About the Author J. D. Santucci (a.k.a. "Tuch") began his railroading career in 1978 as a trainman on the Missouri Pacific. After a round of lay-offs in 1985, Tuch embarked on a railroad odyssey, working in many different situations for different roads. This column tries to explain some of the nuts and bolts of the job and also demonstrates what we have to deal with on a regular basis within and without the industry. Tuch currently works through freights out of Chicago for Canadian National/Illinois Central. ©1999, 2003-2007 JD Santucci. Logo ©2002 The Railroad Network. By J.D. Santucci

October 21, 2006
We’re back!

After an extended absence owing to an injury I sustained, I am able to type again. Actually, I’ve been able to type for several weeks but have been doing a zillion other things that have needed tending to first. I’ve also been clearing out stuff in the basement and have been listing some of it on ebay as well.

In another three weeks or so I should be able to return to work. I ruptured a distal bicep tendon that required surgery. This is quite a serious injury and I was told that there is a four to six month recovery period for it and they weren’t kidding. I am still doing rehab to get it back to normal and back into shape to work. In an upcoming issue I’ll write about the details of what all occurred. Fortunately I will be returning in time to work the Santa Train again this year too. And speaking of the Santa Train, it will operate December 9th and 10th. More details on that when I get the official schedule.

Also speaking of the Santa Train, I have several sets of paperwork from it; tabular general bulletin orders, track warrants and the like that I will be posting on ebay in a few weeks. All of the money from this sale will go to charity. I haven’t decided on which one yet, but it will likely be something for Hurricane Katrina relief. I’ll let you know which one and when they will be posted when the time comes.

In other news, the book is being delayed until next year. Being that I couldn’t type at all for several months and there is still some polishing up required for the manuscript, the project had to be delayed.

And finally before we get started here, the beautiful bride and the beautiful baby are doing great. If anything good came out of this injury it was that I got to spend lots of time with the baby. I couldn’t pick her up for some ten weeks, but now I can and have been quite a bit. During the period where I could not pick her up, the beautiful bride would place her on my lap so at least I could hold her. She is growing like crazy, up to 16.5 lbs and 28 inches and doing quite well.

Thanks to all of you that sent along well wishes, it was very thoughtful of all of you to think of me and offer me your best intentions.

And now, on with the show.

There are numerous branch lines throughout North American railroading. Branch lines vary in degree of traffic. Conrail for example, had various lines designated in their timetables as branch lines but these lines had a fair amount of traffic moving across them. Here in Indiana the Porter Branch and the Marion Branch were two of which were truly main lines. Both lines featured heavy, welded rail, deep ballasted and well maintained roadway that included signals (traffic control systems actually) with higher track speeds than one might consider for a track referred to as branch line. Both of these lines handled a fair amount of traffic, usually six to ten trains per day each and often more.

Conrail also operated tracks known as secondary tracks that were also main lines. The major difference was the secondary tracks were main lines without any type of electric block signal system or “dark” territory. In earlier Conrail days that used manual block system rules. When the NORAC rulebook came into being MBS was replaced with form D rules. The form D is akin to a track warrant. They too might handle a respectable volume of business and might be maintained to a higher standard than some branch lines. Some of Conrail’s branches were good railroad while others were somewhat neglected compared to main track standards with lighter weight rail, lower maintenance levels and less traffic. A few secondary tracks carried very little traffic on portions, such as the Fort Wayne Secondary between Warsaw and Valparaiso, IN. Until it was sold off to NS in the mid 90’s, this line was slowly going back to seed between the above mentioned points.

And as an interesting note, there was a dispatching desk on Conrail based out of Dearborn, MI called the Kankakee Dispatcher. This Dispatcher handled primarily branch lines and secondary tracks in Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. This desk did have a few segments of so-called pure main tracks with one of them called the Kankakee Main. This dispatching desk was often referred to as the “Branch Line Dispatcher.”

