Suprises and theTransition time ...Rice yard in Tales of the Jointed Track

I was the lead machinist at Rice yard now for all of 6 months ... Spring was coming ... It started to get warmer during the day. Although it cooled at night ( more so because we were in the Platte River valley ) ..But you could tell...you could wear a lighter jacket, but you better be prepared, if an impending storm reared its head. The routine was still the same... Work the in bounds ... cut and assemble power...make sure the goats were worked. We had a consist that was on the pit. It had extra power, and we were told what was going through and what was to be cut off, and reassigned. We had an F-45 that was to be cut off and held for an Ore extra..that was going to be run on arrival at Rice from the BN. The BN brought Taconite ore in from Hibbing,MN and then it came over to Rice Yard. They would have the carmen work the train...power went to the house, got serviced, and then the add on's were placed in. The crew was ordered ( Santa Fe ) and the train would head to the CF&I steel mill in Pueblo, CO.

We worked the consist and moved them forward to get to the other units and fuel them. The F-45 that was to be cut, was the rear unit, cab was facing south. I severed the air lines on my side, and cut the train-line..pulled the jumper cable and undid the handrail safety chains, between the coupled power. My helper did the same on the other side..I made it clear...while we are working the consist...to a laborer that knew how to hostle power. Cut the air into the unit.. its cut, and chains are down and move it to the run around. Clean the cab, because its going to be the lead. The other two..we'll work an make the cut on them..and add them after they're fueled.. Okay. Yeah no problem... so we start on the other motors..

.I guess the laborer lifted the pin, to uncouple...and the good old Art comes into the picture...and gets him to do some other stupid work.. The air leaks off.. I hear the air lines separate and a "pop" from the train line ... I look and no ones on the point giving signs for the move... and I see the whole crew... this is rolling on its own.. It about 2 car lengths from me and lumbering down the lead...SHIT!!!! I go at a gallop and catch the rear of the locomotive... its about 6 to 7 mph now...dark and heading for the yard lead and the west end. I opened the rear car body door and grabbed the emergency brake valve that just inside. KA POWWW as the air vented and I felt the unit start to brake to a halt..I left the valve open and rushed to the cab. yep the automatic brake valve was cut-out and the independent in trail... I secured the unit..and cut the air in... went back and closed the emergency brake valve... It had rolled away a good 5 car lengths, before it was stopped... We were lucky as well ... no switches were run through, nothing was shoving up the lead, and we were not in the foul of the yard. I ran the unit back short of the switch. made sure it was set...and I set the handbrake inside the car body. I cornered Art, and the laborer...I said see that motor there..."yeah.." well guess what it rolled off, and who lifted the pin and left it" ? "Well Art came and got me to let me know the Ore Train would be called for 600 am"..."Great and it 130 am now...Pull a pin don't cut the air in and leave it on its own... Just what we need, an audience with M.I. and Terminal Superintendent Floyd Smith...if it got away and struck something. Art...stuff like this is distracting...and 90 percent of the time, its not crisis mode. Find out what we are doing and if your instructions are conflicting..leaving us hanging out"... That move or at least getting the air into the unit took first priority.. The old dumb Art look...and I'm sure he'll squeal like a pig to M.I.

My mistake..and yes young and dumb..but I caught on quick... Anytime air was cut ......that unit had the air cut in and active ... and a handbrake if needed...and if I had to delay the job, to insure the moves were correct...that would be done ...and I had the "safety card" to play and facts to back it up..if called in for this or that. If Roger Bell was here, no problem... Art always a problem. In fact after I left for the Santa Fe in December of 1973, Art ran himself off the foreman's job...and went back into craft and retired 1 month later... A blessing for us all.

I was in a slow transition, I enjoyed the mechanical end , but I wanted to go into engine service. I inquired with the BN at the personnel department. I was told BN did not allow, or would not allow people to cross craft lines..period and if I wanted to go into engine service, I would have to quit and rehire ...and only if they accepted my application.. Ah the BN...that was rescinded, 5 years later...because they couldn't get enough people to work for them. They couldn't get people to transfer from train service into engine service etc...off the street was minimal at that time...The Santa Fe was in a crunch as well..

The Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe railway operated into Denver,CO... The " Joint Line" was a subdivision that shared track with the Rio Grande and both railroads had segments that each operated over. The C&S ( a BN subsidiary) had trackage rights but not crew rights, hence the Santa Fe crews operated both the BN/C&S and Santa Fe trains. The BN trains were returned back to the C&S at Pueblo, CO. Those crews took them to the next crew change at Trinidad, CO. There was a local that the Santa Fe had that ran Monday thru Saturday. It was on duty about 900 am each morning, and ran to Sedalia,CO and came back on the northbound track. There they switched the industries between Sedalia and Englewood,CO. Nels Andersen was the engineer and knew the Santa Fe Road Foreman, in Pueblo, pretty well. I asked Nels the next time he saw him to let him know I was interested and I would gladly meet with them. Crews and crew rights..Denver and Pueblo.

