Large Scale Central

Post a train story here.

I was leaving Fort Worth Texas. So, my buddy Ronny, who was a resident of Ft Worth, drops me off at the station around 2PM. The Train, Amtrak’s Texas Eagle was slated to arrive at 3PM. So, I waited and 3PM came around and no train. Around quarter after, I asked the attendant when she thought the train would arrive and she said, that it would be along soon. So, 3:30 came and went. Then 4PM and finally Amtrak made an announcement saying there would be a delay. Around 5:45, the announcer stated that the train was a few miles out. So, I got myself ready and gathered my bags. Within a few minutes, the announcer called for the train. I walked out onto the hot platform and looked for a train. None. After a few minutes, a heard a rumbling sound of a diesel locomotive. I looked west and what I saw next, absolutely made me re think about going home by train. Here, an SD40-2 Sante Fe locomotive was lashed up to the Texas Eagle and pulling her through. Apparently, the whole train broke down right in the desert and the air wasn’t working and the temps at the time were well over 100 degrees. So, A nearby Sante Fe locomotive was dispatched to bring the whole affair to Ft Worth where an engine change could be accomplished. I boarded the train and asked the conductor what gives and all he said was Amtrak was experiencing technical difficulties and that they were working hard to resolves the issue. So, a F40 was brought in to head the train North East to Chicago. After several more delays, we finally got to high balling. We were not even a few miles out of Texas and into Arkansas before the train stopped and not at a train station. Guess what? The engine ran out of fuel. LOL I was beside myself on this one. LOL So, they brought a fuel truck in and after about an hour and half, off we went again.

We made a few regular stops and some were cancelled. I knew when they called each and every passenger on the train into a prepared dining car to discuss our individual itineraries, it did not look good. Here, many people had missed their connecting flights to Europe as well as domestically. I had no such issues, but said I was okay. For that effort, I received a free steak dinner and a free nights stay at a five star hotel in downtown Chicago. I stayed at the Sheraton and when I arrived at my room and opened the door, I thought, wait a minute, I am not getting married! LOL, What the heck. I went to the window and opened the curtains and the view was simply spectacular. Really beautiful. I was so far up, the people looked like ants. LOL

So, I went around Chicago with this mans family that lived there and they befriended me. We ate at a pizza place called Graffities located in the underground part of the city. I went to the top of the Sears Tower. I saw all kinds of things. When we boarded the train for the rest of our trip, we rolled right by the warehouse they burned for the movie “Backdraft”. Needless to say, I was impressed, but I wasn’t going to Europe.LOL

The high light of my trip was Horseshoe Curve. I always wanted to see it from a train and this was simply beautiful. Truly beautiful. When we arrived, several Norfolk Southern trains were rounding the curve in the opposite direction. Which only heightened the sensation. From there to Washington’s Union Station was only a few more hours and home at last.

Needless to say, Amtrak needed some serious work. One women passed out on the Texas Eagle when it became stuck in the desert. They airlifted her out because she was 80 something years old and her life was in peril. I never thought to inquire about her condition, but hoped she was okay. As for the SD40 that pulled the Amtrak train into Ft Worth…PRICELESS!!!. This was the Blue and Yellow paint scheme version, but kudos to SF for having come to Amtrak’s rescue that day. The steak meal was actually first rate. Really good. The friends I made…PRICELESS!!! Like the couple that were sitting behind me and thought that my knowledge of trains was really good. The man served during WWII and flew B17 bombers. He and his wife were on vacation. LOL

Yes, Amtrak sure hasn’t come a long way, but they do get the job done and as near as I can tell, they make up for any lost time in steak meals!!! LOL

What’s your story???

Stacy

Eight years in the railroad industry as a locomotive engineer, conductor, and switchman… Lots of stories! :slight_smile:

As for Amtrak plan on not being on time! :wink:

There are a few, indeed there are a few. Listening to the radio traffic when out there chasing trains is as good as getting nice video on a nice day.

