My daughter watches a two year old boy who has a tot’s usual interest in trains. Since they are not far from Syracuse’s Dewitt Yard, she went by there the other day so he could see real trains, thinking he’d be amazed by their size. He was disappointed - there was no engine (wrong end of the train) and they weren’t moving. FRED was present on the last car, per usual, but she figured explaining that was a little over his little head.
On the other hand, she said that a good friend’s 5 year old who is quite enamored with N&W 611 (you may recall the story of his encounter with the real deal) now watches a video with the loco almost daily. He normally doesn’t get to watch a lot of TV, but this he gets to see. He doesn’t care about toy trains…
Ed, you Pizza story really belongs in print in TRAINS. If you submitted it and they didn’t print it, something is very, very wrong. It is truly great.
I believe on several posts I may have mentioned that in my Senior MIT years I had a part-time B&M job as a locomotive test engineer working for Ernie Bloss, and got to run a GP-7 on the Porstmouth-Sommerville night freight. (Geeps 1567 or 1568 went up north on the 4PM passenger from North Station and came back on the freight.) I generally parked my bike (the commute from MIT over the Longfellow Bridge) at North Station, so the problem was the trudge at 3 or 4AM from Sommerville Yard to North Station. No problem, I could bragg to my non-railfan MIT classmates that I regularly had the service of a 1500 HP taxi.
But my MIT classmate Mort Grosser, who passed away recently, did me better. As a Freshman, he hung around South Station and in 1949 and 1950 the New Haven was still using 0-6-0 steam switchers and Mort alway was able to catch a ride.
Quite some time ago when NS was still doing steam excursions they had laid on a trip that went right through my town. I got the word that #611 was due through early in the evening so I went out to my crossroad of choice and parked the car. Directly adjacent to the crossroad was a do-it-yourself car wash which was surrounded with a huge amount of blacktop. I waited awhile and a few others in-the-know drove up and parked. It was a pleasant evening so soon all of us were standing outside in the twilight chatting quietly. A few, like myself, had a camera and tripod so we picked our spots and waited some more. The excursion had encountered some delays to the east so the arrival time continued to slip and we went from twilight to dark. As time passed, still more people arrived until we had a crowd of 20-30 people standing around just quietly talking - mostly about trains. Around 11 P.M. a black and white came cruising up the street and when he saw the large cluster of people he whipped a quick U-turn and rolled into the parking area.
He got out of his car, looked over the peaceful crowd who didn’t seem to be paying him much attention and strolled up to where we were standing. Nothing was happening and it was obvious he was more puzzled than alarmed. Finally, when no one said anything he sort of tipped his cap back on his head, scratched his forehead and said, “Evening folks, what’s going on?”
One of group said, “Nothing - just waiting for 611.”
He said, “What?”
Another fan replied, " You, know the N&W Class J. She’s rolling this evening."
He just sort of stared and finally I said, “We’re waiting for a steam train to come through.”
He looked at me and then in a voice filled with a combination of surprise and mild incredulity said, “A train, you mean all of you are just standing around waiting for a choo-choo train?”
Several people said, almost in unison, “Yes, a choo-choo train.”
I was always warry of people on the train that wanted to talk railroading with me. One was a lady that had to go on and on about how she took the train to Florida when she was a child when she was living in Chicago. She insisted that she rode the Wabash because,“That’s what it said on the side of the car.” Then there was a guy who stated, “My father has the last Santa Fe in Kansas,” whatever that meant. But as an old friend of mine once said,“You have to let 'em wallow in their ignorance.” You really have to listen patiently and understand they know not of what they speak. If possible take the approach of being a patient teacher when trying to explain further. I agree with CSX Engineer. The outside world just has no exposure to railroading at all anymore, and people have no idea.