One of the day shift Machinists, left the C&S and hired out as a Fireman in engine service for the Santa Fe in April of 1973. Another left off the afternoon shift, and hired out as a Fireman in late October and I followed suit in December 13th of 1973. My roster spot as a locomotive fireman was number 22. There were at that time 18 engineers promoted and 12 of them held regular runs. Of the 6 guys older than me,in seniority, two came out of train service, one out of Pueblo Yard, 3 of us out of the shop craft off the BN and one was hired off the street in Pueblo. There were promoted engineers that couldn't hold a regular assignment, and they were fireman as well. As vacations and vacancies due to increased traffic, they were either called to make a round trip and then be placed back as a fireman on arrival and tie up Denver or awarded a pool turn. Turns were awarded by seniority and a "BID" to hold an engineer pool turn when they came available.

Why was the Santa Fe in a "crunch" with 12 pool turns? Increased business..due to traffic increases from the Coal in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. The grain traffic for domestic and import, due to big harvests and the then "Russian Grain Embargo". Trains were being held routinely for crew rest, and called as soon as a crew was available...That meant trainmen and engineers. Santa Fe was also hiring brakeman as well. Santa Fe like most Class 1 railroads had a full crew working all assignments, on the road and the yard. The crew consisted of the Conductor, a head and rear Brakeman, and an Engineer...plus a Fireman if available. In the yard, the engine crews were the same, but there was the Switch foreman, and two switchmen, which was a pin puller and a field man ( these were the 2 switchmen of the crew). They also were hiring in Pueblo, CO as well.

The trainmen were given the first opportunity,to transfer and go into engine service. This was per existing union agreements, then if no takers the railroad would look elsewhere. Roy, Bill and myself were part of the "elsewhere" category. I took the required entry physical, wrote the Santa Fe Book of Rules, turned that in and was allowed to mark up as a fireman on the fireman's pool board. Since we three, had prior railroad experience, we were not required to make student trips, before we were allowed to mark up. This was a division management decision and not ours. By the time I hired on with the Santa Fe, two of the new hire fireman had completed the training period, passed the tests, and check ride with the road foreman. They were then added to the bottom of the engineers roster, and would be able to be called as an engineer if needed. Otherwise they were working the fireman's board., or Pueblo Yard if they could hold or force assigned.

One of the guys was back in Topeka, KS taking the required bookwork and tests..and Roy was placed into the program working with the engineer and allowed to operate the controls and get experience. Bill would get into the program in early January.. I would soon follow, along with 2 more men, in late February. The program was 6 months in duration..you worked with the engineer, you were called with. The engineer, per agreement could allow you to operate the locomotive under his direction or not. Also the program called for you to be "assigned" to a certain engineer, but as short as they were for engineers...you got what you got. We had to make a certain amount of round trips, in a four month period and then, you were told to report to Topeka Kansas, for an intensive 6 weeks of simulation, air brake, train handling, book of rules and mechanical. Then you took the "BIG" written test and then grilled in an oral examination with the " 20 MUST KNOW" questions. You had to have an overall score of 90%, but if you screwed up those must knows, even one you failed the course. You were given a second chance to redeem yourself.. If you had other seniority, on the Santa Fe you were allowed to go back to that craft. We, coming from another railroad, would be let go. So that was an incentive as well.

Since we were at the mercy of who you worked with, you looked for the top notch engineers. These were seasoned guys...knew train handling, air braking, and were praised by the train crews who rode the caboose at that time. Then there was a group that did well, but were not in that "high" category and then there were the bad ones. Terrible train handlers and just got by..Those are the ones you avoided. I was called on December 14th 1972 as my first trip as a railroad fireman. EG Bethurum was the engineer ( he was one of those TOP NOTCH ones) ..Bill Swartz was the Conductor ( he was late 60's early 70's) and JM Kurtz was the rear brakeman..RV Hill the head brakeman. The train was the C&S symboled 152 ..AT&SF symboled J-1578-N2, for 1630 or 430 pm. Train 152 was the southbound continuation of the first Beer Run...out of Coors Brewery in Golden. It also had fill tonnage as needed, if it wasn't all beer. It always had at least 4 six axle locomotives and a minimum of 12,000 horse power. Tonnage was about 5000 to 6100 tons and usually 60 cars minimum. We took the power off the pit and made the double over from High 1 to Gas 4, the carmen inspected the train and made the Initial Terminal Air test. We left around 600-630 pm. I checked the power as we left, Rice Yard making sure they were loading properly. I did the same at South Denver, Little ton and topping the first grade at Wolhurst. As I got up at Sedalia to check Elvin grabbed my arm and said.."Sit down they are operating fine..if the speed isn't where it should be or we get a alarm bell...then go back. You can check the operation of the dynamic brakes as we get over the top at Palmer Lake". We topped Palmer Lake, around 900 pm..and the power was operating like it should..so about a 23 to 26 mph average speed up the grade..which is real good. I checked the dynamic brakes, and reported by radio on the last unit that they were all working properly. I heard the muffled whoosh as Elvin set the train air and bailed off the set for the locomotives. I headed back up to head end...

