Railroaders' Nostalgia > A Close Call

Right after I hired out on the Southern Pacific in Los Angeles as a brakeman in 1966, about the only thing I could hold was the San Joaquin Brakeman's extra board. This board covered the Los Angeles-Bakersfield Pool, and the locals at Mojave. The Colton-Palmdale Cutoff had not yet opened.
The drawback to working this board was that it was a seniority board; in that the senior man on the board got called first, while the younger guys (me, for example) languished on the board. We might get out on a weekend, but that was about it.
This wasn't too bad a deal, since I was living at home at the time, and going to college during the week. A crew dispatcher named Bill Lavagie would always lay me off during the week, knowing I would be available for the weekend when he needed men. Can you imagine doing that now with the UP?
Anyway, to the story. I got called out of Bakersfield one night about 10:00p. on a heavy eastbound. My engineer was Frank Keene. I had never worked with him before.
They had deadheaded crews to LA ahead of us, so the call was highly unexpected, and my rest was somewhat short, to say the least (No, I had not been drinking)!
We started up the hard pull out of Caliente and the speed slowly stabilized at about 12 mph. It was a cold night, the windows were shut, and with Frank puffing away on cigarettes, and my lack of rest, my hat bill was quickly drooping.
Frank looked over at me and said, "Hey Brian, I'm pretty well rested, go ahead and put your feet up."
He didn't have to tell me twice. I barely remember going through Tunnel 1 between Caliente and Bealville.
I don't know to this day what woke me up. God must have been looking out for us. We were coming up the main line at Walong, the Loop siding, that old SD-9 we were on was roaring away in Run 8, and the signal at the east end was all red, with a westbound entering the siding!
I looked across the cab, and Frank was fast asleep.
"FRANK!!!" I screamed. He came to, and immediately plugged the train. Since an SD-9 is a high nosed unit, and the curve is to the left, he couldn't see how close he was to the signal because the westbound was blocking his view.
We came to a stop about three carlengths from the signal, and Frank looked over at me, lit a cigarette, and asked, "What's the last place you remember going by?"
"About Tunnel 1," I replied. "How about you?"
"I think I remember the Bealville crossovers."
Now get the picture here; we had gome by the east end of Bealville, Cliff, Rowen, Woodford, and the west end of Walong with nobody but God running that train! All CTC territory! This territory includes about ten absolute signals!
The westbound got in the clear, and everyone had sense enough to stay off the radio. At the time, if the dispatcher wanted to communicate with a train, he turned a white call light on the side of the relay case at the switch, and that meant for someone to go to the phone. There was no dispatcher-train radio communication. We expected that call light to come on as the dispatcher wanted to know about run by absolute signals or other things that could have happened while we were in our mobile comatose state.
The signal cleared at the east end, and off we went. Frank looked over at me and said, "I think we learned something, didn't we. I think we better have some of that coffee of yours."
Needless to say, we made an unscheduled stop at Mojave to refill my coffee jug, and we went on into LA with no more contretemps.
Frank Keene was a fine old man, but I learned later he had a bad reputation as a sleepyhead. Some said it was a result of the emphysyma he suffered due to all those cigaretts. Toward the end of his career, he moved to Bakersfield and retired off the Tehachapi helpers. His son Jim hired out as a brakeman in the late 60's/early 70's, and broke for me many times off the old Palmdale-Bakersfield Pool. He was a good brakie, and a fun guy to work with.
I shared this story many times with young head people I had braking for me over the years. Lesson: Don't place your life and the life of others in the hands of the guy on the other side of the cab!

Brian Black
Retired SP/UP Conductor

Thanks for giving me and my good 'ol dad a nice chuckle.

Very well written, keeps the reader interested, especially a couple Bakersfield boys like ourselves.

Great story Brian.. Same thing happened to Harold "beep beep" Hunter and many others !