In my days at the MoPac, the single track main that extended south from Woodland Junction, IL south through to Southern Illinois was part of their principal through route main line leading to Chicago. Going back to the days of the C&EI when it carried far less traffic than it does today and it was mostly non-signaled railroad, it was referred to as “The Branch.” When MoPac took control of the C&EI, they invested heavily in the Branch improving the track and adding centralized traffic control. In my days there it was 60 mph track with CTC and twenty plus trains a day. That name carried over and nobody referred to it as the single track, it was still The Branch. I would bet that it still goes by that moniker today. Some things just never die in railroading.

In my days at the Wisconsin Central, they had a line known as the Shawano (pronounced SHA-no) Subdivision. The maximum speed limit on this line was 40 mph. While there was some welded rail on the line much of it was jointed rail. Between Neenah and Black Creek, WI there were four to six daily through trains per day plus a few locals or yard jobs. From Black Creek to the end of this line at Argonne, WI were it connected to the Pembine and Bradley Subs, this trackage normally saw two through trains plus a local per day. The track was in pretty good shape considering the lower density of business and traffic. In the 70’s and early 80’s under Soo Line ownership there was at least two more trains per day along this route.

Now on most railroads there are portions of track that are referred to as branch lines which are truly lower density lines maintained to lower standards, usually class 2 or 3 which mandate lower maximum speed limits. Often it might be comprised of mostly or all jointed rail, little to no welded rail. The rail is often a lighter weight rail, usually no more than 112 to 115 lb and generally has lower maximum speed limits, like 25 mph. Traffic is generally less frequent, maybe only a couple of trains per day. Still other branches are really nothing more than industrial lines with no signals, little more than absolutely required maintenance with maybe one train per day and usually a 10 mph speed limit. In some cases these branches have no kind of main, branch or secondary line status. In fact they don’t even rate a place on a page in a timetable.

Today’s lesson will focus in on some of these low rate, low rent branch lines, the ones that never make the pages on the national railfan publications. Not a fault of these magazines, their publishers just don’t believe such trackage will make for interesting reading. Well, perhaps if you are working the line in question it could be quite interesting.

The Indiana Harbor Belt operated several of these low rent type of branch lines. While they appeared to be low rent in my days there, once upon a time they were far more significant lines with a better rating, even making the grade to timetable station page status as secondary lines. I worked all but one of these branches during my days there. We’re going to focus on just two of them. Even though they were low rent by comparison to the IHB Main Line, they were both strategic and important.

The first branch we’ll study is the old Burnham to Roby Secondary Track. Today this line is known as the Roby Industrial Track. It does not appear on any timetable station pages these days, although it gets a mention regarding some special instructions within the special instructions portion of more recent IHB timetables. Back in 1970 though, it appeared on the station pages of IHB Timetable #3 that was in effect in April of that year. While the line had a maximum speed of 10 mph in those days, there was a timetable direction of superiority, and it was northward.

The Roby Branch as it is commonly referred to spans 3.86 miles running from the north end of Burnham Yard north to where it connects with Colehour Yard. Colehour, located on the Indiana/Illinois border at Hammond is the old PRR/PC/Conrail and now, Norfolk Southern facility which is used as an interchange and industrial support yard. Part of the Roby Industrial is welded rail these days with decent ties and good ballast, a far cry from what it was when I first started at the Harbor in 1993. About one mile or so of this line spans Wolf Lake on a causeway.

Back in 93 and 94 the Roby Branch was in sorry shape. Actually, sorry was being kind; pathetic was much more the case. It was all well worn, actually, badly worn jointed rail with rotted ties and poor ballast. Even at the 10 mph maximum, it was a wild ride. Many of the rail joints were loose and the rail ends were battered as a result. Some of the rail literally jumped up in front of you and dropped back into place as the combination of loose joints and rotted ties unable to hold the spikes in place allowed for all this vertical movement of the rail. Despite such track conditions derailments were not common on the line but were not rare either; on the occasions when they did occur, the tended to be big. On more than one occasion, cars not only derailed but rolled over onto their sides landing in the lake.

“Sailing, sailing, over the bounding main.”

If it was a load of corn for American Maize (Maizo, which was often referred to as “the Maize”) that flipped, it was a lucky day for the fish. They would get that corn to feed on instead of whatever it is they feed on in that water. Not to say the water and is in it could be unhealthy, but I sure wouldn’t eat any fish that came out of that lake on a dare. I think some of those fish have three heads and five eyes. But I digress. I was never involved in one of these derailments. In fact, I never had any derailment on the Roby Branch.