F-40s? That had to have been over 20 years ago. Late 80’s, traveling north on the Coast Starlight, leaving Union Station. Train moved about three car lenths then suddenly stalled. After a while its announced the lead unit has blown an oil seal and dumped its crankcase full of oil onto the track. Took ninety minutes to get a replacement loco…they didn’t remove the lead unit they just coupled the new guy onto point and dead united the bum engine. Otherwise trip went fine just two hours late every where.

A few years back my wife and I reserved 2 seats in the dome car on the Conway Scenic RR up in Conway, New Hampshire. We love that area and have visited in each season. This time it was mid Summer. When we arrived at the station I noticed the guys were working feverishly under the dome car… sure enough it was the AC unit that had konked out. We boarded, found our seats and started to sweat. As the train climbed up toward picturesque Crawford Notch my fellow passengers left the sauna of the dome. We arrived at the Notch and was able to walk around for near an hour before the trip back all the while the dome car was acting like a green house. We once again boarded and back to our seats in the dome and the temp on the thermostat read 106. I ended up being the only fool that stuck it out for the return trip. I think I lost a few pounds in sweat. The RR refunded us the difference in price between dome and first class where my fellow passengers ended up.

Crawford Notch is a neat spot. The Winter before we had driven up to it in a snow storm and the cars temp read -6. An Amazing extreme in temperatures.

Back in the late 60’s, I used to travel between Washington DC and my hometown of Clarksburg, WV on the Baltimore & Ohio’s National Limited. I was in the military and could travel cheaply on a “furlough pass” as long as I was in uniform. Due to the lightly populated market the route never saw ridership numbers as high as other named trains. Still, the National was maintained by the B&O as one of its flagship runs behind only the Capitol Limited in this regard. The train would featured the first dome cars for an eastern railroad, the Strata-Dome. After perennially declining ridership following World War II the railroad finally elected to cancel the train by the mid-1960s. However, the B&O continued to offer passenger service along its original route until the start of Amtrak in 1971. Today, not only is the National a memory but also much of the route the train plied through West Virginia and southern Ohio, which was abandoned in the mid-1980s.

On one particularly memorable run, I sat in the big swivel chair at the tail end of the President Jefferson observation car for the entire run over the Appalachians. It was October and the autumn colors were magnificent. I was the only passenger in the car, but there were two attendants. I spent six hours listening to their stories of all the famous people who they had served over the years. I still remember, it wasn’t Hope, or Crosby, or Benny, or anyone else you might think of that was their favorite … it was Moe, Larry, and Curly from the Three Stooges. I still remember that train ride every time I see a Stooges short film.

A couple years after my above trip I went by Amtrak to visit relatives in the mid-west, and to get as close as I could to their city from LA I had to take the Zephyr via the Desert Wind. The outbound trip was uneventful, on the return trip I met a group of people my age. Passing thru the Rockies while the train was traveling at night towards Salt Lake city (where the Desert Wind section would be split). As we sat in the Lounge Car, eventually we got onto the subject of food (again), namely how after 2 days on the train we were all tired of the cafe car offerings (again). We were all poverty stricken college students so no dining car visits, but the level of microwaved food offered back then was really awful. We all agreed what we really wanted was the perennial favorite of college students across the world…pizza of course, and how much we were craving a good pepperoni pie. Well someone mentioned that we had a 30 minute layover in Salt Lake and didn’t Dominoes promise delivery in 30 minutes or less? Bingo, our plan was set, only thing we needed was be a phone booth in the station (this was in the dark ages before the invention of the cellphone, let alone smartphones) and the closets delivery outlet #.

