Nostalgia & History > A fleeting reprieve from perdition

Yesterday, for the second day in a row, I was called for a job which I always loathe to catch. It's an industrial zone switching job which serves an area that was once covered by four jobs. With the downturn in the economy and all of the lost business, the switch jobs have been consolidated down to just one, but on many days, if not most, there is still enough switching to keep two jobs busy. In fact, the switching seems to never end on this job. The foreman on the job is a real “go-getter” who must own a lot of company stock because he would work 12 hours without lunch or a break, if you let him. In fact, yesterday, it was getting pretty late in the shift when I inquired when we were going to go to lunch and he seemed pretty disappointed when he replied “I was thinking that we'd just work straight though”. Now I like to knock the work out and go home if I can but when there is enough work to keep you there all day, no matter how hard you work, there's no point in beating your head against a brick wall.

Anyway, yesterday morning, we headed out to our power, a pair of gen-sets (it's always gen-sets, enough with the smokey, gutless gen-sets already. If the SW1500's were known as cruds, the gen-sets should be called dismals.). We quickly discovered that one of them was out of fuel and were told by the yardmaster that “Yes, we know that it's out of fuel and you're not getting any, so just go with the one dead unit anyway” (apparently the company has spent all their budget on inward facing cameras and cant afford fuel). After starting the one “good” (if there is such a thing) gen-set and letting the compressor pump for a half hour, it was determined that the single compressor was no match for the combined total volume of air leaks on two gen-sets as the air would never come above 40 psi. We notified the yardmaster about this he told us to shut it down and go get the only other available unit in the yard which turned out to be a 1977 vintage GP-38 (Yes!). The crew was immediately disappointed because they weren't going to have their own cab to ride in (you know how those hoghead types are). The walls and ceiling inside of the cab were coated in a nasty grime, the metal panels rattled profusely and the brake valve exhaust was filled with the dank, pungent odor of compressor oil. But, with the 45 degree angled control stand, the front wall heater “ottoman”, the “S” contoured independent brake valve handle and a loosey-goosey old throttle that would go all the way to run 8 with one swipe of the hand, the unit fit like a glove. They may have been disappointed but I was in Heaven!

I was surprised at how much power the unit had (easily worth that of three gen-sets) and how quickly it would get up and go. It may not seem like a big deal, but on this railroad, getting to use a real switch engine, instead of a gen-set is almost as rare as if they had said my power for the day was an 0-6-0. And boy did it sound good too! I had that thing in run 8 every chance I got. I found myself wishing we could kick some cars like the old days. That engine could have kicked a car into next week! So with a big black cigar in my mouth, smoldering away and the guttural roar of a roots-blown EMD prime mover in notch 8, I was reminded of how good this job could be, used to be. I found myself feeling like a real hoghead again, if only for a little while. But alas, before I knew it, the work was done and it was time to shut her down. When I was in the locker room I heard that the hostlers were going to come take the unit back to the shop, although I can't imagine why. It was perfect.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/14 15:36 by crackerjackhoghead.

Great write up. Who needs pictures with write ups like that! Thanks.

12 hours straight without beans or a break/ no, no, no. I don't mind working, and working hard, but there IS a limit as to how much without a break.


V

SLOCONDR

Good job posting this in the Nostalgia & History section Jeff. Good real power is nostalgia, and almost history.

You are hurting the environment with that old diesel, hurting your health with the cigar, ruining your image if you admit enjoying your job plus you forget those gensets are often paid for with with funny money, so they what if they move a little slow. Plus you got to tell you coworker to slow down.
Remember, working slow saves jobs.

Bob

TIC

robj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You are hurting the environment with that old
> diesel, hurting your health with the cigar,
> ruining your image if you admit enjoying your job
> plus you forget those gensets are often paid for
> with with funny money, so they what if they move a
> little slow. Plus you got to tell you coworker to
> slow down.
> Remember, working slow saves jobs.
>
> Bob
>
> TIC

Tho follow your reasoning, if everyone worked slow enough the number of jobs would be infinite.

Hmmm. Where I work, if I work six hours over my meal time I get in trouble as it's against the law. And management could get fined.

Okay Crackerjack, I can tell it from your writing, don't deny it. You liked that day, you experienced the nearly extinct f-word on the railroad...fun!

Dismal (and we could add "pathetic") is the word if the gen-set wouldn't even get the main reservoir up past 40 psi. That's not enough air to run (or stop) a streetcar safely! And someone should tell the foreman that just as "an army travels on its stomach" a switch crew is going to get the job done more efficiently if their innards aren't hollering for attention ("FEED ME!").

dbinterlock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Okay Crackerjack, I can tell it from your writing,
> don't deny it. You liked that day, you experienced
> the nearly extinct f-word on the railroad...fun!


I don't know about that but I sure am glad you're back to work!

trainman630 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> robj Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > You are hurting the environment with that old
> > diesel, hurting your health with the cigar,
> > ruining your image if you admit enjoying your
> job
> > plus you forget those gensets are often paid
> for
> > with with funny money, so they what if they move
> a
> > little slow. Plus you got to tell you coworker
> to
> > slow down.
> > Remember, working slow saves jobs.
> >
> > Bob
> >
> > TIC
>
> Tho follow your reasoning, if everyone worked slow
> enough the number of jobs would be infinite.


TIC - Tongue in Cheek

Great story, great writing! A wonderful narrative to read! I felt like I was there.