Nostalgia & History > Swamp Weasel

First, a little background. I have mentioned the danger of working on a railroad in Chicago in the late 60s and early 70s. It wasn't just the neighborhoods that one would call ghetto. I was on the caboose of 202 one day going through the neighborhood known as "Beverly Hills" around 103rd Street or so. There was a loud thump thump on the wall of the caboose. The source was a guy and a kid (presumably his son) in the back yard of a house shooting at the caboose with compound bows. The circular B&O emblem was the target. That's almost the same location where the conductor on the CNW 40th Street to Barr Yard transfer had most of his face removed with a brick. Most B&OCT cabooses had at least the side windows boarded up. Some also had the door windows boarded up.

In the early 70s, there was an auto theft ring working the south side of Chicago. They were very well organized and were also seriously bad. Fifty or more would get on auto rack trains, strip the cars, and drop the hardware over the side for fifty or so of their colleagues to round up and haul off (auto racks were not enclosed back then). They hit trains all over the south side. In the early 70s, there were plenty to chose from. No railroad police department could handle the magnitude of the gang, so there was an agreement that the next time this crew showed, the police response would be from all the railroads plus the locals if they wanted to be involved. Most didn't. One night, run 55, the job that brought the C&O connection autos for C&EI and IC, pulled up over the plant at Riverdale to shove into the C&EI at Dolton. The operator at Riverdale called me on the city phone (one of the few towers that had an outside phone or even any kind of dial phone) and whispered "They're here; about a hundred easy." I called the gumshoe and he called his colleagues from all of the railroads. 25 or so gumshoes from most of the Chicago railroads intercepted the gang at work. The Dolton police were busy with some other important stuff. There was a firefight in downtown Dolton and the bad guys escaped under the cover of vastly superior firepower. The good guys took a few hits but fortunately none were killed. The south side was much more gentle than the west side. I used to drive home from work at the end of 2d trick at Western Avenue and not stop at lights or stop signs for the first 3 miles or so.

Back then, most railroads had no rule against weapons. In fact, most rulebooks contained a rule that was along the lines of "In case of danger to the company's property, employees must unite to protect it." Armed employees were not hard to find, and not necessarily just in urban ghettos. In “Tucson Was a Railroad Town”, there is a picture of SP engineer Moonbeam Webster in the cab with his shootin’ iron on the control stand. Mudhops (yard clerks) never checked tracks alone, but the other guy never walked the same alley so that they could not be surrounded. A bunch of cherry bombs in the pockets provided mortar fire if a clerk's partner was surrounded. I've used torpedoes strapped to spike heads too. The 3rd trick operator at Riverdale was a gunsmith and had a little business going in the tower, providing not otherwise readily available hardware to rails. The night west side gumshoe called me one night really happy because he procured a fully automatic Thompson with a 100 round magazine. I talked to him a few nights later and he told me he was disappointed; they weren’t shooting at him any more.

So there's the first part of the background. I have worked with a wide variety of railroad officers. There were some of the best anywhere. The guys would do anything for them any time. They spent a lot of time out on the road watching and paying attention. They knew who was ok and who needed some personal attention. There were no FRA mandatory testing rules and quotas back then. There were some who thought it was their sworn duty to figure out how to fire people, and trap them if necessary in order to do it. Those were much more prevalent in the late 80s and early 90s when I quit doing day-to-day railroading. There are a lot of them still out there. There were also the hopelessly lost. I have no idea how they got their jobs or kept them. This involves one such guy.

B&OCT had a trainmaster office at Barr Yard, occupied by a trainmaster 24 hours per day. The trainmaster had a speaker on the dispatcher phone and virtually always listened to what was going on. Most understood what they were listening to and almost never asked questions about anything. Some didn't have a clue. Every night, Run 53 left Barr with a train for Illinois Brick, between Dolton and Calumet Park, near Cottage Grove Avenue, and Metro Glass, between the brickyard and Dolton. It was possible to do some of the work at the brickyard in the clear if the conductor was good at it. There was no room at Metro Glass to do any work in the clear. It would hold what 53 had in its train many nights but leaving no room to work. 53 would cross over from the outbound to the inbound at the brickyard crossover and work the brickyard. With some planning and some good figures from the dispatcher, they could arrange the work to be quick as possible and still clear for trains when needed. When they were done, it was time to decide if they could go to Metro and let something by, let something by at the Brickyard, or go to Metro and go to work. If they needed to be clear and wouldn't fit, they had to stay at the brickyard to see whatever was coming. The regular crew was really good. They went to work, got their train, got out to the brickyard in short order, got the work done, and got back in with a quit (on duty less than 8 hours). They were good and there was no screwing around. If anybody didn't need bird-dogging, it was these guys.