As the train the train rounded a bend into the station, the Pizza Gods smiled upon as as a GIANT Dominoes billboard hoved into view, with its day-glow green phone number blazing away. Armed now with the number, as the Porters opened the doors we bolted like horses at the racetrack, time was not be to wasted. We tore into the lobby and towards the ONLY phone booth there, which was occupied by a ol’ cowboy who was rather startled to suddenly be surrounded by several young people with a ravenous hunger in their eyes, he said “I’ll call ya back, theirs allota weird folks were rat’ now…” So we call the number, what your address? “Can you deliver to Union Station?” where? “Union Station” Do you know the address? “No, we just came in a train” OH the TRAIN station, oh sure…so we place our order and tell the guy to deliver it to the front steps of the station, I ask “Is this the first time you’ve gotten as order from the train station?” Oh no, we’ve done this before…Oh we were so disappointed, we thought we had come up with the greatest idea ever…

29 minutes later a small pickup pulls up and delivers our two large pizzas, one pepperoni and one sausage special. Upon re-entering the coach we discovered a potential flaw in our brilliant plan, that bringing steaming hot fresh pizza onto a trainload of passengers deprived of good food for 2 days was rather like wrapping your self in a Lady Gaga meat suit and parading into the tiger cage at the zoo. Passenger looked at us with hungry wanting eyes. When I was watching the Walking Dead I recognized that same glaring hunger from years before, someone in the background said “I hope you brought enough for everyone…” so we beat a hasty retreat to the cafe car (no lounge car on the DW) to enjoy our cheesy feast.

Family trip to the Adirondack Scenic Railroad, we got there early. got our tickets, our caboose ride ticket said 3pm, which was the last trip for that ride. We got to the caboose at 3 and it was filled, we were then told that all the tickets said 3 and that we could have rode the train anytime that day. I noticed the train only had the engineer in it, so I asked for a cab ride instead.

The conductor went over to the engineer, came back and said “all aboard” and pointed us to the engine. Was my 12 yr old son and my first cab ride in a loco.

Shortly after that we went to the Saratoga and North Creek Railroad, which is where my profile pic was taken. Was able to take some detail shots of D&H 5019 - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1434898773405162.1073741835.1434873433407696&type=1

Funny thing was when we left for this vacation, we didn’t plan on going to see any trains, it just “happened”

Trains can be an adventure!

After almost 15 years on steam and diesel as a fireman, engineer, conductor, brakeman, mechanic etc. I have a few stories to tell but here’s one of my favorites.

In 1999 I was working for Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow gauge in Felton Ca, as a fireman. During station stops I was usually busy taking water and oiling around while the engineer went for a walk to turn down the retainers after coming off the mountain.

On this particular day I was assigned to the heisler. As I was oiling around I overheard a father telling his young son that “this is not a real steam locomotive, they were outlawed a long time ago. This one has a motor in it like a truck.” Of course I tried to keep my mouth shut and do my job but when the little boy asked what I doing and where the motor was I told him the truth.

I pointed to the large cylinders and crank and boiler and told him about them and that I was oiling around the steam engine for the next trip. He asked about the smoke (steam) coming from the train and other things and I slowly explained that the locomotive is in fact a real steam locomotive and explained the basics of how it worked in terminology a child could understand. As expected the father was not pleased with being contradicted and rather than asking questions and accepting that steam had not in fact been outlawed, he told me I was liar and that I should be ashamed of myself for deceiving children. He also threatened to complain to my supervisor (station agent in his mind). I said sure, go ahead. Well he just stood there telling his son about how the cylinder cocks are actually fuel injectors and other B.S.

I had had enough and though I know the customer is always right, and that I should be professional I couldn’t resist. By this time I was back in cab and had turned on the injector and was ramping up my fire to get ready for the next trip. By this time engineer wasn’t far away (Tom Shreve if you know who he is) but I had a couple of minutes with the skeptic. He happened to be standing next to the gang way and looking into the cab, presumably trying to figure out where the steering wheel was, when I shut the blower off, nudged the firing valve a little :wink: and popped the firebox door open to “have a look at my fire”. I caught a look of astonishment when bright yellow flames licked the backhead. I saw them on the train later, but mr skeptic never said another word to me. The things people make up.

Worked for the RR for 36 years, will never ride a train!

