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Why didn't I think to mention the unmistakable smell of a hotbox...There was nothing like it...it was totally unique...AFter you got through working on one your clothes had absorbed the smell and it didn't go away.
One old trainman...again from RAILROAD said he always worked a hotbox bare handed since you would ruin a pair of gloves and the company furnished soap to wash your hands, but they didn't furnish gloves.
Pete
-----Original Message----- From: qutlx1 <qutlx1@aol.com> To: cbq <cbq@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Tue, Jan 29, 2013 8:37 am Subject: [CBQ] RR Smells-was story posts From many hours spent waiting for a westbound dinky home on the weekends I recall the Clyde depot had that same disgusting odor that Louis mentioned. The depot and Clyde as a station stop are no more.
Here's some RR smells you guys haven't mentioned:
The unique and unmistakable smell from the back platform of a waycar when you have a hotbox up ahead. That smell of all those burning carbons put you in motion immediately. Or the associated smell of freshly plowed ground when you've come to a stop after an emergency application of the air brakes. You don't have to look,you already know what's happened up ahead.
Here's a more pleasant smell that probably still happens each morning. After loading eastbound in the morning at the larger stops of Naperville,Lisle,Belmont and Downers; walking into the coach you were met with the fragrant mixture of maybe a couple dozen different freshly applied perfumes. The scent was almost overpowering. Far more than a department store display or even a floral shop.
And by the time you got to the front or rear car collecting tickets the fog of 60-100 people smoking met you. The car would literally have a haze hanging in the air. One pass thru the car and your uniform stunk the rest of the day.
Or getting off the "party car" westbound at Aurora on Friday night and leaving the aroma of split beer,drinks and tobacco smoke.
And then there were all the industry smells.....switching a metal mfg plant like Cat,Barber Greene,Lyon Metal,etc you were met with all those VOCs from freshly applied paint, cutting oil and cut steel.
We didn't refer to Rochelle,IL as Rochsmell w/o reason, the blend of fragrances on a warm summer night are unforgettable.
Leo
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