by jmchitvt
(I covered this subject long ago. The earlier posting is not currently in this forum.)
I'm not recreating "Alice in Wonderland". There WAS a "Tin Man" on the L&H!!
It (He") was under a farm bridge crossing a little west of Great Meadows.
You see, after a heavy eastbound was OS'd at G its whereabouts (before radio days) left the dispatcher in the "dark".
A heavy ascending grade started east of Oxford (trains were under-powered - only 2 RS-3's were the rule) and continued
just beyond Townsbury. Well ,you had no clue if enough sand was loaded in the units, wet leaves on the track, a double-up
into Pequest required a set out, etc, and wanting to get the DL&W trains onto the main at Andover; how far to set up #31?
Get the idea ? It's the weekend and Jack is off at Great Meadows so no OS from there either.
Well, after a long, long wait, that rumble of two RS-3's starting to get a roll on HO-6 with 75 cars almost blew your headset
off when "The Tin Man" activated with a roar!! Then and only then did you know when THE most important symbol freight,
often a solid consist off the B&O at Cumberland MD, and all those projections and promised deliveries. would make OB-2 or
OB-4 on the New Haven and into New England.
(For the technically minded: there was a microphone in a steel case under this bridge and it was ALWAYS on. No one
passing took much notice because we heard hunters/fishermen conversations and no vandalism occurred to my knowledge.
But, bear in mind, that for a road that never would be CTC with track lights, and before you could activate a wayside and
just ask a trains location, this WAS the solution to find out, and our little L&H again "just had it all together!!)
I'm not recreating "Alice in Wonderland". There WAS a "Tin Man" on the L&H!!
It (He") was under a farm bridge crossing a little west of Great Meadows.
You see, after a heavy eastbound was OS'd at G its whereabouts (before radio days) left the dispatcher in the "dark".
A heavy ascending grade started east of Oxford (trains were under-powered - only 2 RS-3's were the rule) and continued
just beyond Townsbury. Well ,you had no clue if enough sand was loaded in the units, wet leaves on the track, a double-up
into Pequest required a set out, etc, and wanting to get the DL&W trains onto the main at Andover; how far to set up #31?
Get the idea ? It's the weekend and Jack is off at Great Meadows so no OS from there either.
Well, after a long, long wait, that rumble of two RS-3's starting to get a roll on HO-6 with 75 cars almost blew your headset
off when "The Tin Man" activated with a roar!! Then and only then did you know when THE most important symbol freight,
often a solid consist off the B&O at Cumberland MD, and all those projections and promised deliveries. would make OB-2 or
OB-4 on the New Haven and into New England.
(For the technically minded: there was a microphone in a steel case under this bridge and it was ALWAYS on. No one
passing took much notice because we heard hunters/fishermen conversations and no vandalism occurred to my knowledge.
But, bear in mind, that for a road that never would be CTC with track lights, and before you could activate a wayside and
just ask a trains location, this WAS the solution to find out, and our little L&H again "just had it all together!!)