Don

November 9, 1965

It was late on Tuesday afternoon when I left Boston, heading south on the New Haven bound for the “Big Apple”. The train consisted of three lightweight coaches headed by a single FL9. That was the unique dual-powered derivative of the EMD F9 locomotive that also had 3rd rail pick-ups for use on the electrified sections around New York City.

No one in my half-filled coach spoke or even acknowledged each other’s presence. That is until we were somewhere under the East River approaching Grand Central. That’s when the lights went out and the train came to a sudden halt.

We sat there in the darkness, quiet at first. Then the whispers started. I heard a baby crying somewhere behind me. The emergency lights at the coach ends were dim but I could see the conductor making his way down the aisle. As he came by he said, “Stay calm folks. We just lost power, but we’ll be out of here shortly.”

The chatter picked up gradually as folks began speculating about the reason for the unexpected stop. Laughing, crying – even a few prayers – everyone had their own way of dealing with the situation. I heard a young girl ask if anyone wanted some of her Vanilla Wafers. Soon an old Italian grandma pulled out a summer sausage, some cheese, and hard rolls from a shopping bag and started passing out snacks. Before long, most folks were chatting away, as if they had all known each other for ages.

After about three hours, they finally powered up the diesel and ran on into the terminal. It was funny; all of the friendly conversation ceased as soon as the lights came back on and we started moving. We seemed to transition abruptly back into a car full of strangers.

Grand Central Terminal was lit eerily with only emergency lights. I made my way up to street level, only to find the city in total darkness. Taking a cab was out of the question so I walked the mile or so over to Pennsylvania Station and arrived there just as the lights came back on. The remainder of the trip southward down to DC on the PRR was uneventful, but to this day, I still don’t like electric locomotives.

Here’s a different story, many years ago we’re on a bus trip across Europe, we heading from Monaco to Lyon in the south of France for the night, during the journey our guide mentioned that on a previous tour some folks decided instead of the 6 hour bus ride from Lyon to Paris, our next stop, to jump ship and take the TGV to Paris in only 2 hrs, reuniting with the coach tour at the Hotel in Paris. We heard that and thought dang, that’s a great idea!, and we informed our guide that was what we were going to do. So the next morning we loaded our luggage back onto the bus but then got over the train station to find 3 other couples had the same idea, so we all got tickets boarded, and at 8 am we embarked. We rode at a rather thrilling speed, especially when compared to the motor coach, countryside going by so fast it looked blurred like a Van Goth painting, and were on time all the way.

If you have never experienced a well run railroad system, particularly an HST system, you really don’t know how a railroad should be run. When I read some of the arguments by the naysayers be-hitching about HST in this country, I know for a fact they probably have never been any country that has one, let alone actually ever ridden on one, because once you have experienced it, you want it, badly.

Anyways…2hrs later the train trundles into the outskirts of Paris, then we had to find and use another local train on the Paris Metro system to get to the heart of the city, but, 2 1/2 hrs after leaving Lyon, we were standing in the center of Paris, Dang I love HST! Meanwhile, our bus didnt get there until almost 6pm!, but we got almost an extra FULL day in the city, very very worth it.

This one dates back to '76. Four weeks of Switzerland with a Eurorail Pass, flying to and from Amsterdam, in other words a Rhine Cruise on wheels.

Anyhow as usual there was shopping to be done in CH, in this case a whopping big Euro style tent - it took ten more years before something similar hit Canada. Transporting? No problem we’re on the train and on Ward Air there was no luggage restriction. Take the overnight train to Amsterdam with plenty of time to get to the airport. Now that was the theory.

The real scenario was. Get to Basel and there the train couldn’t depart until the section from Italy was added. You guessed it … the train from Italy was late. Mussolini, who made the trains run on time. was long gone.

