My first job on the Rock Island was as a Carman Helper AKA The Repack Man...Talk about "dabblling in oil"...My penchant for attracting any dirt and/or oil came to the fore in abundance on that job at the Council Blulffs RIP track in February-March and early April 1959.
It was the same routine as has been metioned..Get those foreigh "old date air cars" for a repack and air test....
The Lubricator Pads were just starting to come in at that time, but most of my work was with the old waste and oil packing...I would get my wheelbarrow and pitchfork and dig the oiled packing out of the huge drum where rotated in a sea of oil...PUsh it down to the car being worked ...jack up the journal box if necessary...pull the old packing out and then put the new stuff in and work it back under and around the journal...What a greasy dirty job that was.
I had two pair of overalls...I wore one set one week and left those dirty ones with my landlady to wash when I went home to Rock Port for the weekend and then put the clean ones on the next week...By Friday afternoon those "bibs" could stand up by themselves.
The "landlady" and her husband..who was a machinist for the UP lived in an old two story house along with an old bachelor named Hans who also worked for the UP...When I went there she said..."Do you want me to wash your overalls?? I do "The Husbands" (what she always called him) and Hans' so I might as well do yours...She did get them clean, but they were really "beat" by the time I left that job to go to the Military in late April....I still have the "jumper" I wore with them...Leo wears it when he does his "sign clinics"...It hangs in a place of honor in my garage faded and worn, but I can still get into it and it's full of memories of railroad work.
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: John D. Mitchell, Jr. <cbqrr47@yahoo.com>
To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wed, Jan 30, 2013 8:48 pm
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Story Posts (Hannibal Shops)
Many car foremen and "write-up men" paid for their wages with foreign road "billing". It was always good to catch an out of date COTS or repack.
--- On Wed, 1/30/13, archie hayden <klinerarch@charter.net> wrote:
From: archie hayden <klinerarch@charter.net>
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Story Posts (Hannibal Shops)
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, January 30, 2013, 7:33 PM
That's right, Glen, Charlie Easley who was Steve Shores fatherinlaw. Steve retired recently form West Quincy yardmaster position. The shops were not very active by the 60s. They used the turntable but did no heavy repair work. Fueling and general maintnance like brake shoes etc. The rip track still did a lot of repairs to cars with several carmen on the roster. Charlie was a second trick car knocker after the paint shop closed up. He gave me his painters case full of stencils, gold leaf paint, and stencil brushes. Huge metal suitcase size box. Very nice fellow. Car knockers were always on the lookout for "berries", repairs made to foreign roads which the Q got reimbursed for. They seemed to have a quota for these. Carl Hill the car foreman would sneak around the yard at night trying to catch his car toads goofing off. He didn't have much luck. Those guys taught me many tricks of the trade in keeping a track together, like how to correct a jam(two knuckles closed against each other) so the next kick would make the joint. You would pull both pins then take a brake shoe and beat on the inside of each knuckle until they finally slipped by each other and opened up and were ready to connect on the next shove. Those fellows were notorius for lacing air while the track was hot or being switched into. We lost a couple lives and legs. Sure wasn't worth that. Archie
On Jan 30, 2013, at 5:41 PM, GLEN HAUG wrote:
Louis:
You mentioned the shops at Hannibal, and there have been many recent posts about railroad related smells. I was in high school at Hannibal from the early to mid 60's, and would sometimes volunteer to help either the cheerleaders or the pep squad for Hannibal High School decorate their floats for the annual football homecoming parade. It would take several days to make and set all of the crepe paper flowers, and the Q would let one or both of these groups use the shops to keep the floats out of the weather while the floats were being finished.
I can remember the girls complaining about the smell, but I actually liked the combination of the old railroad smells coupled with the smell of the river. It was kind of an eerie atmosphere, however, as we always worked on the floats in the evening and the shops were poorly lit.
I wish I had taken the time to find out more about what went on in what was left of the shops during those last days. There always seemed to be a Geep or an SD sitting in the shops near the floats with the motor not running. I don't know what kind of mechanical work went on, although I remember the name of Harvey Niemeyer. I think the Mechanical Department had a painter also, Charlie? Easley. Maybe Archie Hayden will remember better than I.
There could have been a flood in '59, I don't remember. The one I remember was the bad flood of '65, the year I graduated. But then, my parents told me that the 1973 and 1993 floods were worse than '65.
Glen Haug
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
From: LZadnichek@aol.com
Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:40:01 -0500
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Story POsts
Great bell story. Dad was Hannibal Division Supt. the year of the Great Flood (can't remember the exact year - maybe 1959?) and I remember the name Harvey Niemeyer. A fellow Group member who is presently silent (like I was) has contacted me off-line to reconnect. He and I were school friends in Hannibal and his father was chief clerk to the master mechanic at the time. My friend said he would be posting some of his Q memories at an early date and I look forward to seeing them. At the time we lived in Hannibal, the roundhouse, portions of the backshop and turntable were still intact. I recently saw an image taken from Lovers Leap and there's nothing left but a big green field with the BNSF mainline to St. Louis running alongside the river. Dad's office was in an ancient coal smoke blackened two story brick building that, as I recall, even he complained of as being "dirty." I'm glad you brought-up the subject of the Ladies Auxiliary as this organization is all but forgotten today, but did so much for the railroad communities they served so long ago. Dad was always interested in Q history and I remember he would take my mom, brother and me on Sunday drives to show us where the original H&SJ roadbed was in the weeds - Louis
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