One nice summer day Dave Moe, rest his soul, and I caught a
somethin'-or-other east at Savanna. It was a nice train that would
NEVER have tied up the C&I but they ran us "around the horn" just so
we could enjoy the beautiful summer day. John K. was the rear man.
As the train struggled to get to the Yd. office we headed outside to
meet it. It was obvious this thing was never gonna set any kind a
speed record so I asked the La Crosse Engr. about how bad it was. I
got the usual reply, "made a kite outta-f'er."
Well, we tore into it and decided the "kite" had too much tail to
fly but the RR wanted us to take the whole thing anyway so we left
with it.
Surprisingly, we made Walnut without doublin'. After that - - -
Mendota was a snap.
We hit the main and headed for Clyde. Once on the ML the train
handled respectably and we were able to get 50 or better out of `er
on the flat. Somewhere east of Meridan we went into emergency. I
hollered to Dave to "let me know", meaning I wanted him to tell me
when HE stopped so I could prepare for some excitement if I stopped
before HE did (the FRED story). "Ah heck (Dave was very polite),
the waycar just come loose". So I hollered back, "well bleed `er
out and catch me" to which Dave replied "I am"!!! I guess the rear
man wasn't at all happy with our decision since Dave mentioned that
he questioned the results of this action in the event that the hand
brake didn't work. Dave told me he assured him that it would.
Pretty soon I heard a squirt at the brake valve and Dave
hollerin' "highball", away we went.
A little later Dave called and asked if I'd seen a farmer sittin' on
his tractor at a X'ing. I said "no, why". Dave said when he went
by, the guy just had the strangest look on his face and was shakin'
his head. I dunno - - -
Karl
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