Ah yes, the fun of deadheading back to Aurora.
The major stress
of the last dinky at about 130 am, engineer plodding along thru switches at
east end of yard (he had a car, no worries for him, but he didn't go to
Aurora), indifferent yardmasters, running with a grip, already dead tired,
the mile+ from roundhouse to Clyde "station", knowing how screwed you were
if you missed the last one because you were going to get called again in
8-10 hours.
And catching a westbound freight? Some of those snuffies
had strange ideas of how slow they had to go by the platform at Aurora for a
"safe" dis-embark.
I remember one winter night, snow on the platform,
going for an unplanned slide into a column......I think back in horror on
some of the really stupid things when I was young and green and tired and
"invincible"........
Doug
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Date: Sun, 19 May 2013 07:11:25 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: [CBQ] snow removal from suburban platforms
We had a dispatcher in Cicero who was born and raised in Chicago and
had never been outside the city limits until he came to Cicero as a
dispatcher. So one nite it started to snow and he called in and said
he could not get to work. SO I had to work an extra four hours till I
died on the hours of service. Now HOW am I going to get home as I of
course rode the commuter trains when ever I could. Saved by the bell
there was a freight about ready to depart so I hot footed it down to Clyde
and crawled up on the head end. In the late '70-early 80s in a
cost cutting effort the section was not called out till about an hour before
the morning rush. So most of the burners were not lit and the only
track this freight could run on was West on Main 3. The only
crossovers working were at Downers Grove so we went hustle-ling West on Main
3 and as we started thru Western Springs the city crew had just finished
cleaning the platform on the South side. Remember the "new" depot was
all clear plastic and of course the snow was all shoveled on to the tracks
so we blew it all back onto the platform with the crew shaking their fists
at us for undoing their work. Got home and had to dig out my drive so
I could get in off the street and hit the hay as the sun was coming up only
to have to be on the 2:05 PM Back to work.
Steve in SC
From: "qutlx1@aol.com" <qutlx1@aol.com>
To: "CBQ@yahoogroups.com" <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sat, May 18, 2013 1:37:02
PM
Subject: Re: [CBQ] snow
removal from suburban platforms
Roy
Even into pre-Metra days the section could be found clearing snow off
the platforms. Problem was they didn't always get to every station by rush
hour.
Today the municipal workers take care of that chore.
Leo Phillipp
Sent from my iPhone
In the forties on, who was responsible for snow removal from suburban
platforms for the morning rush? I'm sure the station agents didn't (unions
and such), but was it section hands, contractors, or did they wait for the
first melt?
Roy
Wojahn