We're Railroading Now
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| Special train with business cars loaded with Santa Fe and J. B. Hunt officials Departing Saginaw Yard before daylight. |
Out of all the positions I
worked with the Santa Fe and later the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroads,
the Trainmaster position was probably one of the most challenging as well as
most interesting. As Trainmaster I had responsibility over the Greater Ft Worth
Terminal area which also included Cleburne, Saginaw and parts of the Dallas
area. Almost every day there would be several interesting happenings of which
some would be good, some would be bad and some would be plain scary.
My responsibilities would range from trivial one minute to life threatening the next. One morning, about 2:00 AM, while sleeping soundly in the old home bed, I received a phone call from a distraught switch crew at Saginaw who said they had been setting on their engine for over an hour waiting for a limo to take them to the Yard Office to eat but that the Assistant Trainmaster had yet to send one. I asked how far they were from the yard office and they replied that they were at least a quarter of a mile or maybe even further away. As I recall I paused (I may have counted to ten) and then told them to climb their butts down from the engine and walk to the yard office and if they ever called me at 2:00 AM for anything such as this again, I would be happy to get up, get dressed and drive the twenty-five miles and make the rest of their shift miserable.
I can also recall a cool fall day when I was at the Saginaw Yard when I heard a northbound train call the Assistant Trainmaster on the radio and informed him that he was approaching the south end of the yard and would be heading into the yard in order to set out some cars before continuing on north to Gainesville. I decided to drive down to the south end of the yard and observe the train as it entered the yard. While setting next to the south switching lead, I saw a consist of about five or six Union Pacific locomotives coming out of a track and heading south. I looked to the south and could see the headlight of the northbound train about to enter the yard. I grabbed my radio and called the UP crew, who had brought an interchange delivery of about one hundred cars about forty-five minutes earlier, and told them to stop their locomotives. I received no response so I jumped out of my vehicle and began to give hand signals for the consist to stop. The locomotives still did not stop and as they moved closer I could finally see that there was not anyone on them. I called the approaching northbound train on the radio and advised them to stop their train and be prepared to abandon their locomotive. I was then able to mount the moving locomotives as they passed my location and stop them. I then backed them into the clear, lines all the switches properly and allowed the northbound train to continue into the yard.
My responsibilities would range from trivial one minute to life threatening the next. One morning, about 2:00 AM, while sleeping soundly in the old home bed, I received a phone call from a distraught switch crew at Saginaw who said they had been setting on their engine for over an hour waiting for a limo to take them to the Yard Office to eat but that the Assistant Trainmaster had yet to send one. I asked how far they were from the yard office and they replied that they were at least a quarter of a mile or maybe even further away. As I recall I paused (I may have counted to ten) and then told them to climb their butts down from the engine and walk to the yard office and if they ever called me at 2:00 AM for anything such as this again, I would be happy to get up, get dressed and drive the twenty-five miles and make the rest of their shift miserable.
I can also recall a cool fall day when I was at the Saginaw Yard when I heard a northbound train call the Assistant Trainmaster on the radio and informed him that he was approaching the south end of the yard and would be heading into the yard in order to set out some cars before continuing on north to Gainesville. I decided to drive down to the south end of the yard and observe the train as it entered the yard. While setting next to the south switching lead, I saw a consist of about five or six Union Pacific locomotives coming out of a track and heading south. I looked to the south and could see the headlight of the northbound train about to enter the yard. I grabbed my radio and called the UP crew, who had brought an interchange delivery of about one hundred cars about forty-five minutes earlier, and told them to stop their locomotives. I received no response so I jumped out of my vehicle and began to give hand signals for the consist to stop. The locomotives still did not stop and as they moved closer I could finally see that there was not anyone on them. I called the approaching northbound train on the radio and advised them to stop their train and be prepared to abandon their locomotive. I was then able to mount the moving locomotives as they passed my location and stop them. I then backed them into the clear, lines all the switches properly and allowed the northbound train to continue into the yard.
Needless to say
things could have been a lot worse and the Union Pacific crew, normally a very
good crew, received the appropriate attention for their failure to set any
brakes and secure the consist before going to lunch. One thing for sure, I had
that particular UP crew in my pocket for a long time. They too knew it could
have been much worse and were more than happy to help me out any way they
could.
Then there was the day that a switch crew thought they were rolling four loaded liquid petroleum tank cars into a track that already had cars in it tied down with brakes set. They uncoupled the cars and were allowing them to slowly roll to what they thought would be a soft coupling with the cars in the track. The problem was, someone had lined the wrong switch and the cars entered a clear track. The switching yard is downhill southbound and the cars continued to roll through the track picking up speed as they rolled. The cars rolled all the way to the south end of the yard and derailed, overturning onto their sides and sliding all the way off the right-of-way and across Ft. Worth's Main Street directly across from Meacham Airport completely blocking the road.
The Ft Worth Police arrived quickly and began to protect the derailment sight. Some of the Police Officers began to cover about a two or three mile radius telling people no smoking, no welding, no open flames of any kind. Shortly after I arrived at the scene the head Mechanical Officer also arrived and ran over to me and said that we needed to clear the area until it could be determined if any of the four liquid petroleum cars were leaking. I told him that in my opinion I didn't think that there was a gas leak. He asked how I knew there was no leakage. I pointed over to the cars laying in the street and told him that while the police were covering the area warning about open flames, welding and smoking, the officers who stayed at the scene had lit flares and placed them next to the LPG cars to keep people from running into them. I've never seen eyes almost pop out of someone's head until that moment.
Obviously, it was a very lucky day. There are many, many more stories and hopefully before I am done I can share them with my friends and family so that they can be repeated and remembered long after I am gone.
Then there was the day that a switch crew thought they were rolling four loaded liquid petroleum tank cars into a track that already had cars in it tied down with brakes set. They uncoupled the cars and were allowing them to slowly roll to what they thought would be a soft coupling with the cars in the track. The problem was, someone had lined the wrong switch and the cars entered a clear track. The switching yard is downhill southbound and the cars continued to roll through the track picking up speed as they rolled. The cars rolled all the way to the south end of the yard and derailed, overturning onto their sides and sliding all the way off the right-of-way and across Ft. Worth's Main Street directly across from Meacham Airport completely blocking the road.
The Ft Worth Police arrived quickly and began to protect the derailment sight. Some of the Police Officers began to cover about a two or three mile radius telling people no smoking, no welding, no open flames of any kind. Shortly after I arrived at the scene the head Mechanical Officer also arrived and ran over to me and said that we needed to clear the area until it could be determined if any of the four liquid petroleum cars were leaking. I told him that in my opinion I didn't think that there was a gas leak. He asked how I knew there was no leakage. I pointed over to the cars laying in the street and told him that while the police were covering the area warning about open flames, welding and smoking, the officers who stayed at the scene had lit flares and placed them next to the LPG cars to keep people from running into them. I've never seen eyes almost pop out of someone's head until that moment.
Obviously, it was a very lucky day. There are many, many more stories and hopefully before I am done I can share them with my friends and family so that they can be repeated and remembered long after I am gone.
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