Railroaders' Nostalgia > called off your seniority district to work! Los Angeles Area.

Thank god you had the regular crew to lead you around by  the "nose".
And of course it was always at night; after all this is railroad work!
But it was somewhat uncomfortable being out there and wondering if you were going into the ditch.
LA was famous for this. Most of the work involved working on a goat with unfamiliar "spots"
No guarantee that your head man knew  anymore than what you did if he was extra.
I remember a particular job in Alhambra. You left the main line near the Alhambra SP depot,
landed up doing some street running, which is always a weird experience, for quite a distance and ended
up at end of track at a foundry. Close by was another industry which involved spotting tank cars .Or lumber?

Another frequent call was to go out, with no pilot, on the SP main and "patch" a Colton Hauler that had died
on it's return trip to Taylor. You started out via carryall and landed out in the boonies on unfamilier main line track!
Now this could be well out of town at Bassett. 60mph territory! CTC was a life saver!
Closer into town was a small yard named Aurant; got called out there many times to patch the westbound coast.
beet trains  Once or twice at Aurant we had time to kill and walked  over to a famous Model Train Club. This was
a huge affair that filled an entire bldg. Tracks going everywhere. We got the grand tour.
Off your district, you learned by Osmosis!
a huge affair, filled up a whole bldg. We got a grand tour!