Lake Lavon Laugher - Another Railroad Story

Back in the early 1970's I was working as a Foreman on a track gang working out on the old Paris District on the Santa Fe Railroad. This was an old branch line that ran from North Dallas to Paris, Texas. My gang was involved with track construction in the Lake Lavon area. They were going to raise the water level in the lake and it was necessary for the railroad to  raise and reroute part of its track that ran near the water shed of the lake. We were reconstructing and raising several miles of railroad track.

          

One of the more time consuming parts of this project was building up the roadbed on which the track ran. To build up the roadbed we had to haul tons of rock, dirt and gravel out to the work site on a Work Train and dump it from special train cars on the train. Then heavy equipment would shove and move the material and start building the roadbed higher. These special railroad cars were called air dump cars. These cars work a lot like the dump bed of a dump truck. Each car has to be dumped one car at a time. The cars operate off the compressed air that runs through the train from the locomotives. To dump the tons of material in each car it is necessary to manipulate several valves and then huge cylinders push one side of the car upward, just like a dump truck, and as the tons of material start to slide toward the low side of the car the car side hinges downward allowing the material to slide out of the car and on the ground alongside the track.

          

The work train would usually have the same train crew on it day after day. As Foreman, I was responsible for seeing that the job was done and the Conductor on the work train was supposed to be responsible for the movements of the train. Ideally the Conductor would be on the ground standing next to me and I would inform him of the necessary instructions about train movements and he would then relay the information to his crew. However, this particular Conductor had his own ideas as to what his responsibilities were. He spent most of his time sitting in the caboose while his Brakeman stood with me doing the Conductor's job.

          

One day the work train arrived out on the job site. As usual, I spoke to the Conductor and told him what the work plan was for that day. He instructed his Brakeman to take care of it and said that if we needed him he would be on the caboose doing paperwork. I reminded the Conductor, again, that he should be with us on the ground helping with the work at hand and that he should uncouple the caboose from the air dump cars and leave it sitting clear of the work area for safety's sake. He once again informed me that I should take care of my business and that he would manage his business. He said that the caboose would remain coupled to the work train so that he would be near the work area. With that being said, we began the task of dumping the twenty-five air dump cars.

          

Everything was proceeding as usual and we were down to dumping the last air dump car which was the last car in the train and was coupled into the caboose. As we began the dumping process and one side of the car began to rise, the tons of material in the car seemed to stick to the bottom of the car instead of sliding toward the low side of the car. There was apparently a mechanical problem with the lower side of the car because it didn't hinge downward and when the material finally let go, it came down with such a heavy force on the lower side of the car that it turned the car over. When the car turned over it also turned the caboose over being that it was still coupled to it.

An air dumb car after it has dumped it's load.

          

We all ran to rear of the caboose yelling the conductor's name and fearful of what we might find. About the time we arrived at the rear of the caboose laying on its side, the conductor came crawling out of the door. It was a horrible sight. His eyes were as big as saucers and he was covered from head to toe with waste from the toilet. He was apparently catching up on some reading while setting on the caboose toilet when his world was turned upside down. Fortunately he was not seriously injured.

          

When we got ready to head in, the conductor asked if he could ride with us in a vehicle. I told him there was no way he was getting in any of my vehicles, besides, he needed to stay with his train crew. As he boarded the locomotive and tried to enter for the long ride back to town, he was unable to enter because the crew had locked him out. They made him ride on the outside of the locomotive all the way back to town.

           

I'm sure that there were several valuable lessons learned that day but not necessarily by the right person. However, he did pick up several new nicknames that day and most were best not voiced in public. It seemed the incident only enhanced his crappy attitude.