It's time for some more "Tales From the Rail" ...

Here are some stories from Canada:

I have been talking to some old retired "Hogheads" nickname for [locomotive engineers] at our pensioners meeting and was told the following;

Joe who retired from the "Leaky Roof" nickname for [Canadian National Railways] told me this story. As most railroaders did at that time he wore his pocket watch in his overalls. He did not use a chain instead he tied it with a shoelace, one end to the bow of the watch, the other to the bib on his overalls. He was at a station one day, and had to use the bathroom, when he had finished his business he pulled up his overalls and flushed the toilet. Unbeknownst to him his pocket watch had worked its way out of the watch pocket of his overalls. That was the last time he saw his Hamilton 992 B. as it swirled down the bowl, shoelace and all. It had become untied from his overalls. Joe also told me about another incident on the C.N.R. this happened to an engineer and fireman he knew. They had worked a trip and were at the away from home terminal, and were sleeping in a bunkhouse when it caught fire. An alarm sounded and they were lucky to escape dressed only their underwear. They both lost their pocket watches. Ralph a retired Canadian Pacific Railway locomotive engineer told me that he lost his watch the same way when the station at Fort MacLeod, Alberta burned to the ground back in the 1960s.

Buchaneer

Way back when, on the Portsmouth run out of Norlina,NC on the Seaboard Air Line, a freight ran into the caboose of another train.They were near the Summit water tank where the track was only about 50 feet from US route 158.The engineer was an old man with a wooden leg.When the engine turned over it threw the old man out toward the highway and separated him from his wooden leg.A lady came along and stopped to see if she could help someone.When she saw the engineer laying there with only one leg she began yelling for help for this man who was missing his leg.She was yelling to get a Doctor.The crusty old engineer told her
he didn't need a doctor,he needed a carpenter.
J Smith

Old Geezer #99

...when my Dad was working the East End time freight hump between 1948 and 1952, the winter of 1951 was a monster in the Ohio River Valley. The N&W prided itself in keeping freight moving REGARDLESS of weather or situations, even when the Ohio river flooded across the tracks, and expected it's employees to work to the official clock and time table with no excuse. One new assistant yard master wanted to make a name for himself, and expressed concern about a time freight due in, but because of heavy snow fall and icing, the switch leads were frozen shut. He had the idea of having a large hump engine (for those who know mallets, it was a Y-6 2-8-8-2) pull forward to the main yard leads and open it's cylinder cocks on the high pressure pistons and blow the leads open with live steam. He sent the order down to the yard crew, then sat back in my Dads tower to watch the work being performed, KNOWING he'd be the next yard master promoted in the Portsmouth yard. Unfortunately, he had forgotten his high school science, as the temperature was hovering around 20, with a wind chill in the teens, and live steam turns to water as soon as it hits the air...water freezes in that air temperature, and instead of blowing the switch leads open, it created a solid block of ice in those leads, effectively creating a ramp for the wheels of the Y-6 to climb up and off the rails, dumping it uncerimonimously on the ground, effectively blocking all entry into the yard completely by the derailment. Needless to say, the young man was not promoted, and for the first time in recent memory, the yard was officially shut down for an entire shift until the wreck crew and hook (out of town at the time) to return and lift the engine back onto the rails, as there was to much ice to use any of the other known methods to do the same job. Dad said the young fellow was immediately transfered to another yard and job, and he never heard of him again. Regards. Mark Cross

NAWCC Member 157508
NAWCC-IHC Member 163

...sorry, I can't leave this topic alone. This one occurred in the summer of 1950. My Dad was working evening shift at the hump one hot summer evening. To understand the story, I have to decribe the layout of the tracks and tower where he worked (an area I have personally walked, before the old hump tower was torn down years ago.) The N&W time freight hump had the west bound mainline running past the hump and tower itself, and the retainers were on the south side of the track, with the classification tracks stretching parallel to the mainline. On the north side of the mainline was a 15 inch wide concrete wall, with a drop of about 12 feet below was the old B&O branch yard where there were 4 tracks making a small way yard to service the coke plant to our local steel mill. On this particular night, my Dad was looking west, watching a string of box cars roll past the tower off the hump, and noticed a yard man standing on the westbound mainline with his back to the tower, checking a car list and looking at his pocketwatch. Just at that moment Dad saw the west end switch lead from the hump change to green. He knew by the clock in the tower that the Powatan Arrow, a twice a day train, one eastbound and one westbound section, would be passing by the tower at full road speed in the next few minutes. The passenger station was located well outside the yard in an S-curve before the mainline turned northward toward Columbus, or westward toward Cincinnati on the Peavine. Dad saw that the yardman was violating the cardinal rule of the road...never stand between the rails. This guy was not only standing squarely in the middle of the mainline, but was oblivious to the fact that he had the Powatan Arrow just about to run up his backside at better than 60 miles per hour...allowable yard speed for this train in the Portsmouth yard. Dad yelled out the window, but the Y-6 pushing the curent string was to loud. He ran down the stairs and began to run as hard as he could toward the fellow. At that moment, the target signal ahead of him changed to green, indicating that the Powatan Arrow had just entered the east end of the yard limits, and would be there within minutes. At the same time all this was going on, there was a B&O switch engine working the small yard just below the wall where Dad was running. He kept yelling, but both the B&O and N&W engines drowned him out. He finally got to the man, grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around to see the huge, oncoming headlight of the J class 4-8-4 passenger engine of the Arrow, whose engineer was blowing the J's whistle like mad at these two idiots in the way of train he had NO way of stopping. All they had time to do was to jump backward onto the wall facing the track. From all descriptions he told me, there is absolutely NO way to describe the sound and fury of standing within feet of a passing train moving at 60 miles an hour, and knowing that if you stepped backward, you'd fall 12 feet on top of another steamer working below you. He said all he could do was close his eyes to keep from getting dizzy and falling forward, and fight the EXTREME suction of the passing train. Though it was literally seconds, it seemed an eternity, but the thunder rapidily passed, and they were still standing in the swirling cinders and dust, left from the trains passing, as well as the smoke from the B&O engine working below. The yardman STILL had his watch in his hand, and was as as white as a sheet. After a few moments passed, the fellow finally turned his head slowly to look at Dad, and said, "she was on time today, wasn't she?" I won't print what my Dad's reply was, though. (grins) Regards. Mark Cross

NAWCC Member 157508
NAWCC-IHC Member 163

Sorry if I'm posting in the wrong place. When I hear train whistles blow, it's usually a Morse code "Q". Long, Long, Short, Long. What's the story there?

Best,
Tom

Engine Whistle Signals

Engine whistle signals are part of railway operations which are found in section 14 of the Uniform Code of Operating Rules these have evolved over the years, and are basically the way engines communicated with the public, and other railway employees. Many of the whistle signals have been made redundant with modern communications but one Rule 14 ( l ) remains the one we still hear often. It is indicated in the rulebooks by ( -- -- o --) which do look like Morse code and indicate the sound. This rule is used in the following situations;

Approaching public crossings at grade.
Approaching points where tracks or bridges are undergoing repairs and reduced speed is required.
Approaching interlocking's, yards or other points where man may be at work on track and you may be obstructed by whether or other conditions.

There are many other engine whistle signals here are some from a New York Central rulebook,

14 (a) o which means apply brakes Stop.
14 (b) -- -- which means Release brakes proceed
14 (c) -- o o o which means Flagman protect rear of train.
14 (h) o o o which means When standing backup.

I hope this helps you with your question.

Buchaneer