Back when we slept.........

[NW Mailing List]

I also have enjoyed the human side of railroading as told in the thread on railroad accommodations. Through my employment, many years ago, I often ate at a NW crew change point and was privileged to hear stories from the crews about events of their day.  One of my favorite stories goes back to the day of wood sided cabooses and signal lanterns. On a cold foggy night the crew was tired and wet and anxious to tie down the train. They had to set out 10 cars on a siding to end the shift. The fog and no lighting would only allow the crew to see a few car lengths down the siding. The switch was thrown to the siding and the train was motioned back. Seven cars in there was a loud bang and the train stopped. After walking the siding they discovered a wood sided caboose that had been "bumped". After careful inspection it was decided the caboose was not damaged but it did have pronounced lean to the south. Someone was most likely going to be on the street if this was reported or discovered. It was decided to run around the caboose and "bump" it lightly from the other end. It worked, the old wood siding was now vertical again. They finished the set out, tied down the train and called it a day. 
  Lynn Hill
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20220328/021930d2/attachment.htm>