Railroaders' Nostalgia > Did those Xtra Chats help pay your bills? (ESPEE)

You bet they did! Things did slow down every now and then. But we had those Extra Chats damn near every day. Where else you get a days
pay in 4 hours or less and then get back on the board in no time! Remember those shut down cars that just had to be in Gemco right now?
Most times it was a Top End of A yard main line change with tons of power. Off you went sometimes with a single car! I often wondered what
was in those particular cars. The x-tra chat's kept the board turning when things were slow; Like when Taylor refused to run anything up the
Coast because the "fill" didn't meet the tonnage levels they wanted or in some circumstances a certain minimum train length was required. I've seen
coast tonnage in the C yard accumulate from Friday all through the weekend and it wouldn't be until Monday before the yardmaster would put
out a call. But we had our X-tra Chat's and it was a call that everyone looked forward to catching. Except when you arrived at Gemco and the
clerk would look you in the eye and say " I've got 100+ cars on the Extension and you are to take them to town. Now the extension never co-
operated. It fought back with bad-order this and that. Leaky train lines, faulty tripple valves, handbrakes tied down thru-out, joints unmade,
angle cocks turned, you name it-it always happened on the extension. It was a death sentence and instead of a nice 3 or 4 hour day, you were
looking at 10 hours. But tomorrow will come and the shut down car(s) will be back waiting for you at the top end and you'll be back in a few
hours!  Taylor was our home away from home.............
Who put that 50/60 footer in the drainage ditch at the east end of Gemco yard? Remember, it was wedged in tight at a 45 degree angle!
Oh the shame!

They sure helped pay SPRR's bills.  Having spent 2 years at Gemco as Asst. Terminal Supt. I remember vividly the value and timeliness of those Extra Chats jobs bringing late auto parts, just in time auto parts or, in some rare occasions, plant already shut down and waiting for those auto parts.  We always made sure everything working in yard limits (Burbank Jct to Chatsworth) was out of the way so the Extra Chats had nothing but clear signals all the way to the automatic block signal just adjacent to the old Miller Brewing Company.  I even remember holding the southbound (in those days eastbound) Starlight at Raymer so an Extra Chats with shut down auto parts could get into the clear on the extension.  If we did things correctly, I would talk to the engineer on the train and tell them I would line the mainline crossover to enter the extension after they went by that last automatic block signal.  In so doing, the Extra Chats would leave the main and enter the extension, clear the main and then shove the auto parts into an open Gemco Yard track.  This was always a very slick move and the extra crews really appreciated the help.  Occasionally the yard was plugged or the shut down boxcars were in the middle of the cut so the Extra Chats would pull up the main toward Raymer, make a cut prior to the crossover and then shove the hot cars on to the yard lead where a roadswitcher was waiting to shove the car(s) into the plant.  There were times when we would get the car(s) spotted just 5-10 mins before the plant would shut down due to running out of the specific parts.  Sometimes it was SP's fault due to derailment or delays to the super hot APLAA trains and sometimes it was GM Van Nuys fault for not figuring out the correct parts, or unexpectedly finding parts were no good on the assembly line.  GM would also occasionally fly necessary parts from the manufacturing plant to the assembly plant via Burbank or sometimes even Van Nuys airports.  Always fun to think and know that the rails were and continue to be an integral pipeline of commodities keeping plants in operation.  Most people have no idea of the logistics and transportation behind what they wear, use and drive every day of their life!

Oh, and by the way, I seldom had the Extra Chats crews take anything back to Taylor Yard.  I always left that task to the regular Chats Haulers.  Probably 95% of the time I worked at Gemco the Extra Chats crews went immediately back to Taylor cab hop or lite engine.  No wonder you guys loved to get called for the Extra Chats!!!

