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The post-gobbler day activities on the north end have been fairly mundane. The CP in it's infinite wisdom "reorganized" the yardmasters in Bensenville and of course managed to eliminate a job in the process. They also managed to change all of the voice and fax numbers. Now you would think that maybe, just maybe, someone would follow through with the little things...like telling everyone. It seems Bensenville has slipped into their stealth mode and not unlike an F-117 roaming across the Iraq countryside is hoping to go unnoticed.
So now crews are taking a 2 and 3 hour hit at Bensenville due to a number of causes. Let's see if anyone can guess them.
Behind door number one we have: yardmaster overworked.
Behind door number two we have: orders faxed to numbers that have
been disconnected.
And finally behind door number three we have: chaos.
Well actually all three would work, although door number three is my perennial favorite. Take last night, for example. 240 is called for high noon. The crew gets to Bensenville and...come on, use your ESP powers, bend that spoon over the phone line, make the Empire State building disappear....come on....yup, no orders. So after about 4 requests they finally arrive.
But wait, there's more. The gravitational pull of Bensenville steadfastly holds tight to my train, for the car department has failed to give the train a good inspection and now they have to kick out bad orders.
But wait, there's more. In having to kick out these bad orders hazardous cars now do not have the correct cover cars over them. So now the Chinese fire drill begins. Find cars. Any cars, preferably with wheels. Now the train is finally ready.
But wait, there's more. Now Metra has a CTC failure at B-12. On hold again. In eight hours the train has managed to move about 10 miles on the Harbor and is now going to die at Wireton. Now that's what I call a bargain. Cut a yardmaster and save all that money. Pretzel logic. So now the call is put out for a relief crew out of Bensenville to go get thet train. And much to my delight the whole adventure (sans train, of course) begins again. No orders, no list, no cab. So as I'm sitting in my cozy little tower pondering the fate of the western civilized world and Bensenville, I begin to hear a song in my head. Yup, the strange little voices are at it again and the song, sung to the tune of "Old McDonald Had a Farm", went something like this:
CP Railway had a train
Southeastern 240 dash 4
And on this train there were no orders
We'll call for them again
With a fax fax here and a fax fax there
Here a fax, there a fax, everywhere a fax fax
CP Railway had a train
Southeastern 240 dash 4
CP Railway's train is dead
Somewhere near the Rock
I need a cab to get the crew
And take them on to Van
With a call call here and a call call there
Here no cab, there no cab, everywhere no cab cab
CP Railway's train is dead
Somewhere near the Rock
CP relief crew on the phone
Things are looking good
The list and orders have arrived
for Southeastern 240 dash 3
With a scream scream here and a scream scream there
Here a scream, there a scream, everywhere a scream scream
CP relief crew on the phone
Things are looking good
The other night I was going through my In basket on the high tech company E-Snail system and was glorified to read a message from our big tuna in Milwaukee. It seems that at 0400 Sunday December 6 th the D&H was to be moved to Montreal. In a last minute reprieve the FRA and the STB said nyet. The CP wanted to move the D&H as a "consolidation" of its STL&H offices, and of course to be a dispatcher in Canada you must be Canadian. This was undoubtedly a prelude to taking all of the Soo dispatchers to Canada, and as a dispatcher I for one was somewhat concerned.
Well, the union had been fighting this move tooth and nail and at the last minute the FRA stepped in and noted that for national security reasons trains moving on US soil must be dispatched from US soil. Finally, equity!! Needless to say there are a ton of pretty happy people here. Of course this is all subject to final federal ruling but now it appears that the FRA has taken an official stand on the issue. Whew, that was a close one!
CP conductor Harris has kindly offered a little insight into the Circus Train and its travels to Louisville. I was on vacation, resting peacefully in a far and distant land (Wisconsin).
Circ-30 by Jeremy Harris
Ever since hearing about the Barnum and Bailey Circus train
on the 29 th,
I wanted nothing more than to have a North Pool job that hauled
the
train from Bensenville Yard. The whole operation of the train
is very
interesting. The train has its own train-master, hired by the
Barnum and
Bailey Circus. Well I waited all day to see this train. News quickly
traveled down to Terre Haute that the train was 18 hrs late getting
out
of Bensenville. Apparently the train picked some switches at Galewood
Yard, taking 3 of the 55 cars out of service. Once again the IHB
had
its way with the CP, causing the train to be late, and the original
crew
out of Bensenville to die at Danville, Illinois, at Vorheese St.
My
engineer and I boarded the train in the early morning hours, and
with a
briefing from the train master we were on our way. Finally a hot
train
status on the CSX. The train masters instructions were if we stop
for
any reason you must call him to proceed again, control the slack,
and
call me before we get to Terre Haute. The train was all lit up
like the
Fourth of July with security lights on all the first forty or
so cars.
I never saw any animals, but tried to sell my engineer as a circus
display. We rolled into Terre Haute, about 5:30 am. Handed the
train
off to the South Pool crew and went to Van for tie-up. The train
had
all white coaches, which were on the head end, and the vans and
trucks
on the rear. I was hoping the Canadians would let us borrow one
of the
new units, but this didn't take place. We had two 4 axled GP38's,
both
Soo Line Loco's.
The Spring Hill improvement project has been moving right along. New CSX signals are now up at Spring Hill and the new crossover from the Riley Spur to the CSX main is installed and in place. It is looking pretty good for a January cut-over.
Gasp! Hold on to your hat! We have had...2...yes, 2 trains make Louisville to Spring Hill without relief being called! Imagine that. Of course, the next 50 will die out there, but for one brief shining moment all was well with the world (at least from Bedford south). The steel gang has been installing CWR between Crane and Bedford all week, and the fact that these trains made it by the gang is remarkable in itself.
Maysville Power: SOO 2015 - SOO 4452
Farmersburg Power: CP 5777 - CP 5967 - CP5928
Van Yard Engine: SOO 4448
That's all I can remember.
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Editorial content (C) 1998 Mike Dettmers
