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Charlie
I think what we have is not high prose...but it's REAL RAILROADERS TALKING...As I've "postulated" before my round tuit is getting closer and I'll try to get something going. There is so much which has come out in the last few days and I hope I can get something together which will include everybody's contribution.
I'll be open to some, shall we say, PRODDING to get this going...
Pete
-----Original Message----- From: Charlie Vlk <cvlk@comcast.net> To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Thu, Dec 20, 2012 12:02 pm Subject: RE: [CBQ] Buda-Elmwood Branch Passenger Service...now it's whangdoodles I think that a compilation of this discussion and list of terms brought up would make a dandy Zephyr or maybe even Bulletin article. When this starts to wind down maybe Pete or somebody else would like to take a stab at pulling it together…… don’t have to worry about making it high prose; what I’ve seen here is pretty good reading!!!
I have some old trade journal and union magazines that may add to the article…..tied up with holidays, building our house and client work right now but will peruse them for some additional gems….I know that “running wild” goes back to Civil War days.
Charlie Vlk
From: CBQ@yahoogroups.com [mailto:CBQ@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2012 11:43 AM To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [CBQ] Buda-Elmwood Branch Passenger Service...now it's whangdoodles Steve...that's an interesting sidelight which I never would have thought of on my own although it fits so well with a railroaders mentality and penchant for the nickname and the "playing of tricks".
Speaking of "tricks"...One day I was at the depot at Langdon and noticed that one of the windows in the operator's bay was broken out and the pane was filled with a piece of cardboard. I asked my dad if he knew what happened...He said a few day ago a brakeman threw a 'sack of water" (from his passing waycar) at Bruce (Adamson, the agent) and it went through the window...Bruce was a real old time operator and had been a DS during WW II. He was a trickster himself and had probably pulled some stunt on that "shack" and was being repaid.
Bruce also had a violent temper and used the same violent profanity to go with it. My dad told me that one time he saw Bruce get mad at a typewriter. He tore the platen off the machine and threw it through the depot window. You won't be surprised that he suffered a stroke shortly after he retired and spent his last years in helpless condition.
Bruce was the name Adamson was known by, but his initials were PBA...Few knew that his first name was Percy...How about that...My dad always called him "Pers". My dad was kind of a"joker" himself and maybe he just did it to "get Pers's goat"
This stuff is getting to be so much fun that it's taking all my time....not that I have anything reallly pressing me, but I love it...Keep it up guys...We own this stuff that the "newbies" don't, but I think they like to hear it.
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: STEVEN HOLDING <sholding@sbcglobal.net> To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Wed, Dec 19, 2012 10:57 pm Subject: Re: [CBQ] Buda-Elmwood Branch Passenger Service Sometimes the train crews knew where they were at and would yell at the DS. But he had to have it keyed up to hear it.
They had many names some not printable. Steve in SC From: "Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com" <Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com>
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wed, December 19, 2012 9:07:24 PM Subject: Re: [CBQ] Buda-Elmwood Branch Passenger Service Sounds exactly right Archie...they would indeed "tattle" on a crew "fudging" on the delay repot.
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: archie hayden <klinerarch@charter.net> To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Wed, Dec 19, 2012 11:25 am Subject: Re: [CBQ] Buda-Elmwood Branch Passenger Service Pete, I recall the old heads telling about one on the north end of the K Line at either Viele or Ft Madison, they called them Tattle-Tales. Archie
On Dec 19, 2012, at 10:52 AM, Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com wrote:
Steve...Not unexpectedly you get the prize for the right answer even though I'm sure John knows also.
My first experience was that there was one at Craig Missouri on the Omaha Kansas City line...I used to listen in on the DS phone at the Langdon depot while with my dad waiting on No.s 21 and 26. This one had a unique feature, which may have been present on others as well...Before you could hear the train approaching there was a dog that would start to bark before the mike picked up the sound of the train...Kind of like an "annunciator" or live "on the bell" warning.
I don't know whether this thing was used on other railroads but suspect that it was...Also I wonder if the name was the same all over the Q system...Very interesting how railroaders came up with unique names for places and "devices" used on the RR.
A few years ago I asked the late Robert Brown if he knew about the Whang... He sure did and related an experience he had...I don't recall what station he was at, but there the Mike was located in the depot. The agent would turn off the mike when he came to work and turn it on again when he left.
Well, one morning Brown forgot to turn off the whanger and was trying, unsuccessfully, to get a fire started in his coal stove and was using some "choice" words...The DS called him on the phone and told him that he should either use some improved language or turn off the whangdoodle.
Also, Steve, speaking of Briar Bluff...back in the early forties there was a bad head on collision just south of Briar Bluff. The Rock Island train (southbound out of Silvis, bound for Peoria) had a meet with a Q train at Brar Bluff. The RI crew was not familiar with the stations on the Q and got by Briar Bluff before they knew where they were. The engineer had not been over the line in some time and IIRC the fireman and head brakeman were new men..It was bad..I think some fatalities...This one is on the ICC Accident Investigation List.
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: STEVEN HOLDING <sholding@sbcglobal.net> To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Tue, Dec 18, 2012 10:25 pm Subject: Re: [CBQ] Buda-Elmwood Branch Passenger Service If I remember right there use to be one at Brair Bluff(on the Pea Vine((Just South of Colona))) You keyed in in just like any other phone but it was a microphone and you could hear the birds singing. Oh! but it was so you could hear a train go by so you had some Idea what was happening with your railroad. The reason it was used was for Info only. But the Rock Island would most times not flag and often were real late in OS-ing a train on or off the line at Colona. That was one of the main reasons the first CTC on the Pea Vine(after merger) was Colona to Orion Jct. where the RI coal train ran that went to and from the coal mines around Wyoming.
Course another neat story about the Pea Vine was when they put the TV cameras in so the clerks in Galesburg could read the car numbers with out walking the tracks. They just watched TV. And guess what grew all along the ROW. It use to be a standing joke along the Pea Vine every fall when the Mary Jane got tall they would have an annual Fall Harvest and would use the wire from the phone lines to bind it up with. So when we had phone trouble we knew what was happening. It was also a standing joke in my neighborhood when living in Berwick(working in Galesburg DS Office) When we were mowing weeds we were harvesting our Cash Crop. Opps got side tracked. Anyway the subjects would use the lights from the cameras to harvest and the neat part was it was all on tape ready for the court. Course most crooks are not too Bright. Steve in SC From: "John D. Mitchell, Jr." <cbqrr47@yahoo.com>
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tue, December 18, 2012 9:27:21 PM Subject: Re: [CBQ] Buda-Elmwood Branch Passenger Service
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