John Scott .. Santa Fe Engineer Partner Locomotive utilization in Tales of the Jointed Track

Okay, what do I say about this one. John is off the Winslow, AZ part of the Santa Fe. We did crew planning. He was two weeks into the power desk, before I joined that team. John was serious, but didn’t think fast sometimes. We traded off the day and night rotations, not only on the Santa Fe but BNSF on the South Central desk in Ft. Worth. He told me before he retired, that he was thankful that I was his partner in the Locomotive Utilization Team, both Santa Fe and BNSF. John wanted to retire at 55 years of age, he had the service, and he did.

Dave Lackey is my regular “Eastern Chief Dispatcher”, or on the Santa Fe the Eastern MCO ( Manager of Corridor Operations). We have merged at this time with the BN and soon we’ll all be one happy family in Ft. Worth, Texas.

Our home sold in Naperville, IL quicker than we thought. My wife had an associate with her company, who was selling a home, but wasn’t closing till late August. We rented that space in Glen Ellyn, IL. We made a couple of house hunting trips, and settled into Southlake, TX. I told John, I’ll take the night rotation, my two last nights and his night rotation in between. I said talk to your wife this will help me out, and you can get your house hunting trips in. I can make sure the kids are off and delivered, and I know they are home till the wife shows up, 20 minutes later.

June 1997 Night rotation

Kieth Carnes is the MCO I am working with. I like Kieth, but he can be an asshole. He knows I work with Dave and our relationship. I don’t think he approves, so I lay low. The trick DS’s, rib me a lot. Hey with Dave and me on nights is low key, and we keep the morale up. The job is done and completed. Problems are overcome, and some fun can come into play. Kieth…structured and ain’t happening. I respected that, and no “Shaving Cream” singing at 500 am..

Kieth says here is some gum if you want it. Thanks…:) I still chew SKOAL at this period in time… Yes my bad. I get wiffs of Wintergreen, and Pavlov’s Dog…sorry chew free for 15 years. The gum sits on the partition. John shows up, for his shift at 700 am, and grabs a piece of gum. Dave Lackey, my regular Chief has been there for 30 minutes.

I am ready for the turn over. I usually, because 12 hours of chew breath is not good. I always had gum, Doublemint or spearmint, to ease the “pain”. John always grabs some, and I really don’t care. He grabbed this though, and how after 12 hours of “stuff”, I thought of this.

I waited and he’s chewing a couple of sticks. We do the turnover. I said, “Hey where did ya get that gum?” “Always where you left it, sorry”. “No problem, was it here?, on the partition?” “Yeah” He’s grinning. Oh the kill. “Kieth tried to get me to chew that, it was trick gum. Will turn your teeth and tongue black”. John pales a bit and we do the turnover. Dave Lackey, wow, are we tuned into each other..LOL. I wink and he’s in on this too.

I finish off and leave to return the next night. I’ll trade off with John, and nothing is said about the gum. The shift completes, and Dave shows up as usual. “You pulled off a good one. Ol Liberty ( he called John.. Liberty Valance from the movie) he fell for that. When you left, he blasted into the men’s restroom. I followed later, and he was inspecting his teeth and mouth for blackness. He said I was in on that”. “Really, after I just though of it, He’s an easy mark”. We get a good laugh. John shows up for the turnover. “I can’t trust you both for anything”. Bad ol rails .... It was just Plain Ol Gum !!!

Last updated October 28, 2014