My Railroad Injuries

There are plenty of ways to get hurt while working on the Railroad and after 17 years I managed to stumble on every possible way to get injured.

I was still a brand new employee with only a few weeks on duty when I suffered my first injury. I took a big swing at a spike I had not set properly and never saw it come straight back and hit me in the mouth so hard it knocked my hard-hat off. I turned around expecting to find some jerk behind who knocked my hat off but instead only found blood dripping from by lip and one tooth pushed in. It took 6 hours to get to a medic and by then it was too swollen to get stitches but on the bright side, it left a good scar.

My most common injury was smashing the ring finger on my right hand between the rail and the hammer handle. There was a specific rule against reaching across the rail to prevent that very injury but it was too much trouble to step over the rail and back so I kept breaking that rule and my poor finger. The Doctor said there is nothing to do with a broken finger, just tape it up.

I once hit my head on a rail I had loaded in the back of the gang truck only a few minutes earlier. It stopped bleeding long before it stopped hurting and that was when I started wearing my Hard Hat all day every day and never regretted it, and I never had any more head bonkers.

I always considered a sliver to be the smallest of all injuries, until I got one in my eye; twice! The first one was made of steel and the Doctor said we should let my body absorb it rather than risk going in to extract it and sure enough, a few days later it stopped hurting and I never thought about it again.

Then a year later while doing the same hand-adzing cleanup after a derailment I got another splinter in the same eye even though I was wearing safety glasses both times. I figured this one would go away like last time but when it was still hurting worse than ever over a week later I went back to that same Doctor who said this sliver was made of cedar wood and cannot be dissolved by the human body like the solid steel, so he had to perform minor surgery to relieve the pain.

My most dramatic injury was being hit by a broken "dead-head" spike that flew out from Tie-Adzer machine in Tunnel 13 back in July 1984. I had metal armored leggings for protection but somehow in the dark of the tunnel that spike found its way to my ankle and took me to the ground like a gunshot. It took less than an hour to get to a Doctor which was impressive considering how far out we were but there was nothing he could do since there was no broken bone. I was back to work in a few days but it took months to stop limping and it still hurts to this day.

By far the worst of all my many injuries was the broken back from lifting a derailed motor car. I was patrolling by myself and was in a hurry to make it to the nearest spur track to clear a train. I was stuck on the switch frog and the train was coming around the corner, any reasonable person would have walked away, but I had to give one last lift with all my effort in a panic attack aided by adrenaline and was able to clear the switch just in time. Afterward my relief was short lived as both legs started going numb from the effort.

Before that I used to laugh at guys with back injuries but after that I never laughed again. By the time it was all over and done I had two different major surgeries called laminectomies where they remove the bulging part of the spinal disk. It helped get me walking again but I will always have numb legs.

So the back injury turned out to be a career ending move, and I ended up going to school to be a computer geek. Thank goodness I work in a cube where there are fewer ways to get hurt.

Railroad Days: Snow Removal - Day 3

So there we were spending the night in the Spreader derailed in an avalanche waiting for rescue for the third time this week. The work train engines showed up around 4am and we all started getting ready to dig out the Spreader starting a daylight. We had some flashlights and two big flood lights but for safety reasons we decided to wait plus we wanted to eat and be ready. On the train was Hobart Kent the Division Engineer, basically number two in command below the Superintendent. Having a Big Shot like Hobie onsite made everyone stand a little taller trying to make points with the upper management.

Long before daylight we were all out there ready to start the big dig out. The spreader was off the tracks, but the wheels were not down below the rails as they would be in a regular derailment but instead this time the wheels were floating in the air a couple of feel above the rails suspended by the outstretched wings on either side. I was more than surprised to think we would have to dig out by hand. I came from the System Steel gang where we used machines not brawn, but the old timers just laughed and started in with their shovels making giant sized steps in the snow bank going up the hill faster than I could complain about it.

One thing for sure, shoveling snow sure is lighter than shoveling the track ballast. It's almost fun by comparison. And once you get shoveling in a rhythm even the coldest wind becomes a cooling breeze to keep the sweat under control until you finally find the perfect balance between blizzard and balm. Before long we were spending more time moving snow we had already moved once and even the old timers were starting to look discouraged but just then the gang from Crescent Lake showed up unexpectedly from out of no where and behind them was Larry Shadd on the D9 cat, the only piece of equipment that could move snow better than the spreader.

When asked why he hadn't called ahead to let us know he was coming, the Foreman Bob Wilbanks told Ray Smith the Roadmaster that he didn't want to get our hopes up until he knew he was going to make it through. The real reason he didn't call was because they would have told him not to come because there is a rule against letting the cat run on top of the rail through the tunnel but now the deed was done no one was going to say no. Within an hour the cat had cleared enough snow from the cut to let the spreader open it's wings again and finally land the wheels on the track again.

In the last three days we had been stuck on this hill three different times, first on the Motor Car then on the Flanger and now on the Spreader. That was more than enough and we just wanted to get back to the relative comfort of the company housing at Fields. Then just as quickly as the snow had stacked up it was suddenly shrunk by a sudden wave of warm rain that knocked out all the ice followed by calm skies and some sun to complete the effect of the storm ending. We were back home in time for dinner that night as the trains started rolling at full speed both ways. The gas was back on for all switch heaters and the electricity was back on and the generator turned back off.

It was one of those times you never forget.

Railroad Days: Snow Removal – Day2

The kids woke us woke up around midnight because the power was out so I had to go outside to start up the diesel generator and found at least two more feet of fresh snow on the ground. I hated that generator because it sounds like a jet liner landing in our yard all night long but I still managed to get a couple more hours sleep before the work starts again.

Ray Smith the Roadmaster was pounding on the door at 4am reminding us to be ready by 5 as that was the end of the required 8 hours rest. Ray didn't make it up the hill on his own, there was no way to drive even the best truck through all that snow. He was following Jimmy Stokes on the Road Grader which was assigned to clear the road from Highway 58 up to Fields and back twice a day if needed for the school kids to make the bus run.

