Railroaders' Nostalgia > My first 'work train' job has changed!

I caught this quaint little sequence in Abilene last month. And once I realized what this was some very special memories came flooding back! Back in 1978 the very first “work-train” I ever caught was a weed-sprayer outfit working Santa Fe’s Middle Division Strong City District. And it was based right here in Abilene when I got the call off the Emporia Brakeman’s extra board: ( My new RR job! (trainorders.com) ).

As I watched this one-man operation rolling east on the main track I couldn’t help but recall the full, 4-man crew I was a part of. Not to mention the 7 or 8 “Group-5” weed-sprayer boys based out of Albuquerque. Plus the GP7, the 9 chemical tanks and the weed sprayer car itself. The whole job has been minimized, dang near out of existence. Now tell me, how in Blue & Yellow blazes can this one-man-band ever be expected to experience this: ( How a flagging job turned into a Toga Party! (trainorders.com) ). Insert here, a long & melancholy sighhh.........

1. Leading the way is a BNSF hi-railer, undoubtedly connected to this weed spray truck.

2. Here’s the star of the show, although not worthy of very much fanfare...

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3. 4. & 5. Spray, spray & (you guessed it) spray! Not very exciting. As The Kinks’ front man Ray Davies sang in 1965: “Where Have All the Good Times Gone?”

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One more, just because this is what God & the UTU intended a weed spray work train to look like. Of course, back in 1978 they still had to be able to spray out underneath the communication pole lines...

6. AT&SF 2802 is at the other end of this weed spray train on the Strong City District near Talmage, KS. I’m shooting from the cupola of a Santa Fe waycar I failed to record the number of. (Ouch!) Kodachrome slide taken October 27, 1978.

Hey pal, you missed a spot!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

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New little weed sprayer maybe using a chemical not quite as deadly to living air breathers.

Don Allender

The fun with a hi-rail weedsprayer is when you need to add water which you can do by stopping on a bridge with your flashers on and dropping your intake hose into the creek below, or you can pull up to a boat dock at the local river and suck up some fresh river water.
All of this can be done without permission, but you still might want to watch out for the local constabulary, if you know what I mean.