OF TRAINS AND FOOD DELIVERIES…Nothing new where I come from. On the CNW, when I was a fireman, there was a pizza joint in Park Ridge, right next to the westbound suburban platform. We could call them from the Glass House at the Chicago depot and have a delivery guy right there on the platform with the pizza upon our arrival. On the South Shore Line there was an entire network developed over the years where food joints would make deliveries. Both Michigan City and Miller had rib houses that were close to the platforms. Calls from Randolph Street insured prompt service. The age of cell phones made this process very efficient. We could depend on the weekend dispatcher to arrange pizzas in Michigan City. The pizza guy came to the Shops, and the dispatcher walked over to the main line and “hooped” the pizza up as we passed.
OF CAB CAR MIS-DOINGS. Once, when I was in train service on the MIlwaukee Road, we were coming eastward (south) at West Lake Forest, on a suburban train, with a cab car in the lead on a 2 car train. Snow piled on the main from freshly plowed snow at the grade crossing was high enough to cause the knuckles to part between the 2 cars and we came in two with the cab car rolling a little farther th
…As CSX engineer stated the public knows nothing about the railroads…One more reason railroads need advertising…If no one knows, how will they be first in line, or in line at all… {down the road in time}, to be selected for their carrier of products…
I can almost see an old timer climbing out of the cab, firing up the ever present cigar, going up to the front of the car and leaning in to push it back. That is funny.
Jay,
Come to think of it, I think the hogger stepped outside (as he had to go back to the engine anyway) shrugged his shoulders and yelled,“Wanna help me push!”
This is exactly how guys get there nicknames on the railroad.
Mitch
Usually the only time I have trouble with non-railfans is when checking into hotel rooms. The clerk invariably has to know why I want the room that’s nearest the tracks or has the best view of the tracks. Trying to explain myself is futile at best. Anymore I just try to tell them witch room I want without letting them know why.
Avoiding non-railfan interferance is why I do most of my railfanning in secluded areas. Sometimes I take a few guns and do some target shooting to divert attention from my main activities. It works for me.
I’ll bet the ones that do approach you are VERY courteous, too.[:D] The combination of trains and guns would be so much fun, don’t know if I could stand it.
This Saturday I may be going to a Cowboy Action Shooting Match in the Cajon pass. The shooting range is just across Cajon Blvd. from the 3 lines running through the southern end of the pass. I believe it is near Keenwood. I may be able to do two hobbies with one trip.
The Single Action Shooting Society is the parent orgaization for it. They started out years ago as a bunch of people who liked to get together and shoot old (and replica) western style guns. Single Action Army Colts, Lever action Winchesters, Schofields, Sharps, and the like. They developed a series of shooting scenarios that simulate the old west, including one that involves riding a horse through an obstacle course while shooting balloons on 6 foot sticks. They have figured out how to do these scenarios safely and it’s pretty entertaining just to watch. The National Championships used to be held in Corona, CA but have now moved to a place in New Mexico.
Over the years they started to dress up in authentic western costume while doing all this and the public is usually invited to the big matches. It’s sort of a Wild West version of the Rennaisance Faires with a shooting competition added.
The various local and regional clubs have training and competition shoots all over. The Cajon Cowboys shoot at a ranch in the lower Cajon pass, beween old Route 66 and the freeway and right across the valley from the RRs.
Strangely enough, there are a few locos out there with gearshifts - usually small switchers though there have been some larger experimental diesel-mechanical types. It’s more common on railcars - British Railways ordered thousands of diesel railcars from various builders for branchline services, most of these had a couple of bus engines under the power car(s) driving through 4-speed gearboxes (manual shift) and then via cardan shafts to the inner axle of each truck. Basically a British equivelent to the Budd RDC.
Some of these stories are brilliant - especially liked the Pizza one, that had me laughing out loud! Sadly I don’t have any to share - the only one I’ve seen (and this is more an example of stupidity than odd encounters) was the person who happily crossed with his wife and two kids in front of a moving steam switcher on a museum line - this despite the loco crew blowing the whistle, the guard (conductor) blowing his whistle, another crew member yelling and everyone gesticulating at them to get off the tracks. Luckily, we missed them, but if one had caught a foot in a switch (or similar) I’m not sure the crew could have stopped in time - takes a while to bring even our tiny locos to a stop!