Brain..I think the hardest place for a hoghead to stay awake was, going east making the left turn at Palmdale and heading across the “Cutoff” at 3am.

Great story of the reality of railroading! You haven't worked for the railroad until you've had to fight off sleep, so bad, that it actually hurts. Even today, "alerters" become mindless. Engineers, and Conductors get paid to defy nature. We're supposed to be asleep during those hours. We know it, the railroads know it, but all we hear is "stay focused". Easier said than done. My hat's off to all railroaders across the country who get it done 24-7, and take pride in what they do.

I can relate to all of the above. I never how some engineers could go all night with out coffee as I always would have my head in lap if I didn't. When engineers would ask me if I wanted to run, I always would if they were tired, but I still needed coffee to make it through the night. I can't count all the signals that I have went by and the engineer and I have wondered " Was clear or was that last trip." Scary

Good story Brian, I was lucky that I never went completely into full release on the headend of a moving train. Did once on a cut in helper but a track gang woke me up when we passed by yelling. I just looked up and smiled like nothing had happened but it scared me. However there were plenty of times when the conductor was out for the count most of the trip. I was unable to drink regular coffee due to an ulcer. When they asked me if I wanted coffee, I would say no thanks, that stuff just keeps you awake! After a funny look whoever my coworker was stayed awake better. Once on a hauler out of West Colton while going around the balloon loop to head West, the conductor tells me "Wake me when we get to C.of I." I knew I was on my own after that. We had a UDE at the West end of Pomona and after we got stopped the conductor came to and asked me why my red light was on. Duh! I told him to look at the ground.

Ray



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/14 12:16 by CR3.

Great story. Only those who have been there done that can relate. I was fortunate as an engineer as I didn't have a problem staying awake and never drank coffee. For my "team mates" on the other side of the cab it was a different story for many but not all.
JB

I wonder if PTC will solve this problem, or at least mitigate it.

PTC will do nothing when a train is supposed to be at restricted speed, which is when a significant number of collisions occur. As for other times, the efficiency and usefulness of PTC remains to be seen in real-world railroading scenarios.

PTC will not be the great "cure all" some people make it out to be.
ATS, ATC and Cab Signals were supposed to make accidents impossible too...

My impression is that PTC will implement the data links enabling total automation. So it will become possible to not only avoid collisions but to totally optimize train control. If and when really good software might be developed to achieve that is anyone's guess.

Best regards,

Rob L.

I had many a "Micro Sleep" and it scared the hell out of me. One I remember was a train from K Falls to Dunsmuir around 3:00 AM OD. We had doubled back and I was beat. I told the head man to keep an eye out and make sure I didn't nod off. He said no problem. I remember going by Worden and starting into the first tunnel. I woke up in the second tunnel having passed the approach signal to Dorris. The throttle was still in Run 8 and looked over at the brakeman and he was sound asleep. Not knowing the last signal, I put 1st squirt in it and got rid of the power. I started to go deeper and we started to slow. We came around the curve in the tunnel and could see the signal at the east end of Dorris. Double Red and a headlight on dim on the main. I got it stopped before Highway 97 and took a deep breath. We called the dispatcher and he said to take the switch in hand throw and line ourselves in. He couldn't get the switch to move. Yup, it was an eye opener. Someone was looking down on us that night.

There is a funny one that the LA or SJ hoggers could add to. I ran into a SJ hoghead in SLO at the depot as he was tieing up. He had a black eye, almost shut, cuts and scrapes around his face and a limp. I asked him what the hell happened. He said, "You don't want to know." Later I found out he was over on the Bakersfield pool, sitting in a siding on a dark night. He was sound asleep when an approaching train woke him up. He thought the engine was lined in on top of him so he made an exit. He told me later he was beyond the point of return, going out the window when he figured he had made a bad move. Its a long way from a cab window down to the hard ballast. What really made me laugh was he turned in a 2611 (AX report) to the RFE in LA. Roberts took one look at him and one look at the AX and tossed it in the trash. Didn't say a word and left the office.


