Discuss your Trainz adventures here!

[boyerm25]

Hi guys, interesting thread and posts here.
I worked for SAR , (South African Railways - some called it Sit and Rest jokingly but we worked hard ), SAR&H (South African Railways & Harbours ) and later Transnet for 38 years, starting my career as Blacksmith in 1968 , then Steam Fitter , then converted to Diesel Electric locomotives where I became Supervisor and thereafter Snr. Training Officer. Most of these 38 years I was involved in recovery work too as part of the crew and later supervisor on the team. I am on pension now ..
I relate to all these stories as I have been there and done that and I have stacks of stories to tell from all aspects to do with RRoads, all types of traction and rolling stock and dangerous goods and commodities, trained the guys on many types of recovery equipment like dozers, loaders, rail cranes . I can thank God too that I am still around to tell stories to those that are interested
I have also had opportunities to ride in many cabs of many all of locomotives, steam , diesel and electric, and also to drive all of them ( illegally of course ). Never alone though, except on night shifts when the bigshots are not around There was a shortage of diesel and electric assistants at one stage and the maintenace staff could work overtime to fill in the gaps as drivers assistants after some minimum training and i was one of the lucky ones too , that is another story..
I still have flashes of dead people and children that were killed in horrific accidents and derailments, ( 80% human error I would say ) which was the worst part of the job and which I do not like talking about just for the sake of talking.
If you's are bored I can tell some stories here from picking up whales that fell off their trucks to what it feels like to drive a train the first time without any training but I don't want to be boring .
Cheers

I'd like to hear some - sounds really interesting!

 

[AMTRAKwannabe]

A new story to bring up, Bridge 38 over Turtle Creek on the A&SE.

Bridge 38 was set for demolition by the State of Alabama and the A&SE, they were scheduled three weeks apart, A&SE first. The A&SE was rebuilding it so they could access a lumber mill that had re-opened after 56 years. It was scheduled to take a week but an switch threw a train into the creek and delayed it a week, so after the bridge was built it saw 2 trains a week, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday. The state was demolishing the bridge on Wednesday. So the day arrives and the crew comes armed with TNT. They said the bridge looked new but they were under strict orders to get rid of the bridge. So they blew it up. Come Thursday the local comes and radios MoW, who call corporate. Nobody knew anything about it, so they asked some locals. They said the state came and blew it up. The A&SE sued the state and won, the state destroyed private property without permission. The state funded the new bridge and the A&SE crews built it. Now there are three sets of abutments side by side and one set has a bridge.

 

[ns1997]

Couldn't they just use the 2nd pilling ?? :wave:

 

[Southern1581]

Hmm, I don't remember us winning that lawsuit, all I remember is cringing at my wallet pains. Jk Just got a memo saying the state will be reimbursing me for the bridge costs. Whew! Actually there is something on the other two sets of pilings, the original set is now a part of a rails to trails program, so it's a pedestrian bridge, and the second set has a walkway bridging off of the first set, which leads to the train watching platform that was built on the second set. It's actually a pretty nice platform, the railings are very nice, the deck is made out of recycled railroad ties, with a few coats of sealant on top to protect it and make it look nice, and they have an awning, a few benches, and some snack/soda machines. There's even talk of putting up a stand on it selling cheap cameras. Very nice place, Conrailfan's been a few times, got some nice action. A lot of the branch lines are getting pretty busy thanks to the approaching winter, I wanna say that the Greenwood Branch had at least 5 extras on it, well, around 5 scheduled at least, probably a few extra since you went without your switchers for a day. Also, you should be getting a few GP29-3's down there soon, we'll be running extra locals there too.

 

[AMTRAKwannabe]

Couldn't they just use the 2nd pilling ?? :wave:

They blew up the second one, it was unstable.

@Southern1581, WE HAVE GP29-3'S!!!!!!!!!!! How come I've been getting those old SD39A-1's with slugs?

 

[jjanmarine3]

I'd like to hear some - sounds really interesting!

I wonder how many trainzers know what it is like to work in a steam depot doing maintenance to steam locomotives, all types and sizes.
Nothing is easy to do - the tools are all heavy, you have to be fit, you start of as a low life apprentice who is not allowed to even look too long at an artisan , let alone just walk up and talk to him ( no ladies in those days there ) . You call them 'sir's' and you keep quiet untill spoken to. If you are lucky and the older appies like you, they will warn you beforehand about all the do's and don'ts, otherwise you learn the hard way.
First off there is the process of all the 1st year appies getting welcomed into the steam crowd, you are grabbed by rough sandpaper hands , stripped and oiled with thick green valve oil , thrown into the water treatment dam , ( which was stopped after one of the appies foot got stuck in the airation pipes in the bottom of the dam ) whether you can swim or not , then you wait for permission to go wash yourself off with parraffin and have a shower .
Then there is the filing school, where you get given a piece of bare metal , 2lb hammar and chisel, and told to make a neat radius block out of it. You mark it off , stick it in the vice and start chipping away till it is close to the marks, then you file the rest till it is size. Heaven help you if you have not used a hammar and chisel before , you mess up, you get a clip along the earhole with a sharkskin caloused hand and another block of steel and you start again , sore hands and all.
After that, you make t-blocks , calipers and all sorts of shapes and sizes, because you are going to make things that fit when nescessary , not just fit new parts . You learn in a month or two how to work with your hands and use the correct tools to be a good fitter anywhere, and you know what discipline means, I got one fine - R4.00 if I remember correctly, and my first year salary was R45.00 per month - for coming late .
When the tutor is away, the mouse are at play, so the appies start messing around, for instance you play cricket using a large file for a bat and a piece of chalk for a ball, and the file flies out the handle and hits me in the head, lucky only a few stiches because it hit me with the blunt end. So you get hauled in front of the Locomotive Depot Foreman and I get my first warning for playing the fool on the job.
Then you get sent to the toolstore to go fetch a long wait and a packet of vacuum, and get told to go wait in the corner ..and get trouble because you have been away so long and being so stupid...
In another story I will tell you how it was working in the depot itself and on steam locomotives.

