I was "shanghaid" to Old Colton my second week firing for SP, working on helpers 16 hours a day, down to Myoma and back...

So I sort of know Beaumont... I even know how Peach's got his handle...

Traffic levels on the Needles cam and the Tucson cam are all you need to know about variation in traffic levels and the UP versus BNSF in the southern teir market...

Note that traffic levels in winters back in the late 60's and early 70's, especialy from things like the seasonal variabilityof lumber and perishable traffic, were even more variable back then than they are today. But the 1st qarter was always and still is the sligthly slower time of the year for some logistics categories and seasonally variable traffic today. So Beaumont would usually be a bit slower this time of year...

Sixteen hours a day on helpers on Beaumont still cause me dreams about fa8 lling asleep and missing a red signal... Long long hours of often boring slow work, in carbon monoxide and diesel fumes, with winds and blowing sand, blazing heat, horrible bugs, and rattlsnakes in the telephone boxes where you had to call the dispatchers on the phone to run an A signal and hookup with the traim you are going to shove up the hill at 8 mph...

On tThe old "West Pool" out of LA for Indio you had to do so many mainline trips as firemen before you could qualify for the "Stimulator" to be promoted to being a real hoghead... So I tried to catch those a often as possible to fill my punch card... Also often times 16 hour long grueling trips on things like the "Mountain Local" with the crappiest power and the least priority. When you died on the 16 hour law still thrity miles from Indio spreading ballast on a 110 degree day, with no AC, and the carry all take another three hours to pick you up and get tied up, can make for a long long day... But, it paid off like a slot machine...

On the other hand, while it could be gritty, there nothing like handling ten thousand tons of ore or beets on Beaumont, or being enginerr on a head end helper running the circus train at passenger speed... Although for really hot running I preferred the old Indio-Yuma pool, before West Colton became the terminal for Beaumont... Even Bill Giles was impressed with my best switch to switch running time on the BSMFF.... If they were out of rested engineers in Yuma you could often flip right back to Indio on another hotshot, and the slot machine paid off again...

So yeah, I worked Beaumont....

And even with RCTC staff in my second career, on rail passenger service to Indio via Beaumont...

What a long strange trip it's been...

And the story I got about "Peaches" Warner (a famous Beaumont Old Coltan helper engineer), was the he was caught by the farmer, back before the end of steam on Beaumont, while watering the engine at El Casco while working as a fireman (where SP had a steam water tank), and the farmer caught him out stealing the peaches, from an adjacent grove, while armed with a shotgun, and then "charged" "Peaches" like a couple of days worth of pay for the "peaches", to not call the Sheriff...