Pete Baumhefner

Zephyr Wrote:
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> Oh, and by the way, I seldom had the Extra Chats
> crews take anything back to Taylor Yard.  I
> always left that task to the regular Chats
> Haulers.  Probably 95% of the time I worked at
> Gemco the Extra Chats crews went immediately back
> to Taylor cab hop or lite engine.  No wonder you
> guys loved to get called for the Extra Chats!!!
>
> Pete Baumhefner


That''s because the XTRA Chats didin't take cars back, Pete, so you are right about that. I think the OP is not up on his facts (on several things by the way)

When I was on the extra board used to catch them all the time. I held the record for getting called 21 times in a row for either the extra chats or the regular chats. It got to the point would answer the phone and before the crew dispatcher could say a word.. would ask what time on duty for the Chatsworth? . Also it depended on the fluidity at Gemco most of the time the extra would take back the empty APE (Auto parts east ) to Los Angeles for a crew change. 9 times out of 10 the rear unit was headed the wrong way and was in need of servicing. Many times would take one train to Gemco return to LA and bring the second train out to Gemco.

Posted from Android

Question.
I never understood why they called those trains "Chats" when they went only as far as Gemco?
TAH

90mac Wrote:
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> Question.
> I never understood why they called those trains
> "Chats" when they went only as far as Gemco?
> TAH

I believe it was because we could good go all the way to Chatsworth if necessary to wye the power or spot cars that came in "backwards" without a penalty claim...

And don't forget the many times a road crew wasn't rested, no one rested on the X-board and the crew handling Shut Down cars coming into Taylor yard was about to go dead! I made a ton of money in the late 70's, and 80's, as a Switchman releving road crews at the top end of "A" Yard. As soon as we went passed the Coast Siding (Yard Board), I could feel my wallet getting fat!

We would pull by the west end crossovers at Van Nuys and the Gemco crew would line out and couple on to our rear car. We'd have the Angle Cocks closed and the pin pulled between the engine. As soon as everyone was in the clear, the Gemco Job would suck the cars off of us and head down the lead to shove into the plant. We would line the crossovers normal and head back to Taylor Yard! Stopping at the 4780 signal of course!!! LOL!!!!

The whole operation would take about 45 minutes. And We'd get another day's pay at road rate, plus our regular yard day!!! I loved the eSPee!

I eventually went regular at Gemco! Worked there on the Night Bud Flier from 1999 till I retired September 30th, 2014. 

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/16 00:00 by StarshipConductor.

I thought it was something like that.
Thank you.
Tom

I never really liked the extra Chats as all you got was a basic day and probably missed a coast trip or valley trip or even a local. Those calls would ruin your half no matter how short the trip was. 

Tom

spengr80 Wrote:
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> 90mac Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Question.
> > I never understood why they called those trains
> > "Chats" when they went only as far as Gemco?
> > TAH
>
> I believe it was because we could good go all the
> way to Chatsworth if necessary to wye the power
> or spot cars that came in "backwards" without a
> penalty claim...

After a few derailments on the wye at Chatsworth 6 axle units
Were banned from operating on this segment of track. The job was called the Chatsworth because the entire Coast line to that point was rule 93 territory. . Yard limits.

Posted from Android

But they could turn an AC on that wye!
Thanks for the response.
Tom

that was before the track deteriorated  to the point where lumber cars did derail and spread the track by doing a normal spotting .  It was quite a feat to get into the track... line switches  open the gate and hope that there were not any lumber cars just to clear the gate.. 90mac Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> But they could turn an AC on that wye!
> Thanks for the response.
> Tom



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/16 06:24 by SanJoaquinEngr.

Yeah, the Chatsworth wye trackage was none too good as I found out attempting to wye the Coast Starlight's power one day in 1979 after the lead unit horn failed to operate.  Ed Platz and I put one axle of a 500 series Amtrak locomotive on the ground.  In those days the re-railing truck wasn't too far away if you needed it, but I think we used chunks of wood and other debris to rerail the locomotive and then inched it over the remainder of the trackage to complete the wye process.