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I'm beginning to think the Harbor has a problem. Perhaps it's too much traffic. Perhaps it's too little track. Perhaps it's a little more than that.
So I have this 240 train and I decide to figure out where the train went. So I call the chief at Bensenville. Now whenever I call Bensenville I automatically figure the call will be at least 5 minutes. And when the chief finally answers, the entire situation appears (at least to my ears) to be a certain level of chaos that only a yardmaster can come to love. So finally in the midst of this unmitigated excitement the phone comes to life.
"Bensenville."
"Hail to the chief!" Sometimes this helps to put the chief in the correct frame of mind.
"What's happinin' boss?"
"Looking for that pesky southeastern 240. Still hanging around C Trailer?"
"Lemme find out." In the background I hear a flurry of radio traffic and from what I can gather nobody really knows where this train is. Finally I hear a positive yes he's gone.
"1715 your time on the departure."
"You are a good man. One day someone will write epic songs of praise for you."
"Do I get the royalties?"
"No."
So now this big ol' choo-coo is out and running. So I pick up the Bat-Phone and call the Harbor. Again, when there is an answer, the unmistakable audio of pure chaos fills my ear.
"Gibson."
"CP here in Terre Haute. I hear I have a 240 out there. Where's he getting to?"
"Let me see." There is a considerable amount of chatter in the background as the chief and his dispatcher confer.
"Somewhere between Ridge and Blue Island."
Now I had to collect my thoughts for a moment. Somewhere? In CTC? With track lights you can tell, more or less, exactly where a train is. So what is this somewhere business? Well, it's the Harbor and I suppose that says it all. OK, so now I go out on the next limb.
"So how does it look for the rest of the trip?" Again there is a flurry of "activity" as the chief confers with the dispatcher.
"I guess he'll make it. Check back later."
So with that cryptic message I'm left wondering. So I figure he should be OK and I leave it all alone. Things pick up on the Latta Sub so I become occupied with those duties. Move this train, move that train. Then the phone rings.
"Spring Hill."
"This is the UP. I was wondering if you had a relief crew on duty for this southbound. I just got an offer on the train from the Harbor."
I look at the clock. Holy cow! 4 hours gone like a rib roast on Sunday afternoon.
"OK, I'll get one ready in the bullpen." So I call the caller and order up a relief for the train. And the whole time I'm wondering to myself "What happened on the Harbor?" So after I get the relief crew I coordinate where the train will die and order up taxis for the crews. No sooner do I hang up the phone when it rings again.
"Spring Hill." There is a slight delay.
"Dispatcher?" I can tell this is a train using the PBX.
"Go ahead, over."
"This is 240, Mike. We're coming across the GT right now. Do you have a relief crew called for us?"
"Yes I do. How far do you figure you can get, over."
"Well, if they keep us moving I figure maybe Wellington or even Rossville."
"Good. I talked to the CSX and he says maybe Wellington. Got the taxis fired up to meet you there in about 2 hours, over."
"Roger that. OK then, we'll keep em' rolling."
"Say, what happened on the Harbor? Last I time I checked on you things were looking pretty good."
"Well, they shafted us at Wireton for about 4 hours. So much for owning 49%. I guess that doesn't mean too much."
"Yea, maybe we take the 49% and do something constructive with it."
And with that 240 takes a beating on the Harbor yet again. But I do feel a certain level of comfort knowing that I'm keeping the taxi companies well fed.
The other afternoon I come in and I prepare to get ready for my shift when the chief speaks up.
"Don't get ready quite yet."
And the way he spoke, the tone in his voice, spelled trouble. I knew something was up.
Derailment.
That one word strikes fear into the hearts of railroaders. Lots of thoughts run through your mind. So as I listen he fills me in. It seems the 2359 Latta Roadswitcher, job 128, was going to get a set of cars left on the main at Beehunter. Now we really don't like the whole idea of leaving cars on the main. In the case of Beehunter, there is no interchange track to store them so we really don't have many options. So it seems they left Latta and, while the rest isn't clear, they apparently forgot where the cars were and ran into them between 20 and 30 miles per hour.
I've seen accidents at 10 mph that looked bad. 20 or 30? So now the question is how bad.
Well, thankfully, the cars buckled accordion style instead or riding up into the cab. Otherwise we could be burying those guys. Instead, bumps and bruises were the end result. So when I came in Hulcher was already on the scene attempting to clean up the mess. 3 cars derailed at the head end and Hulcher was going to deposit them in the ditch and clear the main so we could get back in business. So when I came on duty this mopping up was in full gear.
The 1630 job was going to assemble the hospital train and bring it back to Latta. Meanwhile, jobs are being annulled left and right until this mess is cleaned up. So actually the railroad is sort of quiet for the time being. The flip side is that when it breaks loose things will become...well, interesting. So we wait for the inevitable. Not really a comforting thought but sometimes you just have to take the good with the bad.
