Nostalgia & History > A Scanner Story with Illustration

This chase had actually started 17 miles back down San Timoteo Canyon in Loma Linda where I had been parked under Waterman Avenue overpass and next to seven units sitting in the helper pocket. It was in the early ‘90s and the GP60s were just showing up in helper service on Beaumont Pass and I had come out with two friends to have a look. It was there, in the shade of the overpass, the scanner pumped out the following brief conversation.*

SP 8017 EAST (I could see his headlight coming under Mt. Vernon Avenue): “This is the SP 8017 East calling helper engineer Huntoon.”
HELPER: “This is helper engineer Huntoon.”
SP 8017 EAST: “We’re over 6,000 tons and we’ve only got five little ones and one them is failing—how many units do you have?”
HELPER: “SP 8017 East, I’ve got three hot rods, 10,800 additional horsepower, and a dead one for spare parts, I’ll get ya to Apex.” (The lash-up for the help was indeed three GP60s and three SD45s—the dead SD40R was left at Loma Linda.)

We were all laughing too hard at that point to hear what the eastbound replied, but climbing San Timoteo Canyon between El Casco and Hinda (Haskell Ranch for those who know the canyon), one of the “little one’s” put forth the “burning of Rome” belch shown in the photo and then shutdown. It didn’t matter, however, for helper engineer Huntoon and his three hot rods with 10,800 additional ponies were taking the five little ones and their trailing tonnage up the canyon at a very respectable speed.

* This is as close to verbatim as possible. Also, I believe I have spelled the helper engineer’s name correctly, but if not, my sincerest apologies in advance.

Be of Good Cheer,
—Mac

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Great story, Mac!

Africansteam

...kinda like the Little Engine that could?...=)

Another scanner story. Back in the 80's when Conrail first got rid of the caboose, a friend an I were photographing on Conrail's Lehigh line at South Plainfield< NJ. A westbound TV 3 just sailed through. When they approached Bound Brook the last car parted from the train, putting it in emergency! The following conversion ensued between the crew, and the dispatcher.

TV3 to Central Jersey dispatcher, "we are in emergency at Bound Brook! Walked the train to find a mismatched coupler on the last pig flat, doesn't look like it will stay coupled."

Dispatcher says, "You'll have to set it off at Bound Brook, reinstall the Fred, (rear end device) on your last car, and continue, I have trains to run stacked up behind you."

TV3 crew, "OK."

Back then the Freds were locked on the last coupler, only certain personal in the yard had keys, including sometimes the CR police.

TV3 to dispatcher, "we have the car set off, but we don't have a key to unlock the Fred!"

Dispatcher, "I'll send over a CR patrolmen with a key."

TV3 crew, OK.

About then another local job in the area chimes in and says " Whats the cop gonna do? Shoot it off!"

Another member of that local job chimes in and says " We would have been to Allentown already if we had a caboose!

TV3 crew replies "amen to that!!!"

My friend and I sat in my van listening to this conversation laughing like a couple of hyena's!

Ed K. cp Laurel Run

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m1bprr Wrote:
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> Another scanner story.

And a very good one too, Ed. Thanks for taking the time to put it down and share it. A friend and I listened to a safety message reading on the proper way to adjust an engineer's seat between a helper crew coming on duty and the DS. It had all the emotion of two high school freshman reading parts from Shakespeare, yet it was some of the best radio comedy one could imagine.
—Mac

Israel Bugarin is one of the many Hispanic MOW people on the coast line between San Jose and SLO. He and his family have probably worked the coast for several generations. After UP bought the SP in '96, they changed the mileposts by about 3+ miles so that milepost 0 was no longer the SP headquarters in SF. Milepost 63 where my husband farmed in Coyote became milepost 59.8 or some such and Watsonville JCT went from mp 100 to mp 97. One day DS 58 toned up Israel (nicknamed Boogy, lovingly by all) and said that he needed to inspect the bridge at mp 77. There was a looooooong pause and Boogy said, in his wonderful accent. "Weeeellll, ho-kay----------but there ees no breedge at milepost 77."
At the same time, Tommy the Rocket DeLaRosa was running the Starlate up and down the coast. He had qualified in steam on the SP in 1955 and his comment on the whole milepost change was that he really didn't give a goddam what UP called it, Watsonville JCT would ALWAYS be mp 100 as far as he was concerned!!
C.

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

CarolVoss Wrote:
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> After UP bought the SP
> in '96, they changed the mileposts by about 3+
> miles so that milepost 0 was no longer the SP
> headquarters in SF.

Wouldn't you have loved to have sat in on the meetings that produced this decision? I'll bet they would have been worth the price of admission.
—Mac

Typical UP. Always trying to re-invent the wheel.

Stupidity never ceases to amaze me. Here's your sign.

JDE