During the period I was Trainmaster, there were several significant derailments on the line including another one that created yet another feeding frenzy for the fish. After having put up with enough problems on the Roby Branch, the line underwent some serious rehabilitation. New ties, lots of ballast, some replacement rail of which some of that was welded and voila; the line was much improved. This rehab took place while I was Trainmaster and I had been told by a Trainmaster at Gibson that the FRA mandated the repairs. I guess dumping corn and the potential for dumping chemicals into the lake might have had an influence on this mandate. Whatever it took, the line was much improved. I did get to work it several times after I gave up the Trainmaster job and went back running in 96. While there was still a 10 mph speed limit in effect, it was good for 20 or 25 across much of the line.

The mile or so long causeway over which the line operates is visible from the parallel Indiana Toll Road (I-90) where it also crosses Wolf Lake. If you are traveling east on the Toll Road, look to your right after you pass the former American Maize plant. If you are heading west look to your left after you pass the Cline Avenue junction where Wolf Lake comes into view. The branch passes underneath the Toll Road at the south end of the former American Maize plant, which became Cerestar for several years and is now owned and operated by Cargill. It crosses Indianapolis Boulevard (US Rt. 41) at grade in Hammond. Cargill is on the west and Lever Brothers (the soap factory now known as Unilever) is on the east side of “the Boulevard” at the crossing. These are the only two industries on the line.

Back in my days there and unless things have changed, is still the case, the Roby job (job symbol 194), went on duty at Burnham Yard in the evening. It was either 1030 or 1100pm, I don’t recall for sure now. A single switcher, in those days usually an NW2 or SW7 or occasionally one of the SW1500’s leased from NRE was assigned for the job. On duty at 1100pm, the Conductor received his instructions via the telephone from both the Gibson West End Yardmaster and the West End Clerk. Work orders were sent to us via the fax machine and switch lists came across the printer. Once the power was inspected and the Conductor was all set, it was off to the north end of the yard to switch up our train. Cars were lined up for both the Maize and Lever Brothers. Inbound loads of corn, tank cars loaded with other materials required, empty tank cars and empty covered hoppers for loading with finished product for the Maize and tank cars and covered hoppers with the raw materials required in the soap making process were lined up. Once the switching and air test were completed, away we went. Except for a few curves, this line is straight and fairly flat (this is a slight ascending grade just north of the yard, but not severe) and the single switcher and 50 or 60 cars are not a problem. On occasion you might have more cars sometimes 70 or 80 but again for the most part, not a problem for a single unit.

A little to the north of the yard, I don’t recall exactly where, is the switch where the Whiting Industrial Track breaks off. There are several industries on this line that get rail service five afternoons per week. If I recall correctly, this was the 192 job that worked out of Burnham. I worked that job several times and we had several industries, including a government installation that received regular rail service. The north end of this branch passes directly underneath Cline Avenue (Indiana Rt. 912) just east of where the Cline Avenue extension connects to the Indiana Toll Road.

This is the very same Cline Avenue that you might have heard about in the news in recent months. Some nut job or nut jobs as the case might be seem to think shooting at moving cars is now a sport and believe that Cline Avenue is an ideal spot to undertake their sport. Perhaps some poetic justice might end this sport; maybe one of the motorists they shoot at will plow into them and run them off the road or run them over if they are positioned along side the road. 

After our trip across the water we arrive outside Maizo. The switches to access their plant are located close to the Toll Road. On most occasions we have to wait for the private contractor that handles the in plant switching at Maizo to clear up. They use the Roby Branch for headroom while they perform their work. Once the plant switch crew clears up and notifies us to come on down, we head on in and deliver our cars to them. Once finished at “the Maize” we head across Indianapolis Blvd and work Lever Brothers.

Lever Brothers requires us to weigh all cars inbound and we accomplish the chore after we are let in by the guard at the gate. We handle all of the in plant switching at Lever; weigh the outbound cars gather up our train and head back across the Boulevard and back to the Maize. The switch crew gives us the lowdown on our pick up and we go about gathering it up and put it together with our cars out of Lever Bros. One the air is worked up and the train is tested, we head back to Burnham Yard.