There had been a few trains overnight and they reported heavy ice building up in the tunnels and also the switch heater is out at East Abernethy. Then we got word from the Dispatcher that PGE was asking for a ride up to the pole line. We were glad to help them if it meant turning off that noisy generator so we made room for their snow cat in the Flanger. The last one to arrive was the Company switch heater expert from Eugene.

So we all crowded on board the Work Train, the 5 man gang from fields, the gas guy, the electric company fellows and the regular crew making it standing room only until we dropped off the two PGE's workers and their snow cat. The rest of us had to get off at the switch with the broken heater since the ice was so thick we couldn't proceed.

In nice weather this spot is a beautiful waterfall where you could see all the way to the Highway running along the river thousands of feet below. But now you can't see a hundred feet and it is all a big frozen mess we couldn't pass. The ice hangs off the tunnel ceiling like stalactites in a cave and we had to use the long aluminum poles with ice hook on the end to knock things loose. Without the rail heater the ice was threatening to stop all traffic but the expert got it going and things started draining again.

We made a quick run to the summit and then sat there letting a few trains run each way while we ate our lunches. All the while the temperature was falling along with the snow and the trainmen were reporting rough spots of ice and deep snow. The Work Train had to turn around on the "Y" track so the Flanger can stay in front going down hill.

Then we hit the tunnel-bridge-tunnel combination at milepost 542 where the ice had built up and the Flanger left the rails. All the Engine could do is pull the thing backwards until it hit the tunnel wall or push it forward until it banged into the bridge and finally the Engine crew was granted permission to return to Chemult to meet their relief crew out of Klamath Falls.

That's when the superintendent called for another Work Train to head up the hill with the Spreader . This was a big deal as we hadn't needed it for the last few years but this was officially bad enough to call out the heaviest piece of track equipment in the snow removal arsenal. The Spreader is a giant snow plow on the front with expansive hydraulic wings that can be adjusted to fit the contour on both sides of the tracks. The Work Train consists of two or more Engines and always included the Outfit car where workers can eat and sleep.

It takes at least three operators to move the snow, one for each wing and another for the Flanger blade in front. It takes great skill using the several levers to raise and lower, extend and retract, then set the angle to move the snow with precision and still keep the car on the rails. There had to be co-ordination between the two wings so that even if there was an empty chasm on one side you still had to extend the wing to balance the load.

Pete Gonzalez was the expert at operating the Spreader with more than 30 years on the hill. Pete called all the shots and had ultimate control of everything including the two Engines pushing from behind by using a one-of-a-kind remote control. It was the one exception when the Engineers had to let go of control, but only as long as Pete was pushing snow.

They cleared the way up to where we were stuck and actually used the Spreader wings to lift the Flanger back on the rail. The Flanger was taken down the hill and parked on the spur track at Frazier next to the tool house where we stored our motor car the day before.

Then we headed back up the hill to finish the Spreader work. Once again we made a quick preliminary run to the summit to let a few trains go through in each direction while turning the spreader on the "Y" track. It was getting near dark by now and we took advantage of the food in the outfit car. There were plenty of external lights that allowed the work to continue past sundown.

Pete had warned that the last time he saw it this bad there were avalanches in the deepest cuts and we had better make two passes rather than cut too deep and leave a gap for things to fall from above. Instead of being a warning for prevention it turned out to be a prediction of what would happen and right on queue we started spreading snow in the first big cut west of Cruzette and were immediately buried in an avalanche from above.

The Engines had plenty of power to pull themselves out of the way but they couldn't budge the spreader...they soon got permission to go back to Chemult and trade train crews leaving us there alone in the snow with the spreader. Inside the Outfit car it was nice and warm, plenty of food, even free cigarrettes.

It was getting past 9pm again and we had worked hard all day so we took time to rest as best we could while waiting for the Engines to return with fresh crews. We talked at length as to whether we should get overtime or not if we slept on the work train or in the Outfit car attached to the snowbound Spreader. The last thing we heard over radio was the electricians had the power back on and made it down the hill OK.

Next up, Railroad Days: Snow Removal - Day 3

Railroad Series: Slow Order

We were standing around the warming fire during our 7:30Am Safety Meeting at Milepost 568 between Black Butte and Edgewood when we got a call to stop tamping ties in the Montague yard and get on over to the branch line to help the nearby section gang clear a slow order. We hated tamping by hand and were glad to go but we got there only to find out the slow order was a curve full of low joints that had to be tamped by hand.

Mike Anzo was the Section Foreman on the gang in Mt. Shasta and I had the one in Weed so it was natural for us to end up competing to be the best new Foreman in our District. We worked together on urgent issues and this slow-order limiting all trains to 5 Mph had to be removed today or else. We had to wait for a train to go by and even at that slow speed you could see the boxcars rock and roll as they hit the low joints.

We were both young whippersnappers in our early 20's from two different schools, his Dad was a cat-skinner and they lived in company housing since the day he was born where I was a new comer from the system steel gang. I was schooled by the book and he did things off the cuff in the old school way. I was the expert when it came to installing new rails or ties but when it came to maintaining the existing track structure I still needed some schooling and Mike was pleased to show off.

The first point of discussion was replacing the old cinder ballast with new heavy grade gravel. I assumed since it was cinder to begin with we had to keep that standard but Mike had his Dad haul in several truck loads of gravel that would fix this curve for good. This made the guys even madder because we had been tamping red cinder rock which is light as sugar compared to the heavy gage gravel which was so much harder to tamp we would have to use tamping bars instead of shovels and that meant a whole new set of sore muscles for that night.

Then we argued about the elevation of the hi-side rail. The official ballast chart said 1 inch maximum but the book of rules said a curve that sharp needed 2 inches. I was all for leaving things the way they were until we got the official order but Mike was more than willing to change things on his own authority. Then next point of contention had to do with the rail joints. The standard was to tighten the bolts first and then do the tamping but Mike insisted on raising first and then tightening. I didn't even argue that one since it was not mentioned in the book of rules and it seemed to make sense.

