Back in the ealy 1980s I was living in Kamloops, BC; and since I didn’t live too far from the CPR station I would sometimes spend the evening there watching the trains go by. Every so often a crew would invite me for a ride along…I went on several from Kamloops to the next divsion point which was Northbend, BC. Very memorable experiences…the scenary was fantastic and what most amazed me most was the number of locomotives and rolling stock off to the side due to derailments and accidents long ago. At one point we spotted a boxcar way down in the Fraser Canyon…the braker told me it had been there since 1930. And getting closer to North Bend we saw an old 4-4-0 American standard locomotive laying in a ravine… it was in rough condition and had probably been there since 1890 or 1900. I was told that retreiving it would have cost too much so there it laid.
Are railfans still invited for ride alongs…or has 911 changed all that? When we were kids growing up in Quebec my brother and I pretty much had the run of the CN and CP yards in our home town. We could roam freely on railroad property, climb into idling locomotives…even got a chance to take the throttle on one of Canada’s only GP30s once… a fan’s paradise.
I think it is the issues of liability that have changed and reduced the chances of this ever happeneing again, and not 9/11. Many members of the general public are indifferent or oblivious to the dangers of railroading, and the company lawyers don’t want someone who is ignorant of the safety issues to be anywhere near the locomotive cabs, or trains, at all.
You’re probably right…and I’m glad I had these experiences when I did. Back then if you stood on a train platform and showed interest you were bound to get shown around and treated like near royalty. Even had crew members take me for lunch/dinner after a long shift. But I can certainly understand why the rails would want to limit their liability.
I think that liability was always an issue. The overly litigious nature of many people these days and the terrorism ‘issue’ that manifested itself after 9/11 the RRs gave more apparent “PR” credibility to disallow the practice of riders IMO. However I’m speculating as I don’t work for a RR. Just my (somewhat) reasoned guess.
We haunted the massive railyards in Moose Jaw, Sask, as kids, but spent most of our time trying to avoid the “cinder dicks” as they seemed to be everywhere, we would always give them a different name and they would make us walk all the way to the subway to get home, crossing the sets of tracks was the shortest way to school. Got to ride on a few steam locos around the yards but the hogger had to keep his eye out for the station master who would fire you for having someone in the cab, and stepping ON the rail. and guess who never took any pictures of all those locos and trains ? ?
Cool you got to see steam…I missed steam by a scant two years…CP dropped their fires in Sherbrooke, PQ in April 1960… got to see alot of first generation diesels though…lots of RS-18s, RS-2s and 3s…the occasional F7 and later on C424s and the odd GP30 and GP35.
I sure would like to know more about that 4-4-0 lying in the ravine. Can you state the exact identity of the location, the present rail line, proximity to the track, etc.?
I am not sure if getting rides on engines is less likely today than it was 35-45 years ago. It has always been forbidden practice based on the reasons of both liability and distraction. But if nobody important is watching…
Sadly I can’t tell you the exact location… I can tell you this…it was on the left side of the track heading west…the large smoke stack and boiler were in clear view through the trees, and the rest of the locomotive looked to be partially buried. Keep in mind I saw this in 1982…25 years ago. The rail line was CP’s mainline west out of Kamloops to Northbend…now that I think of it, the loco was WEST of Spences Bridge…I’m sure of that as we were held up at Spences Bridge due to track repair and I saw this 4-4-0 after that. The engineer with me told the loco had been there since he started working for CP in 1937 (he was about to retire in 82)…
I was invited on a NYC freight run from Avon Yards, Ind. to Effingham, Illinois back in 1967 and even then, the yardmaster handed me a “release from liability” form to sign. I kept my copy and still have it. When we reached Effingham (in heavy, heavy snow) the crew went to a RR break room but warned me that the superintendent in that area was a “hard$$$” so I went to an old nearby theater to watch a “Matt Helm” movie. Then later I hooked up with them again and rode back to the Indy area.
In 1988 I got a cab ride on an Amtrak Turboliner from Albany to Buffalo NY. I was a kid but the engineer gave me the controls, closely-supervised of course. I remember a lot from that trip - - blowing the horn almost continuously as we passed a work train, bringing the train to a stop in Utica, making up 30 minutes between Utica & Buffalo, dimming the headlight for oncoming Conrail freights, motorists sneaking around the gates just before we blew through at 90mph… It was a superb experience
I doubt something like this could happen today, though the local NS guys did tell me they’d allow me & my 4 year old son in the cab while switching…if I show up on a Saturday monrning. We’ll see. That would blow my son’s mind
Ah, yes. Those were the ‘good old days’. Even if you did get caught back then, if you were a good worker and the Trainmaster liked you, he would simply tell you to not get caught doing that again (the emphasis was on not getting caught moreso than not doing it again). Nowdays, getting caught with unauthorized personnel on your train is a fast ticket to unemployment (and gods forbid anything bad actually happen while said unauthorized persons were on the train).
I used to give lots of people rides on my train, including the suburban trains. Even my wife thought it was real cool.
Nowdays getting a cab ride on a class 1 rr is not gonna happen. Or should I say it depends on how far the crew is willing to stick out their neck. Your best bet would be a shortline. They usually make you sign a wavier saying if you get hurt you’re on your own.