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

January 18, 2008
Welcome to the New Year and to another year of HTOTHI. It seems like only yesterday I began to crank out these little diatribes. This September will mark nine years of effort. Whodda thunk it?

Well first off, the Santa Train was another rousing success. We had nearly 3400 total visitors for the weekend plus the employee night at Woodcrest. Not too shabby considering the weather was terrible on Sunday morning with an ice storm and all. To those of you that came out to visit, thanks for making the effort. We the volunteer elves had a tremendous time as usual and are already looking forward to next year.

I hope the Christmas and Holiday Season was a safe and happy one for all of you. Didn’t get what I really wanted for Christmas again this year. The word “Emperor” still fails to precede my name. In light of what some folks ask Santa for Christmas, I don’t believe requesting global dominance is out of the question.

Enough of that then and now for something completely different.

I had begun to write a January column back in December but the happenings of recent trip inspired me to change themes. It has been known to happen in the past so why not the present?

As some of you along the HTOTHI network are aware, we had some vicious storms sweep through the Midwest on Monday January 7th. The Chicago area and state of Illinois were not exempt. A tremendous amount of rain fell upon the region in a short period of time causing floods and all sorts of other chaos. In some areas there were tornadoes and high winds to wreak havoc along with the rain and flood waters. Let’s see, it is January, winter time and 57° F. What’s wrong with this picture?

My only wish was that this rain would have all been snow instead. So what if it would have been a foot of the white stuff? I like snow. And as you read on, you’ll discover why it would have been better to be snow.

My day at work started out bad even before I arrived there. It is never a good sign when the trip to work is harrowing. As I cruised northward on I-294 (aka the Tri State Tollway) that Monday evening, it began to rain. On the radio the weather guessers were talking about severe weather warnings as serious storms with high winds, lots of rain and possible tornadoes were rapidly moving into the region. Several tornadoes had already inflicted damage in some parts of Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin and it sounded like more were likely. As my drive continued, the rain that was now falling began to increase in intensity. Within moments it was of deluge proportions, the kind that might inspire one to undertake construction of an ark. It quickly became nearly impossible to see the road as the rain was falling in torrents and being blown sideways by the strong winds now accompanying it. Cars were pulling off the interstate and onto the shoulders. Those still moving had quickly reduced their speed to15-20 MPH. Fortunately for me my car has fog lamps. The low level light was illuminating enough of the road that I could see it as well as the car in front of me so I kept on rolling along. Well, creeping along actually.

As you can probably surmise, I made it alive and in one piece, although I was a bit wound up from the trip. And somehow, I wasn’t late; almost but not late, always a good thing. This is the advantage to allowing an extra half hour of running time on my trip in to work. It normally takes around an hour at that time of the evening, but I usually leave an hour and thirty minutes before the on duty time as you just never know what you might encounter en route. 

When I headed out to my power for this evening’s trip on train 336 it was raining, but not pouring. I boarded my lead unit, the IC 6130, and began my routine inspection of the power before having at the doubling up of the train. Nothing looked amiss and both units were in date and therefore did not require a daily inspection. Of course we all know that looks can truly be deceiving. Once ready, we began to assemble our train. The rain actually let up to the point where it stopped. Unbeknownst to Conductor JJ Niemann and me, this would be the calm before the storm as it were.

Once doubled up and air tested we worked our way across Chicago and south to Markham Yard. As we converged on Markham and the south end of the yard at Homewood, the heavens again opened up. We went about the business of setting out and picking up in some fairly heavy rains. While I was tucked away all warm and dry in the cab (or so I thought), poor JJ was out there getting drowned like a rat. Once the work was completed and while waiting for the cab to bring him, the paperwork and the coffee he had picked up for us to the engine, I detected the sound of something dripping; something like water. Upon further revue I discovered water was very slowly dripping in from the top of the frame for the sliding windows on my side of the cab. Just a harmless little drip, not a river flowing. No big deal, right?

Once JJ was all aboard along with paperwork and coffee, we departed for Champaign. At this point in time it was really coming down again, sort of like that proverbial cow peeing on a flat rock. The cab windows were beginning to steam up from the humidity. The humidity? Usually with the box or forced air heaters in the cab operating, even on low, the humidity is almost non-existent in the cab as these things tend to dry out the air completely. JJ noticed when he stood up that he was standing in water. He turned on his cab light to discover an ocean of water on the cab floor. It was pouring in through both the top and the bottom of the front cab door. He made attempts to plug the leaks with but moderate at best success. It was also leaking through the ceiling of the cab. And of course, that little drip around the top of the window frame on my side had become a bit of a flow too, and from more than one spot. My feet were now sitting in a puddle of water that had accumulated under my seat and in front of the control stand.

“Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink!”

The cab heaters were now on full blast in the attempt to dry up the water and defog the windows. Only problem was it was 57° F outside so it was getting extremely warm in the cab. So it is going to be one of THOSE kinds of nights. Oy!

The windows were still fogging up and paper towels were fast and furiously wiping them clear every several minutes. The ocean on the cab floor reached one of my grips as well as one of JJ’s. This really isn’t good. And if this wasn’t enough, the front wiper on my side decided to act up. It would slow down to a crawl and then stop. I was coaxing it by hand but it would stop again. If I turned it off and waited a few minutes and then turned it on again, it would work for a little bit but then quit again. I could hear air leaking from the system, around the knob that controls the wiper and also the air line that feeds into the wiper motor. Well ain’t that just friggin’ ducky? I find it amazing that a locomotive worth the money these things are and what it costs to buy a new one that we have 19th century technology for wipers. I suppose it is better than the old vacuum system they used to use on automobiles years and years ago. But the air powered wiper system is a joke as it is prone to failure often owing to air leaks and also the oil in the motors leaking out.