We broke for lunch and both gangs were still chowing down when the 30 minute lunch ended and I was calling for everyone to get back to work but Mike told me to take it easy even though it was clear we were no where near half way done. I already knew Mike made lots of money working overtime and assumed this would be another case but then his Dad showed up unexpectedly again this time with a full sized tamping machine that would make it easy for us to finish early without breaking our backs.

The next item that came up did get us to arguing about how high we should hump the joints. The old guys had shown me how to go to level with the track jack and then a notch or two at most above level but good old Mike liked to really hump the joints higher than I ever would. He figured the bump after should be the same size as the dip before since the ballast needed to get packed down by the train. We settled on "sky high" as the upper limit.

We watched another train rocking and rolling over the same track after our work and there was no difference from this morning maybe even worse, but sure enough a week later it was smoother than ever. I started out all mad and insulted for being shown up so many times in one day but I couldn't bring myself to keep it up since I was having so much fun learning new tricks. I had to admit Mike really did know what he was doing.

Railroad Days: Snow Removal - Day 1

Snow Removal was a big deal for the gang assigned to Fields Station between Oakridge and Crescent Lake in Central Oregon. Fields is at the end of a steep 7 mile long dirt road that can only be called a thrill ride. The Company provided free housing to the workers willing to put up with the commute. There had already been a few heavy storms in October and November 1988 but the snow had all melted away before long. The storm that started in early December just kept going and soon the snow and ice were piling up.

Elevation makes all the difference when it comes to snow. Oakridge at 1500 feet hardly ever gets more than a few inches at a time and it always soon melts. Fields is at 2500 feet where the snow starts sooner and sticks around longer than the lower elevations. The summit at Odell Lake is just under 5000 feet and the snow gets deep and stays deep.

For the last few weeks we had been cleaning snow by hand with our shovels and brooms keeping the switches clear beyond the reach of the gas powered rail heaters. There are big propane tanks that feed the flame torch heaters attached to the rails for about 75 feet on either side of the swi just enough to keep the switch open at both ends of the various sidings along the way. Our job was to clear a space for the train to dump any snow they might be plowing before filling the switch.

We started our day as usual cleaning each switch as we worked our way up the mountain following trains from switch to switch as we had been doing for weeks. We were making good time since the wind was blowing and the snow was light and dry so it could never get high enough to cover the top of the rails before it blew away. Then around 10am the wind stopped and the snow was coming straight down in a thick blanket.

By lunch we only had two of the 6 sets of switches done compared to the last few days when we had been eating lunch at the summit. It was obvious today would be overtime if we didn't get help from above, meaning the gang from Crescent Lake would have to come down help. We were encouraged for a minute when we heard over the radio that they were on the way but then we got word that the snow was piling up down the hill where it usually rained so now we would have to go down to help after we finish on top and it would still be overtime.

Then the heavy snow started and before we knew what to do our motor car was stuck. We could not go up or down the tracks and we were forced to hole up in the warming shack at the west end of the siding at Cruzette waiting to be rescued. We had radio contact with the dispatcher and he said there would be one last train coming down the hill and then no more after that, all trains are stopped until further notice. Our best chance was following that last train down the hill but we were on the siding and had to dig our way out by hand and then it was too late to catch up with the train. The snow was coming too fast and falling back on us in the cuts and soon we were stuck again.

We made a brief effort to shovel our way out but it was obvious that we were worse off than ever. Now we were stuck between sidings and would present a hazard if another train did come. We discussed taking the motor car off the rails but that would be a last resort. So instead we made our way to the nearest tunnel and built a warming fire near the entrance where we had stashed diesel fuel and wood for such situations. It was already 3pm and the sun goes down early that time of year and we only had a couple of small flashlights which are not much help during a blizzard at night. Everyone took stock of the leftovers in their lunch box as we prepared for the worst.

Then we heard the good news, the work train was on the way with the Flanger. The Flanger is a single 40 foot custom car with a snow plow on the front that just fit over the rails with one Train Engine to push it along up to 40 miles an hours. Now we could finish the run from Oakridge to the Summit and back in less than four hours. Once they cleared a path to our stranded motor car we were able to take it back down the hill to the motor car shed at the east end of Frazier. It was a warm and comfortable relief to finally climb aboard the Flanger where there were supplies to go along with the stove.

There were only two positions for the Flanger blade, up and down. There was one big red button to toggle the position and the operator had to know just when to go up in order to miss the switches, road crossings, rail greasers and other locations that were marked with red reflector posts positioned to stick out of the deepest snow. It was not uncommon for the flanger to derail but it was easy to put back due to specially equipped outriggers that kept it from going to far off the rails.

We made it up to the summit and back to Fields by 9pm and they were already calling for the Flanger to make another run back on top. The Superintendent even got involved and told us to take our 8 hours rest since the weather report was calling for even heavier snow tomorrow. The Flanger and crew went all the way to Oakridge to spend the night in the Motor Lodge while the rest of us returned to our Company housing in Fields.

We were dog tired but It was a fitful night of sleep knowing what was coming the next day. And that will be the next chapter in the series of stories about Railroad Days : Snow Removal Day 2.

Stupid Railroad Sayings

My favorite Stupid Railroad saying is "Keep Your Own Kitchen Clean". This is like minding your own business but even better because it implied a specific task to be completed. It wasn't all rhetorical since kitchens and the duties therein are common topics when traveling workers have to share accommodations . On the actual jobsite it usually meant to stay out of my work area and don't try to make me look bad.

The first Stupid Railroad Saying I ran into on my first day was carved into a wooden plague over the Roadmaster's office door. The writing was ironically comic text that stated "One Thousand 'Atta Boys!' can be wiped out with one 'Oh Shit!'" The plaque included an animated picture of a worker with exclamation points around his head implying he must have done an 'Oh Shit'.

Once one boss would come up with a noteworthy saying it would spread among the other gangs as did this gem, "I'm Trying To Accomplish Something Here and You're Getting In the Way". This saying was soon abbreviated into the first half only which can still imply the second half if properly delivered with a loud voice and a visual glare.

