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