Quote:
Originally Posted by BackinBlackSS/RS
So how old were you when you worked for the railroad?
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Well, started for a shortline when I was 16 just on the weekends, mostly working in the shop, but did do some brakeman work around the yard when needed. Got my engineer's license right after I turned 18. We didn't have much for power... just a couple GE center cabs..... we had a 45 tonner that had no trainline brake, just the independent
. It could pull 10-15 cars.... but since it only had brakes on the locomotive... you couldn't stop more than 7 loads
. We found that out the hard way.... had about 9 loaded boxcars, I signal to stop... and he keeps on going (then I notice the wheels are locked and the cars are just pushing the locomotive)
. lol, ran up beside the last car, swung up and climbed up the ladder and tied down a handbrake.... and it stopped
. We interchanged with CSX, so we occasionally got something from them... get a pair of GP40's or a slugset on occasion. The CSX crews considered them garbage... but to us... they were high tech modern power!