Oooops this could be interesting. 90 minutes late the train arrives, ten more minutes for the switching and we were finally on the way. While the other two slept, I was up half the night checking progress along the Rhine. Decision time was at the Dutch border, still an hour behind! Since Amsterdam’s airport is southwest of the city and the road traffic has always been horrendous, especially from downtown (Central Station), we would get off at Utrecht and take a taxi from there - clear sailing on the freeway.

We made the check-in time and the Ward Air charter had a one+ hour delay. Naturally!

Last summer I’m standing night watch on 315 in Chama, It’s about 9pm and a 7-8 yr. old boy with dad in tow came up to 315 with awe and excitement, he looked her over from top to bottom, he reached out and gently touches a driver, runs his hand down the side rod, Dad tells him not to touch, I get down from the cab and tells him “It’s OK, but be careful as some things are hot enough to burn you” We strike up a conversation as he asks me a dozen + questions, it was plain that he knew about steam engines. He asked if I would let him up in the cab and shovel some coal, and the look on his face when I told him that I couldn’t, just weekend my knees. He was crushed! So I told him he could climb onto the steps and look around. He was in awe. I opened the fire doors, and he lit up, I added a scoop of coal thou it didn’t really need it. He was grinning from ear to ear. I kicked a lump over to him, and asked that he toss it into the fire. I opened the box and he tossed it in. He was ecstatic… Three more lumps, all straight into the box. He was in train heaven!! His dad called him away, and as he leaped down, I tossed him a small lump, told him to keep it. You would have thought that it was solid gold. He said thank you, as he walked away turning the lump over and around inspecting every angle. As he got to the car, he put it in his pocket, turned and waved by. I waved back, and gave him a quick toot-toot on the whistle. I doubt that he went to slept anytime soon.

And here is one from '89. RhB have their 100th with big special this and special that. We spent two weeks at Filisur, the junction on the Albula line where the line from Davos comes in.

One of my plans was taking the wayfreight from Samedan to Thusis and back. Got on the first train to Samedan and caught the wayfreight heading north. A bit of switching at Bergün, the coffee break at Filisur, some switching at Surava and Tiefencastel AND extra work at Solis. In short the northbound wayfreight was behind schedule and the meet with the southbound at Thusis was history. Now what? I had been chatting with the conductor all the way along and he said he’d radio the southbound to hold at Sils for me to hop over. Well, Murphy was at work; the conductor of the southbound was on a different frequency or plain not answering. Hmmmm…?? OK! I suggested to the conductor that I’d get off the train while he was still rolling.

Not the usual procedure, but …

We got to Sils, the southbound is at the south end of the siding, the conductor is motioning to the “other guy” to hold, our train slows down and I’m off running first north, then doing a 180 and taking off after the southbound. As luck had it a) a krok was powering the train (slow), b) the last car’s platform was at the tailend c) I was still in excellent running form. Full tilt, with the video bag, off after the train which is slowly pulling away. But I swung on just in time.

There was a second installment, the following weekend I met the engineer of the northbound way down at Scuol.

“Oh hi there, thanks for that coffee!” I have no idea what that is about. Turns out the engineer bet the conductor a coffee that I’d make that train, the conductor was of the “No way!!!” persuasion. Little did he know.

And this is what the ride on the last car looked like.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/3398464[/vimeo]

Back in 2005 I had a business trip to Zurich with a couple of free days at the end. I had never been to France so I decided to take the train from Zurich to Mulhouse in the Alsace region.

Apparently, I was supposed to change trains in Basel. I didn’t and the train left the station and I was blissfully unaware of where I was headed until the conductor came through and asked for my ticket. I handed it to him and he asked me where I was going. “Mulhouse,” I said. He said this train isn’t going to Mulhouse. “Where is it going?,” I asked, playing dumb American tourist to the fullest at this point. “Hamburg,” he replied. I was not in France but in Germany. "Get off at the next station and go back to Basel and then change trains for Mulhouse.

