Ok, Pete you asked so here goes. I dont recall making a pure "Dutch drop"
per se. but more on that farther down in this email.
You are correct that you would be up for an "investigation" today if you
even thought about making a standard drop much less a dutch drop. I believe
Karl has a true Dutch drop story from Deer Grove. It's interesting to say
the least. Karl ?!
My first trip as a set up Condr was drop heaven or hell depending on how
you look at it. I was sitting home between brakeman trips in the C&I pool
when the caller said" I need a Condr for the around the horn job". Silly me
thinking I had 2 experienced "drones" this would be piece of cake, so "I
take the call" . I show up at Eola and learn I have two"pigeon" brakemen off
the extra list and an extra list engineer !. Talk about 4 blind mice. I had
worked this job 2 or 3 times as a brakeman so I had some vague idea of
stations and industries.
We leave Eola with a handful of cars with Mendota next. At Mendota they
pile on the kitchen sink to the max of 25 cars for a GP7. First stop is La
Moille. We have 3 cars of Fertz for the distributor there. This where the fun
begins. This is back when every farm related supplier thought they should
be into furnishing every thing for the farm. The distributor at La Moille
was Swift. They were at the west end of the siding off a stub spur that
opened to the east,we were headed west. We pull up the main since none of us
are
sure where Swift is at in town.. Once we figure that out; we can either
back the train east out of town and pull back in with the fertz cars and pull
into the siding ,perform a runaround and shove them into Swift or
>>>>>>>>. Since we can tell we're going to be up against the "hog law" given
>>>>>>>>all
the work ahead of us(no wonder the entire regular crew laid off). I decide
we're going to "drop" these 100 ton plus loads of fertz. But even I'm not
going to try and drop them into the stub track(safety first). So I explain
the entire move in the cab to everyone. We shove the loads into the
siding,bleed the cars, while running the engine into the stub trk we let the
loads
run out thru the mainline switch back onto the main. We come out and get
them and then spot them up.
Guess what...it worked just as planned. Now with that in my memory bank we
go on about our business to Savanna via Denrock without further stress as
at each station I somehow recall where the loads of
lumber,Urea,fertz,feed,etc belong. Understand that most industries dont have
signs on the rail
side of their buildings.
Next morning at the yard we find there are 25 cars to peddle between
Savanna and Aurora !
The first interesting move is at Milledgeville. Where there is an mty
fertz CH off the siding on a stub trk that opens west and we're headed east ?!
So rather than clear and spend the rest of the day watching 42 or so thru
frts run by in each direction we leave the train hang out on the main,nose
in on the mty fertz car, pull it out of the stub trk, shove it east on the
siding,put the engine in on the stub trk and since the whole terrain rolls
west bound we bleed off the CH and let it roll down onto the train,bring the
engine out of the stub,tie things together and pull down to the east end. A
very mild "Dutch drop".
Now the day goes on pretty routine until we get to Waterman. We have a
load of fertz for FS and the stub switch opens west and were going east. We
can go downtown and use the passing trk to make a long runaround and come
back west and spot the car or................
I,as the big Con, decide we're running short on time so we stop short of
the switch, cut the CH of fertz away from the train,check the hand
brake,bleed the car off, pull the engine east of the stub switch,line the
switch for
the stub and I'll ride the hand brake on this 100 ton plus load of fertz
down hill (one hell of a steep decline)into the stub. MY goal is to just get
the damned thing stopped before running off the end of the stub trk.My old
C&I pool Condr(Lew Peshia) tried the same manuever a few months earlier and
found himself in the mud at the end of the stub track. But the handbrake
is working so well I get fancy and with a whole lot of luck manage to spot
the car on the auger on the first try ! Roger Howard who is the extra
engineer provides me with a whistle salute on this accomplishment.
Now for the climax of the 12 plus hour day. We have 7 loads of fertz for
FS at Hinckley. The stub switch opens west off the main and were headed
east. Again we can cut off west of town,pull the loads in between the main and
passing switches,runaround them and shove them out east to FS
or............ Yup we're going to drop 7 loads of ferts into the stub trk on
almost
perfectly level grade. Its now getting dark and in March is still gets cold
when the sun drops below the horizon. Everyone understand the plan and is
place. We bleed the cars after leaving the train down town. The head man is at
the switch, the rear man has the pin on the engine and yours truly is on the
handbrake. Everything works as planned and 3,4 ,5 cars of fertz roll off
the main and into the stub trk and then crawl to almost a stop with 2 cars
hanging out on the main??!!. I see myself going to the phone and trying to
explain how with less than an hour left before going dead I have the engine
frogged east of cars hanging out onto the main and the train sitting near
downtown Hinkley. This investigation will be quick. Good thing the job
insurance is paid.
So........I jump down from the handbrake and literally put my shoulder
into them. Pretty soon both brakeman are leaning as hard as me and we manage
to get the cars to clear the main ?!! The switch gets lined and we shove
them up to spot with the engine.
Upon advising the DS we are leaving Hinckley and we have work at Big Rock
with about 45 minutes to go.... one of the most infamous TMs ever assigned
to Aurora comes on the radio and advises to "run" the work at Big Rock and
go direct to Eola. His initials were RDT. This was the third time this box
car of salt for Big Rock had gone by the elevator.................
Leo
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