Railroaders' Nostalgia > Rainy Autumn Crew Change

You’ve been puttering around the house all day, waiting for the phone to ring. Your crew was supposed to go to work before lunch time, so you really couldn’t go anywhere. And you can’t really get any complicated ‘honey-do’ projects started, because that phone just might ring at any time. You kill the time as best you can, taking care of a few small items. You wait…

October has just recently turned into November. The sun was shining when you awoke this morning and there was some little promise of mild weather in which to go riding a train. But your train has “fallen”, and lunch time has come & gone. The mild day is turning blustery. Cloudy & grey, but not all that cold. Yet… There are just a scattered few tree leaves clinging to past glory. Dark brown & wrinkled, they will soon join their fallen comrades on your nearly dormant lawn. You’ll have to rake that mess up soon, but not until after this next round trip. Better check with the crew office again. ‘Sometime before midnight’ is the new lie. Again, you wait…

It’s getting darker. The afternoon is slipping away. Turning cooler. You’ve now frittered away 4 or 5 useful hours, expecting to go to work. Maybe you could have done this, or should have done that. But now maybe you can get a short nap in. You lay down, but your mind is still in wide awake mode. You try to relax, but all that coffee you drank during the day is taking effect. Still, you just lay there. You wait some more…

Finally the soft, soothing fingers of pre-sleep are gently caressing your mind. You drift, e-v-e-r so slightly into a state of…

RIIINNNGGGG!!!! Your hand is reaching for the receiver even before your mind fully resets. An impartial voice from the crew office rattles off a train number: “189 at 11:40” You bark a barely understandable answer and replace the receiver. You look at your watch, wondering for the umpteenth time just how you actually managed a couple of hours of sleep. You’ve got 90 minutes. Fix a late supper (again), and put on (another) pot of coffee. You check your grip and take a look outside. Great!!! It’s now getting downright cold with some light rain pattering down. Better make sure you still have some rain gear packed.

It’s really no big deal though, just another part of the job. This is a scenario you’ve repeated countless times in your long career. Stash that full thermos in your grip and take that familiar drive down to the station. Get your train orders, greet your crew and engage in various topics. Your train has suffered a bit of a delay between Argentine & your on duty point here in Emporia. Pour yourself a steaming cup and offer some coffee to your fellow crew members. You sit and needlessly check over your train orders again. You wait…

Finally that familiar sound wells up outside. 3 big EMDs are growling to a dynamic-brake assisted stop. This is the moment you waited all day for. You dump your coffee dregs and replace your thermos. You turn your collar up another inch, pick up your grip and walk out onto the glistening red-brick platform. It’s raining. Those 3 Big Jacks are in idle as the inbound crew climbs down. You nod a short greeting and gratefully note the noisy swoosh-clunk, swoosh-clunk, swoosh-clunk of the windshield wipers. Good deal; you’re gonna need them this night. You stash your grip and pat your pocket for your train orders. You sit down and notch out on the throttle while at the same time releasing the driver brakes. Your eyes take in one final detail as you get your train started: There’s that goofy picture-taker again, all huddled over his tripod in this cold autumn rain…

1. AT&SF 5672 on the point of train 189 D-1 stopped at Emporia, KS for a crew change on November 5, 1978.
(original Ektachrome slide)

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/14 23:54 by santafe199.

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Those were the days, my friend...( you know the rest )



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/14 02:22 by The_Chief_Way.

Great story and photo!

Superb!

Lucas

A trainload of memories similar to this flood my mind as I reflect back on the railroad days on the Joint Line. Thanks for rekindling them Lance.

You have a wonderful way with words! Have you ever authored anything besides Trainorders?

Been there done that, glad to be retired.
JB

The title of your forthcoming book Lance, "The New Lie". LOL!

Don't worry, they are still telling that same lie:)

Posted from Android

Lance,

Great narrative. Exactly how it felt hanging out at the Mitway waiting for a call. Great shot.

