How about a discussion of amusing situations you encountered in working with or on railroads? I'll start it out with my favorite! The engineering manager of an overseas railroad was determined to find out how many cars his new EMD GT26CW could pull, so he devised a tractive effort test. He had the operating people string together all the cars in the yard so a single new GT26CW could try to pull them. This resulted in a string that went just about out of sight down the yard, both loads and empties. To my amazement they were able to release the brakes somehow (vacuum brakes, lots of leaks!), and I was even more amazed when the GT26CW started to move out with the string. I thought for sure they would separate a drawbar (hook and link couplers with buffers), but as they started up the hill leaving the yard, something else happened. At about 10 MPH an ancient boxcar about 5th back from the engine literally exploded, breaking apart in the middle in a shower of wood and metal with a noise like a bomb going off. This resulted in a large pileup of the cars which followed it. The engineering manager, watching the test, was jumping up and down and I was sure he must be upset, but when I walked over to him he proudly proclaimed:
THIS LOCOMOTIVE IS FANTASTIC!
IT IS THE MOST POWERFUL LOCOMOTIVE I HAVE EVER SEEN!
THIS LOCOMOTIVE IS FANTASTIC!
IT IS THE MOST POWERFUL LOCOMOTIVE I HAVE EVER SEEN!
