Re: [CBQ] Aurora coal chute 1868

["Mike Decker" <mdecker@gwtc.net>]

Hi Pete...

Here's another one I read from the MM 's files.  We all know the Company would award 'Brownies' for Rules infractions.  But, at least on the C&S, they would also award 'merits' for good deeds.

There was a long service Engineer who would get a couple Demerits for running through a switch, or cornering a car in the yard, but then, he'd get some Merits for putting out a lineside fire.  The best Merits he got were for bringing in an engine with cracks in the backhead so bad, that the cab was filled with steam.  He got the Merits for avoiding an Engine Failure on the road.  We counted them up, and by the time he retired, he was about 100 behind :>)

In another of the Investigations, I saw the classic Fireman's excuse in black and white.  The C&S used to run 'Fisherman's Specials' down the Narrow Gauge on weekends.  They'd park in a siding up the river until early Monday morning, then drop down into Denver in time for the passengers to go to work, or whatever.  One day, the Special was running behind, and got on the outbound Passenger job's Time.  They came together on the bridge across Clear Creek.  Apparently, there was an "S" curve there, so visibility wasn't good.  The damage to the engines was sufficient to warrant a party.  When they came to question the Special's Fireman about what he saw, he gave the Classic answer.  "I was down on the deck, attending to my fire, when I heard the Engineer put the train in Emergency.  I looked out the front cab window, and saw the other train approaching.  I jumped out of the gangway into Clear Creek, which was dry at the time, and broke both my ankles."  So there.

Mike

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