One of the famous sayings was originated when one of the guys mistakenly used the phrase "Put Attention" instead of "Pay Attention" and everyone jumped on board. After a few years even the Superintendent was known to use that translation. If you think about it, it makes more sense to put instead of pay, no one wants to pay for anything.

Some sayings were not original Railroad material but were used so often and scratched into all the tunnels and bridges so they deserve inclusion here as well. "If we were to put everyone's troubles in a pile to be divided equally, most people would be happy to keep their own". Now if it was money, that might be different. Another well used but not exactly Railroad related example, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool that to speak up and remove all doubt". You can safely write this one but if you say it out loud then you become the story.

Here is the Stupidest Railroad Saying of all, "I was looking for a job when I found this one". We think it wanted to be like that song Take This Job and Shove It, but ended up sounding more lame than lament. Another stupid habit was using the various track parts and maintenance tasks as double entendres like Beavis and Butthead might do. "Loose Nuts" ha ha…"High Spikes" he he... "Low Joints" yuk yuk… "Tampin' Ties" and on it went…

An alternate branch of the stupidity revolved around the endless safety programs. One worker offered up this addition to the Safety Rules, "If you want - to protect your back. Stay away - from the Railroad Track". He was a truck driver and did a good job of just that. If an injured worker received a monetary payoff they were said to have "Hit the Railroad Lotto!"

I hope all these stupid sayings don't land up in your brain the way they have in mine, but just remember the next time you are trying to accomplish something be sure to put attention and keep your own kitchen clean.

Passenger Trains and Pigeons

The poor Passenger Train is almost extinct just like its namesake the Passenger Pigeon. They were both once found in large numbers and then suddenly disappeared. Sure there are some local passenger transit systems for a few well-to-do municipalities but that is the exception and not the rule as all the rest of the cities are stuck with busses or less. For long distance train travel there is only Amtrak and that ain’t much compared to the rest of the world.

The last Passenger Pigeon was a famous bird named Martha who lived and died at the Cincinnati zoo in the year 1914. The decline of the species was dramatic, from billions to none in less than 50 years. The astonishing thing is how many there were when they first started to save them, but still not enough to succeed. You would think having just two birds would be enough to start over again but for some reason there has to be a large number to support the minimum amount to qualify as a sustainable flock. The Passenger Train went through a similar experience over the last 50 years of the 20th Century. By 1950 the number of cars, airplanes and buses carrying passengers had finally equaled the Railroad’s number. It seemed like a fair fight at the time, but it was already too late and the fight was all but over for the poor Passenger Train because it was just not profitable to ship humans compared to the money made by shipping coal, lumber, autos, etc...

By 1970 the Government had to step in and force the railroads to keep the Passenger Train alive in a minimal form with federal subsidy. None of the State Governments cared enough to subsidize and the Carriers had no interest in human cargo so it was only the Federal Government who could save the day. But instead of taking over and making it profitable they put it on a starvation diet of minimal help and left the industry to whither away on life support. Meanwhile Germany and Japan take turns setting new high speed records on their new Passenger Trains and even third world countries spend more on this than America. Canada has one of the all time greatest RR passenger system that is complimented by fully funded local rail passenger solutions. Vancouver has sky trains running by two’s in all directions.

When I first worked on the Railroad there were always special trains for the Big Shots to ride around and inspect the lines and then over the years that train got shorter and shorter until finally it was just a car or two tagged on the end of a regular train. By the time I left the practice fell out of fashion completely as one generation retired and was replaced by the next who would prefer to fly. And if the Big Shots won’t even use their own road for transportation then it really must be dead. Or maybe we just need a new generation of old school kids who are willing to ride a Passenger Train instead of flying.

No Way To Run A Government

One of the curious aspects of working on the Railroad was the one of a kind Retirement system . Anyone who works longer than 10 years for any Railroad qualifies for Railroad Retirement which is completely separate from Social Security. Any workers who also had jobs that fall under Social Security are subject to a two tiered formula for calculating just how much the retiree will receive from the two different pension funds.

You might wonder why it is so complicated and root cause goes back to the early 1900's when the US government went looking for a good model to copy while creating a retirement system for the whole country that later became Social Security. Talk about government intrusions, they were trying to force people to be comfortable in their old age.

The Railroad retirement system already had so much money they were able to loan money to the Government system in the 1930's when times got tough and therein lies the beginning of the two tier payback formula.

It wasn't the first time our Government looked to the Railroad Carriers for a template on how to do business. They also copied the Railroad Labor act of 1926 as the model of how to treat the average employee. Back then they weren't considered Union workers, they were just called Government workers, but they were still better off than the average Union worker.

Talk about the US Congress butting into other folks business, they actually passed a law forcing the Carriers to provide certain basic benefits to employees. And what was the very first and foremost of these requirements? Water. It literally took an act of Congress to prove to the world that the workers deserved to have some water to drink.

Later on the demands evolved into more luxurious items such as better wages, overtime, and even paid time off so pretty soon all the workers turned into a bunch of lazy no goods, in the eye of the Company. Sure some workers have a good deal and some few have set a bad example but they are are not all crooks.

So the next time it seems like some union worker is asking for too much then please help decide just how much is too little. Do they at least get some water?

Railroad Series: Chapter 12 - In The Clear

One of the few important duties that might fall on the Assistant Foreman was getting time on the radio. This involves calling the Central Dispatcher to request permission to place our Maintenance locks on the two switches at either end of our worksite. The Foreman usually does this but he asked me to do it since the Dispatcher was still mad from yesterday when we were 25 minutes late due the spike driver breaking down and we had to finish by hand.

The Dispatcher gave us two hours to finish and made it known that we wouldn’t get any time tomorrow if we were late again today. I promised to be in the clear on time. According to the official Book of Rules we are supposed to use the full phrase "Clear of the right of way" when the work is complete but after several Official hearings on the matter it was decided that all that’s required is the word "Clear".

