All Aboard! Leaving Lawn, Ready Or Not!

It really wasn't all that bad once I became used to the routine. I never had been much of an early morning person, but I hadn't been a railroader for all that long either. It had been long enough that I had learned time, or more specifically, night and day, were not defined as they once were. It was nothing to get up and be on the road at three or four o'clock in the morning to get to a job that started at six in the morning just so I could spend a few hours at home rather than within the confines of a four walled motel room. That's the reason I was on the road this young Fall morning of the early 1970's, heading down a lonely highway to my very own Santa Fe Extra Gang headquartered in Lawn, Texas.

The old Santa Fe bunk cars...Home away from home for railroaders working on a track gang.

          

I pulled up next to the House Track in Lawn and was pleased to see the gangs outfit cars had been moved from Coleman, Texas as I had requested over the weekend. There were two bunk cars, a water car, a fuel car and a boxcar for tools and supplies. None of the men had stayed in the cars over the weekend, but they were already there this morning getting the cars set up for occupation and carrying their personal belongings inside the cars. As I stepped out of my pickup, I could see smoke coming from the stack of one of the bunk cars and could smell the tantalizing smell of bacon, eggs and coffee. Then old Bob stuck his head out the bunk car door and hollered, "Hey Boss, I got plenty of breakfast ready, come on in and get a bite!".

          

"No thank you Bob, y'all go ahead and eat, I stopped and got something on the way", I hollered back. I had stopped and bought a Pepsi and a Baby Ruth and the fresh smell of breakfast was killing me, but I had things to do before we went to work in about thirty minutes. I had a small gang with two machine operators, one truck driver and four trackman. They were a good gang with a mixture of older experienced men and young strong go getters not afraid of hard work and a couple of cut ups to keep the job fun. Jake, the oldest man on the gang, was more or less my lead man because he lived in the area, had the most experience, was very familiar with the people and towns in the area and, well, he was old. Jake's claim to fame was that he was the Mayor of Buffalo Gap, Texas, although most didn't think there was a lot of truth in his claim.

          

It was about 0555 and I had finished my paperwork and talked to the train dispatcher about our work location for the day when I glanced toward the bunk cars and saw the men slowly descending the stairs with their grips and lunch buckets in hand. The sauntered over to my location, found a place to sit and finished lacing their boots as I began our Monday morning safety meeting. I finished the meeting by telling the men we were going to be working toward Buffalo Gap that day changing out cross ties. I told Jake to take the truck and men to the location and start the prep work and the machine operators and I would travel by rail and meet them at the work location.

          

As the two machine operators and I prepared the machines for rail travel, Alex, one of the operators, asked if he take a couple of hours off, when it was convenient, so he could travel into Abilene and take care of some personal business. Alex was an excellent machine operator, hard working and a good man. He never missed work so I knew if he was asking off, especially with no advanced notice, it must be important to him or his family. I told him if it was important to him, he could take care of that business now and just meet us at the job site when he was finished and that I would operate his machine until he returned. Alex shook my hand, said thank you and told me to just dock his time for the morning even though he had put in almost an hour of work. I told him not to worry about it, we would work it out later.

Track machines came in all shapes and sizes.

The other machine operator and I powered up the machines and began our five mile journey to the work site via the rail. I wouldn't have admitted it to Alex, but another reason I let him go so easily was because I loved operating his machine. I loved traveling on the rail through areas no other mode of transportation could be used, seeing nature at its undisturbed best, crossing streams and rolling through valleys cut through the sides of hills exposing multicolored rocks and formations thousands or even millions of years old. Around every curve lay something new or unexpected; an old metal wheeled tractor sitting among the mesquite trees bearing the scars of age, hard work and the perils of nature and time; an old Model A automobile barely recognizable making you wonder how and why did the old car end up here yet still looking like that's where it belonged; or you stop to let a mother Bobcat hurriedly help her three kittens over each rail and quickly vanish in the Johnson Grass wall at the edge of the track. It was always a refreshing journey, especially in the early morning just as the sun crawled over the tops of the West Texas hills.

          

We approached the work site and sounded the horns on the machines to alert the men, already hard at work, of our approach. The men had already gotten off to a good start so as soon as we rolled up, we prepared the machines for work mode and the dust started flying. The men knew my philosophy was to get the hard work out of the way early in the coolness of the morning and save the easy stuff or any occasional 'goofing off' for later in the heat of the day. I had told the men in our morning meeting that our goal was to replace fifty cross ties by lunch and we would spend the afternoon cleaning up and dressing the work area and haul the old ties back to Lawn.