So one night there was a wreck on the Chicago Division and when they got it open, I got seven trains, 10 minutes apart. This was our whole power and crew supply for the coming day, so I wanted to get the whole mess in as quickly as possible so there would be no power or crew delays later in the day. We never talked to anybody on the dial phone except foreign line dispatchers. It was all on the dispatcher phone, so it was readily available for the trainmaster to hear as I lined up a way for Barr Yard to eat seven of them in an hour. The first guy would go the main and shove in at Roll Avenue. The second would go down the main at Riverdale and head in at the east end of the westbound yard. The third would go in the North Open to another track in the westbound yard. The fourth would head in the South Open (North and South Open were formerly inbound and outbound mains that had the eastbound and westbound yards adjacent, changed in the 40s to run the mains around the yard) and set out in the C Yard in the middle of the yard where the crossovers were put (eastbound cars from the westbound yard and vice versa). The next three would repeat the procedure of the first three. Yup, Barr Yard took about 600 cars in an hour. This kind of planning out in public on the dispatcher phone should have been pretty easy to detect. Well, some folks just can't grasp what they are hearing.

Run 53 got done at the brickyard as the first of the fleet was going by State Line. The crew already knew what was up because I told them a couple of hours earlier. They couldn't work at Metro but they could get in the clear and were ready to go. I let them blast off for Metro and they took the train right in and reported clear. I told the conductor that he was in for all seven and gave him engine numbers. I told him to not bother calling me until he saw all seven. I already had the fleet lined up with the operators at Clarke Jct, Calumet, State Line, Calumet Park, Dolton, and Riverdale. Everybody could deal with getting them by for me all on each other's block.

Now we pan to our intrepid trainmaster. He hadn't heard 53 on the phone for quite some time, so he decided that he was going to go out there and catch them screwing off. Back then, the area around Metro was swampy and had standing water. The trainmaster drove out, watched from a distance, saw no activity and no lights (since 53's caboose had no windows, lights inside would be hard to see) and decided to sneak up on them. Off through the swamp he wades, getting soaking wet. He creeps up on the caboose steps, sneaks across the platform to the door and tries to open it. It's locked (locked? Really? What a surprise!). Wooden cabooses, especially some of the small, no-cupola ones B&OCT had, are so light that you can often feel someone boarding. The crew knows for sure there is someone on the caboose then they hear the door being tried. Our intrepid trainmaster is sure he has the goods on them now. They're in there sleeping! In order to catch them...he kicks the door in!!! In a split instant, he finds himself staring into the barrel of a .357 magnum to the tune of "Freeze a____e!! His pants are already soaked from wading through the swamp, so there is no embarrassing telltale sign of extreme surprise and shock. Having determined that the crew is alert and on top of their job, he storms to the dispatcher phone at the switch and proceeds to inform me that I almost got him blown away and why didn't I tell him I put them in the clear for seven of them. "Well, mostly because you didn't ask." I pointed out that the whole thing was lined up in public with him listening. "I have better things to do than listen to that stuff all night. Don't ever let this happen again." (translated into English – I didn't understand a word of it) It was serious, but it had a happy ending so the chief and I were getting a good laugh out of it. To appease the trainmaster, I said "Nope, won't happen. The next time there is a wreck on the Chicago Division and I have to put 53 in the clear for seven of 'em, I'll be sure to let you know." That satisfied him. "That's better!"

TAW

Neat story. When will management realize we will do a better job and respect them more if they didn't act like there sole purpose is to fire us.

I have an Air Force story like that; nobody would understand what we did without a tutorial, and then when they understood what we did, they wouldn't believe it. It involved 50 Minuteman III missiles, a squadron worth of target data, a shutdown capsule, and no management 'supervision'. No Weapon System Safety Rules (WSSR) were broken and an entire Squadron (446th SMS) came up on time with the new target data as required. When we got home and explained to our squadron commander (a pointy headed systems guy) all he said was, "DAMN, have you guys talked to Boeing yet"? We said no and then he said it could wait and would we like to join him at the club at 4:00 PM?

Sometimes it works

John Gezelius
Tustin, CA

ats90mph Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Neat story. When will management realize we will
> do a better job and respect them more if they
> didn't act like there sole purpose is to fire us.


Great question Ross. But,do you really think that would ever happen?

V

SLOCONDR

SLOCONDR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ats90mph Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Neat story. When will management realize we
> will
> > do a better job and respect them more if they
> > didn't act like there sole purpose is to fire
> us.
>
>
> Great question Ross. But,do you really think that
> would ever happen?
>
> V
>
> SLOCONDR

Its kinda like dogs and cats. Never like each other, V

Great set-up and story. Yes many of us did "pack heat" back in the 70's. I think the smarter ones still do. It's the old story of being judged by 12 instead of being carried by six. The police can never protect you. That is your job.

WAF Wrote:
>
> Its kinda like dogs and cats. Never like each
> other, V


Exactly Wes. There were some that weren't like that, but the MAJORITY were. Especially the higher up folks.

V

SLOCONDR

> Its kinda like dogs and cats. Never like each other...

Exactly Wes. There were some that weren't like that, but the MAJORITY were. Especially the higher up folks.