So the other day I get the urge to ride the train. Not a whole lot is really showing, and when I check into the situation, I have 1 job working at Latta. They will switch out 241 then bring the train to the hill for an outbound call. So I figure that sounds pretty good. So I hop on up and plan an afternoon of quiet riding. Well, as we pull out of Latta the engineer says the train needs an engineer and I look like the right guy. Holy Cow! So in the hot seat I go.
Now I look at this train and I see it's kinda small and I have 2 SD40-s behind so things are looking OK. So I notch the train out to run 3 and begin the trek north to Spring Hill. Look! The first whistle post. Fire up the bell and find the lever. Honk the customary long-long-short-long for the crossing. I see another crossing so I honk for that one too. The engineer looks at me with a puzzled look. I look out the window. Oh. It's not a grade crossing, but rather a pile of ties. Well, this is now the safest pile of ties to be around as far as this train is concerned.
Look, another crossing. So that melodious CP horn sounds its lonely song for...a tool shed. Well, from a distance it looked like there might be a crossing there.
Hey, here comes another crossing. Ring the bell and sound the horn...for a farmers crossing. Well, it was a crossing. I'm getting better at this you know.
The engineer directs my attention to the speedometer. Yikes, getting up near 40. I notch it back down to run 1 and coast to the optimum speed of 40. So I'm just a horn tootin' fool, honking here and honking there. You name it, I'll hit the horn for it. And now I'm coming dangerously close to being a speeder as well. But I have air at my fingertips and I make a first service application. After a few seconds the air slowly begins to set up and in about a minute I can feel the train beginning to reduce in speed. The digital speedometer tells the story. 39. 38. 37. Good, now I have this lumbering colossus firmly under my control. So now I can say not only do I control the movements of the trains but the trains themselves.
Hang on! Another whistle post. And look! More than one crossing. So I flood the air with that CP chime. That little bell is a ringin' and a dingin' (that's one neat thing...you can actually see the bell working if you sort of scoot up to the window. Most cool!.
So now we are approaching yard limits and I get this endless enigma, this land barge if you will, under control and hit the yard limit board at a comfortable 19 mph. So we just sort of creep along when the engineer begins the instructions for stopping this iron arrow. OK. And as he talks he makes reference to "power braking". Hey, I'll try almost anything once. So he instructs me to set the air and as I do so he reminds me to leave the throttle right where it is. So like an obedient little critter I do so, because I have no idea what's going on. Hold on! Another grade crossing. The bell comes to life and I toot-toot my way past the crossing. By now the train is down to about 10 mph and the engineer informs me the air is set right and I can throttle up to get to the crossing since it's 2000' from where we are. So I coax 6000 EMD horses into run 3 and drag this Louisville slugger up to 12 mph. We come around the corner and I can now see the crossing. So I am then instructed to throttle down one notch, which I do. The train decelerates very quickly and now we are just creeping along. As we near the crossing, the instructions are issued: throttle down to idle. So as I back the throttle down, we come inching up to a perfect stop about 30 feet from the crossing right where the taxi is waiting. Man, that was good! So we debark and hop into the taxi. The ride back to Latta is fairly boring, but my mind is racing. For one brief moment I was...train engineer.
OK, so the south end has been maybe a little less than exciting. Maybe even boring, if one would be so inclined. The potash trains are beginning to flow again and that means trouble. You see, potash trains such as 636 are shipped from Sutherland in rather large packages, with 80-100 cars being the norm. However, as they flock south to the promised land they are too heavy to make the grades from Crane to Bedford. So we have a couple of options. We can and usually do reduce them to about 60 cars at Latta and then send the second section south on the next 240 train. The other option is if we have the power or the power gods send enough down on the original 636 we can run them as second sections of the 636. The last option is if things work out and there is the correct amount of power and the right tonnage we run the whole thing intact as is.
Now this last option is the least common but the most impressive. Imagine 9200 tons and 4 big EMD motors fighting to keep it all under control. Hey, you can't fool me. I know about power braking and dynamics. Talking to the engineers when I ride, these are their least favorite trains to run because one mistake and you could be faced with a runaway train. So when I see one of these critters migrating south from Latta intact like I did last Tuesday I sort of cringe on one hand and rejoice on another. There really isn't any place good to store this potash so if we can keep it moving so much the better. But making that move can make for some anxious moments.
Van Yard Engine: SOO 4431
Farmersburg Power: CP 5504 - CP 5712 - CP 5717
Maysville Power: SOO 4511 - SOO 2015
Kindill Power: SOO 4428 - SOO 4403 - SOO 4438
XL Power: CP 5562 - CP 5545
Road Switcher Power: SOO 2066 - SOO 2036
As a parting note, the word has come down from high above like a stroke of lightning: be ready to move by the end of the month (Oct. 29). OK, I'll believe it when I see it.
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Editorial content (C) 1998 Mike Dettmers