I got off the train at Freiburg, hoping to have an hour or so to explore the city but, alas, the train for Basel came in about ten minutes and I never got to leave the station. I went back to Basel, changed trains for Mulhouse and had a very enjoyable day. I also enjoyed hanging out at the Zurich Hauptbahnhof the entire week I was there.

Another one of my favorite stories comes from my time on the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine.

Around 1996-7 I was promoted to student engineer and was running one of my first trains with the owner Max firing for me. It was a routine trip on ex West Side Lumber Co. #10 with the standard 6 car train. Nothing really out of the ordinary, the engine was running beautifully, train was responding well, and all was right with the world until we got down towards the other end of the railroad.

Just before the balloon loop switch is rather steep piece of track with a bunch of ferns and mountain grasses on one side that are very popular with lady bugs. As we rolled down towards the switch the engine was rattling along rhythmically and the manzel lubricator in the cab was clicking along in perfect time. A

s I took one last bite of air on the engine brakes (YMSP still uses straight air on the train and controls the speed with the independent).
Suddenly everything went silent and the train took off like a shot. The whole locomotive and the first car locked up and started sliding down the track like on ice. As our speed increased I tried to get it back under control by releasing the brakes and applying sand. It seemed like forever before the wheels started turning again. By this time we were really moving and I saw Max was starting to make his way out of the fireman’s seat. “I’ll be damned if I’m going let him take over, this is my train” I thought to myself between moments of hidden panic and I struggled to get the train back under control.

I knew I didn’t need help, and I had something to prove so I motioned to him to let me handle it. As we cleared the ladybug mess I managed to get everything turning again and just brought our speed under control when we came into view of the loop switch. Talk about sweat! I had visions of roaring through the switch and piling the engine up in the creek or against a sugar pine tree. I was relieved to have the engine back under me so I hauled out on the throttle, released the brakes and made my run for the grade up into the loop. The engine immediately started slipping on greasy ladybug juice on the wheels. I slammed the throttle shut, opened the sanders wide, and when she settled down I horsed on the throttle again and off we went. We slipped a few more times on the way up but I have to say, that for a new engineer, that is one hell of a way to break in. Granted I was only 19 at the time!!! What a summer that turned out to be.

My wife and I, in the late 1980’s, travelled to Italy. We had gone through a bad patch with a car accident, medical procedures, and the passing of both of my parents in a short time. Childless at that time, we took a leave of work absence and went to Europe for six weeks.

We were in Naples, due to leave from Milan by air for home in two days after a fabulous and relaxing trip, and were advised by the hotel that a railway strike would start at midnight. Rushing to the Naples station, we joined a long line of prospective passengers jockeying for tickets. Proud of her guidebook Italian and linguistic abilities-she does speak French and German, and an unhelpful Italian speaking clerk, she commenced to order a sleeper compartment for the two of us. The clerk questioned her several times on her request, and even non-linguist me picked up that there was confusion about two beds…Paying by credit card in the usual thousands/millions of Italian Lira, we then waited for the 8 pm train. The crowds got even more frantic and growing by the hour as the strike time approached.

At 7.30 pm, line ups for our northbound express train started. Train attendants asked us for our tickets and we were separated from the non-sleeper seat passengers. Finally, the porter came and asked my wife to follow him, holding up his hand to hold me back. A moment of panic ensued with me wondering whether the two beds were only one and that I was to be left behind…Five minutes later, the porter returned and took me to the carriage. We walked down the long platform past several cars and went to a beautifully painted blue painted car with the name Wagon Lits on it. Stunned at the fact that we had inadvertently booked a Wagon Lits carriage, I was shown to my own separate luxuriously wood pannelled stateroom. My wife’s similar stateroom was next door with a connecting wall door. Personal attendants were at our beck and call. Leaving on time, wine was served, beds put down, and the next morning, an hour before arrival in Milan, breakfast served in bed. We enjoyed the only travel in luxury we have ever experienced. The credit card bill alone for that sleeping car took a bit of time to pay off but the memory and the smiles-and jokes made at my wife’s language expertise-endure.