Fwd: (erielack) wires down at summit in 71; picking interlocking machines

[Smtimko_@_aol.com]

Walt----
 
You weren't the only one to make that kind of move at SN Jct.  
 
More than once when I worked on the Mahoning Division NE-74 went 1st  
District or #2 attempted to go 2nd District.  Many operators learned not to  take a 
nap on the bench at SN with the signal lined...............
 
SMT


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From: "Walter Smith" <wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com>
To: lvj911_@_worldnet.att.net, erielack@lists.elhts.org
Subject: RE: (erielack) wires down at summit in 71; picking interlocking machines
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 14:31:08 -0500
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Reply-To: "Walter Smith" <wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com>
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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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