Re: [CBQ] Railroad Town

["Louis Zadnichek via Groups.Io" <LZadnichek=aol.com@groups.io>]

January 29, 2019

Pete - The high point of any Saturday morning visit to the yards with my Dad was visiting the roundhouse and, IF I'd been a good boy the week preceding, a steam engine cab ride with a hostler slowly backing out of the roundhouse with a muffled whooshing and onto the turntable, then chugging on down the tracks to the coal chute where the tender was topped-off with coal and water. Soot and coal dust would be everywhere, particularly, or so it seemed to my Mom afterwards, on me!   

Usually, Dad had some business to first attend to at the roundhouse and he would then drive to where the locomotive was located and pick me up. I had plenty of time to pester the hostler with questions and oil-around with him until it was time to move along to the ready track where the engineer and fireman would greet us. Riding a diesel was fun, too, but never as much FUN as riding a steam engine! I'll always remember the loud BANG when the locomotives moved on and off the turntable.

I'll paraphrase you as to how the "old heads" got to be the way they are.  The same with us aging rail fans from the bitter sweet era of our youth marking the transition from steam to diesel power. Born in 1946, I've often wished it could've been 1936 as I missed out on so much steam railroading by just a couple of years.  In fact, by 1955 the Q was mostly dieselized and some of the division points we called home had not seen steam in a year or more.  I'm grateful for what I experienced! Best Regards - Louis

Louis Zadnichek II

Fairhope, AL 

         

In a message dated 1/29/2019 2:53:15 PM Central Standard Time, jpslhedgpeth=aol.com@groups.io writes:

Louis et all.  This is the best RR video I've ever seen..It exactly shows the railroad as I knew it..right down to a little listening of an operator repeating an order and, in the first scene ...maybe some didn't catch it but the first move the engineer made was he "bailed off" the "independent"....

I especially appreciated the close up of a journal box and the waste packing.. My first job at the RI was as a "Box Packer"..i "dabbled in oil. 

All you younger guys need to watch this and you'll see how some of us "old heads"  got to be like we are..The piece certainly has the flavor of authenticity..It was all extremely accurate.  Right down to the cranking up of the motorcar. 

Pete. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Louis Zadnichek via Groups.Io <LZadnichek=aol.com@groups.io>
To: cbq <cbq@groups.io>
Sent: Sun, Jan 27, 2019 5:29 pm
Subject: [CBQ] Railroad Town

January 27, 2019

All - This excellent Canadian documentary dates back to 1955 during the transition from steam to diesel power on the Canadian National.  The film takes place in Melville, Saskatchewan, aptly entitled Railroad Town for the documentary. What immediately struck me about this remarkable film is that it just as easily could've been shot at any CB&Q Lines East or West division point across the entire system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBPgUSa18_8

I was age nine in 1955 and still have vivid memories of visiting the CB&Q division offices and roundhouse on Saturday mornings with my Dad who would've been a train master at the time.  Watching this video immediately brought back those delightful memories of meeting the yard master, car clerks, car knockers, special agent, hostlers, road masters, engineers, firemen, conductors, brakeman and all those others who made the Q roll on day after day, night after night seemingly effortlessly.

From the documentary, I remember similar comments made about the Q's remaining steam locomotives at the time when I would ask a road foreman of engines which was better, a steamer or a diesel..... Steam remained in his heart, but diesels were foremost in his mind. I had playmates who were sons of railroaders and the scenes of the engineer's family at home reminded me of both my own home at the time and the homes of my playmates.  This was a culture that has been genuinely lost in today's modern world.  Sad......

I trust all of you this Sunday evening will have as much enjoyment as I did in viewing this remarkable documentary on what railroading was really all about some 64 years ago. This was when our world was a much simpler, kinder place to live and when town bands came down to the depot to serenade old head engineers who were coming in on their last runs before retiring.  Best Regards - Louis

Louis Zadnichek II

Fairhope, AL

   

 

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