Nudge

There were times when I was a Lieutenant that I worried about my missile capsule proceeding on autopilot if I should nod off. I would put on a headset and crank the volume up loud so that the ringing of the phone would wake me up.

We also could run a test that would set off the critical alarm in all five of the squadron capsules; the theory was that if we thought that somebody had nodded off then that was the scariest sound that we could make to try and wake up one of the two zonked out crew dogs in the "autopilot" capsule. Running an INHIBIT TEST at 3 AM was a sure sign that somebody was asleep somewhere.

John Gezelius
Tustin, CA

I never dozed off running 1522, but I've sat on the jump seat we had on the front of the tender and leaned back against the hot wall of the oil bunker and dozed off. I wouldn't have thought it was possible to doze off on such a noisy engine, but it was.
When I was in the Army in basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. I got a pass to come home for the weekend (St. Louis) so I got in my car and took off right after dark. I remember leaving the post and the next thing I knew I was driving through Pacific, which was about 25 miles from home. Scared the crap out of me how I drove almost 80 miles and didn't remember it.
Lack of rest can really mess you up.

Frisco1522 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I never dozed off running 1522, but I've sat on
> the jump seat we had on the front of the tender
> and leaned back against the hot wall of the oil
> bunker and dozed off. I wouldn't have thought it
> was possible to doze off on such a noisy engine,
> but it was.

Almost unimaginable to me knowing the 1522 as I do too, though not much from the cab like Don. Proof positive that if you're tired enough you can nod off just about anywhere. I've heard submariners speak about napping standing up.

> When I was in the Army in basic training at Ft.
> Leonard Wood, MO. I got a pass to come home for
> the weekend (St. Louis) so I got in my car and
> took off right after dark. I remember leaving
> the post and the next thing I knew I was driving
> through Pacific, which was about 25 miles from
> home. Scared the crap out of me how I drove
> almost 80 miles and didn't remember it.
> Lack of rest can really mess you up.

And it will also scare the bejeezus out of you, as Don notes. Many years ago I drove for Greyhound, back in a day when lots of people still traveled by bus and traffic was robust. I regularly pulled the scheduled second section of a 3:15 AM one-stop express out of Effingham, Illinois to Chicago. As a regular bid assignment, I would come to work prepared and well-rested, and felt good and fresh getting started. No matter. The final 30 miles or so into the stop at Champaign, Ill., right at dawn, were torture.

43 passengers all out cold, the droning of the engine and hum of the tires on I-57, and the light traffic of those pre-dawn hours of the night would really work on you, and hard. I'd open the small, sliding "toll window" that we had to our left to get some extra breeze across my body, but given its position in the smooth airflow around the side of the coach, it didn't do too much for you except make some wind noise. Under the steering column there was an air nozzle like those on airplanes that I'd open full blast and direct right at my face. Maybe crank the air conditioning thermostat down a notch. Hum a melody under my breath and tap the rhythm out quietly on the steering wheel. Anything, anything to keep concentration with 43 lives in my hands.

It was always a great relief to step off the coach in Champaign, handle passengers and tickets, and unload and load express. More than a few times on a cool, refreshing morning I would tarry just a bit if I was good on schedule time, make a slightly slower walkaround inspection of the coach, or recheck my ticket report while standing outside before I got back into the seat. Always with a few deep breaths of cool morning air before I boarded again.

We were not allowed to drink coffee or another beverage, or play an AM/FM radio, tape player or use a CB radio while driving. There were regularly spotters on board, so you didn't dare try to sneak it in. And besides, I accepted the company safety mantra of undivided attention on driving and both hands on the wheel at all times. Although I wondered more than a few times if it was really safer without a sip of coffee now and then, or a radio quietly playing in a single earpiece so that the other ear could listen to the mechanicals for possible trouble, and monitor the passengers. And this was long before today's more intensive safety regs.

