Nostalgia & History > CNW RS-32 4249 switching Sleepy Eye, MN 1981

A couple of months after Eric Hirsimaki shot yesterday's photo posting of 4249 switching Goosetown, he caught the local crew exiting Sleepy Eye's Del Monte spur. My first observation is that they have some colorful names in that neck of the woods. The second is that the picture totally describes what's going on.

I wonder if the crew is hurrying to finish their work before a storm hit - certainly those clouds look threatening, and the "lean" of the head brakeman waiting to board tells me that the loco was traveling close to the legal 10 mph max for boarding moving equipment.

EO

About the "lean": I have come to realize that boarding moving equipment has been a lost and prohibited art for more than two decades. Here's a little insight into why the brakie was leaning. When you get onto moving equipment, once you get a hold of a grab iron or handrail, your body naturally swings aboard. This can be pretty violent at speed if you are not prepared for it. The "lean" positions your body to alleviate some of the whipsaw effect. At five mph, it is not needed, but at 10 mph you'd better be leaning, or you'll get slammed aboard.

Handrails on either side of loco steps were typically too widely spaced to comfortably grab both while boarding. So, you would typically hold onto the lead handrail with both hands, swing yourself onto the step, and land in one of three ways: 1) By planting your trailing foot (in the direction of movement) in the rear corner of the step, in which case you wind up facing the loco 2) By swinging nearly a 180 before planting your feet on the step, thus winding up facing outward 3) As in #2, except that instead of landing on your feet, you would land your behind on the second step. An officer once questioned me about whether I thought that I was following the rules when I performed #3, to which I answered that it was the safest way to climb aboard, because I wound up planted on the most stable part of my body.

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Not only does this catch an interesting photographic moment in time, but your explanation makes it more understandable.
Thanks for sharing this.
Bob

hogheaded Wrote:
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> About the "lean": I have come to realize that
> boarding moving equipment has been a lost and
> prohibited art for more than two decades.

Excellent post. The art of boarding moving equipment has returned to CSX. Hunter Harrison has eliminated the rule against it. An engineer friend told me that employees had to be trained and demonstrate the skill because younger employees had never done it.

Great. It was originally NYC #8024. See:

http://utahrails.net/cnw/cnw07.php#rs32_4240

Gerry

Seems like I once bought a frozen goose at Safeway for Christmas that was processed and packed in Sleepy Eye. Probably where that "Goosetown" name came from.

TJY

I'm not sure what I miss more; the Chicago and Northwestern or Alco locomotives.

Dave

Shot has amazing content, not the least being the Northwestern and their Alcos.

Out

RFandPFan Wrote:
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> hogheaded Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----

> Excellent post. The art of boarding moving
> equipment has returned to CSX. Hunter Harrison
> has eliminated the rule against it. An engineer
> friend told me that employees had to be trained
> and demonstrate the skill because younger
> employees had never done it.

I'm surprised that CSX is allowing it again, given that we are now railroading in a post-boxcar age. I have mixed feelings about this. I suppose that there still are enough switchers and locals to justify it to some extent, since banning it certainly slowed down work in some cases, but on the other hand, it would be interesting to see what this does to CSX's personal injury rate. I really had not thought about how involved the skill is until I started to write about the "lean". I'd also forgotten how badly considered some RR rules were regarding getting on and off moving equipment. For instance, my railroad, SP, made it illegal to dismount using your lead foot first, but particularly at night, this was the ONLY safe way to get off. Gad, I hope that the guys teaching CSX's newbies are old heads, rather than young rules officers.

EO

Another great photo.

KG

Here is a 2014 "street view" of that location.
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.2963184,-94.7406805,3a,75y,71.21h,66.47t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s1z1EMLXM6OO78YAzMEFD4g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

The track that the lokie is on is gone. If you look to the left you can see the remnants.
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.2963184,-94.7406805,3a,25.1y,342.12h,75.73t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s1z1EMLXM6OO78YAzMEFD4g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656