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Hart Bus
Age: 74 Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 1150
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Dieseljim Deceased
Joined: 26 Jun 2008 Posts: 548 Location: Perry, NY
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Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 7:16 pm Post subject: Until Ricky Gates Came Along |
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Before the likes of Ricky Gates and the last gangster run administration, one could get away with a lot more on the railroad than they can today. Take the Wabash Railroad's Landers Yard in Chicago, for example. According to an article I read in Trains Magazine sometime ago, the yard crews had tricks they used to get trains made up and dispatched twice as fast as the Burlington could at its nearby Cicero classification yard, which was much larger than the Wabash facility. Some tricks used included flying switches, double humping, and others too numerous to mention and those that visiting brass from other roads never found out about. Yes, the rulebook was flouted, but as long as nobody got hurt and the trains departed on time, it was fine with the terminal superintendent. Best part about it was that 8 hours worth of work got done in 5! True it took a team effort to do it and even the yardmaster was in on it, but the Wabash boys got it done. Now you can hardly get away with anything. Not even 5 miles per hour over the speed limit on the high iron. It seems to me that, for those still with the railroad after it went into the Norfolk and Western, the N&W's way took a lot of the fun out of railroading. Ah those were the days and I wished I could have been part of it to an extent. |
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RailBus63 Moderator
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 1063
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Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:12 pm Post subject: Re: Until Ricky Gates Came Along |
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Dieseljim wrote: | Before the likes of Ricky Gates and the last gangster run administration, one could get away with a lot more on the railroad than they can today. Take the Wabash Railroad's Landers Yard in Chicago, for example. According to an article I read in Trains Magazine sometime ago, the yard crews had tricks they used to get trains made up and dispatched twice as fast as the Burlington could at its nearby Cicero classification yard, which was much larger than the Wabash facility. Some tricks used included flying switches, double humping, and others too numerous to mention and those that visiting brass from other roads never found out about. Yes, the rulebook was flouted, but as long as nobody got hurt and the trains departed on time, it was fine with the terminal superintendent. Best part about it was that 8 hours worth of work got done in 5! True it took a team effort to do it and even the yardmaster was in on it, but the Wabash boys got it done. Now you can hardly get away with anything. Not even 5 miles per hour over the speed limit on the high iron. It seems to me that, for those still with the railroad after it went into the Norfolk and Western, the N&W's way took a lot of the fun out of railroading. Ah those were the days and I wished I could have been part of it to an extent. |
I'm sure the 'good ol' days' are heavily romanticized, and weren't so good to those unlucky employees who were injured or killed in the process of getting eight hours worth of work done in five. |
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Dieseljim Deceased
Joined: 26 Jun 2008 Posts: 548 Location: Perry, NY
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Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:06 am Post subject: Re: Until Ricky Gates Came Along |
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Point well taken. I can see tightening up to make things safer, but to go to such extremes as intimidation of people to the point where their abilities to do their jobs at all becomes impaired is a whole new ballgame. I am all for safety and all that, but if the carrier insists on getting the hottest train on the line over the road on time, then they should cut the crews a reasonable amount of slack consistent with safety to put the thing together and dispatcher on time. The train involved in the article was the Wabash's piggybacker called the ROADRUNNER. I may have to try to contact the guy who did that article to find out how they moved so many cars with fewer people than the Burlington did at their Clyde yard. RailBus63 wrote: | Dieseljim wrote: | Before the likes of Ricky Gates and the last gangster run administration, one could get away with a lot more on the railroad than they can today. Take the Wabash Railroad's Landers Yard in Chicago, for example. According to an article I read in Trains Magazine sometime ago, the yard crews had tricks they used to get trains made up and dispatched twice as fast as the Burlington could at its nearby Cicero classification yard, which was much larger than the Wabash facility. Some tricks used included flying switches, double humping, and others too numerous to mention and those that visiting brass from other roads never found out about. Yes, the rulebook was flouted, but as long as nobody got hurt and the trains departed on time, it was fine with the terminal superintendent. Best part about it was that 8 hours worth of work got done in 5! True it took a team effort to do it and even the yardmaster was in on it, but the Wabash boys got it done. Now you can hardly get away with anything. Not even 5 miles per hour over the speed limit on the high iron. It seems to me that, for those still with the railroad after it went into the Norfolk and Western, the N&W's way took a lot of the fun out of railroading. Ah those were the days and I wished I could have been part of it to an extent. |
I'm sure the 'good ol' days' are heavily romanticized, and weren't so good to those unlucky employees who were injured or killed in the process of getting eight hours worth of work done in five. |
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