to the side of the car
> to keep more of the
> weight off their arms. ABout the only time you
> would really stretch out was
> to see the engine on a curve (or the track ahead) or
> an occaisional
> 'stretch'. A big yard, or working a long passing
> track could mean some
> l-o-n-g rides. Getting back to the flat, the other
> problem was there was
> nothing easy to hang on to while riding and standing
> atop a flat on rough
> track is not advisable. And on rare occaisions that
> a flat had stakes in
> the pockets, they were a no-no as some could snap
> off (we lost an
> experienced switchman in St. Paul that way as the
> stake broke and he fell
> down a long steep hill hitting his head on a rock.
> Best to ride a flat was
> to lean over some but the taller you are the tougher
> that is. Tank cars were
> indeed rougher than house cars but they varied a lot
> due to wide range of
> ages and construction style - I seem to recall an
> easier time with old 8,000
> gal UTLX's than big new ones. In any case, even
> though a man might be
> tempted, especially with a long ride on a covered
> hopper to ride the end,
> that was forbidden as you would no longer be in
> sight of the engineer (in
> event of a fall OR the need to suddenly signal a
> stop). I always recall one
> of my Sunday School teachers in Dubuque, a long-time
> Milwaukee switchman -
> never have known a man with a stronger grip and
> years later I learned why -
> yrs of boarding & riding cars, throwing (bending)
> switches and making hoses
> on cold days made for strong hands. He was also
> catcher on a semi-pro
> softball team but then I've known a lot of brake &
> swtichmen who were pretty
> athletic. And to bring things back to the Q, at
> Grand Crossing Shops (No.
> LaCrosse) the main pastime during beans for the shop
> forces was pitching
> horseshoes - for the oldtimers it was a question of
> when they DIDN'T make a
> ringer according to my grandfather & his friends!
> (And for your modelers,
> the pit was on leeward side of a shop building with
> tie stubs for a
> backstop). Gerald
>
>
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