It doesn't have to be that way. To quote Leland Stanford:

"From my earliest acquaintance with the science of political economy, it has been evident to my mind that capital was the product of labor, and that therefore, in its best analysis there could be no natural conflict between capital and labor."

sphogger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Its kinda like dogs and cats. Never like each
> other...
>
> Exactly Wes. There were some that weren't like
> that, but the MAJORITY were. Especially the higher
> up folks.
>
>
> It doesn't have to be that way. To quote Leland
> Stanford:
>
> "From my earliest acquaintance with the science of
> political economy, it has been evident to my mind
> that capital was the product of labor, and that
> therefore, in its best analysis there could be no
> natural conflict between capital and labor."


Maybe so Geo. but you know as well as I do there was and certainly is now.

V

SLOCONDR

>Maybe so Geo. but you know as well as I do there was and certainly is now.

Virlon - you were one of the guys that got things done! Different railroad now but back then the officials knew who they could trust and they left you alone to make whatever you wanted to out of the job.

sphogger

But, unfortunately, this dog/cat.. oil/water relationship began after the Civil War when most generals became railroad officials. I agree, it doesn't have to be this way. but it did, is and will always be, this way.

WAF Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> But, unfortunately, this dog/cat.. oil/water
> relationship began after the Civil War when most
> generals became railroad officials. I agree, it
> doesn't have to be this way. but it did, is and
> will always be, this way.


Sad but true Wes.

V
SLOCONDR

ats90mph Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Neat story. When will management realize we will
> do a better job and respect them more if they
> didn't act like there sole purpose is to fire us.


The officer is most respected when I was in the Army was a Lt Col. If he walked into our center and we were sitting around doing nothing he would simply keep walking and just ask, "How you guys doing this evening?" If we were busy he would stop and inquire to see if we needed anything or anything he could do for us. He knew that he didn't have to prod us along. He had measurements and he knew that we were taking care of him and he didn't need to push us along to do more.

Gee. If I wasn't about to get married after I got out of the Army, I had it so good I would have "re-upped."

John

ats90mph Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Neat story. When will management realize we will
> do a better job and respect them more if they
> didn't act like there sole purpose is to fire us.


Most of 'em didn't get their job because of what they KNOW... it was the other way around...

Wes and V are right. Unfortunately it seems to be the nature of the beast.


Speaking of Army, I once worked an office job with a retired Army Warrant Officer. His best management advice was that "If you want to get a table moved, the best way is to grab one end of it".

sphogger

"Lead by example" is what I always believed in

WAF Wrote:
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> "Lead by example" is what I always believed in


You're right Wes. And as an example, we had a trainmaster in Mojave, CA. that did just that,he would lead by example. That is why there were hardly ever any problems around Mojave in the 90's when he was there. All crews would pretty much do what was asked of them by this guy. If people of his caliber were running the railroads today I think you would hear less bitching and see more productivity. I think I can speak for guys like SteamJocky, SPLoopConductor and some of the others here on TrainOrders that had the pleasure of working for this person. There are others like him out there,so not ALL of these officers are bad. It is just that this one really stands out in my mind.

V

SLOCONDR

rantoul Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> TAW. Back to the story, were Chicago area traffic
> surges a common occurrence in the 1970's

sure were

>, are
> today's railroad operations as nimble/flexible as
> existed during the B&OCT era?

Not even close. The funny thing is that operation is much less structured than it was before the 80s to be sure, but that has led down the path from flexible to chaotic, actually defeating the purpose of improvised operation as a result of failing to understand what was going on in the first place. In this story, I described Barr Yard taking in 7 trains, about 600 cars, in an hour. In an earlier story, <http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2130497,2130497#msg-2130497&gt; I described Chicago interchange connections in 12 hours from in the city to out. Those things just don't happen any more.


>Aside, did you know
> anything about the 'team track' along the west
> side of the B&OCT just north of 103rd

two at 95th from long before 1963 (one gone by 1971), one at 107th (once upon a time Tracy) don't know of any other use than team, still there in 1963 gone by 1971, one at 111th (once upon a time Morgan Park) don't know of any other use than team, still there in 1963 gone by 1971, and a station at 115th (Mount Hope) for the Mount Hope cemetery and once upon a time Mount Hope funeral trains. There was a local out of Forest Hill, the South Line that was assigned to that line, but I don't remember it ever going down to any of those tracks from 1967-1972.

> or the yard
> that existed between 103rd and 99th? Were they
> served by a local train or through train?

Here's the yard in 1916. It was already gone with no trace by the 1938 aerial at www.historicaerials.com. It appears to have disappeared about the same time that Barr Yard was being built, so it probably was the equivalent of Barr Yard today.

TAW

---

wa4umr Wrote:
(SNIP)
>
> The officer is most respected when I was in the
> Army was a Lt Col. If he walked into our center
> and we were sitting around doing nothing he would
> simply keep walking and just ask, "How you guys
> doing this evening?" If we were busy he would
> stop and inquire to see if we needed anything or
> anything he could do for us. He knew that he
> didn't have to prod us along. He had measurements
> and he knew that we were taking care of him and he
> didn't need to push us along to do more.
> John


many thanks for the kind words

John L. Gezelius, Lt Col, USAFR (Ret)

John Gezelius
Tustin, CA