Railroaders' Nostalgia > Railroaders taking their call at the Movies!!

Yes this happened and probably  nationwide. Did you see your name flashed on the screen. When you entered the theater you told the people you were a rail and on  pending call.
So you settled down for a good movie and presto your name showed up on the screen. Out you went! There was such a movie house in SP Roseville and was a very popular place
to wait out your call. At that time, there were still "Call Boys". Remember them knocking on your flophouse door giving you that dreaded call for one am on duty. RR's loved to get you out of
bed, especially between 11pm/5am!

How many of you were called for "Chain Gang Duty?"




JJ Bucksnort.

oh yes, many a nights sleep destroyed by the dreaded call in the middle of the night.   Used to be a radio station in Emporia, Ks. that would read off the lineup once in a while so you knew how many times you were out before the days of beepers and cell phones.  Chain gang paid well but the lifestyle could be terrible.  By the way, anybody know where the term "red light district " came from?  The answer involves us railroaders.

Laramie had that. Alliance ran a lineup on CTV in the early 90s

ApproachCircuit Wrote:
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> At that time, there were
> still "Call Boys". Remember them knocking on your
> flophouse door giving you that dreaded call for
> one am on duty.

Flophouse door? Easy duty. Operators in small stations were jack of all trades, including being the caller in a place where crews tied up. In MILW Bellingham, there was a Tacoma crew that partied hearty while laid over in Bellingham. When it came time to call the train to Tacoma, I would make a pro forma call to the Leopold Hotel, where the crew was supposed to be, but never was, then have to go bar hopping in downtown Bellingham to find them. After a couple of them not showing up a couple of times after I notified them, I started bringing the call book to the bar and making them sign.

TAW

TAW Wrote:
When it came
> time to call the train to Tacoma, I would make a
> pro forma call to the Leopold Hotel, where the
> crew was supposed to be, but never was, then have
> to go bar hopping in downtown Bellingham to find
> them. After a couple of them not showing up a
> couple of times after I notified them, I started
> bringing the call book to the bar and making them
> sign.
>
> TAW

Surely they were called long enough before duty that they had time to sober up...

sf1010 Wrote:
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>
> Surely they were called long enough before duty
> that they had time to sober up...

90 minute call; come as you are. First move for the yard crew was loading a case of beer on the engine. That was for the hogger and fireman. The snakes had a baggie and papers. Working there was a bit of a culture shock.

TAW

I remember staying in the garden spots in Bakersfield. Adolph Falcon was the crew caller before switching over to engine service. He knocked so Loudly that the door pins were loosened and almost went flying thru the air.

Posted from Android

WAF Wrote:
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> Laramie had that. Alliance ran a lineup on CTV in
> the early 90s
Never have worked @ “Alline” but have heard about the board lineups being shown on the local cable channel. This practice was still active about a decade ago

Posted from iPhone

Crew caller in Crestline banged loudly on the doors at 4:30 a.m...............