 

[Southern1581]

They blew up the second one, it was unstable.

@Southern1581, WE HAVE GP29-3'S!!!!!!!!!!! How come I've been getting those old SD39A-1's with slugs?

No clue, seeing how those SD39/slug pairs are supposed to be for yard work. I've actually had the GP29's sitting around for a while, I'll hopefully get them up on the DLS soon.

 

[Southern1581]

I was riding back into Autumnville in SW1500 1650, I'd just picked up 4 cars from Oak Grove, and after dropping a boxcar off at Brierwood I was heading home light with 3 hoppers. I slow up and head towards the East Yard via the South Yard ladder. To get to track 5 in the East Yard I had to clear 22 cars off of the yard ladder, clear another 28 from the number 12 track in the South Yard which was supposed to be empty, remove 13 cars from the track connecting the South and East Yards, remove 5 cars from the old Autumnville Shops, which were abandoned in 1993 and haven't had upkeep since, so those cars were on precarious tracks. Then I cleared another string of 46 cars off of the number 3 East track, which was supposed to be empty, and then clear out the number 5 East track which had a string of 32 cars on it, then I had to take all of that crap down to the Central Yard and make room for it there, all so I could park my 3 hoppers on the number 5 East track. Then I had to clear another 5 strings of cars to get to the engine storage tracks because 1650 was on day 91 of her 92 days.

Bentrain has obviously made a visit recently. I'm going to get him for this mess. He thinks he can escape, but he can't, he won't make it past Birmingham before somebody catches him, he'll be lucky to make it past Cheaha Summit though.

I'ma coming for ya Bentrain!

 

[bentrain14]

Ok, so I got out of Birmingham alive against this misunderstanding. Yes I made a visit, no i did not rn any trains. Our meetings were longer than than last time, and I was not in the safest condition for train operations. I dont have a clue wo could have messed this one up. Btw, we worked out a lease for RAFT. Ill have some units bearing the RAFT logo in Alabama in a few weeks, once we work out some more trackage rights.

 

[Southern1581]

Ok sorry about that, just pulled the cab cam out of today's yard switcher, which was GP40X 4044. You are partly responsible for this mess, as we caught you prior to wannabe's shift putting black paint inside his sunglasses...again. Where are we standing on trackage rights? Last I heard of it we had you with trackage rights on the northern 125 miles of the Atlantic Division, and trackage rights into Chattanooga, mostly Chattanooga Yard for interchange purposes. And you might have some rights on the Georgia Division too, I'll have to check my notes.

 

[AMTRAKwannabe]

Ok sorry about that, just pulled the cab cam out of today's yard switcher, which was GP40X 4044. You are partly responsible for this mess, as we caught you prior to wannabe's shift putting black paint inside his sunglasses...again.

I knew something wasn't right!

 

[Southern1581]

It's ok, your next pair of sunglasses is on Ben. I'm sending him off to find an expensive pair for ya. In the mean time I'll be busy trying to Ben-proof the 4044. And I may or may not make a raid on his black paint supply.

 

[AMTRAKwannabe]

I'll get him his next time in Greenwood, triple yard shifts and slow orders. :hehe:

 

[Southern1581]

No, let's keep him away from yards for a while please! Because the next day you'll have ten bucketloads of paint remover trying to get rid of the black paint he put all over the inside and outside of your GP29-3's windows. In fact, let's keep him off the South District for a while. Ben, should you choose to come back for another work day, you'll be assigned a train going northbound from Decatur. The crews are pretty nice, but pull a stupid prank and they'll beat the **** out of you. And if you're considering running from them as an option, the average worker up there runs a 4.720 40 m, most of them drive like it's a nascar race every day, and a handful are ex-USAF who still have their pilot's licence up to date. There is NOWHERE to hide up there!

 

[AMTRAKwannabe]

Well, I'm on the Southern end but I've still got pilot's license.

 

[Southern1581]

I'm aware, but those guys have friends that could get them in the cockpit of a F-15 at the drop of a hat.

 

[Southern1581]

Hey have you been working on your route any lately? I've been swamped with trying to get these SW1500's sorted out and haven't been able to do anything with mine. Have you ever had the pleasure of rebuilding a SW1500 control stand? Well, I'm getting that opportunity, they were in bad shape, but then someone pulled an entire lever off the thing trying to set the brakes so we've finally been forced to rebuild them. They'll look like champs when they're done though.

 

[AMTRAKwannabe]

I've been trying to figure out TranzDEM for two days now, although there are some yet to be seen areas and some rebuilds... Bridge 38... Also added bridge 39, a warren truss.

 

[Southern1581]

Is TranzDEM really necessary for a route that small? Your making the Greenwood Branch, which really isn't that big.

 

[AMTRAKwannabe]

For my Alaska RR project, it's almost 500 miles I think...