RE: [CBQ] RR Other unmentionable smells to share

[GLEN HAUG <glenehaug@msn.com>]

"Does any one else have any other "unmentionable" smells to share - Louis"
 
I remember two that were particularly disgusting.  In 1968 I was on a System bridge gang that helped a local B&B gang replace ties on a bridge in the South Omaha yards.  Thank God we only had to help out for 2 days.  I could hardly stand the smell from the stock yards.  In this instance, the creosote smell from the new ties actually helped to disguise the stock yard smell.
 
The second, and worst, one was cleaning out the track scale at West Quincy in 1967.  As a summer only employee on a B&B gang, I was always a helper, and therefore got assigned the less desirable tasks (like climbing inside a 24" culvert to repair a joint between pipe sections).  Track scales were still very prevalent in the 60's.  Although they had dust covers adjacent to the rails, they weren't leak proof.  Over time, grain from leaking hoppers would build up in scale pits and then would expand and ferment from the rain.  Eventually the build-up would make it very unpleasant for the Q and State scale inspectors to do their certifications, so the B&B would clean out the pits.  It was an all-day job, very unpleasant, after which you almost needed to just throw your clothes away.
 
Glen Haug
 

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To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
From: LZadnichek@aol.com
Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:25:51 -0500
Subject: Re: [CBQ] RR Smells-was story posts

 

I've been enjoying everyone's "smell" posts, but leave it to me again to come-up with another disgusting smell not yet mentioned (or maybe no one wants to mention it). Having worked one summer on a steel gang, I'll never forget the smell..... Remember none of the passenger or way cars of that era had holding tanks for sewage. You took a dump and it went straight down on the tracks (remember the metal signs over the toilets admonishing you not to flush them in a station). If the Zephyr was rolling along at 80 mph or better when you took that dump, it and the toilet paper and whatever else was in the bowl splattered all over the ballast for some distance when it "hit." YUCK! I can well remember all the agricultural and railroad smells mentioned, but you'd be out there on the track somewhere, a Zephyr would blast by and there it WAS, that God awful smell of fresh poo-poo. Does any one else have any other  "unmentionable" smells to share - Louis     

 

In a message dated 1/29/2013 8:37:12 A.M. Central Standard Time, qutlx1@aol.com writes:

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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