I had fifteen minutes to get from the far end of the job site back to the nearest switch, remove the lock and make it back before calling the Dispatcher. The Foreman had the small pickup heading in the opposite direction which left me with the big 20 Man Gang Truck to go the mile and half and back again. It was a narrow steep road with sharp curves and the old gang truck had trouble making it around those corners at anything over minimum speed. Everyone else on the gang knew that critical fact except the new Assistant Foreman. As I careened along the roller coaster road at full speed I was checking the radio, finishing my lunch and planning even further ahead when I hit the sharpest corner and the old clunker bounced up once and froze in mid-air with the trailer hitch high centered on the dirt bank.

The back wheels were dangling in the air and I was busy calculating how long I had to get unstuck and still make it in time. I was already giving up on returning to the job site and decided I would call the dispatcher from the siding as soon as I remove the lock from the switch. Several solutions ran through my mind, call for help, try running on foot, call the Dispatcher and tell him I'm late, give up and have a cigarette...but first I must try my best to make it through unassisted.

I took a track jack out of the back of the truck and managed to move the bumper just enough to make the wheels touch the road again but every time I would get in the cab to drive away the jack would slip and the truck would end up stuck again. With one last look at my watch I decided I would be just as guilty if I was stuck on the other side of the road as this one.

Then I threw all caution to the wind like a young 21 year old might do and I put that old beater in 2nd gear and went back behind to start work with the track jack while the wheels were humming along in mid-air and as soon as those wheels hit the road away went the truck and the jack and me all together heading sideways back down the hill but at the last moment a well-placed stump stepped in and held the jack still which finally forced the truck out in the road where it slowly started chugging up the hill.

I hobbled over and got in the cab just in time to barely miss another truck coming around the corner looking for me but it was too late and the world would never know of my near mistake. I made it to the switch and removed the lock with barely a minute to spare before calling the Dispatcher to let him know we were "In The Clear". I spent the next three days with a sore knee from bob sledding with that track jack which is probably still imbedded in that stump to this day.

Railroad Series – Chapter 9 : Fatalities

Over the 17 years I spent working on the railroad there were a number of fatalities at work but the first one is the most memorable. The poor victim was the System Crane Operator who was required to ride in his crane while in transport between Los Angeles and Portland. Normally the crane was attached to a slow moving Work Train but for long distances they would put the crane in the middle of a regular train. He was killed when an oversize boxcar hit the tunnel walls in the year 1973. The train only went about 100 feet before it ground to a halt but that was enough distance to cause a cave in on the crane and crushed the poor operator to death.

The process of clearing the cars and then rebuilding that last 100 feet of tunnel took almost a week to complete but the worst part was the first day when we faced the gruesome duty of removing the crane and the corpse. The tunnels just south of Ashland Oregon were not full size and there were sensors along the track before each tunnel that were meant to alert the train crew if an oversize car came through but in this case they just assumed it was the special crane car they were taking through and they ignored the warning signal.

In the post-Accident Investigation aka, Post Mortem it was found there were many chances to prevent this accident. The first question was why the oversize car was with the crane in the first place. The crane had been scheduled to go through Klamath Falls which has full sized tunnels but they made a last minute change that turned out to be fatal. If the crane had been locked down at the other end of the car it would have made all the difference. If the oversized car had been on the other end of the crane car. If the sensor alarm routine had been followed according to the rules. They changed a lot of the rules after that starting with no more operators riding in the crane. Each fatality brings a new change in the rules so it keeps getting safer but the fatalities have not stopped.

I never knew the name of that first guy but the second person to get killed was a welder named Marcel Chacon who died instantly by a runaway push car that rolled for 17 miles silently down the same hill near Ashland. The next fatality was a guy named Gonzalez who stepped in front of a passing train followed by a fellow named Mathews who fell off the end of the work train and then there was the gang truck roll-over that only had one fatality but injured all of the other 17 workers onboard.

There were so many accidents they had a Safety Meeting every morning before work where each employee had to sign a form saying they had read the Rule of the Day from the Book of Rules. After a fatality the Safety Meetings were a little more serious for a while at least. That is the subject of the next chapter in the Railroad Series: Safety Meetings.

Railroad Series Chapter 6: Derailments

Derailments are the number one disaster on the lines. There are plenty of other more dramatic catastrophes such as Tunnel Fire, Bridge Collapse, Washouts and Landslides but they are rare compared to the nearly daily occurrence of falling off the track. When you get called out for a derailment you never know what to expect.

Derailments come in all sizes; sometimes just one wheel on one car is off the track and can be put back with a simple frog device. The frog is a 300lb flange that fits over the rail with a channel to guide the wheel back in place. There are two flavors of frogs; inside and outside so if more than one wheel is off you will need one of each. Other times the whole car comes off but is still upright and can be corrected with two frogs. A whole string of cars can be re-railed in this way, all that is needed is the engine to pull the cars over the frogs. There is no better feeling than watching the wheels magically jump back on the track. That is an example of an easy derailment.

Sometimes the whole train comes off the track and falls all the way over clear down in the ditch with broken rails everywhere, no easy access, and you might not get back home for a few days. They bring a special Work Train accommodated with sleeper cars and a cook car where you can get all you can eat and best of all; free cigarettes. The workers would be fed three squares during 16 hours shifts on duty and 8 hours sleep until the disaster is over. That is an example of a bad derailment.

Derailments come in all different locations. The most common place is on those little spur tracks that go into the mills and granaries along the line, where the maintenance is lax. In the railroad yards along the way there are lots of old side tracks where it is common to have simple derailments but the trains are never going very fast so not much can happen. They never work late in the yards, it can always wait until the next day. Out in the field along the line the trains go faster and the derailments are more dramatic and the repairs more urgent. Derailments also happen at all time so it was a running joke that any good weekend or holiday will be sure to get interrupted with a call from work.

When the wheels are too far away for the frog to reach but still close enough to save, then the car has to be lifted. If the car is empty or lightly loaded in can be lifted one end at a time with the Big Boom Truck. There was a little boom truck for little lifting jobs but only the Big one could lift a car. If the car is fully loaded, or for lifting an Engine the only thing that can handle the load is the Hook.

