E. S. Dellinger, one of my favorite authors was a former Frisco brakeman..In his story..Wheeling the Hotshots" about 1950 or so he used lots of town names....In later years..Just for grins and giggles..I looked at a Frisco timetable and there were all of the towns with names unchanged.
In another story "Rule 99" Dellinger wrote a two parter regarding the adventures and misadventures of a brakeman...he became a hero when he narrowly averted a rear end collision between two stock trains. Reading through the old ICC investigation reports I came across an account of an actual collision on the Burlington's High Line from Holdrege west to Cheyenne, WY..The circumstances seemed very familiar to Dellinger's story...so...guess what I did..I dug the story and there it was..the town names he had changed, but you could tell which ones they were..and remarkably he used the actual engine numbers which were verified in the ICC report. I printed out the ICC report and stuck in in my copy of RAILROAD
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: Charlie Vlk <cvlk@comcast.net>
To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thu, Dec 20, 2012 4:37 pm
Subject: RE: [CBQ] Buda-Elmwood Branch Passenger Service...now it's whangdoodles
IIRC most of the Railroad Magazine stories were generalized with no reference to the (offending) railroad, but you could often tell which road it was by the town names, yards mentioned, etc…
Charlie Vlk
I have all my Railroad Magazines from the 40's and 50's.. Mom and Dad almost threw them out when I was in RVN 67/68, but dad started reading them again and kept them. I still look and read them. That was railroading at its finest.
Noel
On 12/20/2012 1:37 PM, Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com wrote:
Charlie...I'll be glad to get anything you have..I, also, have some "non politically correct stuff"..some from the old Railroad Magazine which most of us old timers are familiar with.
Send me anything you have off list and I'll get it into the file.
-----Original Message-----
From: Charlie Vlk <cvlk@comcast.net>
To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thu, Dec 20, 2012 12:24 pm
Subject: RE: [CBQ] Buda-Elmwood Branch Passenger Service...now it's whangdoodles
It is exactly what we need…..PROD, PROD, PROD!!!
I’ll try to peruse some of the downloads to see if there is anything that can add to the discussion…..there is one article, which I’ll send you off-list, which is very politically incorrect and relates to the CB&Q before the turn of the century….and is written as if it was transcribed from a sandhouse discussion…..very colorful to say the least!!
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...
-----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.
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.
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
Sounds exactly right Archie...they would indeed "tattle" on a crew "fudging" on the delay repot.
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
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.
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
ThanksJohn..I'd never heard the term running crooked before
While were at it....Who knows what a WHANGDOODLE was...relax it's not profane or dirty. I think I've sprung that one on here before, but let's see who knows.
-----Original Message-----
From: John D. Mitchell, Jr. <cbqrr47@yahoo.com>
To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tue, Dec 18, 2012 2:47 pm
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Buda-Elmwood Branch Passenger Service
jOHN..I know about all of them except "running crooked"...I t;hink I might even know what that one implies, but how about a bit more enlightenment.
-----Original Message-----
From: John D. Mitchell, Jr. <cbqrr47@yahoo.com>
To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Mon, Dec 17, 2012 11:17 pm
Subject: RE: [CBQ] Buda-Elmwood Branch Passenger Service
Or "hit the bell" or "He's shining me right now" Ever hear that last one, Steve? And how about "riding yellows" and "running crooked"?
--- On Mon, 12/17/12, Mike Cafferata <mcaff1@htc.net> wrote:
How about “On the circuit” or “hit the circuit”?
YES INDEED....I "OPINED" RE PROTECT A FEW DAYS AGO.
-----Original Message-----
From: dhartman <dhartman@mchsi.com>
To: CBQ yahoo <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Mon, Dec 17, 2012 12:03 pm
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Buda-Elmwood Branch Passenger Service
Anyone mention "protect" yet?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2012 12:28:31 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Buda-Elmwood Branch Passenger Service
I am VERY MUCH INTERESTED STEVE/.. Anybody else with anything along this line...I'm getting warmed up (again) to the idea of putting together a "compendium" of this stuff...ie RR terms, references, abbreviations pertinent phrasing etc).
I knew I had another item just had to dig it out
My Train Sheet from Monday Sept. 17, 1962. This was saved by P K Hannah and I managed to talk him out of it.
It covers the Bushnell to Beardstown Sub(Roseville to Beardstown thru Bushnell)(Now the busy coal main)(( on this day only 62 north with 66 annulled and 63 and 73 south. And the wayfreight with engine 308 worked from Beardstown to Vermont side trip to Astoria and then all the way to Roseville and back to Beardstown), Peoria to Galesburg Sub, Fairview and Lewiston Sub (Fairview to South Liverpool) and the Buda and Vermont Subdivision
The train we are looking for ran that day as a work extra on duty at 10 AM in Canton using motor 9405-B having been rebuilt with a cab in 1954. The sheet does not show them departing Canton(CO)((telegraph call)) until 140Pm working Norris(NS)150-202 Farmington(FA) 217-230 and arriving Yates City(CD) at 235 with 3-2- 290 departing at 330 with 2-45-1000(loads-empties-tons) Elmwood(WD) 339-347 then must have done some kind of work as did not get to Bradford until 935 Pm with 1-3-150 and departed at 1000 Pm with 4-0-320 WD 1247-1255AM CD arrived at 1:50 with 23-0-1852 and out 1:25 W/C(waycar lite) and slid into home plate at Canton at 1:55AM W/C relieved at 1:59 (the 16 hour rule was in effect and would have died at 2:00AM.
John Mitchell's Bulletin 35 covered the Illinois Coal Fields South of Beardstown. This sheet covers the Coal Fields North of Beardstown With a lot of coal dumped in South Liverpool.
When your ready Charlie I think I can do a pretty good small Bulletin
Dave this has a train to Roseville might be able to shoehorn into the material you have now
Pete here are some items for your list. Telegraph Calls often used to abbreviate for calls and notations. Somewhere I have a whole list if you are interested.
Steve in SC
Thanks, Steven!
That narrows my search a little.
David P. Jordan
Dunlap, Illinois
>David
>My April '46 Official Guide shows Daily except Sunday Mixed train Buda to Yates City and Yates City to Peoria. Looks like the job worked out of Buda 6:50 AM >out of Buda and Yates City 9:40-2:50 back into Buda 5:00PM
>Oct. 1955 shows Mixed Service and it looks like the job may have come out of Galesburg or Yates City Yates City 11:00 AM Buda 2:00-2:20 Schedules in the GT->Peoria do not jive.
>April 1958 just shows Mixed train service Consult agent No times shown
>Would be neat on a model railroad to change locations where jobs worked out of and then maybe even change them to run in the opposite direction
>Steve in SC
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