                                                                               

We had been working about an hour when an old gentleman walked up to the track. I was still operating the machine and motioned to the man to stay where he was, thinking he was wanting to talk to me. However, he waved to Jake and Jake walked over to him, escorted him back out of the work area and began talking to him. About that time Alex arrived at the job site and relieved me on his machine. I walked over to Jake and the other man and Jake introduced him to me. He was one of Jake's fellow Buffalo Gap residents and he was asking if he could buy some of the old ties that we were removing from the track. It was always funny back in the old days, we could be in the middle of nowhere and not see a soul anywhere for hours and then pull a couple of old ties out of the track and within fifteen minutes an old rancher would be standing there wanting to know if he could have the ties for fence corner posts. Back then the Roadmaster had control over handling used or scrap ties and my Roadmaster had told me that all old cross ties we removed were mine if I wanted them to dispose of as I wished as long as I kept the right-of-way clean and clear of old ties.

Used cross ties were a hot commodity for farmers and landscapers.

          

I asked the old fellow how many ties he would need and what he would be using them for. He said that they were wanting to use them for several landscaping projects back in Buffalo Gap involving a church, the steak house and several other buildings and it depended on the cost as to how many they needed. I told him that I would give them all to him free of charge, but they would have to take all the scrap ties as well as the usable ones in order to clean the right-of way. He practically shook my arm off thanking me and said he would be back in the early afternoon with a truck and some help and load the ties. I told him that I would move the ties to the edge of railroad property and for them to limit their time on Railroad property. He was still waving and thanking me when he got in his pickup.

          

The gang and I finished up the job and stacked the ties next to the right-of-way road. We were loading up our tools and equipment when the man from Buffalo Gap drove up in an old steak bed truck. He and another older gentlemen got out of the truck and began to load the ties. I don't think they had realized how heavy an old water soaked cross tie could be. I watched them load the first tie and couldn't stand it any longer. I hollered at the men and told them to grab a couple of sets of tie tongs off the truck and load these ties for the gentlemen right quick. The men grabbed their tools and made short work of loading the ties making it look easy because it was something they did every day, plus they like to show off when they had a chance.

          

The two old men thanked us and thanked us until I finally escorted them to their truck. I asked if they were going to have help unloading the ties. They said that they weren't sure. I turned to my men and told them to head back into Lawn and tie up for the day and I was going to follow the men back into Buffalo Gap and help them unload the ties. Alex said he could meet us there and help as did Jake and Bob. I told them that I appreciated the offer but that I could not carry their time after quitting time for work not connected with the railroad. The three of them said that was fine with them that they didn't mind helping. I told the remaining men to head back into Lawn and I would be by there later to do my paperwork.

          

With all being said, we headed for Buffalo Gap. We wound our way through the beautiful countryside until we finally ended up in downtown Buffalo Gap population around 300. As we walked back to the rear of the truck to begin the task of unloading the ties, to my surprise, my complete gang pulled up and without saying a word, went to work  and in nothing flat, had unloaded the ties in a nice neat stack. As we were about to leave, Jake walked up to me and said that his fellow Buffalo Gap folks wanted to treat us to supper for the work we had done for them. I told him that I appreciated it but that I was heading back to Brownwood as soon as I finished my paperwork. I told him that he and the rest of the men could certainly take them up on the offer. The men very happily accepted the offer and were told to be back at the steakhouse about 6:30 PM. With that, we said goodbye and headed back to Lawn.

          

Back in Lawn I finished my paper work, sent my daily work wires and stopped back by the bunk cars . I stuck my head inside the door and hollered that I was leaving and to try not to embarrass the railroad at the appreciation supper. Alex, Bob and a couple of the other fellers came over to my truck as I was getting in and said that they would feel more comfortable if I would join them at the supper. I told them I appreciated that but that I just didn't want to drive back to Brownwood that late. They then argued that I should stay in the bunk car with them, that they had an extra bunk. I finally gave in, and I did always carry a bag with several changes of clothes, so it would work.

          

We all cleaned up and put on our 'going to town' clothes and headed to Buffalo Gap not really knowing what to expect. We met Jake and his lovely wife there at the steakhouse. There were sure a lot of cars already parked around the building, but it wasn't surprising in that this steakhouse was well know for miles around. People would come all the way from Abilene, Brownwood, Sweetwater and San Angelo just to eat their steak. Jake said we were to just come on in when we got there that they had a table reserved for us. I looked around at the men and it struck me that these old railroaders clean up pretty good and I motioned for them to go ahead. They in turn said I should go first and they would follow. I shrugged, opened the door and in we went. As we entered the door, most everyone in the restaurant stood and started clapping. We stopped and for a second and looked like a heard of sheep fixing to stampede. Then after the shock was over we sauntered over to our table and sat down. As we all sat down, I felt kind of proud to be with these guys.