The Hook is a work train specially designed for functionality and not beauty. To look at the hook you would think the boom is too short to get any work done at all and the overall appearance is one of more wreckage rather than the solution. But that ugly monster was amazing at snatching the heaviest loads even though it was only a few inches at a time. It could take up to 20 minutes to set the blocks needed to stabilize the hook but we had to be sure, after all, we wouldn’t want it to fall off the tracks too. After all that setup the Hook would take two minutes to move the loaded car or engine another 6 to 10 inches closer and then we had to reset the blocks again.

My first derailment was also the first time I saw a worker get killed. That is the next chapter in the Railroad Series, Chapter 7: Fatalities.

Railroad Series: Chapter 8 How to Change a Rail

The most basic railroad maintenance task is changing a broken rail. It only takes 10 minutes if you are in the train yard where you can drive right up with a boom truck but if the broken rail is in an inconvenient location where you have to get permission and the rail won’t fit then the 10 minute job can turn into an all day job; with overtime.

Most broken rails are reported by track inspectors who will give the exact location down to the hundredth of a mile with details on the size and length of rail needed. The worst case was a broken rail reported by trainmen who are famous for getting the milepost wrong so it can take a while and sometimes footwork to find it. Once you know the size and length of rail needed, you then have to get a rail from the nearest stockpile and move it to the location which more often than not means hand loading the rail with rail tongs onto a hand car and manually push in to the worksite.

After you have all the material it’s time to get permission to remove a rail. On the main line you can simply call the dispatcher on the radio and he “gives time” and the trains will stop until you call back with the mandatory “In the clear”. On the branch lines there is no dispatcher and you have to put up flags according to the book of rules. There are no excuses when it comes to safety so we were required to put out three flags in each direction along with a “ torpedo” explosive device to get the engineers attention that there was a flag ahead. Even if there were no trains coming, we could get fired if we didn’t so we always put up one yellow flag, two miles away and then a red flag a quarter a mile from the broken rail and finally a green flag to tell the train they were past the break. Those three flags had to be duplicated for trains coming in the both directions. Putting up the flags could take an hour if the dirt was hard and you had to dig or collect a pile of rocks.

The trickiest part is making the new rail fit. All rails are supposed to be 39 feet long but in the field they rarely are. If it just a little too long you can bang the existing rail-ends on either side to gain up to an inch of slack. If the rail is too short you can actually make it grow an inch or two by using a hot rope. The hot rope is made of asbestos and soaked in diesel oil and when stretched out along the rail and lit on fire makes a smoky light show in addition to the rail stretching. Once the fire goes out, the hot rope can be coiled up again for indefinite reuse. I never did figure out how to make a cold rope.

If the rail is too long or too short by more than an inch or two then you have to cut in a short stub rail called a Dutchman. Cutting can be done with a torch, motorized hack-saw and even with a sledge hammer and rail chisel. Any time you have to saw you will have to drill holes for the bolts. The drill had a motorized version that would break down and we would end up using the two man hand powered drill. It would take 5 full minutes of turning that crank to get one hole drilled with both laborers insisting they were doing all the work. No matter how big the hole, the bolt still had to be bent to make it fit which leaves the threads striped and that one bolt can end up being quite a time consuming detour.

The boss expects every rail to be changed in 10 minutes or less and can never understand why it sometimes takes all day and overtime. In spite of all that, changing a rail is still one of the easiest chores on the list of maintenance duties, mostly because there is no digging with the pick and shovel. There is plenty of pick and shovel work when it comes to changing broken cross ties. That is the next chapter in the Railroad Series.

Chapter 5: Maintenance of Way Cars

When it comes to railroad cars there are those famous train cars, the flatcar, the boxcar, the tanker, the refrigerator (or reefer) but there is another class for the maintenance department. The Maintenance of Way Department gets its name from the old “right of way” concept that was leftover from the “Eminent Domain” loop hole that all railroads used to make a land grab back when that was still legal.

In all my years working on the railroad I was always on the lookout for one of those hand cars where two people would push the handle up and down in a teeter-totter motion to drive along the tracks like the ones used by Charlie Chaplin in the old movies. I never did find one of those hand powered cars even though I made a thorough search through all the scrap heaps in all the train yards and camps up and down the line. But I did find a heap of other kinds of track cars such as these.

Gravity Car:

No more than six inches tall it folds into two pieces and can be removed by one man in a single move. Weighing no more than 45 pounds the gravity car may sound light weight but in fact is a heavyweight contender being capable of carrying over 2 tons. It is composed of heavy metal diamond shaped wire mesh of hollow pipe frames for an incredibly strong yet light little piece of equipment. These are loaded with everything from spikes, creepers, plates, ties rails and even workers though not recommended. This car was responsible for a number of ankle and foot injuries beyond the protection offered by the mandatory steel toe boots.

Track Car:

This small square box was nothing more than a frame with a lawn mower motor in between the two passenger seats and barely room for any equipment. These were light enough for one person to take them off at a crossing though two people was the minimum under the book of rules, though we often went out alone. These small cars were only meant for inspection purposes and light weight tools though they invariably were overloaded with tools and extra workers.

Motor Car:

This is the four cylinder version of track car with room for 6 workers sitting on ¾ inch plywood top over the engine and it was so heavy it could only be taken off the tracks using a pair of runner rails that pivot on a center allowing the car to be turned out into a tool house or take-off ramps conveniently located at regular intervals between stations.

The minimum crew for a motor car was 4 men but 2 experienced employees were generally allowed to skip that rule. Yes, I have done it alone several time but only using the best take off rails and pivot that were supposed to never leave the local tool house.

We used to have a morning ritual to fill the gas tank without a funnel and not spill a drop. It may sound droll if not dangerous but I remember practicing and finally getting good enough to volunteer for the morning fill up without a funnel.

Crew Car:

These Diesel powered trolleys were up to 10 feet long and could carry as many as 40 men and equipment by attaching push cars. Crew cars did have take off rails but they were rarely used and crew cars were always used in conjunction with work trains and would simply stay on the sidings with the trains.

