Railroaders' Nostalgia > Railfan sloth!

Wikipedia says sloth is one of the "Seven Capital Sins". And it goes on to say it is the most difficult one to define. But the Oxford dictionary is somewhat kinder. It simply defines sloth as: the reluctance to work, or make an effort.

As an aging, but still active railfan photographer I've begun to look for ways to put a bit of sloth into the picture, if you'll pardon the pun. For example: Why get out of a nice warm car to shoot a few when you can just roll the window down. (see below)

To up the ante a bit, in addition to old age and by virtue of being a career railroader I have another logical excuse for being lazy. I learned the art of switching back in the days when a crew had 3 guys on the ground. It was also in that bygone era before getting on & off moving equipment was generally prohibited. There was a form of sloth disguised as an attitude that was regularly handed down to brand new switchmen by older, well-seasoned and vastly more experienced yard hands. It was explained to me very early in my career.

For the first 11 days of my new Santa Fe employment I was forced to the switchman's extra board at North Wichita. In my exuberant desire to do a good job I would hurry around and usually end up causing extra work for myself. Or at least take more steps than were necessary to complete the task at hand. Even worse, my causing extra work might spill over on the crew I was working with. You know the story; a typical greenhorn.

One afternoon a sympathetic switch foreman talked to me while we were at beans. He said Kid, I can tell you want to do a good job. But you're rawhiding yourself right into the ground. Here's what you wanna try to shoot for when you're out there pounding that lead. He outlined a few "lazy" principles aimed at getting the work done with the least amount of physical exertion:

Why run when you can walk?
Why walk when you can ride (a car)?
Why ride when you can stand in one spot?
Why stand when you can sit?

He told me to keep these goals in mind and that pretty soon I would be saving myself all kinds of needless moves. I never forgot that instructional moment. But of course, it was a looong time before I became an efficient old hand at running a switch list...

1. I got word that a friend of mine was working this train over on my old Santa Fe stomping grounds. Here is BNSF 8559 with a grain train handed off from the K&O boys at Abilene. I'm shooting NNW at the Rain Rd crossing about 2 miles timetable east of Hope, KS. The sun is out, but that Kansas wind is howling and it feels like an arctic blast.

2. I got another jump on the train. Here is the 8559 at the 320th St crossing just after exercising running rights over the UP (ex-Rock Island) main line at Lost Springs, KS. I learned my lesson, though. I'm sitting in the driver's seat of my rig, Willie III. The window is down and the heater is on low. Then it's up with the left window & down with the right and...

3. ...click! For the away shot garnished with an extra helping of railfan sloth!
(3 photos, 2 of them extremely lazy, taken April 3, 2018)

Thanks for looking!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/18 08:51 by santafe199.

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Looks like 8599 had been behind a "spitter". Lots of oil drops on that nose!

santafe199 Wrote:
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> Wikipedia says sloth is one of the "Seven Capital sins.
Gee,I thought they were hairy animals from the jungle.

Uncle Joe
Seffner,Fl.

retcsxcfm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> santafe199 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Wikipedia says sloth is one of the "Seven
> Capital sins.
> Gee,I thought they were hairy animals from the
> jungle.
>
> Uncle Joe
> Seffner,Fl.

Uncle Joe -- LOLOL! ROFL! And they are good role models for anyone who is a workaholic or who never can "slow down and smell the roses"!

Lance -- as usual, another very enjoyable post! And that old head switch foreman was absolutely right! Why waste energy? :) And I love your creative use of the English languagee. For example: "garnished with am extra helping of railfan sloth". < G >

lazy railfan shots! I've been doing a few of those lately.

