Railroaders' Nostalgia > Amtrak Fuuueelll Truucckk Wheeereee Aaaareee Yooouuuu

like a scene out of "Car 54 Wheeeeere AAAAAAAre Yooouuuu" ... the cliff hanger story below reminded me of this bone head move ...

back in the 90s we had a goofball who worked with us ... somebody threw the ole "GUMP" label on him ... the only thing i have to say about that is ... the nickname "GUMP" for this dope was really a disservice to Forrest Gump ... anyway somehow this gerbil on a running wheel lame brain stops somewhere around Lancaster (amish country) at a convenience store for lunch ... the parking lot is triple wide and it backs up to a wooded area ...

well good ole Gump parks his truck (a fuel truck no less ... how that happened beats me) goes in the store and gets his lunch ... he parked the truck out of the way against the woods ... when he comes out his truck is gone ... no sign of it ... he was the object of so many pranks he thought someone was playing a joke on him except there was no one else around ... he panics and calls 911 stating his fuel truck was stolen ...

by the time the police arrive a few Amtrak people looking for Gump with the fuel truck show up wondering what the hell was goin on ... the tie gang was down (not working) and staged waiting on the fuel truck ... it was suppose to be a quick drink and back at it to finish up the rest of the days work ...

so now it's a big clusterfudge with the cops taking reports and starting their investigation preparing to look for a stolen filled fuel truck and Amtrak people management and supervisors scratching their heads trying to figure out where their truck went and what their next move was since the equipment was on the out of service main track leaving only one main track to run on from Parksburg to Lancaster ...

there's a lotta commotion goin on everybody's talking and it's real loud ... then someone in that group of people i don't know who tells everyone to be quiet ... a railroad radio transmission is coming from the woods ... the whole group goes over to the end of the parking and they look down the embnkment ... low and behold there's the fuel truck just about standing straight up on it's rear bumper ...

one of the Amtrak people asks in a very hostile very aggitated angry voice "GUUUUUUMMMMPPP !!! HOW IN THE HELL DID THAT FUEL TRUCK END UP DOWN THAT HILL AND YOU BETTER PRAY TO GOD THAT NOT A DROP OF FUEL HAS LEAKED OUT OF THAT TRUCK" ... Gump at this point in his Gomer Pyle/Forrest Gump shakey lispy stuttering voice replies "i forgot to put the emergency brake on" ... oh did i fail to mention Gump just came back from time off discipline for another stupid incident ...

luckily no leaks on the truck ... a heavy duty tow truck was called to get it up the embankment ... the gang was shut down for production that day ... Gump had his day in kangaroo court for the unteenth time and was fired for the second time ... this time for good ...

Posted from Android

That's hilarious! Good thing nobody was seriously injured, but that sure coulda happened. All too often we see idiots in this industry get too many second chances & way too much "protection" and end up getting someone else hurt, or at least in serious trouble. 
Been there, seen it!

Lance

I hear ya, it's just like a conductor who worked for Amtrak a few years ago, and she was your typical dumb blonde too!

Posted from Android