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Re: (erielack) DL&W Trainmasters in lieu of E8's in passenger service

Another gem Walter!  These stories of Sammy remind me of my Army career working for some officers and NCO's of questionable

ethics.  Andy Cole

- -----Original Message-----

From: walter smith <wsmith5957_@_yahoo.com>

To: EL Mail List <erielack_@_lists.railfan.net>; al runte <alfred_runte@msn.com>; Bill Robinson <overcrailway@aol.com>; Doug Ridell &lt;railwriter@comcast.net>; harlan hannah <s2choochoo@bellsouth.net>;; John Cooper <snopercod@citcom.net>; pete mchugh <pemchugh@aol.com>

Sent: Sun, Dec 12, 2010 10:29 pm

Subject: Re: (erielack) DL&W Trainmasters in lieu of E8's in passenger service

Ah, yes,....the Trainmasters.........
 Great engines as long as they were maintained. This was not the case in thelate 60s and thereby hangs a tale or tail, or 'Sammystory'.
    I happened to be working a yard job with engineer Max Rice and at 10 PM, wewere just about on the law at about 14 hours on duty since we both had 'doubledover' (working 2 shifts). This was when the hoglaw was 16 hours and u were ableto work 2 shifts on a yard job in a row. Now enters RFE Sammy Miller walkingfrom BY tower to yell up at us that a coal train was coming from the West andwould head for Syracuse and there were no engineers available so he wanted Max &
I to run the job. He further stated that he would see to it that we got paid for
the yard service AND the road service. Max protested that this would surely putus in violation of the hours of service law since there was no way we'd be ableto run a coal train up to Syracuse in the 2 hours left for us to LEGALLY work.Max played golf with Sammy & thought he(Sammy) would be reasonable. This brought
an eruption from Sammy about 'willful disobedience, etc' so Max decided to runthe job. Since I was already on Sammy's s--t list I went along for the ride. The
train pulled in with 1 GP7 leading and 2 Trainmasters in trail. Max & I got onthe geep and did a brake test with Miller hopping  around in a fury for us toget going.
     BD tower put us through to YO yard and up the hill we went. Now the funbegan. The heavy coal train went slower and slower as bells rang on theTrainmasters which had a system to limit their power when the engines ran hot. I
looked at the radiators and one of them had a hole the size of a 50 cent piecewith water pouring through. The other had a problem - I forget what - and theywere barely running and putting out hardly any power. By Port Dickinson, we were
at a crawl - 11mph or so. The geep did all the work  and sunrise found usnearing Syracuse after about 25 or so hours on duty. The Trainmasters were at an
idle by now & so were Max & I. When we got back to Binghamton, we tried to layoff for a day or so but the caller said "Mr. Miller says no time off for anyreason whatsoever".
     In about a week, Max & I were both summoned by the ICC folks for violatiing
the hog law. There was an elderly reptile from the ICC in an office and headvised me that I had commited 'A serious offence against Federal law'.  I toldhim that we had been ordered by the RFE to run the job or we'd be 'disciplined'.
This creep looked me in the eye and said 'it made no difference..I had commitedthe offence'. I got off with a letter from the ICC, but poor old Max had to paya  $500.00 fine - a considerable sum in that time. I heard Sammy had to pay thesame, but it didn't seem to bother him so maybe the Company paid it. A week orso later, I worked with Max on the night 'YO' yard job. Maxie said "I thoughtSammy Miller was my friend". I didn't reply, but I thought - 'Sammy Miller hasNO friends'.

Regards to all

Walt Smith

________________________________
From: "Montgomery, Edward T" <ETMontgomery_@_fcps.edu>
To: EL Mail List <erielack_@_lists.railfan.net>
Sent: Sun, December 12, 2010 9:44:12 PM
Subject: RE: (erielack) DL&W Trainmasters in lieu of E8's in passenger service

Trainmasters were often the power for the Merchant's Express and Scrantonian.

Ed Montgomery

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