“Oh it gets worse.”

The second unit was facing the opposite direction so we couldn’t switch them out anywhere to get a dry unit, not that I’m sure I wanted to do that as the rain was coming down full force with high winds pushing it sideways. At least it wasn’t coming down on my head anyway.

So here we are zooming down the main in the pouring rain with the cab filling up with water, windows fogging up and a temperamental wiper. I created a quote some years ago that applies to our situation;

“There is no situation so bad that it cannot possibly get worse.”

Please feel free to use this and cite me as the source. Maybe I can make some money from it.

In addition to the rain and wind, we were now getting some fog.

Almost sounds like that old Cowsills song from years ago; “The rain, the park and other things.” I really wasn’t counting on that flower girl to appear in the midst of all this. And believe me, she didn’t. Although had she shown up, it just might have taken the edge of what was becoming a trip from hell. Nah, probably not.

So with visibility being hampered both from within and without, we encounter our first approach (yellow) of the night once we were on the single track railroad. Block signal 37.9 that governs the approach to the control point at North Peotone, also the sight of Peotone siding was telling us to expect a stop signal at North Peotone. Great, now we have to prepare to stop before passing the next signal, one that is hard to see even when the weather is clear owing to its poor placement and now we have to find it through the rain and fog. The fog lifted a bit and visibility on the outside improved somewhat. I was able to spot it from about half a mile away and observed a clear (green) signal. Of course I had already committed to slowing the train and preparing to stop. You cannot ever assume that you will get the line up. If you do, we’ll be reading about you getting fired for passing a stop signal and possibly plowing into another train. I kicked off the brakes and when they began to release, started to accelerate the train. So this was a waste of effort, brake shoes and now, fuel.  

We rolled along past the Manteno detector which told us “No defects,” something we really want and need to hear on a night like this. This would be the first of four such messages we would receive tonight. And that was one of the few good things of the evening.

As I approached signal 52.5, the one that governs the approach to the control point at KX, formally known as Kankakee, I see it displays an approach aspect. So again the slow down begins. We have to stop further back from the signal here so as not to block road crossings. When the weather and the cab windows are clear you can normally see the signal at KX. Tonight with all the weather and foggy windows, we couldn’t. I had reduced the speed of the train to about 12 or 15 MPH when KX started to come into view. We could see a stop signal. KX is the location of the south end of Kankakee siding and also where the railroad formerly known as Conrail crosses and connects with us. So there is a distinct possibility of opposing or cross traffic here.

Within seconds of its appearance from out of the fog and rain, the signal at KX changes from a stop signal to approach diverging (yellow over green). This is a proceed signal that tells me at the signal following KX, the control point at Gar Creek; we will be entering the siding. I kick off the brakes again and when they release, begin to accelerate a bit. We are rolling on a descending grade here as we drop into the Kankakee River Valley and the speed limit drops from 60 to 30 MPH at KX and through Kankakee, so I don’t have to work too hard to get some speed back. 

After a meet with a northbound at Otto, the south end of Gar Creek Siding, we are on the move again. It is still pouting like crazy, the windows are still fogging up, and the cab floor is an ocean. Perhaps the “Gorton’s of Gloucester” fisherman can toss out some nets and make a catch. While waiting on the meet at Otto, I contacted the Mechanical Services Rep; more affectionately referred to as the “Diesel Doctor” and report all the problems we were experiencing with the wind, the rain and other things. I told him that he should put into the computer that the 6130 should never lead when rain or snow are predicted. He laughed and said he would. I know I showed it on my written report. Some of these guys have a good sense of humor which you need there as it is a high pressure job. They receive phone and radio calls from all over the CN system in both the US and Canada. And they are kept jumping most of the time. I’ve told a couple of them they should tell their friends and families that they are “Doctors of Ferroequinology,” sounds far more classy than Diesel Doctor. They really get a kick out of that one too.

So we are back off to the races. Another approach is encountered at 67.3, the distant signal governing the approach to North Ashkum. ARGH! Are we going to play this game all night? As we closed in on it, the signal improved to clear. I could see a headlight shining on the horizon in front of us meaning that we were going to meet somebody at Ashkum. When the signal at North Ashkum came into clear view among the rain and fog, it was approach. Our meet here was pretty good as we did not have to come to a stop. The northbound cleared and we received a clear at South Ashkum before I had to stop.

From this point on it was fairly smooth sailing until we reached Rantoul where we were headed into the siding. The Dispatcher informed us that she didn’t know how long we would be there. This is the last siding before Champaign Yard, so oftentimes we hare held here as the yard cannot handle us. Tonight would be no exception. We met two north bounds while we waited. The rain had let up a bit and the cab had a bit of a chance to dry out. Not like the desert, but a significant improvement. After the second northbound and about two hours passed, we got the line up to proceed and headed south and on to Champaign. Out time was getting low and instead of performing the work of setting out and picking up, we pulled the train to the south end of the yard at Bradley Avenue and secured it. We were then picked up by the cab and headed to the hotel to get rest.

Upon arriving at the hotel I discovered one of my bags sustained an intrusion from the water that was pouring into the cab. So everything came out of it to allow it all and the bag the opportunity to dry out. I hung the bag from the closet door to give it promote the drying process. Several magazines within had sustained heavy water damage and became part of the Champaign County landfill. An extra pair of pants also got pretty wet so they got hung out to dry as well.

While this was a bad night, it could have been worse; we could have had to wear our raincoats inside the cab. Fortunately, the roof, which did have a few leaks, was not leaking that bad.

See, if all that rain would have been snow, it is likely the cab interior wouldn’t have flooded out. We might have had a ski resort instead. And now you know the rest of the story.

And so it goes.

Tuch

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