Christmas on the rails 1973-2012 part-1 in Tales of the Jointed Track

How can I begin? How was traffic vs you working, vs crew base ?
A few things I remember:

Christmas 1975:
I caught a Comanche Coal Train an AA-062 on the BN side, an J-CCE-3-24 on the Santa Fe end.
I was called off the fireman’s board, as engineer to work. Call taken, with crude RCE’s still on the BN. Days are numbered here due to failures. They resurrected themselves, briefly in Ore Train service, LOL, I caught those as well. The trip was nondescript, till near Johns-Manville road crossing, which was 3 miles from Pueblo. The alarm sounded. I called the Yardmaster, and said, “Past Johns-Manville, with an alarm on the RCE’s. Will stay and reset and/or help the C&S crew”. “Down the Main, Change out front, C&S crew says, they’ll deal with it at the Plant”. I watched the RCE’s past, with the C&S rear-end crew, to make sure nothing was dragging, or locked up. A C&S SD-40-2 900 series, and 3 months off the erecting floor, was dead. The Conductor said they found a unit dead, and the head end said, they would take care of it at the Comanche. Okay..
I tied up. Pueblo, CO at this time, is a ghost town. 99.44/100 of the Bars are even shut down. I was to be out on rest. No Crew caller, No nothing. Call the Yardmaster on duty for instructions. The tie up time was 900 am. The Train crew drove back to Denver. Me, well the Downtown Motel, I was probably the only person there. I woke up about 500 pm. I dressed quickly and the restaurant at the Best Western was open till 600 pm. I got a meal, and went back across the street to the Downtown. I called the Yardmaster and was told show up at 700 pm. Well, I showed up. There were pre-printed Train-orders, with a Clearance Card. LOL We had running rights, Bragdon to Crews. From Crews, we are CTC and need a train order, or verbal authority to operate Palmer Lake to South Denver. Well verbal authority, was our operational running order. We had the slow orders, so South Denver bound. The C&S 900 series unit had a catastrophic failure, it went back to EMD who repaired it under warranty.
1 mile or one minute, whatever comes first. LOL Kidding.

Christmas Blizzard 1982

I got called out on Christmas-eve for an 100 pm call. It was a Comanche coal train again. December 24th, and there is a bright blue sky and 61 degrees. I have my winter coat, with me, because the nights are between 18 and 20 degrees, till the sun comes up.

I am following Tommy Parker, who is on a load ahead of me. Ron Gaer, is called behind me, about 30 minutes later, on another load. We did well getting over the road, and tied up about 900 pm in Pueblo. We’ll be out on rest, Tommy Parker caught the Comanche I brought down, back to Denver, on duty at 550 am. I was called for a Houston empty around 630 am. Ron Gaer, was on another empty, about 45 minutes behind.

Crew calling, now is handled by the Santa Fe, system wide out of Topeka, KS, when we are called out of Pueblo. The BN, still calls us, along with the BN and C&S crews out of Denver. The forecast was, there was to be snow, in and around the Denver Metro area for Christmas day. I didn’t watch the weather or news before going to bed at the Motel. I was pretty well beat, due to getting out on 10 hours rest, in Denver. I managed to get some dinner, prior to my Denver call.

The restraunt at the Best Western across the street doesn’t open until 600 am. SO GAG!! it is the EM Christmas and Sons dive 2 blocks from the Hotel. Yes, the last name was Christmas, so how appropriate. LOL Funny thing, I don’t how they hired their cooks, but these guys couldn’t fix a sandwich. Ham and Eggs, hash browns and toast, well ham was over cooked and tough. The basted eggs came out over hard. Hash browns crispy, with enough grease you could lube your car. Toast was soggy. Thats why ya don’t eat there unless you had no other choice and were hungry. What can ya expect for $ 4.50 and tip. These were not Courdon Bleu trained chefs :P

The sky is cloudy in Pueblo, and the temperature, will be dropping, the further north we go. At Crews, we caught Tom’s block. The DS called Tom and said stop at Springs, get something to eat and take with you call me when you are ready to depart, and you’ll get a warrant. I was told to do the same thing, so 7-ELVEN, will be the next gourmet stop. Tom is lined up the main and me up the siding. The rear end crew is getting on the caboose, and the DS is toned for a warrant. We stop, and gather our meal. Coffee, a couple of Hot Dogs, some Beefaroni, and a Can of Skoal. Pull up for the caboose, and let them get their supplies. We still don’t know what is going on. The snow is starting, it is light, but will get more intense, by the time we stop at our resting place. The Academy Siding, which is about 7 miles, north and the next Timetable station up.

The rear end is on and the DS is toned up. Tom was lined northward to Denver. We are told, Academy, until Denver can take us. Ron is told 7-ELVEN and hold at the north end of Colorado Springs. At the Academy is is snowing and blowing. Drifts are forming and I am just under the overpass, and two cars from the Block signal for the siding. I cannot see it at times. I have a scanner, that is programmable. We found out Denver was socked in by a blizzard with about 4 feet of snow. They are socked in. Many newspapers read and cross word puzzles worked. The Springs is socked in as well.

We were picked up 18 hours later, with a Caboose hop, three cabooses and three GP-39-2’s. We made it as far as C&S Crossing, and hiked in. I got home 10 hours later, and parked 2 blocks from home and hiked in. The phone rang as I got into the Condo. A call for work..lol it took me almost 8 hours to get home, which is usually a 30 minute drive. I refused call, and said I’d keep them posted to when I could get out again.

Last updated January 06, 2019