Instructions For New El Capitan Owners

I had to read that 5 times. Does that say what I think it says?

 

I can just picture the incident that prompted this bulletin. Makes it sound like people were croaking on the train right and left. So how were they supposed to get them down from the end door? ladder? Or was that just the coroner's problem?

 

That's a good one Tom.

Did anyone pass away during its days?  I am not expecting anyone to be informed on that statistic.
The California Zephyr boasted that nobody ever died on that train, however a birth was recorded once.
A boy.  The railroad invited him back to celebrate his 10th (?) birthday.  The story and photos can be found in Karl Zimmerman's CZ book.

Maybe that is why Scott put so few passengers in the El Cap.  

Makes perfect sense.  People have been known to expire anywhere at anytime.  I can't imagine any dignified manner in which to bring a body down a spiral stairwell,especially if they were larger.  Dead weight doesn't cooperate much.

 

During the depression, I remember an uncle telling me he made some money helping a local mortician "pickup".  Back in those days the funeral director went right to the house. There were quite a number of apartment buildings in town, some were six floors and no elevator.  A gurney was tough to negotiate the narrower stairwells, so they'd carry them by the feet and underarms.  If rigor mortise had set in there were some discharges on the way down, if you know what I mean.  Ah, the good ole days!

 

Rich  

I can only say that there are some known instances of passengers with certain conditions -- usually aged -- either expiring, or engaging in unusual behavior, during the descent of westbound Santa Fe trains from over 7,000 feet of elevation at Riordan, Arizona, to about 500 feet at Needles, California.

 

You're right, Rob.  It's likely that any employee who actually had to perform this task has passed on.  I would think that the low door on the front car would be the best place to remove a deceased passenger's remains, but, if the deceased expired in a car back in the train, carrying the remains through 2 or 3 cars would not be a good idea.  I'm sure that this Bulletin's purpose was to ensure that remains were not subjected to any indignity in the process of their removal, and especially that other passengers should not be subjected to a view of the remains being manhandled down the stairs. A local undertaker could, instead, move the remains (appropriately wrapped in a blanket) on a stretcher, to the end door.