There is a park out on Wolf Lake and numerous fishermen do their angling at various points all around it. The entrance to the park crosses the Roby Branch. I’ve almost clobbered a few cars and trucks at this crossing. On occasion we’ve also spotted many folks “in love” along the way and sometimes partiers as well.

We make the trek across the lake again, get back onto terra firma and find our way back to Burnham Yard. The train is put away per the instructions of the Gibson West End Yardmaster, the engine secured, paperwork handled by the Conductor, and then we tie up and head home.

The other branch we will discuss in detail is what today is called the Millers Industrial Track. In years past this route was known as the branch between Gibson and FN and later, the Gibson to County Line Road Secondary track. Once upon a time this line was busier with a respectable amount of business along the way. It used to extend through Gary, turning north, spanning the former New York Central double track Buffalo to Chicago Main line turning to the east and roughly paralleling the Central out to Burns Harbor and then a little further east of there towards Dune Acres ending at a station called FN, a total of 16.93 miles. FN was about two-tenths of a mile east of the connection with the NYC near Burns Harbor. By 1970 this line has lost some of its luster (and business) and was cut back to a station called County Line at milepost 13.13.

Along NS’s former Conrail Chicago Line there is a siding east of the Miller section of Gary known as Millers. The Chicago Line of course, being the former NYC and Penn Central. I was told this was actually part of the old IHB. There were once a couple of tracks here in time well past. From Millers to Burns Harbor this branch used to directly parallel the Buffalo-Chicago Main. You could throw a rock from one and hit the other. One of the tracks within Burns Harbor Yard is also part of this old IHB branch. I just can’t remember which track it was. There was a siding at Alco. You could still see one of the switches for it from the Chicago Line just north (compass) of the bridge where this branch spanned the old Central. According to my January 27, 1957 IHB timetable #1 this siding had a capacity of 98, 44 foot cars. There was also a siding at Dixie with the capacity of 49, 44 foot cars and still another siding at Dune Park which held 86 cars.

The siding at Alco was shortened by more than 50% at some point as timetable #3 of April 26, 1970 shows a capacity of 41, 50 foot cars. That is a reduction of over 2100 feet of length. And the siding is no longer shown at Dixie at that point in time.

The maximum timetable speed limit on this line was 40 MPH in 1957 but down to 20 mph in 1970. There were some speed restrictions on the line listed in both timetables.

At one time sand was mined towards the east end of the line and hauled west to connections. Some interchange with other railroads took place as well. An interchange with the NYC occurred at east end. I was told there was an interchange with the EJ&E at Gary near Dixie (the J has a track known as the Dixie Lead east of Kirk Yard and perhaps it was along here somewhere). I was told by an Engineer from the J that the EJ&E also had trackage rights on part of this line out to the sand pits as well. There were also other industries along the line, mostly in and around Gary, as well as a team track in the Tolleston neighborhood of Gary, but they were long gone by the time I started at the Harbor. The only industries left along the route were located within the confines of the former Budd Plant in Gary. The plant had been converted into an industrial park with several industries now located within the facility.

In looking at the map on the back cover of the 1957 IHB timetable, it appears that this line may have extended even further than its easternmost point at this period in time. There is a broken line extending east possibly indicating additional trackage at one point in time. My 1963 Official Guide shows the very same map.

In my days at the Harbor, we only used the westernmost 4.4 miles of the Millers Branch on a regular basis, although there was an additional 1.6 miles available. When the auto plants had there seasonal downturns in business (July and December) high cube auto parts boxcars and multilevel auto carriers were placed into storage. Some of these cars would be stored on the Millers Branch east of the Budd Plant complex. From milepost 4.4 to milepost 6 (this would be around Tolleston) if the track was needed for this use, it had to be patrolled by a track supervisor to assure it was safe to use. Weeds and trees seem to thrive on unused railroad right of ways so one needs to be certain that Mother Nature isn’t reclaiming the land and causing the gauge to be pushed apart by such growth. Also, storms could cause washouts to occur or trees might fall across the line from high winds. Aside from storage, this track spent the rest of the year unused.

