Nostalgia & History > Hoop dreams on the railroad

Hopes of seeing anybody performing the physical task of "hooping orders" on the fly would not seem likely within the last 20 years or so, as regular daily hooping up orders to trains was long gone just about everywhere. But there I was witnessing it as longtime veteran towerman Don Bruner was out from Enola/Harrisburg as a temporary block operator on the Reading Line at Lyons, PA, as one of the two main tracks was OOS. A few guys were occasionally seen in later CR days at various spots on the Reading and H-burg Lines and even into the early NS era to perform the time-honored tradition...

Same day, 2 different WBs get the special treatment in late summer of '99. I felt safe for Don with the conductor grabbing them so the engineer can keep both hands on the wheel! Thanks for looking...  :>)

JG

 

---

---

First-class human-interest photos of railroading past.
Bob

Nice shots!

RC Lundgren
Elgin, TX