Railroaders' Nostalgia > Conversation with the boss-8

Back in the mid-80s, there were a BN Portland Division Roadmaster and Trainmaster that both acquired the nickname "9 stick."It seems that there was a train on the Oregon Trunk between Wishram and Bend that hit a rockslide. The lead unit, a GP35 climbed the rocks and was sitting on a big bolder. Our intrepid managers arrived on the scene and after a full recon decided that what they needed was some dynamite. So...they left and got some dynamite. They figured 9 sticks ought to do it. Then they began to deal with the bolder under the GP35.

There is scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in which they use dynamite to crack the safe in the baggage car of the train they were robbing. They all stand back and...there is a huge explosion that vaporizes the baggage car. Sundance says to butch in a line that became famous "Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?"

Well, when the smoke and flying rock fragments cleared, it was possible to look up behind the No 1 truck of the GP35 and see the sky.

Afterward, they were assigned to other locations, not working together. The division tried to hide the incident from St. Paul. The engine sat hidden behind the Vancouver shop for a very long time in minor repairs and maintenance status. Let's see...the entire railroad is telling the story of 9 stick, 9 stick, and the slightly damaged GP35, and the division is trying to keep it a secret from headquarters. Uh...ok. They finally gave up, took the engine out of light repair/maintenance status and took it away, I assume to be scrapped but don't know for sure.

A couple of years later, I had a relief assistant chief dispatcher job, working a Pacific Division 3rd, two Spokane Division 1st, and 2 Portland Division 2nd tricks. On my two Portland 2d tricks I usually worked with 9 stick the trainmaster, who had been reassigned to a terminal trainmaster position at Vancouver (WA). He was a good guy and quite conscientious. He just need some skills development in explosives and restraint.

I was working Spokane off assignment instead of Portland on 2d trick. 103 was pulling out of Hauser and derailed a C6 (100 ton covered hopper) in the plant at the west end of Hauser. The one and only derailed car was foul of the main by just a few inches, but turned over. There was no way to just move it. There was a lot of traffic around. It was going to get ugly quickly. I made the calls, got the appropriate people going, worked up a strategy for the traffic, then when I had a few spare minutes, I called 9 stick at Vancouver.

He answered and I said "Got a problem, need your help."

" I thought I'm working with someone else here tonight. What's up?"

"I'm over on the Spokane Division tonight. Hey, 103 put a C6 of coke on the ground at the west end of Hauser. It's out to foul by a few inches and I need some help dealing with it."

"But you've got people on the Spokane Division who are there and can deal with it. Why do you need me?"

"Need some specialized expertise."

"What's that?"

"I need to know how many sticks it will take to vaporize the end of that C6 so I can get trains by there."

"Oh you S O B! That's not nice at all!"

Then we laughed about it and went on with our respective railroading problems.

TAW

Rub it in a bit....oooo that stings!

Thanks for another good post.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/14 17:28 by roustabout.

You sure you didn't have some time in the oilfield too ?? Never let an opportunity get by to harrass someone in upper management, even better if done in front of others.

I needed a laugh...thanks for sharing this.
I hope you're writing this stuff down into a book. I'll buy a copy!

Yes, this WOULD make a good book!!! Keep it coming, please.

Uh...I never blew up anything with dynamite. But one time, I had a somewhat "oldish" autorack car fouling the GM lead for auto parts spotting. Hulcher was able to get in the smaller cranes and dozers ASAP, but not the heavier cranes needed to actually upright the car and clear the switching lead for GM's evening spot ($10,000 a MINUTE if it was OUR FAULT for each minute thereafter for a late spot, and, of course GM harrassed the hell out of US, then they went up the Regional Vice President, then the Executive Vice President-Operations, then if it was truly bad enough, to the CEO). So there I was on the scene and told that the larger Hulcher cranes were still "at least 6 hours away." Strangely, there was no track damage, this bilevel autocarrier had just "flipped" (and I won't go into details of derailment cause, etc.). I pondered the situation, my fate, how the day/afternoon/evening would unfold and what was at stake. This took me about 30 minutes perhaps, as the evening spot (the "drill," or block of cars for the GM switch, having already been made up). I told the Roadmaster and the Mechanical Foreman (actually this was imparted more to the Mechanical Foreman and to his mgmt supervisor): "Just go ahead and BULLDOZE that f**king car and get it the hell out of the way." And of course the mechanical guy said: "But that's gonna tear that bilevel completely UP and it'll be a TOTAL LOSS!!!" And I said: "I don't give a $&*T!!! I fully realize that the car will be UTTERLY DEMOLISHED. Just get it out of the WAY and without causing any damage to the TRACK." And they did.

