Whilst in the USAF I was warned not to touch the handrails on the stairs leading up to airfield control towers…[:|]
Yeah, no one stops trains just so the engineer can use the toilet.
That’s why NS paints their engines black. That and to hide the oil leaks. That sound plausible Mr. Z?
Jeff
With the slight grade through here, Eastbounds tend to crawl, and not too many houses on the south side of the tracks…at least the cut is deep. [:#] The Westbounds tend to move pretty quickly (New High Speed switch on Westend)… I guess that is why when they get to Wellington… The engines are parked on track adjacent to the Yard Office…Beginning to make sense.[^o)]
This converstation reminds me of a line from Arlo Guthrie’s “City of New Orleans”.
“The passengers will please refrain” was in reference to flushing the toilet while the train was in the station. Of course that was before the EPA got involved and demanded holding tanks. Gotta have compassion for MOW crews back then. I’m sure they encountered some very unpleasant stuff.
As someone who worked outside in the Florida heat for 25 years, let me shed some light…
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The cab in a steam locomotive was probably very hot. The engineer probably rarely had to relieve himself. He was probably doing well just to keep up with the fluid he was sweating out.
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There would be days I would drink over a gallon of water and never use the bathroom once.
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-Kevin
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On the WC we did a project to lower the high noses on a group of Southern SD45s. One thing they unwittingly did was cut a rather large slot on the top of the traction motor blower duct (toilet room floor) It wasn’t discovered until I had to use the toilet on one of its first trips after rebuilding. Mid pee, the room turned into a vortex and I was turning my body to arc it into the can. Arcing it in stopped working in notch 8.
I almost never use the locomotive toilet. On the WC and elsewhere I would stop the train to (inspect).
I have Crohns disease so it was difficult for me to be an engineer or a conductor. On the RR I worked for in Maine there were many single man crews so stoppping along the way was common. There was also a spot of nice undulating track that worked when I had 100+ train. I could simply leave the locomotives in notch 5 and the train was happy trudling along at 25 MPH for enough time to do what I needed to do (or until the alertor went off).
On one occasion I was engineer on a snow plow and we were having a long day because of tresspassing snowsleds. We had derailed twice so we were more than a little irritated. Towards the end of the trip we came across another pesky snowmobile trail across and along the track and since we had stopped an hour before for hotdogs and coffee I realy had to go. I told the conductor up in the plow I was stopping to do my thing. I stopped the engine directly on the narrow snowsled crossing, went out the rear door, dropped trousers, hooked my arms around the handrails and let it fly like only a post surgical Crohns patient can . There were a group of snow sleds on the other side waiting for us to move. The spot I left in the snow had to be visable from orbit!
My conductor in the plow happened to look back and said that it looked like a big fire extinguisher going off. I guess because it was 15 below zero .
In any case the snow sledders were faced with a choice. There was only one way around… straight th
Thank You.
Really? We really need this conversation?
Well! NASCAR is having the Southern 500 at Darlington, SC today as a ‘throw back’ race with ‘classic’ car paint schemes.
This is just a ‘throw back’ on answering nature’s call. Railroaders in the field have never been accused of bein ‘couth’ - at least back in the 50’s-60’s-70’s they weren’t.
I’m with Zugmann …good grief…worst thread ever.
As an adult- If one cannot resolve these issues by critically thinking them through, you most likely, are not suited for a semi- outdoor profession; or have not served in the Army or Marine Corps. [:-^]
In history we discuss all the great battles of wars that have been contested - but we conviently overlook that the participants in those battles had to answer natures call - one way or another.
In reading the railroad’s recrew report, I’ve seen a few times a contributing factor to running out of time as being the crew stopped to use the restroom. Once in a while it’s not because of using the restroom, but the fact that they couldn’t use the restroom. The lead engine had a bad-order toilet and they either had to rearrange the consist or find a new leader in those cases.
Jeff
This is a real crappy thread.
As a Crohns sufferer I am confronted by two choices. Either laugh about my condition or cry about it. I choose to laugh.
I am eligible for a disability and also fit the requirements for “medical pot”. I chose to work instead and take all that goes with it.
I was diagnosed when I was 17, had major surgery when I was 26 and I have 32 years on the railroad doing any job I could get.
Randy
At work the conductors and engineers use water bottles and leave them in the cabs or throw them out in the yards. I like to throw them in the crew parking lots so they can trip over them and run’em over, slobs.
[Y]Congrats to you Randy. Most of today’s citizenry would take the easy way out and go lie down in the corner.
We have toilets in our engines. We also have the same engines assinged to our terminal, and the people I work with aren’t disgusting slobs. I guess that’s a rarity out here.
Those that have little respect for themselves, rarely have any respect for others. Each location I worked was different - some had respect, others didn’t.