                                                                                       

We sat there and ate and ate and ate. It was delicious. After we had eaten about all we could hold, someone at the next table stood up and said that they appreciated our efforts and while they didn't have much money in the city budget they did have damn good food. Then he said that the Mayor would like to say a few words. I think everybody on the gang's mouth fell open when old Jake stood up and said a few words. It was amazing, he didn't cuss and didn't have a chew in his mouth and you could actually understand what he was saying. After Jake's State of Buffalo Gap speech we were told that we were welcome to go over to the barbeque restaurant and saloon for all the beer we could drink and pool we could shoot on the house. I don't know what made them think that a bunch of railroaders, and I must say well dressed railroaders, would drink beer or shoot pool, but to keep from hurting anyone's feelings we went to the barbeque  place.

          

As we strolled down the street to the barbeque/saloon I held a little safety meeting. I told the men that we were off duty and I couldn't tell them what to do but that I suggested that we were still representing the proud Santa Fe Railroad and we should handle ourselves in such a manner as not to bring embarrassment to our company. Bob spoke up and said, "Yes Daddy, we will behave!". Then he pointed out that at twenty four I was the youngest on the gang by nearly ten years and that they would keep an eye on me.

          

We had a blast drinking a few beers and shooting pool with some of the locals. There was shuffle board, foosball and pinball galore. I saw a side of my men that I had never seen before and it felt good. I suppose they too saw a side of me that they hadn't seen out on the railroad right-of-way and I hoped that it was good. We made new friends that night. We shared railroad stories, ranching and farming happenings, and toward the end we got around to the good old beer drinking stories. The goodbyes took a while but we finally gathered ourselves up and headed back to Lawn and the comfort of the bunk cars. It had been a good day, it had been a really good night.

          

We arrived back at Lawn and wasted little time hitting the bunk, 5:00 AM was going to be coming along before long. The men were all in one bunk car and I would have a bunk car all to myself. I had never spent the night in a bunk car before and was having a little trouble sleeping. One adjustment I was having difficulty with was every time a train ran down the main line I could feel the bunk car rock and vibrate in that we were only a few feet from the main line and the trains blowing by at about fifty MPH or so. About 4:00am another train rolled down the main, waking me as the bunk seemed to do a little rock and roll. After the train had gone by, I laid there still half awake and I still felt a moving sensation. I laid there a few seconds and then sat up, raised the window shade and peeked out the window just in time to see a telephone pole slowly pass by........CRAP!!!!! WE WERE MOVING!

                                                                                     

I bailed from my bunk and ran to the door. As I opened the door, which is about four feet above the ground, I could see the bunk car steps, chained to the side of the car, slowly dragging below the door. Barefoot and dressed in a pair of my best Fruit Of The Looms, I jumped from the door and started placing some old pieces of lumber under the rolling wheels in an effort to stop the slowly rolling cars. The wheels were crushing the old wood as fast as I shoved it on the rail. I finally ran to the boxcar, climbed the ladder to the top of the car and set the handbrake finally bringing the five cars to a slow stop. I stood on the side of the box car for a minute waiting for my heart to slow down and to catch my breath, then hobbled back to the bunk. It had seemed like the cars had rolled forever, but in reality they had only rolled about fifty yards. If they had rolled another hundred yards, they would have been on the main track and I shuddered to think of all the possibilities. I shuddered again when It hit me, I wasn't even supposed to be there and what if I hadn't been?

         

I slowly hobbled back to my bunk, cleaned the blood from the bottom of my feet and removed as many stickers and splinters as I could stand before getting dressed and walking back outside to assess the damage, finish securing the cars and find the reason the cars had moved. Fortunately there was no damage and it also became obvious that the cars had not been properly secured. About that time Bob opened the bunk car door, looked down at me, looked back at our vehicles parked about fifty yards from the bunk car and hollered, "Hey, who moved my pickup and the other vehicles?".

          

I told him that the vehicles had not moved. He then looked back to the vehicles, then toward the main line switch, then back at me and said, "Oh crap! We'll be out there in a minute Boss!".

          

Someone hadn't done their job nor had I. We were going to have a talk about it. We were going to come to an understanding....this would never happen again.

          

In twenty-four hours I had seen, done, and absorbed more than I had ever expected driving down that lonely West Texas highway that early Fall morning.   There were lessons learned, new friends made, good deeds done, rewards shared and responsibilities recognized in this third year of my forty year railroad career.