And I didn't get any nicknames out of it, or what have you. Everyone after the fact agreed that this was the right thing to do with what all--and the $$$--was at stake. And yes, at first, I felt like I was having "slight angina pains" as I saw what appeared to be a hopeless situation, but once I saw the way out and what needed to be done, a PERFECT CALM came over me. And it worked out. A high-risk strategy, to be sure, but it worked out.

Lesson: it's better to avoid working around Auto Plants if you can avoid it...LOL!!!

Red Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, this WOULD make a good book!!! Keep it
> coming, please.


I'm working on three at once, but yes I plan to put it all together in a book.

> I told the
> Roadmaster and the Mechanical Foreman (actually
> this was imparted more to the Mechanical Foreman
> and to his mgmt supervisor): "Just go ahead and
> BULLDOZE that f**king car and get it the hell out
> of the way." And of course the mechanical guy
> said: "But that's gonna tear that bilevel
> completely UP and it'll be a TOTAL LOSS!!!" And I
> said: "I don't give a $&*T!!! I fully realize that
> the car will be UTTERLY DEMOLISHED. Just get it
> out of the WAY and without causing any damage to
> the TRACK." And they did.

My kind of railroading. I have mentioned before that I learned that dispatching is not a place for the timid (BUT you'd better know your stuff). That also applies to any other position in charge of anything railroad. Unfortunately, that doesn't appear to be the acceptable way of the 21st Century.

TAW

Sometimes, in the moment, stories like the GP35/dynamite accident-incident seem reasonable. LOL

I was a boat mechanic in Arizona back in the early 80's.

On a sleepy Sunday morning, we had a guy roll in that had his outboard motor tanks contaminated with water. After we fixed him, we had about 10 gallons of gas, oil, and water....the boss says "What should we do with it?" I said to dump it out in the back yard and let it evaporate.

After a few hours He said "It is not going away!" What now? I said " I dunno, burn it......

The smoke and flames could be seen for miles.

The whole world showed up... fire, police, and spectators. When it was over he said:

"I will never listen to you again!"

Keith Turley
Monrovia, California

TAW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Red Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yes, this WOULD make a good book!!! Keep it
> > coming, please.
>
>
> I'm working on three at once, but yes I plan to
> put it all together in a book.
>
> > I told the
> > Roadmaster and the Mechanical Foreman (actually
> > this was imparted more to the Mechanical
> Foreman
> > and to his mgmt supervisor): "Just go ahead and
> > BULLDOZE that f**king car and get it the hell
> out
> > of the way." And of course the mechanical guy
> > said: "But that's gonna tear that bilevel
> > completely UP and it'll be a TOTAL LOSS!!!" And
> I
> > said: "I don't give a $&*T!!! I fully realize
> that
> > the car will be UTTERLY DEMOLISHED. Just get it
> > out of the WAY and without causing any damage
> to
> > the TRACK." And they did.
>
> My kind of railroading. I have mentioned before
> that I learned that dispatching is not a place for
> the timid (BUT you'd better know your stuff). That
> also applies to any other position in charge of
> anything railroad. Unfortunately, that doesn't
> appear to be the acceptable way of the 21st
> Century.
>
> TAW

A plugged railroad is just like a broken stopped up sewer pipe. It does not take long for it to smell.

I made the opposite call one morning west of Sanderson, TX.
A train had an UDE and jacknifed about 3 empty reefer cars, fouling the track.
An Asst. Trainmaster and I grabbed the power off a stopped train and a couple of track gangs, plus the Sanderson carman and set about pulling the cars back and frogging them on, and after each one was re-railed they had to go about 10 miles to set it out and 10 miles back, flagging signals. Before long our "2-3 hours" had become 5 or 6 and we still were not ready.
No. 1, Amtrak's Sunset Limited, pulled into Sanderson and began waiting.
Into this mess wandered the Superintendent, on an automobile trip to visit elected officials at Alpine and Sanderson. He described near-riot conditions as a trainload of passengers were ready to burn down the depot and hijack the train.
When he got to us, and saw we had a bulldozer, he asked: "Why didn't you just roll them out of the way?"
"Because we didn't want to tear up the cars."
After the dust settled my training was completed: the cost of some bent handrails is trivial compared to the cost of a blocked main line.
I figured we killed of about four crews on HOS at least.
But some handrails lived out their natural lives.
(NOT an April Fool's Joke)