Railroaders' Nostalgia > Best Intentionally Bad Delay and Call

This occurred on the extreme west end of the San Antonio - Sanderson dispatcher's territory in 1965.  This dispatcher's district covered about 300 miles of train order railroad with two freight crew districts and six open train order offices.  At the time this was not a fully loaded dispatcher's district on normal days because there were usually six or seven freight trains in each direction plus a pair of passenger trains and a local in each direction between San Antonio and Spofford.  Although the first trick dispatcher could be loaded up with motor car lineups and the locals, the third trick job was generally not challenging.  This made it a perfect job for one Junior Price.

Junior was a dispatcher with about ten year's seniority at the time who used all of his dead time wandering around the office telling jokes, socializing and playing practical jokes on the dispatchers who generally stayed at their desks.  So that he would not delay trains while goofing off he had an understanding with the night train order operators as follows:  If, when the operator announced to the DS that a train was coming east or west, there was no response from Junior and if the operator had no orders on the desk addressed to a train in that direction, the operator was simply to clear the train order signal and let the train go.  

One night the operator at Langtry announced, "Coming West Langtry."  After repeating this a couple of times and the train was just about to come around the curve at the east end looking for the train order signal, the operator just cleared the signal.  After the train had passed he said, "OS Langtry."   Junior was at his desk by then and responded, "You say coming west, Langtry?".  No, OS.  Extra 8822 west by at 2:05 am.  Junior muttered, "Damn.  I needed to get him something on the CB (Colton Block)".  Indeed he did because the westbound extra was  just a train of lumber empties while the eastbound was the perishable train.  Junior then told the operator to call the extra west who would be heading in at Pumpville to meet No. 2 (Sunset Limited).  Preacher Downing (the conductor who was anything but saintly) answered the operator on the radio, but when the operator told him to go  on the phone at Pumpville, the conductor, Preacher Downing, simply replied, "Langtry, I can't understand a word you say."  As time went on both Junior and the operator at Langtry heard No. 2 go over the annunciator at Pumpville, then the annunciator told both of them that Downing and crew on the MUG empty train had left Pumpvlle.  Junior then began to sweat because he now stood to delay the Colton Block at Sanderson for close to an hour waiting for the westbound.

Junior's next move was to call James Clark, the operator at Sanderson and ask him if he could drive to Dryden in time to set the train order signal against the westbound.  James said he could but that the relief agent was sleeping in the depot and Junior could probably wake him up.  After many rings of the selector on the DS line the sleepy operator came to the phone.  Junior instructed him to put the train order signals in stop position and stay inside the depot until the crew showed up at the office.  Sure enough the westbound stopped with the head end almost half a train length beyond the TO signal and both the conductor and engineer showed up at the same time.  Price asked the engineer directly if he understood he was to receive a restricting order.  When he acknowledged that fact Junior issued an order to X8822W at Dryden and the CB at Sanderson for X8822W to take siding and meet the CB at Mofeta.  Then he said OK Dryden, copy three more.  Clark at Sanderson asked Junior if he wanted Sanderson in on this one and Junior said, "No, this is just for Dryden."  The order read:  EXTRA 8822 WEST WAIT AT FEODORA UNTIL 701 AM.  With that, Junior issued the clearance and the extra left, took siding and met the CB at Mofeta and proceeded to Feodora.

Extra 8822 West arrived Feodora shortly after 5:00 with the wait until 7:01.  Preacher Downing predictably got on the dispatcher's phone in the booth at the east end of  Feodora and asked Junior what he had coming down the hill at Sanderson that had the west train held at Feodora (the last siding outside of Sanderson) for another two hours.  Junior's response:  There's nothing coming east but the west end dispatcher wanted a good call figure on you guys into Sanderson so I figured if I waited you until 7:01 and called you in for 7:15 I'd hit it on the nose!  Conductor Downing's response was one of rage and insults, telling Junior that was the stupidest damn thing he had ever heard and that he was going to report this incident, etc., etc. 

Junior simply said, "I'm sorry Feodora, I can't understand a word you say!"

rdb  

  

 

That's a good one!

Randy Lundgren
Elgin, TX

texchief1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That's a good one!
>
> Randy Lundgren
> Elgin, TX

Agree, your off and roll-in

 From the looks of it this was not Preacher Downing's first 'service' nor Junior Price's first
encounter with him. Sometimes paybacks take a long time, this one not so long.

As I read it I am taken back to those classic stories in Railroad Magazine of the 1930's. Good story here.

Charlie
 

Rollin,

How about the chickens feed, water and rest adventure?

Ken

Another Junior Price story is told in MDC # 33.   Go for it RDB.
 

RollinB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Extra 8822 West arrived Feodora shortly after 5:00
> with the wait until 7:01.  Preacher
> Downing predictably got on the
> dispatcher's phone in the booth at the east end
> of  Feodora and asked Junior what he had coming
> down the hill at Sanderson that had the west train
> held at Feodora (the last siding outside of
> Sanderson) for another two hours.  Junior's
> response:  There's nothing coming east but the
> west end dispatcher wanted a good call figure on
> you guys into Sanderson so I figured if I waited
> you until 7:01 and called you in for 7:15 I'd hit
> it on the nose!  Conductor Downing's response was
> one of rage and insults, telling Junior that was
> the stupidest damn thing he had ever heard and
> that he was going to report this incident, etc.,
> etc. 
>
> Junior simply said, "I'm sorry Feodora, I can't
> understand a word you say!"

I saw the end of the story coming. I've never been inattentive and never set up such a situation, but I have had instances of similarly deaf crews. I caught one conductor tell the head end to rig for silent running (switch to a previously agreed unused channel that only they would be using). My response in each case was similar.

A colleague, CDH, once was trying to give instructions to a B&O head man at a phone on the B&OCT. His strategy was reverse. Over and over, the brakeman said What was that? I couldn't hear you dispatcher. CDH's frustration level was rising and he finally broke. You !!#!@$ I KNOW you !@$@#  heard me. Knock this !@1@ off! The brakeman replied Dispatcher, you called me a !!#!@$. CDH said You're !@@$^%# right I called you a !!#!@$. You heard that and you heard the rest of it too. No get on that %$^%$ train and put it away at Barr like I told you. 

The language was so raunchy that I can't even write here a proxy that one might figure out.

There was a pretty meek yes sir response, and off they went.

I was sitting in the adjacent Chief's office trying hard to avoid laughing out loud and spoil the mood.

TAW



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/16 17:48 by TAW.

I tried to retrieve MDC 33 but all I got was the first line.  Is there a way the rest of the text of the post can be retrieved.  Can't believe you wrote that all the way back in 2004!

Yes,  but not easily at this point in time.   Webmaster is working on it.
thanks to a friend, I have all of them on a data stick.

yes, way back then.  Right after you suggested the MDC name for these tails.

 

Exespee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Rollin,
>
> How about the chickens feed, water and rest
> adventure?
>
> Ken

Here it is Ken:   http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1471359,1471359#msg-1471359

Just reviewed the Feed, Water & Rest story. I see in the comments tha the Blue Eyes chronicles are suggested as the name for RDB 's stories.

Thanks Rollin.  That's one that never gets old.
Ken