The scary trips were the ones like Don's trip home from Fort Leonard Wood when I'd step off in Champaign and the last two hours were a blank. A white void. I am a person who remembers visually what I see when I drive in considerable detail. To not recall a thing like that, yet know that you and your passengers were safe and sound in Champaign, was a great relief. But it would also send a small shiver down your spine. Or worse.

Anybody who has ever had to do transportation service of any kind during the nighttime hours knows how tough it is. A demanding job is even more demanding, and the price of safety only goes up. I only have the greatest of respect for railroaders who do it all the time, bucking an extra board and long pools as I often had to do in my own way. And I can only hope that some means can be found for scheduling that is more compatible with the demands of working and maintaining safety when every part of your body wants only to sleep. Only...to sleep.

MC
Columbia, Missouri

Back when I worked in the Santa Fe San Bernardino radio shop in 1969-70, I'd get off duty at 11.30 pm and drive home to Duarte. There were a number of occasions when my eyes kept going to "closed" and I just had to find a safe place to pull over and get some ZZZZs. A sure sign of this was when the shadows between streetlights would start to take on a three-dimensional appearance. One spot where I'd take a break was the highway rest stop on I-10 West near Fontana. Not long after I left ATSF, I saw a news item that the rest stop had been closed down by either Caltrans or the Highway Patrol. Seems that it was attracting too many illicit drug dealers and "pavement princesses". Only a few traces are left--you really have to know where to look to find the location.

The only time I had a problem on 1522 was on a return trip from Galesburg to St. Louis. We had a driving box brass that was running hot, so we had to loaf along at 15-20MPH and stop every twenty miles (passing track spacing) to dope it. The trip took about 20 hours.
I inherited the run from West Quincy,MO home to St. Louis and started out at 3AM. Loping along that slow, the cool night air and the conditions were there for a nice nap. I got off the seatbox and walked around the cab every once in a while, let the pilot engineer run and managed to stay awake. Tweren't easy tho.

I was a technician at the phone company, testing private business lines remotely from my desk. Occasionally I would be scheduled 4p to 12m one day and then 12m to 8a the next day. That's right, 16 hours straight. No "Hours of service" rules for us. If the work was there you could work 168 hours a week if you felt like it. I've done some 24 hour days and then been ask to work overtime after that. It didn't happen everyday bit a series of storms or a major cable cut were our friends if we wanted some OT. After midnight you were usually alone. One night I was sleepy and I was typing a log comment into a log. Before I hit the enter I proofread it. It didn't make any sense at all. I had dozed between the beginning of the log and the end of the log. Checking the time on the screen, I couldn't have dozed for more than a minute or two. I got up, walked to the door and back and then retyped the comment.

The boss caught one guy sleeping, or at least that's what he thought the guy was doing. He tapped him on the shoulder. The guy, kind of startled sat up rather quickly and said, "Amen." Nothing was ever said to the guy about sleeping.

I don't care for coffee. I may drink a cup a year if someone pushes it infront of me. I have to admit, Mt Dew is my buddy. Never touched the NoDoze or energy drinks.

Another great thread.

John

Until you've done it, nobody can even imagine how hard it is to fight sleep when your body is trying to shut you down. The rocking vibrating motion, the throbbing sounds of the engine making horsepower, the whining of the generator, the groaning traction motors, stuffy air in the cab when it's cold outside, and you're snuggled up to a warm sidewall heater. You desperately want to pull into a siding and meet a bunch of trains, but the radio is quiet, and the green signals just keep coming. Every now and then you take a chance and close your eyes just for a few seconds, only to be jolted wide a wake when your chin drops to your chest. You go a few miles, try it again and realize you're either hallucinating, or having a dream while you're looking down the track thinking you're awake. It's a wonder any of us are still alive to talk about it. The very best thing about being retired now, is being in bed by 10:30 every night. The new still hasn't worn off of that yet.