Push Car:

These are low flat cars that can be attached to any of the motorized cars but are just as frequently found to be pushed by hand. With two push cars you can accommodate even the longest rail using one at each end. Railroad rails will easily turn from side to side but not very much in the up and down direction. You can load ties and even loose gravel on a push car and then move it an dump like a wheel barrow. It still takes two strong men to take a push car off.

The first fatality after I started was a runaway push car that went 17 miles down the hill to hit an unsuspecting welder sitting on the rail. His helper never heard or saw anything because the push car is so low to the ground and runs silently. We all had a different view of push cars after that.

Hi-Rail Car:

This is any motorized vehicle with the necessary attachments to allow it to drive down the rails. It is mostly heavy trucks for work but can be more suburban looking passenger vehicles for the big shots to have a special close look. The bigger the shot the fancier the hi-rail car all the way up to actual Cadillacs just so they could remain comfortable during their track inspection while we had to poke along in our motor cars.

I never did find one of those hand powered push cars like Charlie Chaplin used but I did find out that they were outlawed in the 1940’s for causing too many injuries and were thereafter banned for life nationwide. I am sure they still exist somewhere and I would even pay money to ride one despite the risk if they ever put one in at Six Flags.

Railroad Series: Chapter 1

In order to tell the story of working on the Railroad back in the 1970’s, the best place to start is with an overview of the organization. Things have changed since then and the SP Company no longer exists and many of the places have changed but the memories are still there. The human characters will come later but the real stars are the trains and tracks and the people only make sense when the big picture in the background is clear.

The entire Southern Pacific System stretched from Washington State clear down the coast to LA and then all the way over to Texas. The System was divided into several Regions and they in turn were broken into Divisions and Districts which put me in the Eastern District of the Oregon Division of the Western Region. Within that Eastern District we had Sections of track connecting the various Stations along the right of way. And every mile along the way was a Mile Post telling how far it is back to San Francisco. We lived at Fields Station, Mile Post 542.

The Work Force is composed of Departments according to their responsibility. Trainmen get to ride the rails but they are away from home the most. Carmen are home every night and rarely leave the roundhouse except for derailments. There are departments for everything from Welders to Mechanics, and Electricians. There are special Departments for Signal Maintainers, Machine Operator Trainers and Curve Lubricator Maintainers. There is a special high risk Department called Bridge and Building which also includes tunnels. I was in the biggest department of all called Maintenance of Way.

The Maintenance of Way department has various gangs the most common being the Section gang with 5 men responsible for every 5 miles of track. There were other seasonal gangs that only worked during the good weather months from May to October. There was the Steel Gang to replace the rails followed by the Tie Gang replacing the bad ties. If the Tie Gang went first you would end up pulling spikes on new ties which was no fun. Last in line is the Surfacing Gang that cleans everything up.

There are System Gangs that have to go the whole distance doing odd jobs like “Rail Grinding” with a big long grinder famous for starting fires. There was the System “Brush Cutter” that cut all the vegetation on both sides of the track up to 30 feet out along the right of way. Then there was the Rail-Car which was a big X-Ray machine running down the tracks looking for internal flaws. The biggest system gang replaced everything all at once using a single monstrous "Track Replacement" train.

Each Gang has its own set of machines unique to the job at hand. That is the next Chapter in the Railroad series.

Migrating Tarantulas

I first encountered Migrating Tarantulas when I worked on the Railroad out of Ravendale in the northeast corner of California. One day we found a single spider walking down the tracks as if had got stuck trying to climb over. Then further on we saw another and then a few more and before long there was a veritable herd of these big spiders crawling along the rail looking for a way to cross. We got up enough nerve to catch a half a dozen specimens in a spike barrel and took them back to town where the local Science Teacher was glad to have them but quick to point out that they all were males as the females don’t have to migrate. So it really wasn't a migration, it was more like a bunch of single guys out looking for a date.

Before that, I thought I knew all about Tarantulas starting as a young kid with Tarzan movies where Tarantulas were only found in the jungle. Then later on the Discovery channel I learned that all the large spiders were found in exotic climates so imagine my surprise when I discovered they lived right there in my own back yard. This is high desert country, very dry and arid, way up at 5,000 feet elevation and not much to eat for a tropical insect. Most of all I wondered what did those poor creatures do all winter when the ground is covered with snow and how could they survive those freezing temperatures.

The second encounter was while driving back from Reno years later when we suddenly came upon a bunch of miniature tumbleweeds that were rolling across the road in slow motion. Even though I should have recognized them it didn’t dawn on me until the car slowed down enough to recognize those mini- tumbleweeds were really spiders. It was like a bad Science Fiction movie from the ‘50’s where it was hard to believe there could be that many animals in such a sparse environment.

With all due respect to Dave Barry, wouldn’t Migrating Tarantulas make a great name for a Rock Band~!?

Claims and Grievances

My career as an elected Official started as the Union Representative for the Brotherhood Of Maintenance of Way Employees Union back in the early ‘70’s, first as Secretary Treasurer for the Western District out of Weed California and later as District Chairman for the Eastern District out of Oakridge Oregon.

The union job didn’t pay any extra, it was non-gratis, but I always insisted there was some “Glory” to go along with the duties and that was the extra incentive. In truth I was the only one who could read and write it was more de-facto than popularity that got me elected. But it was a perfect fit since I was a nosey cuss by nature and the union guy gets to know everyone’s business and what better way to gain access to all those transcripts and records.

The three main functions to perform were: collecting dues; filing claims and grievances; attending hearings and dismissals. The dues was pure dirty work in the early days but it was all payroll deduction by the end. The claims and grievances were mostly requests for overtime that went to a junior employee or complaints of mistreatment according to the written “Union Agreement” book that everyone carried.

The hearings were the most entertaining, covering a large number of drug and alcohol violators but it included punishment for other infractions such as crashing a truck, getting injured, or otherwise damaging company property. One time I even had to go to the local news channel to get film footage of their coverage at a train derailment on a bridge where all 13 workers on the gang were fired in one fell swoop. They all ended up getting their back pay but it took years of appeals.