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wikipedia says sloth is one of the "Seven Capital
> Sins". And it goes on to say it is the most
> difficult one to define. But the Oxford dictionary
> is somewhat kinder. It simply defines sloth as:
> the reluctance to work, or make an effort.
>
> As an aging, but still active railfan photographer
> I've begun to look for ways to put a bit of sloth
> into the picture, if you'll pardon the pun. For
> example: Why get out of a nice warm car to shoot a
> few when you can just roll the window down. (see
> below)
>
> To up the ante a bit, in addition to old age and
> by virtue of being a career railroader I have
> another logical excuse for being lazy. I learned
> the art of switching back in the days when a crew
> had 3 guys on the ground. It was also in that
> bygone era before getting on & off moving
> equipment was generally prohibited. There was a
> form of sloth disguised as an attitude that was
> regularly handed down to brand new switchmen by
> older, well-seasoned and vastly more experienced
> yard hands. It was explained to me very early in
> my career.
>
> For the first 11 days of my new Santa Fe
> employment I was forced to the switchman's extra
> board at North Wichita. In my exuberant desire to
> do a good job I would hurry around and usually end
> up causing extra work for myself. Or at least take
> more steps than were necessary to complete the
> task at hand. Even worse, my causing extra work
> might spill over on the crew I was working with.
> You know the story; a typical greenhorn.
>
> One afternoon a sympathetic switch foreman talked
> to me while we were at beans. He said Kid, I can
> tell you want to do a good job. But you're
> rawhiding yourself right into the ground. Here's
> what you wanna try to shoot for when you're out
> there pounding that lead. He outlined a few "lazy"
> principles aimed at getting the work done with the
> least amount of physical exertion:
>
> Why run when you can walk?
> Why walk when you can ride (a car)?
> Why ride when you can stand in one spot?
> Why stand when you can sit?
>
> He told me to keep these goals in mind and that
> pretty soon I would be saving myself all kinds of
> needless moves. I never forgot that instructional
> moment. But of course, it was a looong time before
> I became an efficient old hand at running a switch
> list...
>
> 1. I got word that a friend of mine was working
> this train over on my old Santa Fe stomping
> grounds. Here is BNSF 8559 with a grain train
> handed off from the K&O boys at Abilene. I'm
> shooting NNW at the Rain Rd crossing about 2 miles
> timetable east of Hope, KS. The sun is out, but
> that Kansas wind is howling and it feels like an
> arctic blast.
>
> 2. I got another jump on the train. Here is the
> 8559 at the 320th St crossing just after
> exercising running rights over the UP (ex-Rock
> Island) main line at Lost Springs, KS. I learned
> my lesson, though. I'm sitting in the driver's
> seat of my rig, Willie III. The window is down and
> the heater is on low. Then it's up with the left
> window & down with the right and...
>
> 3. ...click! For the away shot garnished with an
> extra helping of railfan sloth!
> (3 photos, 2 of them extremely lazy, taken April
> 3, 2018)
>
> Thanks for looking!
> Lance Garrels
> santafe199

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> As an aging, but still active railfan photographer
> I've begun to look for ways to put a bit of sloth
> into the picture, if you'll pardon the pun. For
> example: Why get out of a nice warm car to shoot a
> few when you can just roll the window down. (see
> below)
>
--------------------------------------------------------

I have been wondering for a few years now what Google does with the cars they use for taking Street View pictures, once they're done with them. I think they'd make great railfan vehicles--there's several cameras mounted on the roof, pointing a bunch of different directions at once. Granted, they will have a lot of mileage on them.

Now, shooting pictures with such a vehicle might meet somebody's definition of sloth, but not me. Whatever gets the shot--a roof mounted camera, a drone that flies alongside your car and alerts you to trains you can't see yet and reaches place you can't go, you name it.

In my early days as a geologist, I had a guy reporting to me who was to outward appearances a lazy, long haired hippie character. My boss wanted to fire him, largely on the basis of perceived sloth. Our front line staffers objected, and pointed out that he has devised more useful, labor saving shortcuts on our (hopelessly awkward) computer system than our entire computer support group ever had. The telling quote, from one of my temps who was involved in the discussion, was this play on Benjamin Franklin:

"Necessity isn't the mother of invention. Sloth is the mother of invention." In this case, that was true, so true.

march_hare Wrote: > ... Benjamin Franklin: ... "Sloth is the mother of invention."

And then there's Lonesome Dove character Augustus McCrae who, after being rebuffed by Woodrow F Call said:

"Well, at least I ain't scairt to be lazy"

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