Back in the early 1950’s when I worked for the Illinois Central there was a veteran switchman that everyone called “Rags” who worked at Markham Yard. Rags got his name from the fact that year round, even on 90 degree days in August, he worked bundled up in all sorts of clothing including a heavy mid-calf length overcoat. The story was that years before Rags had been similarly attired on a bitter cold winter day when he was caught between the couplers of a stationary cut of cars and a slow (obviously very slow) moving car and his many layers of clothing saved him from being crushed to death. What do you think; true story or just a railroad version of an urban myth that old hands told to impressionable young firemen like me?
I would say a myth . Trains are not very forgiving and a pinch point like that between 2 couplers I can’t see where any amount of clothing could save you .
personly i would say BS…but… i have seen many strange things happen on the railroad that would have made me say couldnt have happend if i didnt witness it myself with my own eyes…
I would say fiction as well…but please tell us more about your days with the IC!! Not too many of us were around back then, and I can only imagine what it was like to work/live through the transition era.
It is plausible in certain circumstances but not probable. A person can move a roller bearing equipped car from my understanding. If the event occurred between two strings of cars or with a great deal of force I would say absolutely false. But a single car being coupled with the moving cars almost to zero speed where the force would be applied as pressure rather than impact might be survivable. Sounds like one for the dufus duo on mythbusters.
As CSXE98 points out, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.
That said, I don’t see any number of layers protecting someone from a direct pinch. I could see the extra layers acting as a kind of “cat’s whiskers,” providing enough warning for the wearer to sense the problem a fraction of a second sooner, soon enough to potentially escape.
…Maybe the story was told and retold over the years so much it took on some “different” meanings than what might have actually happened some years ago. So in that context, maybe it could have happened…at least something similar happened.
Maybe “Rags” was a bit superstitious. Although I doubt that he was actually in harm’s way from the couplers at the time, he was perhaps close enough to having an incident that he’d always want to wear that much clothing. You’d have to have a strong reason to wear that much in a Chicagoland summer!
It would be more plausible that all of the layers cushioned him in a fall from somewhere, like a brake platform–which could also have occurrred while he was making a joint. Either way, he would have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Believe me, in this day and age, if there were any possibility that extra layers could keep you from being crushed by couplers, some manager would put out an order mandating it!
i like the myth busters idea… i think we all should send that request in to there web sight as a myth to explore… after all…they love to beat… burn…crush and blow the snot out of buster…
I think I’m going to agree with everyone else on this matter. I just don’t see how “rags” can save a person from being crushed to death between to couplers. Unfortunitly I’ve seen someone’s fingers get caught between the knuckles and get pinched off and this individual had really thick gloves on, as thick as welder’s gloves.
I don’t believe the rags could save a person, either, but I’m guessing that some part of his thick layers of clothes got caught and he thought it saved him. Even at that, it’s very hard to believe that someone could go through the summertime dressed like that, switching in the stifling heat.
Stil, I’ve known some strange railroad characters.