When railroad career people who participate on this forum relate stories from their past, it is my personal favorite sort of post. Those of us who read those posts all recognize that we are acquainted with some fine story tellers and a wealth of information. My railroad days were very brief and I don't have a lot of words to offer, but I have managed to write down a few things that might be amusing. At the very least, they might give insights to younger readers who will never get to witness how railroading used to be. I doubt if my posts generate much discussion. This is this just to pass along a scene that once happened:
Passing signals by lantern vs. by radio
On the Frisco Chickasha and Oklahoma subs they always passed signals by hand or lantern, both in the yard and on the road. By 1981 the crewmen on all jobs out of OKC were issued radioes but they were not frequently used. The times crews did rely on radios were situations like: a blinding rain storm was occuring, or backing a long train around a curve and over a crossing, etc.
Passing signals always worked, but radioes sometimes did not. This brings to mind an instance of when a road switcher's locomotive radio suddenly began acting as if the handset where 'keyed' effectively jambing all radio communications in the area. During their trip the crew could not identify the problem. After a night of switching they were returning to OKC and yarding their train...as they slowly pulled into the yard letting the freight clerk jot down reporting marks, our heroic yardmaster swung up and entered the cab, unscrewed the antenna cable from the back of the naughty radio, then left the cab and climbed back down without uttering one word. (yes, he was an inspiration for commentary on the walls of the washroom stalls). During this same trip the crew was experiencing trouble seeing hand signals with the rising sun blazing in the line-of-sight. The solution to that temporary problem was to pass signals with a lit fusee. (their solution...I doubt there was any rule backing this action) Radio or not, the train got all its work done that night.
After happily passing signals with many railroad men, young and old, the next lesson to be learned was that certain crews had their own way of doing things.
When I filled vacancies on the QA&P subdivision, I soon learned that those crewmen had become accustomed to calling all signals via radio. They did a lot of switching in the yard and around town. But I had to learn about their exclusive radio usage the hard way...
The first night I reported to the QA&P Quanah switcher (which always operated at night) I was riding the footboard to bring the locomotive to a joint on the mainline. While I gave the indications by lantern for "two cars...one car..." I noticed the locomotive was not slowing down. It quickly became appearent that I better jump off, and at the same time 'wash him out'. As I did, I grabbed my radio and said "THAT'LL DO!!", and we made one of those joints that knocks the dust off every car involved. The yard foreman was nearby watching this scene unfold. He came over to me and, with a slight grin, said, "knock his a** off that seatbox, and he may turn his head to look at you next time". Those were his exact words.
Yet, it was then I realized I didn't have any business having these old heads come around to a different way of doing things. "When you're in Rome you do as the Romans". Actually, they had passed ten thousand signals all their younger lives, had once run symbol freights like QLA, QSF, CTB, etc. and anything they did in their twilight years was not to be questioned by me. From that time forward I carried my lantern high on my arm so I could hold a grabiron with one hand and hold a radio with the other hand to call signals.
I miss those days, and this is an experience I replay in my mind often.
