It was a different world, for sure. A similar situation, altho not
on the CB&Q, sometimes happened at a yard I was at. While
usually midnights was busy, on a few occasions things were fairly
quiet, the base line engine was off somewhere doing firm work, and
the only thing the yardmaster had to contend with was a main line
guy making a pickup of a couple tracks and doubling out to his
train. Once the train was on the move, the YM had to note on his
sheet the departure time.
Now all this doubling up took quite a while, and chances were that
by the time he left the chance for the YM to get a snooze would be
gone. So what I used to...I mean, what the Yardmaster used to do
was take a torpedo, walk down from the tower and place it about
mid-point under one of the road train's through cars left out on the
main. At that point, 4 floors above the action the throbbing and
coupling and slack actually made for a peaceful snooze, since such
din was more or less the norm.
At some point, a sharp "BAM!" from below indicated the road train
was on his way out of town, and the time of departure would be duly
noted by the now-rested YM.
Most of the guys from back then - train crews, clerks, Yardmasters,
even some of the supervision, would not last 4 hours on today's
railroads without getting fired.
those were the days my friend!
Ok, I'll tell the story. Neither
crew mentioned in previous posts was involved
but I suspect the same process was probable used
by most crews on the job.
Once 85 was settled into the siding
at Yagan Pit its crew pretty well knew it was
going to be quite some time before 86 came by.
The next siding that could hold the train was
Serena,which was also the point where 86 would
double to when doubling Wedron hill.
So.....
Once everything came to a halt the
waycar crew, which carried a ball of kite twine,
would stretch a string from the waycar grab iron
to one of the ever present trees across the
main. They then went into a nice slumber. Of
course, unlike today such cat naps, were
expressly forbidden under the operating rules.
This particular night the Condr awoke and went
into a fright when he realized they had
forgotten to put out the string.
While he thought about his options
and had pretty much decided that he would have
to
Walk to the phone and inquire as to
the location of 86(and hope to God it wasn't
past already). He heard 86 whistle for the meet
!
Leo
86 did setout southwye congress
park, 602/603 still ran to lasalle dec 69,
last time i worked aurora tower till i
exited the army aug71. only story i heard
abt yagan pit was the nite 85 was waiting
in the sdg and all dozed and did not know
if 86 went. but was doubling the hill out
of wedron?
Dave,
That brings to mind
three questions,
1)so if WLS, is
bringing down bills,that was 86
setting out on south wye ?
2)was it the change
to 602/603 that made the job an
overnight Streator turn or was
that post BN ?
3) have you heard
the string story at Yagan put
that occurred on one turn every
night ?
Leo
while i was
working congress park in
68-69 granville and
caldwell were on one turn
and shoener was rear
brakeman often and would
bring waybills down to the
office. midkiff or tripp
was on the other turn much
of the time with red
krull. 85/86 became
602/603 late oct 68.
Eric,
Thanks
for all the
info. But this
would not be
the IV&N
with that
power. It's
got to be 85
heading to
LaSalle where
that job laid
over. The last
entry I can
find for the
IV&N is
Aurora DIV.
ETT #48 of Oct
1957. Job left
Streator
7:00AM for
Zearing and
return. At
best they
would have had
a NW or a GP7.
From
Further
research in
"The
Burlington
Waycars", near
the back are
several
listings of
assigned
waycars on the
Aurora Div. in
1968-'69. No
mention of an
IV&N
wayfreight.
Interestingly
"Granny" is
shown as
Condr. on one
of the 85/86
turns in '68.
Leo
Leo,
One
other thing:
Note the
switch in
front of the
Uboat is lined
to diverging
since the red
board is
visible on the
switch stand.
I am
speculating
here, but this
may be the
IV&N
heading out on
the wye switch
which would be
the diverging
route of off
the main at
this point.
Eric
Mumper
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Posted by: Don Brown <dbrown02@rochester.rr.com>
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