The Rock Falls wayfreight was one of a few jobs that called Rock Falls /
Sterling "home". There used to be two switch engines that worked the Twin
Cities, one out of the house in Rock Falls and the other started out of
Sterling.
I would catch the 8:00 AM RF switch engine quite often while workin' the extra
list. The deadhead was, in itself, very interesting. A 6:30 PM call on Sunday
evening to catch a City Lines (Aurora) bus to Geneva. At Geneva I was supposed
to catch a C&NW pass. train to Sterling then, after a pleasant nights sleep in
the bunk room, get a cab and get over to the house in Rock Falls. At the house
was a very dead, very cold engine, either 9208 or 9209, the ATS equipped switch
engines.
These engines were needed in Sterling as power for 94 over to Denrock every
evening during the week. The Sterling to Agnew portion of this job was hosted
by the C&NW, therefore the requirement for ATS equipped locomotives.
After gettin' the engine hot and ready on Mon. morning the Engr., J S Pence,
Jr,. would show up and we'd get about the business of the day. A lot of time
was spent switching the feed mill in Rock Falls, right by the depot. In the
course of the activities we would often block Dixon Ave., just east of the
mill. Jr. always had me toss a fusee out to warn the traffic but one day a
driver, slightly "under the weather", drove a nice new Ford retractable right
into the Fireman's side of the no. 2 truck of our engine.
Engine 1 - - Ford 0 !!
Other chores included Illinois Forge, just north of US 30, an occasional
piggy-back trailer, unloaded near the house, RB&W, Parrish Alford, Goodyear
Tires, scrap to and from the wire mill and an occasional switch in Sterling.
When the second job was abolished all the work fell to the Rock Falls engine
and goin' dead became a regular part of the job. Tie up for 8 and come back to
same place ya got relieved and start all over again.
Karl
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CBQ/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CBQ/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:CBQ-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:CBQ-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
CBQ-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
|