Railroaders' Nostalgia > Riding in the Sherman ~ Peabody time machine

As any railfan fortunate enough to work a career as a railroader will tell you, there are times when you just can’t believe you’re getting paid to be doing what you’re doing. I had a number of such episodes during my career, probably more than I deserved. A couple of my favorite times came during the ‘78 ~ ’79 blizzard. Episodes I shared with my KS Gang bro & fellow SFe brakeman, Dave Franz (aka “monaddave”). We were officially furloughed, but there were Amtrak qualification trips to be made. Extra board brakemen had to be qualified on the passenger flagman and baggageman jobs. The stipulation was that we had to make the qualification trips on our own time.

And being furloughed during the blizzard was a blessing a couple of ways! First, we didn’t have to experience the nastiness of digging out a frozen switch on some howling, freezing morning at 3 AM, or so. Second, we could pick & choose our times to make the trips. Basically that only meant coordinating prospective trips with our bosses (the wives). The flagman job we were liable to protect ran between KCUS & Newton, KS. It was an inter-divisional run over the Eastern & Middle Divisions. But the baggageman job covered 5 seniority districts between KCUS & La Junta. Dave & I made multiple qualification trips during this period for the flagman job. And we made a FULL round trip together getting qualified as baggagemen. Ya know what? Neither one of us forgot to pack our cameras and extra film during these trips. And yours truly even managed to bring his tripod along...

My tripod sure came in handy while waiting to connect with Amtrak #3 at KCUS. And once the train arrived, its long service stop afforded me the opportunity to shoot multiple shots from multiple angles. I already had the correct exposure for K-64 down pat, so I was able to clip off a few extra trader slides before boarding the train. It was definitely a time when I had to pinch myself...

The slide image below shows how KCUS looked before its present incarnation. There was a lot of wide-open space and I had no problem with access because of my SFe job status. This scene draws inevitable remarks about taking a trip in the mythical, but legendary Sherman ~ Peabody Time Machine... ;^)

1. AMTK 527 points train #3, the “Southwest Limited” during the station/service stop at KC union Station in Kansas City, MO. I have the date down as January 7, 1979. But I can’t say if this was late PM or early AM. I inexplicably failed to keep any records on any of my qualification trips. No arrival/departure times, no train and/or engine consists, no NOTHIN’! The only thing I can say here is the slight breeze was blowing from right to left...

Thanks for listening!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

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Dang, that's good stuff!

A great railroad scene and image Lance !
Gary

Lance, magnificent!

Certainly illustrates how much the area around Union Station has changed since then.  Overall, I must say, for the better.

Bob Willer
 

carrying a tripod always can sometimes pay off!....really nice image.

atsfer Wrote: > ... always can sometimes ...

I know you think I heard what I thought you meant, but I hope you realize that what I think you thought you wanted to say is not what I think you thought I heard...

;^)

Wow! Cool photo! (pun intended!) Thanks for sharing this one with us!

Lance, that is great story to go with super picture. Is too late for you to get the IOTD. I think this shot deserved it.
Robert in Island reply Oregon 

8notch Wrote: > ... great story to go with super picture ...

Thank you for your kind words! During my career I was fortunate to be in so many places -with a camera- that average fans would not have access to. Still, I tried not to overdo things, if you know what I mean. As for IOTDs that's a process we members have no hand in. That's completely up to the Webmaster... :^)

Lance/199

Lance,
I just sent Todd a PM on your image😉, Just kidding.. I know he has so many images to thru. If he chooses one your images you are very luck. Please have a great day keep all your stories and pictures coming both here and across the other discussion groups.
 Robert
PS maybe Todd does read some o these posts too.

Interesting narrative and excellent picture. I can feel the cold!

Larry

You have certainly posted a plethora of wonderful images, but this one is your best.  Thanks for posting it.

-John

jcaestecker Wrote: > ... but this one is your best ...

Thank you, sir. Very nice compliment! And very much appreciated... :^)

Lance

Oh man... you really outdid yourself with this one!  First class image!