Camp Cars

[NW Mailing List]

Gordon, Gary and Ben,

I really appreciate you sharing your camp car experiences.  The general media, from whatever side of an issue, doesn't know much about railroads, as I'm sure we've all come to realize.  I'm not sure if the Roanoke Times, NPR or any other major media outlet has a transportation beat any more.  And whoever gets handed a story and a deadline rarely has enough time to get up to speed on the subject.

Gary's description of the life and accommodations on the NS cars brings to mind Edward R. Murrow's expose' of the plight of migrant workers in the 1950's, "Harvest of Shame."  You are brave Gary to tell it like it is, and I hope there are no job repercussions.  If for no other reasons than corporate image, NS would be wise to alter its policies involving work crew accommodations.

And guys, I love to be near trains as much as any railfan, but to say that living in a house near railroad tracks is analogous to being housed in a metal box six feet from trains that are rushing by all night is, well, insensitive at the least.

Sam Putney
  

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: NW Mailing List 
  To: NW Mailing List 
  Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 5:18 PM
  Subject: Re: Camp Cars


  I have no pros and cons about the current camp cars, but my two months on a camp car in June and July 1954 may be of interest.  I spent those two months covering the N&W east of Williamson, WV at 13 miles per hour on a weed spray train (but that's another story for The Arrow some time).  The camp car for our five-man crew was a converted box car, typical for that era .  The best that I can recall, it was a wooden car.  We slept in double-deck bunks, and cooking (and water heating) was done on a coal-fired range, which insured that we would not get a chill as we tried to sleep in the low country in July.

  All engines on our train and passing trains were coal-fired steam, insuring that the floor in the camp cars would be nice and crunchy under foot from cinders.  Because we generally ended up at a terminal where our train's steam locomotive could be serviced, we did not sleep alongside  the mainline, nighttime parade described by Gary.   We got potable water and ice for the ice box wherever we tied up for the day.  At the same locations, we would stock up with food to be cooked on the coal range.  Incidentally, our spray train was powered by everything from a Y class mallet thru an E class 4-6-2 passenger engine to a streamlined K2 class passenger engine.  It seemed to be whatever Motive Power had available that day.

  Two nights were memorable, however.  First, in Norfolk's Lamberts Point yard in July our outfit was shoved deep into one of the loaded hopper yard tracks between two endless strings of hopper cars that blocked any hopes of air circulation (that's the only AC we had) through the open windows  of our car.  Second, after finishing spraying to Hagerstown, MD on the Shenandoah Division, our entire spray outfit was attached to the rear of a night train to Roanoke.  In those days, Class Y locos were known to run 55 - 60 mph on the upper end of the Valley, and ours that night was no exception.  The unsnubbed trucks on our car took the place of a motel vibrating bed that night.   As we tried to sleep in our bunk beds, the slack would suddenly run in sending pots and pans crashing to the floor.  Next, the slack would run out with a jerk sending more pots and pans flying.

  I doubt that today's operating safety procedures would permit handling occupied camp cars on the rear of a freight train.

  Gordon Hamilton

  ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: NW Mailing List 
    To: NW Mailing List 
    Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 3:16 PM
    Subject: Re: Camp Cars


    There's pro's and con's to both motels and camp cars, and Gary has already covered them for Camp Cars.  Since Gary asked for my input, I will give my account on the signal construction gang side of things.

    First off, my gang is six men.  Not near the size of a surfacing, rail, or T&S gang like Gary's.  We stay in a motel chosen by NS.  If the first preference doesn't have enough rooms for the whole gang, we go next closest on the list.  We will then commute every day from the motel to the job site in company trucks. 

    When my day is done, I return to the motel, where I have my personal space, and my private vehicle to go eat where I please.  I'm usually in a town that has a variety of places to eat, but sometimes the only place is a Mom-n-Pops local type place.  Sometimes I get a room that's drafty and cold, and sometimes I get a nice comfortable room.  So far they have always been clean, so that's good.  

    Unlike the camp cars, I don't have anywhere to leave my personal belongings.  So, I have to pack up every Thursday or Friday and load up all my stuff in the back of my car.  It takes me about twenty minutes to pack and unpack.  Most of the stuff just stays in my car through the weekend, except for my laundry.  So, essentially, I live out of the back of my car.  

    There's good and bad to both.  

    Ben Blevins



    NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
       Another good thing is once your there your there, and you can leave all you clothes, boots and supplies there, and not take them home every week like checking out of a hotel on Thursday. We work predominately in Nascar country so sometimes hotels can be sparse, and Ben Blevins can speak on experience on finding hotels in West Virginia to house his small gang in, as compared to the commute back and forth to the work site.

      Hope this helps understand that things need to be a lot better, I'm in favor of keeping the cars, BUT with major improvements, mainly indoor toiletries.

      Gary Price
      Keeping the ole N&W safe one tie at a time

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