Brakeshoe Bob ⋅ 72 ⋅
I am a retired Railroad Locomotive Engineer. I hired out with the BN in September of 72 as a machinist and went with the Santa Fe in engine service in 1973 as a Locomotive Fireman. I was promoted to Locomotive Engineer in July 1974. I retired in September 2012 after 40 years. During the period I ran the Joint-Line (Denver to Pueblo,CO) and the Interdivisional between Denver and La Junta, CO. I had almost 8 years in management with the Santa Fe and BNSF.
Entries 464
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I am helping this woman on Tuesdays, with her vending machine route. It takes about 6 hours, barring problems to finish. I arrive about 545 am at her house, load up, and 45 minutes later we're ...
Power Desk 1998 Tim Bryant, Bakersfield, CA in Tales of the Jointed Track
I am in management with the BNSF. I did power ( locomotive utilization) with the former Santa Fe, in Schaumberg, IL and I am doing it here in the NOC at Ft Worth, TX. Night rotation Ft Wor...
Tim was an odd duck. He and his brother were from Arkansas, directly across from Memphis, TN. Tim was, well Tim, his brother Billy Ray was completely the opposite. This is a vignette that I re...
Loveland Pass, CO 11,990 feet in Misc. Thoughts opinions, the whole trash can.
I’d thought I’d share a few cell phone pictures of The Continental Divide. This is coming back from the Beer n Bluegrass festival at Keystone, CO . Ever thought of why it is called the Continent...
Christmas of 1989 Q-DVKC at Big Lift in Tales of the Jointed Track
This was my rotation, I was scheduled to work down on December 23rd and we will dead head home for Christmas eve. I will get called out about 600 pm Christmas day, via another dead head for rest...
How can I contain my emotions on this, because the “era” I hired out with is gone. I am 62 and I am the last survivor of this whole crew. I have been retired now for almost 2 years. Like I h...
Note *This is an entry that I either did not save, on OD or was deleted prior. Monument / Palmer Lake, CO The times they are a chang'in as Bob Dylan would say. The single track has become a ...
I took a walk this morning and about 600 am the sun was starting to break over the horizon. The path I took wound around the Barn at the Highlands Ranch historic Park. This is a working ranc...
A train passes by you. The locomotives blast by, and car after car passes. This thing ever going to end ? The the last car with an odd looking device on the draw bar ( the ETD) or a locomot...
The phone rings around 800 am on a fall morning. It's chilly, but will warm to near summer temperatures, and plummet when the sun sets. I take the 930 am call and ask who the crew is. I am to...
Troubleshooters job..Spring of 2012 in Tales of the Jointed Track
I was working the the "Mentor" troubleshooters job on the 730 am to 730 pm side of the equation. Spring, depending on where you live and be many things. Warming weather, the rain shower, sev...
The new trainmaster Pueblo yard 2009 in Tales of the Jointed Track
Wow… they are getting young. They also are clueless, and if they don’t get their asses chewed out by upper Division management, the crews can have their way with them. That’s when you lose contr...
Red Ball Freights: A Red Ball freight is a train that is hot. It is a priority, or can become one . Can haul freight, many commodities that need to be expedited. Or the shipper wants that. ...
I was a starting high school senior in 1970, and my grandfather had and did not survive aneurism surgery. He was 78 at the time, a tough ol bird, but life and our "time" is what it is. My Au...
Railroads in general, you see them, you curse them when held at a railroad crossing. I have been there, mostly on the "railroad" end of the equation. How many people have you met that are act...
Route 59 Bud's in Misc. Thoughts opinions, the whole trash can.
Bud's was family type place, but it was an odd entity unto itself. Near the Fox Valley Mall, it was considered Aurora, Illinois, but that was the far eastern limits. Naperville was the other sid...
Q-Trains Big Lift, CO in Tales of the Jointed Track
The Santa Fe is going big time here, to capture the Denver Intermodal market share. These will operate on time, and with dedicated assigned crews. The bids were out for Train and Engine crews. ...
We landed at Chicago Midway Airport on Friday afternoon. The bags were picked up, and off for the rental car. That picked up, off to Oakbrook,IL, and to the hotel. This now in rush hour traffi...
The early GE's were a bane of design. The heavy electrical, busses and contactors were outside in the under cab part of the locomotive. These had clasps, like a button, that operated a sprin...
Gallup Subdivision..05/17/2014 in Tales of the Jointed Track
Yes I am still retired. I am helping move some good friends that we will miss, back to Phoenix. They have the "PODS" picked up, and have the rest of the "necessities", needed till they find a p...
Although I never worked for the CP, this is basically 99 percent the same. Will give you a general idea, what I am talking about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hN0...
Unloading was always a unique proposition. I had the front row seat, working with two sides of unloading. Two individuals were designated as the primary contacts, for the movement and unloading...
You may have seen these odd looking trains, if you live near, or cross a railroad mainline, from time to time. http://www.wsorrailroad.com/projects/anderson1.jpg They are tiered, trains carryin...
The Sedalia Turn Part 2 in Tales of the Jointed Track
I was called on another Sedalia turn. It's another great morning, and I'll be home in maybe 8 hours, a "date" maybe. Same old stuff, Western Aspen, the plastic people ( they made trash bags ) ...
The Sedalia Turn Part 1 in Tales of the Jointed Track
A turn in railroad parlance is you go out from Point A to Point B an return to Point A. We left Rice yard at Denver went to Sedalia,CO, crossed over to the northbound mainline and returned. We...
