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Re: Train Orders & Timetable Operations
Author: Nudge
Date: 10-20-2016 - 09:03
When I was a young runner I was going east between Wat. Jct & SLO on a freight and I had an old head for a head man. I was running against waits a west man had and between the two of us in the cab we figured we had plenty of time to make it from San Lucas to San Ardo to get in the clear.
Well, I was going along about 60 and had just gone over the east switch at San Lucas when we started to slow down. I looked at the air flow and it was really showing a lot of air going somewhere and it was getting worse. I looked at the head man and he looked at me and I shut the throttle off. Pretty soon we came to a stop. The air started back up and over the radio all that was said was "Your lined in". I started backing up and the big O was waiting at the switch when I cleared the main. When we were almost clear, I heard the west man calling out a yellow on the radio over at San Ardo.
I thought we had plenty of time but that is how we learned back then. The conductor didn't want to advertise a screw up and didn't want to pull the air. He jumped on the head man telling him he should have known better than to let me go. I tried to tell him it was all my fault but then it was my turn in the barrel. The conductor was Don Brooks and the head man Dink Swain. Never heard another word but I learned. They were great guys to work with and to learn from.
I was a fireman one morning on a west train and we got a knuckle between Cuesta & Margarita. Dink was the head man and he showed me how to replace it when you were by yourself with no radio, just fusees and train order string. Those old heads had more tricks up their sleeves than you could imagine.
As the years went by, in ABS there were a lot of "air problems" that trains had over the air. Before radio, the old heads called it "Smoking It Over" when they ran short of time. The fireman would dump a lot of oil on the fire and make thick black smoke so the other train knew he was out there, "coming over".
Nudge
Well, I was going along about 60 and had just gone over the east switch at San Lucas when we started to slow down. I looked at the air flow and it was really showing a lot of air going somewhere and it was getting worse. I looked at the head man and he looked at me and I shut the throttle off. Pretty soon we came to a stop. The air started back up and over the radio all that was said was "Your lined in". I started backing up and the big O was waiting at the switch when I cleared the main. When we were almost clear, I heard the west man calling out a yellow on the radio over at San Ardo.
I thought we had plenty of time but that is how we learned back then. The conductor didn't want to advertise a screw up and didn't want to pull the air. He jumped on the head man telling him he should have known better than to let me go. I tried to tell him it was all my fault but then it was my turn in the barrel. The conductor was Don Brooks and the head man Dink Swain. Never heard another word but I learned. They were great guys to work with and to learn from.
I was a fireman one morning on a west train and we got a knuckle between Cuesta & Margarita. Dink was the head man and he showed me how to replace it when you were by yourself with no radio, just fusees and train order string. Those old heads had more tricks up their sleeves than you could imagine.
As the years went by, in ABS there were a lot of "air problems" that trains had over the air. Before radio, the old heads called it "Smoking It Over" when they ran short of time. The fireman would dump a lot of oil on the fire and make thick black smoke so the other train knew he was out there, "coming over".
Nudge