One guy told me that one day they decided to take a ride east of the Budd Plant to see what was still down there. He told of only having been down the line a few times in the latter 70’s and early 80’s before getting furloughed. The story was recounted of slowly heading down the line after completing their work at Budd operating only with the engine shoving their caboose. The track was very rickety and rough riding. As luck would have it, the caboose derailed. They found some tie butts and other pieces of scrap wood lying around and were able to rerail the cab without having to call for assistance. He said they cautiously returned to the Budd plant, picked up their outbound cars and headed home. And he also commented that they told nobody of their adventure that day. 

“Some things are better off left unsaid.”

There are no crossings at grade with other railroads along the Millers Branch indicated in any of the IHB timetables. Aside from passing over the Chicago Line in Gary, this route passes over the former PRR and the Wabash near Tolleston (in between Taft and 9th Streets) and the South Shore in Gary as well. It also passes over Broadway Avenue in Gary.

So let us take a ride on the Miller Branch. I worked this line quite few times. There was a single job that used to work the Millers Branch usually five nights per week. This assignment went to work at Michigan Avenue Yard in the Indiana Harbor area of East Chicago, IN. I don’t recall the symbol of the job that did this work while I was there though. We would switch in the yard for awhile, get our train together and head south on the Kankakee Main towards CP Gibson.

At CP Gibson (located just north of the IHB General Offices) we would take a left turn and operate via one of three possible routes towards Ivanhoe; the Gary & Western (owned and dispatched by Conrail but routinely used by the IHB), the siding along side the G&W that paralleled both the G&W and the Flexi-Flo terminal (now known as MDT) or over onto the easternmost 2.2 miles of the IHB Main Line between Ivanhoe and Franklin Park, IL; that portion in between CP Gibson and Ivanhoe. This segment was part of the original Michigan Central line between Detroit and Gibson and was opened for business in 1852. At Ivanhoe, ownership of this trackage changed to Conrail becoming the Porter Branch.

A little note of historical proportion, when the MC began operations over this line in 1852, passengers en route to Chicago used to detrain at the end of the line at the town of Gibson (later annexed by Hammond) and took a stage coach from this point on into Chicago. This line was also the first railroad into Northwest Indiana from the east. 

To regress a bit, Flexi-Flo, which as I mentioned is now MDT or Merchants Despatch Transportation was a long time subsidiary of New York Central, Penn Central and later Conrail. Flexi-Flo operated a network of rail/truck transloading facilities throughout their system. Once upon a time MC and NYC crews switched this facility. At some point after the IHB took over ownership of this portion of the MC, IHB assumed switching the facility.

On any of the three routes we use to head east, we come upon Ivanhoe tower which is named after the Ivanhoe neighborhood of Gary. The G&W, the siding and the IHB main all converge here to cross the EJ&E. The G&W mains (known as tracks 3 & 4) and the siding converge into a single track just west of the crossing. This becomes the Millers Branch and heads east. It also heads east and parallels the Millers Branch all the way to Tolleston. There are connections between all three of the east-west routes at Ivanhoe but oddly enough, no connections with the EJ&E.

There was a nice brick tower with an operator at Ivanhoe. (Click onto http://dhke.com/ihbarchive/towers.html and then scroll about ¾ of the way down for a photo of Ivanhoe tower). I was in the tower once and it used the old “strong arm” or Armstrong type system with levers used to turn pipes to operate switches and signals. The operator was an EJ&E employee. I cannot recall what year the tower closed but I think it was either 1995 or 96. Once this place closed, it was converted into a “semi-automatic” interlocking with the EJ&E dispatcher in charge. In this manner, the IHB dispatcher would send a message to the J dispatcher requesting a signal for movement across the J at Ivanhoe. The J dispatcher would code it into his system. If there were no closely approaching trains on the J or if the J dispatcher did not have line up for one of his trains already coded in, the IHB would get a signal to proceed across. This is one of those “looks great on paper” systems.

