Tales of the Jointed Track Part 4 in Tales of the Jointed Track

Miscellaneous Stuff .. I was still a machinist helper ... and soon I would be made an apprentice ... to be carded and part of the group. The workforce was aging and I was to be the replacement. Times on midnight were the same ... card and inspect the goats .. help with inspections... maybe to a piston Head liner assembly on a goat or an SD-9. Change brake shoes.. add water and add oil to locomotives ... Help Bob Brown...maybe change out some minor air valves ( Main reservoir pops or Main reservoir blow downs ... there is a difference ) Go underneath..and do the hanger bearings or help Bob add crater bags.. Maybe finish up some leftover work on the Amtrak E units on line one..

If it got dead and there wasn't much or anything to do ... The veterans scattered to their hiding places. The foreman knew where to get anybody, in case some thing came up. Me being new, Mr Gregg would say find someplace lemme know, stay off the radio,...Like I knew what to say..or what was going on. I always went to the lead unit on the Amtrak consist. Usually a former CB&Q E-8. The E-8's and 9's were 1500 HP / 1750 HP passenger locomotives.. They has 2 diesel engines ( V-12's ) and a steam generator for heat and air conditioning. Wow... sitting in the engineers seat... was semi dark...everything was pulled...(ie the battery switch ) the air had leaked off...The diesels were silent. The railroad radio was hard wired so it worked all the time unless the circuit breaker was down. I put the breaker up and listened to the road channel. Trains coming into the yard or leaving. Yardmaster issuing instructions, the 31st Street Operator, also directing traffic from Irondale into Denver. Every once in a while..you heard Rice yard to the south or the C&S train order operator at Prospect Jct.. So it was interesting ... you grabbed a lil shut eye, or ate lunch... Since I was the "KID" and basically new... I would be the first that Mr. Gregg would grab.. Which I didn't mind. It made the night go quick ...Hey I still was in the "newness" of railroading ... The roundhouse had smells of oil , grease, fuel...etc that was like nothing I had experienced. And although our senses get used to the smells ...even in my 40 years.. I'd get a whiff that would trigger memories and take me back....

I was told ...after my rest days ( those were your assigned days off )... I was to report on the day shift and start my machinist apprenticeship. So I was off the night shift... and starting a "new" Odyssey. My "Machinist" was Harold Drieth....now Harold liked to have fun, but was serious ...and I was sorta like Harold in personality ... and it lead to a good friendship, even after I left the mechanical ranks and went into engine service....with another railroad.

I reported ...I was introduced to Harold .. I was the KID or that Fucking Kid, hey that's the way it was...and I took no offense. We did inspections, or did incoming power..."freighters" is what they called 'em.. Or if assigned by the foreman...mechanical work..Head piston liner assemblies....main reservoirs...and associated change out... air brake work ...( change outs of air brake equipment brake valves ..control valves ...service portions...emergency portions ...pop off valves .(various) blow downs ...

Well as the day ... and my time with Harold went on ... I did most of the work ...he "supervised" and aided as I struggled. But I was doing the work ...and that's how you learned ... Days were different than nights ..( DUH!!) , meaning the work that was done etc.

They day crew got assigned by the Foreman, on what needed to be done that shift. Amtrak came in about 0700-0730 am and the power came to the house about 0900. You're probably wondering...what happened to the train ? Well the Denver and Rio Grande Western ( D&RGW) took over. This was the "independent" remains of the California Zephyr. While 98 percent of the nations freight carriers, turned over and sold passenger locomotives and cars to the Federal Government, the Rio Grande said later for that we will handle this portion. And they did ...for about 10 to 15 years and then dropped the passenger train from their operations. And for that matter, unless a derailment somewhere, caused a detour over the D&RGW, this was all Rio Grande Locomotives, cars and crews. If Amtrak had to detour, they supplied the train and the Rio Grande supplied the crews, which Amtrak paid for. The inbound cars that came in from Chicago .. some stayed over and a small train to Wyoming...then onto Salt Lake over the Union Pacific. That's another story in itself. That was a total Amtrak train, that met up with a connection at Borie Wyoming.... 10 miles west of Downtown Cheyenne.

