As we neared the end of the drive from Columbus, heading north on Michigan Ave. in downtown Chicago, we passed the Illinois Central’s coach yards proudly displaying row upon row of equipment in IC’s striking orange and chocolate-brown paint scheme. Thus my first sorta up-close-and-personal exposure to the IC’s passenger operations.
Later that day we took a cab from the downtown hotel to Dearborn Station to board our train to Los Angeles. Now, try to picture this: there at the bumper posts were four Santa Fe stre
Mention of the Texas Chief brings to mind a careless mistake I made early in my railroad career, in late 1949. I was working 2nd shift in Tower 38 in Galveston, and in lining up for the Chief’s arrival, I pulled the wrong lever and lined it up for the roundhouse lead instead of the southward main toward Union Station. The train, of course, was governed by some kind of signal indication, such as Restricting-Approach, and when the hoghead saw how the switch was lined, he stopped and starting blowing his whistle. That was the first I realized I’d lined up the wrong route. I had to hit the ground and signal him to back up behind the home signal so I could change the route. They probably lost about 15 or 20 minutes, but fortunately it was at the end of the run, rather than the beginning. I got an inquiry from the Santa Fe Chief Dispatcher (I worked for the T&NO) and I explained what I’d done. A few days later I got a visit from the T&NO Trainmaster, and I showed him how I’d pulled the wrong lever for the route. (The lever for the route I lined was next to the lever I should have pulled for the correct route. He just told me to be more careful and that was the end of it. I was sure I’d be fired for it, because I’d been cautioned not to delay any of the Santa Fe passenger trains when I went to work at Tower 38.