Nostalgia & History > Why I hate winter railroading!!!!

Winter 1976 I,am called as head brakeman on extra east out of Boone IA. Here,s our power on the turntable lead and were pissed! The hostlers are busy with other tasks so its up to me and the engineer to clear a path to get into our lead unit. That snow is not puffy but rock hard and we chipped  maybe a half hour just to get into the cab. At least the SD-402 had sidewall heaters and I was huddled up to it most of the trip. My thoughts go out to all rails who have to work bad winters.

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I used to love working winters...when I was paid hourly. That right there would have guaranteed a 12-hour day. Now? Trip rate. So, not so much.

At least they left you a broom. What creeped me out about winter railroading was how quiet cars rolling down the yard lead while switching were.

Why not try going in through the back door on the engineer side instead? Work smarter, not harder

Did the trainmaster make the yardmaster go on the radio every 10 minutes and ask you for a progress report?

YoungOldHead Wrote: > ... try going in through the back door on the engineer side instead ...

OK smart guy! Just WHAT in the sam-Hello makes you think the engineer's door is so clear????????? (Gotcha... ;^)

Lance/199

and the front entrance/area is gonna need to be cleared before the trip starts...........

66

That's what the broom is for...  ;-)

And I see why an F unit was better for this duty up front.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

Looks like engineers window is buried also..  Dig, dig, dig.
PWM

But at least you "got the shot!"

Andy

And how's your horn and bell working?!!

billmeeker Wrote:
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> That's what the broom is for...  ;-)

Probably gonna need a shovel or two to get to the broom!

Dick Samuels

Nice photo!   Makes me cold just looking at it.

Randy Lundgren
Elgin, TX

> YoungOldHead Wrote: > ... try going in through the
> back door on the engineer side instead ...
>
> OK smart guy! Just WHAT in the sam-Hello makes you
> think the engineer's door is so clear?????????
> (Gotcha... ;^)

Hello,

Well, the comment (above) wasn't worded as nicely as it could have been, but he may have a point.  It does seem logical that the other door was usable since the inbound crew managed to get themselves out of the cab. 

One other thing I'm curious about.  It looks like the unit is facing west, sitting on the furthest west engine service track nearest to the yard office (was that the "Fairgrounds track"??).  It curved and had fuel facilities as in the photo.  So if that unit was facing west and you were called for an eastbound, the rear unit (SD45 904) with (probably) less snow would have been the leader.  Could it be that you were headed west or do I (very possibly) have things turned around in my memory.
 
Take care,

Mark  



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/20 10:13 by mamfahr.