What is Dynamic braking ...??? The train brakes two ways... air brakes ...every car sets up and brakes... Dynamic brakes are on the locomotives only.. The lever on the control stand, is either set for power or dynamic brake on the transition lever...I could go into so much detail...but at this time I won't ) or you have the newer control stands with a separate throttle and dynamic braking handles ... So when in dynamic braking...this is a retarding brake ...NOT A TRAIN BRAKE !! The traction motors are set up as generators now...so as they spin they are producing electrical current...not taking current for power..so as we learned in physics and science in school..the faster the motor spins the more energy produced..and the slower the armature tries to spin..the electrical energy produced..is sent up to fan blown grids...to dissipate the current produced ( like a big toaster with 36 inch fans ) The dynamic brake is resistor controlled so you can regulate the current...Elvin told me the same thing again.. stay here unless there is a problem or an alarm bell. We got to about 12 miles north of Pueblo,CO and at Pinion we met a northbound on the fly..since it was double track from South Denver to Bragdon.

At Bragdon it became single track CTC...the Rio Grande split off at the crossover to Tapp siding and took their tracks into Pueblo.. We headed straight south and took our mainline to town. The dispatcher had us lined up with a High Green signal, and we called the yardmaster for instructions when we topped Bragdon Hill, three miles from the yard. We were lined into the yard ..down the High-line for Yard 11...we would leave the power on and the C&S crew would take over at the bottom end where the yard office was. As we took the Flashing Red "restricting signal" into the yard..a soft glow of the headlight of a northbound coming up the main at 18th street. Was a coal empty trading crews and the rear end was ready to get off and the outbound train crew ready to board ...That's why we were headed into the yard. The rear end would get picked up by the crew van.. They'd leave the waybills in the caboose along with the original written list out of Denver. The C&S rear end crew would roll the train by and board up out behind the office.. We tied up and I was said..we'll probably get out on 8 hours rest. We were off duty at 1130 pm, and Pueblo at that time, was boarded up after 700 pm. 7 / 11 was our meal stop. So an old rubbery sandwich..and a coke..we headed off to the old Downtown Motel..the home away from home. We all signed the sheet got the key to our rooms.

The crew caller would call here and give us our call when we were ordered out. I ate went to bed ..there was no TV stations on... just snow...did I say it was 1973 ..lol. at 530 the phone rang.. "Terry!!!! 151 at 0700 am.. I got up cleaned up a little, and was down in the lobby a bout a half hour later... Elvin was chomping at the bit..as always ..."We don't have time to get breakfast, because most of the places don't open till 630 am... so 7 /11 again... hey this was pre roller food...lol!!!! Coffee...a few dried out Hostess donuts.. a coke for the trip home. We arrived at the office...signed the register..got the train orders...

The speaker said.."Hey he's at the old depot, coming up the main". We traded off the head and rear end crews..as we were pulling by, I checked the power. I asked Elvin since we have six units, "how many ya want on line" ... " all of 'em if they are running". Okay I'll let ya know. I walked em...we had 120 cars..most were empties on the way back.. Had an old SD-9 heading back..for inspection and repair...low on water so I left it isolated...there was an old U-25-C that was dead in consist...was drained..and so it would remain...The rest were a mixture of SD-40's and SD-45's ... Tonnage was at 3800 to 4000 tons ..so these will walk the dog... I told Elvin what was on and not and headed up.. I got to the lead unit around 18th street... Highball we're on.. you have 15 loads 105 empties... 4582 tons...The signal at 29th Street was a High Green..and when we got to the crossing...He opened them up...The caboose was around the 20mph curve at Canon City Jct ( pronounced "canyon city" ) and we accelerated... we topped Bragdon Hill at 46 mph... we did about close to 60 across the flats to Fountain and to Colorado Springs ...All in all we were .. yard to yard in about 4 hours 45 minutes ...a good trip...We were on duty about 6 hours after yarding the train and taking the power to the house. I thanked the head end crew ... found out how many times out I was. I went home and got my rest and waited for my next call...