We'd work the diesels, these were car body types, and the compressors.. The pipe fitters, would blow out the steam generators and clean the boilers... Once these were fueled and serviced, and the steam generators were shutdown...the hostlers moved them into line 3. When they were spotted, other maintenance and repairs were performed. If major repairs and other heavy work was needed, the unit would be cut and placed into one of the older roundhouse stalls. It was a learning experience and I relished coming into work each day. Harold had Monday and Tuesday off...so those were my off days as well. We also were partnered up with another Machinist Lyle Appleyard and his apprentice Jim Moscetti. Jim went on to be a foreman and then a General Foreman and Mechanical Superintendent with the BN and BNSF, after I left for engine service with the Santa Fe. Saturday and Sunday we did "grunt" work at the house finished up other work.. worked the inbound consists, Hooked up locomotive consists and did the locomotive Air brake test, after the hostlers assembled the power. It could be laid back or busier than hell, just depended on what was going on.

Lunch time.... Regardless of the days you worked ... the group I was with went to the old part of the roundhouse for lunch. I was pretty well light there, due to part of the wall having many panes of glass making up the outside structure...along with the brick. There was a picnic table that held about 4 or 5 people on each side ...and YOU being the low man ...took whatever seat was left ...and heaven help you if you sat in the wrong spot.. I sat wherever there was an open space... There were dead SD-9's and Amtrak E or F units getting major repairs, in the stalls. On the weekend Polka music blared from an ancient and well worn radio, tuned to KLAK 1530 am Brighton, Colorado. Seeing if they could get a 'rise" out of me, someone piped up "Whadda ya think of that music Kid"? I told 'em it wasn't nothing that I didn't hear at home when ,my mother listens to German Radio on Sundays. That kinda quieted them a little...and they said you'll fit in on this shift. The sparrows were always flying in and out of the house ... eating the sandwich crumbs left on the table, while you were eating .. Some would swear at the Pigeons, I got up moved em a bit and stomped my foot. They scattered...then I heard "Goddamn it Kid they'll be "F'in" feathers all over the place. LOL ...yeah there were.... It is odd as I write about these guys...the majority of them have all passed away. I was at the roundhouse, while I was doing the Trouble shooter's job in the summer of 2011, I was doing the night rotation, and there were some that were still around when I was in the shop. I asked about some of the old heads, and found out there was one left and he was quickly approaching 90 years of age. Whether you were in the shop, or working the section gangs or Train, Engine and Yard service, we always said. "We talk about the Old Heads, ... and NOW WE are them".

Working the inbound power ... We went back to work. was a sunny Sunday afternoon. All the doors of the Diesel shop were open. A drag had yarded its train, and the power was coming into line one for fuel and service. The hostler spotted the inbound crew for fuel, and after that was done the blue flags went up to protect all from movement. The bottom crew checked the bottoms and made marks for shoe change out or just taking up the brake travel. That would be done in the shop when they brought them in after fueling. We worked the tops, and left hood doors open, for those that required water or lube oil. The lead unit was a newer SD-40 ( CB&Q paint ) The SD-40 and later to be manufactured SD-40-2's were the NEW SIX AXLE power. V-16 diesel...a C-C wheel designation ( 3 traction motor wheel sets per truck ) 3000 HP. They also were a shorter car body, placed on an SD-45 frame. so it had porches on the front and rear of the locomotive. Also the hand brake was on the rear of the locomotive, on a tall stand with the brake wheel attached. So.. although smaller in stature, It looked like a ships wheel.

Well the blue flag came down, that 40 needed water and compressor oil, so I stayed on the locomotive... The rest headed into the house, and readied the hoses on the ramps. The Hostler rang the bell and whistled off and we started into the house. I was at the back near the handbrake. I saw the other machinist apprentice and as I passed I acted like a ships captain and the wheel... His machinist saw that and burst out laughing...well Harold really didn't see the humor ( he did but wasn't letting on ) and had a frumpy look stern hands on hips...He said "KID!!! are ya gonna F* around all day or get this job done" We worked the tops, the bottom people did their handiwork, and the consist was ushered out of the shop..and set over for the next assignment. The hostler changed ends for the eastbound move...and we were off to the next task.