Jim

You missed the part when you drive to work and hit a deer or an elk, in my case, and then still try and make it to work. Here are my stats: 6 deer and two elk in twenty years......solution- slow down or move closer to work.......done and retired in the beautiful Black Hills of SD!

Great writing!

Love it but don't miss those late night calls. I just came off vacation at Midnight and at 12:40am Patty called me. I asked her why she waited so long and she just realized that I was available. Want the phone to ring just put your head on the pillow. Lay first out for over twenty four hours then you can say you had a day off. I do miss those road jobs but this new career of retirement is not so bad.

Great story, after 33 years of service I`ve lived through that scenereo many times. I can laugh about it now but it sure made for some miserable trips. I would hope they`d put me in a siding someplace so I could take a nap. I retired two years ago.

Just one of the many things I like about retirement is that I'm home every night in my own bed.

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You’ve been puttering around the house all day,
> waiting for the phone to ring. Your crew was
> supposed to go to work before lunch time, so you
> really couldn’t go anywhere. And you can’t
> really get any complicated ‘honey-do’ projects
> started, because that phone just might ring at any
> time. You kill the time as best you can, taking
> care of a few small items. You wait…
>
> October has just recently turned into November.
> The sun was shining when you awoke this morning
> and there was some little promise of mild weather
> in which to go riding a train. But your train has
> “fallen”, and lunch time has come & gone. The
> mild day is turning blustery. Cloudy & grey, but
> not all that cold. Yet… There are just a
> scattered few tree leaves clinging to past glory.
> Dark brown & wrinkled, they will soon join their
> fallen comrades on your nearly dormant lawn.
> You’ll have to rake that mess up soon, but not
> until after this next round trip. Better check
> with the crew office again. ‘Sometime before
> midnight’ is the new lie. Again, you wait…
>
> It’s getting darker. The afternoon is slipping
> away. Turning cooler. You’ve now frittered away
> 4 or 5 useful hours, expecting to go to work.
> Maybe you could have done this, or should have
> done that. But now maybe you can get a short nap
> in. You lay down, but your mind is still in wide
> awake mode. You try to relax, but all that coffee
> you drank during the day is taking effect. Still,
> you just lay there. You wait some more…
>
> Finally the soft, soothing fingers of pre-sleep
> are gently caressing your mind. You drift, e-v-e-r
> so slightly into a state of…
>
> RIIINNNGGGG!!!! Your hand is reaching for the
> receiver even before your mind fully resets. An
> impartial voice from the crew office rattles off a
> train number: “189 at 11:40” You bark a barely
> understandable answer and replace the receiver.
> You look at your watch, wondering for the
> umpteenth time just how you actually managed a
> couple of hours of sleep. You’ve got 90 minutes.
> Fix a late supper (again), and put on (another)
> pot of coffee. You check your grip and take a look
> outside. Great!!! It’s now getting downright
> cold with some light rain pattering down. Better
> make sure you still have some rain gear packed.




...and then at 3:40 you're in the ditch, get by a red, take out a truck or some other unfortunate event. The event will be investigated by the company and maybe the experts from NTSB and FRA. They will issue a report, which will coldly observe that the crew was off duty for 19 hours and was rested.



I agree with the others - great writing.

TAW

When I worked out of Emporia, I always liked coming early and sitting on the bench in front of the dispatchers office watching the trains stop, change crews on both ends, and depart. The crew office in the depot was really small, and if several full four or five man crews were on duty at the same time, it clogged up fast.

Nicely done.

Train Orders should have a "Story of the Day/Week" award.

Jason Rose
Spring, TX
Rio Grande Explorations

I loved my job for my entire career. And I do miss running the locomotive down the Main track. But I really do love retirement. More than I thought I would. And yes, I am still trackside taking photos.

Thanks to everyone for the nice compliments! As always, they are appreciated...

cabman Wrote:
> Have you ever authored anything besides Trainorders?

No sir, I have not. I suspect it's a whole lot easier to look good writing a couple of minor paragraphs than it is to compose a full-blown article...

Lance