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