More than once we sat for nearly an hour waiting on one train on the J to get across. I don’t know how far back the approach circuits are from this plant for J movements to lock in their signals, but they must’ve been quite long. Either that or the J dispatcher somehow overrode the system to allow his train to get the signal first, possibly by not coding in the line up for an IHB move. We usually had like 8-10 cars and even at 10 mph would not have tied the plant up for long. Again, not calculated by a computer program so delays, lost productivity and the resulting overtime paid to train and engine crews are not considered when they decide to eliminate the tower and its operators.

After getting across the J, we then clip-clop our way east at 10 mph towards the Budd Plant. There are three road crossings between Ivanhoe and the Budd Plant. The automatic warning devices for the crossings have long since been deactivated and the electronics removed from them. All they are now is crossbucks on steel posts. If you look closely at them, you can see where the cross arms were that held the roundels and flashing lights. There are also signal boxes with all the electronics removed from them still in position. We are required to stop and flag these crossings before proceeding over them. Nowhere in the world better to be in the middle of the night than out flagging road crossings in Gary, which, for several years, was the murder capitol of the nation.

I observed that most Conductors stood on the point of the engine, lit fusees (flares) and fired them onto the road and watched. If no cars were coming I got a sign to start the move. Rarely did a Conductor get off and stand on the road. If cars were coming, we simply gave them the right of way. When I questioned one of them about this method I was told the following story by one Conductor.

He said that one evening he complied fully with the rules getting off, lighting the fusees and standing at the crossing. He told of a car approaching at a high rate of speed from the south and heading north. This Conductor was on the southbound side of the road. He went on to say he had fusees light and placed on both sides of the crossing and was hold another giving a sign for the motorist to stop. Instead of stopping or even slowing, the motorist crossed over into the southbound lanes aiming right at him. He stepped back and the car passed. The Conductor then proceeded to throw the burning fusee in his hand at the car. It struck the car hitting the top of the rear windshield and rolled down. It stopped at the little gap where the trunk lid meets the body of the car and stuck there. He laughed as he watched this guy speeding away with a burning fusee on the back of his car. I can just imagine how much damage it caused to the paint and the body of the car. Those things burn extremely hot as they are essentially molten sulphur. And oddly enough, the guy never called to complain to the railroad about this event. Can you say “During the commission of a crime…”?

This Conductor told me that several months after this affair he got caught by a company official hiding in the weeds when he failed to properly flag one of these crossings. He told the official why he failed to detrain and stand on the crossing recounting the same story he told me. The official basically blew it off saying being on the crossing was more important and that he should simply use more caution. I guess getting run over by a lunatic motorist wasn’t considered a safety issue.

So after these three road crossings we arrive at the switch to the Budd Plant. This switch is a little east of the Clarke Road crossing and located at milepost 3.78. We head on into the complex. At one time when this was still actually the Budd Plant it was quite the operation. Budd used to produce auto parts here. Budd is long gone and this facility is now several other types of factories. A private contractor does the switching of these individual plants here now instead of the IHB.

The main route through the facility made a loop. It was like a full scale train set you would set up on a piece of plywood in your basement. There were several tracks coming off here and there reaching into the various industries and several “interchange” type of tracks. We would work our way around the place setting out cars where they were requested and picking up where the contractor left for us to get. There was a track we could use to run around the cars and caboose so that we pulled the train back instead of having to shove the train all the way back to CP Gibson. Or we could drop the cars if we had to (and we did a few times) if this run around track was blocked. Nobody wanted to shove all the way back even with a caboose at night though Gary.

The Millers Branch was typical 10 mph track. It looked like there hadn’t been any maintenance performed on it in years; rode like it too. Old, well-worn jointed rail, rotting old ties, ballast that hadn’t been tamped in thirty years, you get the picture. Disconnecting and removing the crossing signals required even less maintenance so it was quite the inexpensive line to keep in service. Apparently there must’ve been enough revenue generated from the industries in that old Budd plant to justify keeping it in service.

Going back to my first trip onto the Millers Branch I can recall it quite well, for several reasons. It was Halloween night in 1994. It stormed big time that afternoon and evening and then the temperature began to drop. It was also the evening a commuter plane crashed near Roselawn, IN killing all aboard. It was a terrible and tragic night. I was called to work the 194 job at Burnham but owing to all sorts of problems with the weather and a derailment, we wound up doing the work the Millers Branch.

