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

You could not trust any of those in supervision. They all were nothing but 
talkers. You just couldn"t  belive what they said. Jerry H.
- ----- 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" <railwriter_@_comcast.net>; "harlan hannah" 
<s2choochoo_@_bellsouth.net>; "John Cooper" <snopercod@citcom.net>; "pete 
mchugh" <pemchugh_@_aol.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2010 10:28 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 
> the
> late 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, we
> were just about on the law at about 14 hours on duty since we both had 
> 'doubled
> over' (working 2 shifts). This was when the hoglaw was 16 hours and u were 
> able
> to work 2 shifts on a yard job in a row. Now enters RFE Sammy Miller 
> walking
> from BY tower to yell up at us that a coal train was coming from the West 
> and
> would 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 put
> us in violation of the hours of service law since there was no way we'd be 
> able
> to 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 
> run
> the 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 on
> the geep and did a brake test with Miller hopping  around in a fury for us 
> to
> get going.
>
>     BD tower put us through to YO yard and up the hill we went. Now the 
> fun
> began. The heavy coal train went slower and slower as bells rang on the
> Trainmasters 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 
> piece
> with water pouring through. The other had a problem - I forget what - and 
> they
> were 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 us
> nearing 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 
> lay
> off for a day or so but the caller said "Mr. Miller says no time off for 
> any
> reason 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 he
> advised me that I had commited 'A serious offence against Federal law'.  I 
> told
> him 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 
> commited
> the offence'. I got off with a letter from the ICC, but poor old Max had 
> to pay
> a  $500.00 fine - a considerable sum in that time. I heard Sammy had to 
> pay the
> same, but it didn't seem to bother him so maybe the Company paid it. A 
> week or
> so later, I worked with Max on the night 'YO' yard job. Maxie said "I 
> thought
> Sammy Miller was my friend". I didn't reply, but I thought - 'Sammy Miller 
> has
> NO 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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>
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