The funny part was that I got elected because I was such a hard worker they were sure I would work just as hard for the union and I did but they all assumed I would stop working so hard during the day and start acting like a lazy dog so I could be the union rep after hours. They were sorely disappointed to find that I kept working as hard as ever during the day at work.

Once I quit the Railroad that was the end of my political ambitions and I started to pursue on an honest career but I did come away with the idea that elected officials should have to work for free so we know their heart is in it and not just their bankbook.

Dead Man’s Curve

As a rookie foreman I was assigned the most remote railroad station out in the middle of the high desert in Northern California. The place was called Ravendale. We had a five man crew working maintenance of way on a 50 mile stretch between Susanville and Alturas. There are few roads so most of the work was done from motor cars running up and down the track. The morning ritual was to have a safety meeting at 7am and then call the dispatcher to get the train schedule for the day. The standard timetable called for one train leaving Alturas at 8am arriving out our work location at 10am. This pattern was rarely missed but sometimes they would send two trains in one day with the first leaving at 6am arriving at our spot around 8am.

After climbing a gentle slope west of Ravendale the tracks wind through the mountains for a few miles and then suddenly approach the sharpest possible curve dropping down the steepest possible grade and there you are looking down on a valley at least a thousand feet below. While the drop is not quite vertical, it would take a mountain goat to keep their feet the slope was so steep. This was Dead Man’s curve. Everyone knew it was so named because of the work train collision that took place back in ‘66 and was still frequent topic of lunch fire conversation when I got there in 1973. There were still a few boxcars laying down at the bottom as a testimonial of what can happen.

Like we had done so many times before we drove out to the worksite put the motor car on the track and headed up the hill toward Dead Man’s curve just before 8am. It’s too noisy to talk and for some reason the figure of “8am” kept running through my mind and I finally grabbed the timetable out of my timebox to confirm my worst fears. The train didn’t LEAVE at 8am, it left at 6am and will ARRIVE here at 8am! The panic on my face is obvious as I slam on the breaks and head back down to the nearest take-off where we clear the car with only a few minutes to spare.

We spent the rest of the day looking for purple bottles in the old abandon Chinese work camps while we all counted our blessings. There were many discussions about how we all need to check the timetable for the day as part of that morning Safety Meeting. The other guys on the gang never said a word or I would have surely got some demerits. I still get panic attacks when I think back about how close we came to meeting that train on Dead Man’s curve.

Laborer Dog

Every new Railroad Maintenance of Way Employee is assigned a Seniority Roster number on the day they are hired. This Laborers Date is the common denominator for all employees. Everyone goes on to get qualified on the various machines or they move up the management track to become Foreman or Roadmaster but they all start with a Laborer’s Date that determines their place in line.

This seniority date is always referred to as the Laborer’s Date. No one ever asks “When did you hire out?”, or “What’s your seniority date?”, it is always; “What’s your Laborer’s Date”. The reason this is so important has to do with an obscure Union ritual known as bumping.

Bumping is an unbelievably bizarre result of the Union implementation of the Seniority Roster at any cost resulting in chain reaction of bumping as each person finds someone to displace every time there is a layoff. So it is the Laborers Date that determines who can bump who when times get tough as they do every winter when the Production Gangs get laid off and everyone scrambles to find a spot on a Section Gang in the maddening game of musical chairs played out up and down the line.

The term Laborer Dog is used with equal amounts of affection and derision depending on who is aiming or receiving the insult or compliment as the case may be, but it could be used on anyone all the way from the biggest Bigshot on down to the newest wannabe, because they all have that one thing in common.

Some people had a hard time going back to their starting position and would spend more time complaining about the work than actually working but the rest of us found a way to make it pay. And to this day I still respect any one working hard for a living and I am always proud to think of myself as a Laborer Dog.

The Railroader’s Lament

I’m a Trackman sure, there ain’t no cure, I’ve got curve grease in my veins.

I can’t stay away so I go every day, with sore knees and knuckles and lower back pains.

All day I stare at the rails glare , I dream about cross ties at night.

And before I’m through I promise you, I’ll put up a hell of a fight.

The pick and the shovel, the maul and the level, these are the tools of my trade.

The jack and the tongs, the Railroad Songs, of this is what I am made.

I always likes to drive some spikes, my arms measure perfect gage.

There ain’t much dough, and somehow I know, I’ll never die of old age.

The Spotted Owl Controversy

In the early 1980’s the logging industry came under fire from the Environmentalist Groups for threatening the Spotted Owl. There were mills closing down due to greater economic conditions but both the tree huggers and the burly loggers were sure the cause of all their troubles were wrapped up in that little bird. There were pictures in the news and we all knew one at a glance after the first couple of years of constant coverage of the story so you can imagine my surprise when I ran into one on the Railroad one day.

At first we marveled at the discovery as if it were a dinosaur or dodo bird but then later on in another location we found another. And before long another in an altogether different area and soon enough we found this foul to be rather common. How else could it get so much attention? If it was really as rare as portrayed in the news it should hardly ever be seen but in fact it is seen everywhere and that is precisely why it has so many enthusiasts who pity the plight of the poor creature.

We even got to witness the curious behavior of one of these birds who has flown to close to a passing train and ended up uninjured on the ground. We know it was uninjured because it flew away in the end but when we first saw it we thought it was injured by the way it was flapping along on the ground. After a while we realized it was hopping with intent along with the flapping, and soon enough it was able to clamber up a tree and stand on a limb. It was then and only then that the creature was able to fly off in the natural way with its long wings swooping way below the body.

We saw the hopping Spotted Owls more than once as it seems they had a habit of flying near passing trains, or trucks on the highway. In our travels maintaining the railroads in Northern California and Western Oregon we found more spotted owls than most other critters combined. There were some larger herds of Antelope and Elk, plenty of deer and rabbits but the Spotted Owl may well outnumber them all. Sure they couldn’t match the big numbers put up by the Starlings and Geese, or even Robins and Blue Jays but those darned Spotted Owls had representatives in every corner of every county as far as we could tell.