We departed from Gibson with our train around dawn after doing other work all night first. It was around 6 or so that we passed Ivanhoe Tower. We drifted along with the headman and me up in the cab of the engine and the Conductor in the caboose with about ten or so cars in between us. This brakeman, a new guy, was living up to the requirements of the rules and actually getting off and flagging the crossings as required. In between the second and third crossings I could see something on the tracks ahead. As we got closer I could see it was a tree. Not a branch but an entire tree. It had been ripped from the ground roots and all by the high winds from the storm overnight and landed right smack across our tracks. No, it wasn’t a little tree, it was pretty good sized. There was enough space between us and the parallel Conrail Porter Branch that the top of it fit in between the two lines and it didn’t foul or block their tracks.

I informed the Conductor on the radio about the problem and he headed up. The brakeman, a great big black kid whose name escapes me and the Conductor took a crack at trying to move the tree. I suggested they not even attempt it as it was pointless but they tried just the same. Even though the brakeman looked like he could pick and throw our locomotive, he was no match for the fallen tree. Maybe trees weigh more than NW2 switchers. So we radioed for assistance and instructions. Well we got idiocracy as a response. The West End Yardmaster suggested the Conductor, Brakeman and I get out there and altogether we should be able to move it. Hmm, I guess he didn’t comprehend the part where I mentioned a BIG tree was lying across the tracks. I guess he also didn’t realize that tree removal and the potential for serious injury were not part of my job description.

I told him that wasn’t going to happen reiterating the part about it being a big tree. I think I might have embellished it a bit by adding the adjective really in front of big. Then the Trainmaster joined in and suggested we try to shove it out of the way using the locomotive. Oh ya, that’s brilliant. And to think they pay him to make decisions. I guess he figured a big heavy tree versus switch engine with 1000 horsepower, locomotive wins. Perhaps if I had a big scraper blade like a D-9 Caterpillar tractor I could win the battle, but I didn’t and I couldn’t therefore I wouldn’t. When I asked if was going to assume any and all responsibility for all the damage the locomotive was likely to incur in such an undertaking he failed to answer. When I prompted him again for an answer in a rather heated tone he responded for us to not do anything and stand by. And so we did.

I stand by very well, better than most. I have had years of opportunity to sharpen my standing by skills. If they gave out awards for the best performance when standing by, I would win hands down.

So we stood by. We took the liberty of sitting while standing by as it only makes sense. Perhaps I should say we sat by instead of standing by. Could we be disciplined for sitting instead of standing by? I mean it wasn’t like we were about to make our exodus from Egypt or something and had to be prepared to do something in a hurry.

So we discussed amongst us what would probably happen next. After a few minutes the Assistant Super comes on the radio to get his take of our situation. I explain yet again, our plight. Apparently the Trainmaster must’ve been speaking in a foreign language when describing our dilemma to him and he could not comprehend the situation. So I fill him in on the sordid details. He asks what we need to get through and complete our appointed rounds. I told him that a chainsaw would do the trick. He actually asked if we had one. As badly as I wanted to respond with “No, I left it in my other pants” I didn’t. I simply told him they don’t issue them to us. I think he then realized what he had said because he had a smile in his voice when he said they would get somebody out there to assist us.

About 7:30 a company truck pulls up and the boys from B&B (bridges and buildings) pile out. The cavalry has arrived. And with them came their implements of destruction; lots of chain saws. The B&B foreman assesses the situation and puts the guys to work cutting up the tree. He laughed when I told him the Trainmaster wanted us to move this with the engine. He responded that he thought drug use was illegal on the railroad. He agreed that this tree was far too big to push aside with the locomotive without causing all kinds of damage. It took them quite awhile to get it cut up and cleared out. They had to cut into small enough pieces to allow two guys to move a portion at a time until it was cleared away far enough to give us sufficient clearance to get through.

And then we went about our assigned tasks and worked the Budd plant.

And so it goes.

Tuch

Hot Times on the High Iron and the HTOTHI initials, ©2005 by JD Santucci.