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RE: (erielack) wires down at summit in 71; picking interlocking machines
Hey, Len,
If u ever get a copy of VINTAGE RAILS - Spring 1996 issue, you'll see my
profile as freman/operator on the ERIE Mahoning Division. In this case I had
lined a freight over the cutoff & next would be ERIE #6 (Lake Cities) which
took the route thru the cities of Warren, Niles, Youngstown, & Sharon. I'd
left the lineup for the freight cutoff & when #6 hit the bell pulled the
signal & sent him up the cutoff (to the enginecrew it was the same
indication - they figured the towerman would make the proper lineup. As #6
went by on it's way up the cutoff, the old engineer came on the radio & said
"I can't steer this thing, bub'. I gave him the reverse dwarf & he backed up
then I sent him the proper way. I never heard another word. I reported him a
little late but the dispatcher (Mr. Ray Brody) must have thought I'd learned
a lesson.
Regards,
Walter E. Smith
>From: "Len VanderJagt" <lvj911_@_worldnet.att.net>
>Reply-To: "Len VanderJagt" <lvj911_@_worldnet.att.net>
>To: <erielack_@_lists.elhts.org>
>Subject: (erielack) wires down at summit in 71; picking interlocking
>machines
>Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 14:10:16 -0500
>
>Yesterday's post noting the 35th anniversary of the wires down at summit
>got some very old synapses sputtering.
>
>I was the first trick towerman at Summit that morning (my regular job).
>Being in the midst of chaos with hundreds of commuters on the platform and
>multiple conductors doing what conductors do under these circumstances
>(think colorful language and a rather focused My Train point of view), one
>does not have either the time nor the information to develop an overall
>sense of things. In the dispatcher's chair you had much more to deal with
>and far greater overall responsibility, but you had Joe Conboy or an
>Assistant Chief there to keep the suits off your neck. On the M&E job you
>had no machine or direct vision at all, relying entirely on verbal reports
>from Towermen and others on the phone lines.. You mapped out strategies
>and communicated the immediate tactics (train moves and train orders) to
>the troops in the field.
>
>I don't recall anything specific about that day than I can be sure of,
>beyond the memory of running up and down the steps with orders, yelling out
>the window to men on the ground, and the general excitement. Truthfully, I
>loved it. What stress? It was fun to be young and have your own full-size
>railroad.
>
>One thing that was always characteristic of the EL, was everybody's focus
>on getting the trains over the road. Great pride was taken in on-time
>performance, and the EL was constantly the best performer in the
>metropolitan area, by far. Fact is, everybody would work with you in order
>to get the trains over the road.
>
>Having said that, the exceptions to the rule can be quite memorable.
>
>On one occasion a westbound scoot broke a pan and came to a halt on the
>East End of the plant at summit. Rich or someone else may remember this. It
>happened on second trick, the westbound parade being at stake. An
>official, I don't remember who, but I seem to recall it being an Assistant
>trainmaster (a truly transient position that got no respect from the men)
>got off the train, looked around, and ordered the engineer to pull the
>train forward to clear the East End crossovers. The engineer said he would
>have to have an order from the conductor to move the train, and the
>conductor initially said no. A back-and-forth went on with increasing
>insistence by the suit. The conductor then had him explicitly direct him
>to move his train on the suit's authority. The conductor called to the
>engineer "pull them ahead" and Pow, hangers are breaking and we are all
>done. Last time anyone saw that young Assistant trainmaster. He did
>certainly had his moment of being in charge.
>
>The other topic yesterday involved "picking" of EP (by the way, Montclair
>Tower was EP, South Orange was mechanical, Rich) interlocking machines. As
>I said, there was great commitment to keeping the railroad running. One of
>the things I learned on my first day "posting" on the railroad was how to
>pick locks so that I could get in to pick interlocking machines or hand
>throw dual operation switch machines on the ground (as at DB). I have kept
>this to myself all these years, but I guess I can say it now, as I don't
>think any of these folks are still with us. Anyhow, one morning at Summit
>number 6 was running late, but not so late as being knocked down into the
>"Plan B" slot for him in the morning rush hour. Instead, he was hooking
>401, who after cutting off from the Dover train, needed to cross over at
>the west end of the plant and get out on the P&D. If 401 ran late there was
>hell to pay for the rest of the rush off the branch. Anyhow, 401s
>conductor signaled that they were ready to go , but I was already lined up
>and pulled east for number 6. A quick conference with the maintainer and I
>decided to dump the signal on number 6 and get 401 out of town. Just as I
>reached for and threw the lever, he hit the bell. What had he seen? Did
>the approach signal dump down in his face to "approach"? If I did, would
>he have seen it? Of course not, but hope prevailed over good judgment and
>reality. We went ahead, Harry picked the switch, and we lined up 401 from
>track one to the branch. The engineer was a really nice guy but not the
>sharpest tool in the shed. He clearly had assumed that we were going to
>hold him for number six, and when the switches lined him up and the signal
>went red over green I think he was confused. He was very slow to get going
>and make the move. Sweating bullets now, we are all looking out the windows
>to see number 6 coming around the bend from West summit. Sure enough, 401
>is spread out across the crossovers heading west as number 6 appears moving
>at track speed, anticipating his regular stop at the East End of the plant.
> No radio, remember. Six throws it in the hole as 401 completes his move.
>We picked the switches over as the last truck on the train cleared each
>crossover, and yanked the eastbound signal clear. Number 6 comes to a stop
>between the signal and the crossover, figures out what has happened, and
>pulls down to his regular stopping point.
>
>Deeply concerned about the engineer and fireman, and shaking like a leaf
>over the barely avoided No 6 T-bones Commuter Train event I had created, I
>went downstairs and climbed up into the E8 to face the men I had almost
>killed, and apologized profusely, making no excuses. They were, of course,
>extremely unhappy with me, but were also in a state of recovering from the
>near disaster, feeling relief. I let it be known to them that I fully
>expected them to report this and that I deserved the consequences.
>
>Later that morning, after the rush was done and everybody was in the barn
>in Hoboken, the outside phone rang, and Howard Oakley, the long time M&E
>dispatcher, quietly told me that he had spoken to the engineer & conductor
>of No 6, and that he understood what I and Harry ( the signal maintainer
>who was in his mid-30s and had four children and a wife to feed) had done.
>He quietly communicated that he understood we were trying to get the trains
>over the road, and that he expected me to learn from this. It slowly
>dawned on me that the train crew and Howard were not going to write it up.
>
>I have never forgotten that day. In fact, I still remember it often with a
>dreaded notion of "what if." I was very lucky and fortunate that day. It
>was a big mistake. Thank God no one had to pay for my mistake.
>
>Well, there it is folks, my first public confession of this in 36 years.
>Be gentle with me.
>
>Len VanderJagt
>
>
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