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Odd encounters with non-railfans
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I was always warry of people on the train that wanted to talk railroading with me. One was a lady that had to go on and on about how she took the train to Florida when she was a child when she was living in Chicago. She insisted that she rode the Wabash because,"That's what it said on the side of the car." Then there was a guy who stated, "My father has the last Santa Fe in Kansas," whatever that meant. But as an old friend of mine once said,"You have to let 'em wallow in their ignorance." You really have to listen patiently and understand they know not of what they speak. If possible take the approach of being a patient teacher when trying to explain further. I agree with CSX Engineer. The outside world just has no exposure to railroading at all anymore, and people have no idea. <br /> <br />OF TRAINS AND FOOD DELIVERIES....Nothing new where I come from. On the CNW, when I was a fireman, there was a pizza joint in Park Ridge, right next to the westbound suburban platform. We could call them from the Glass House at the Chicago depot and have a delivery guy right there on the platform with the pizza upon our arrival. On the South Shore Line there was an entire network developed over the years where food joints would make deliveries. Both Michigan City and Miller had rib houses that were close to the platforms. Calls from Randolph Street insured prompt service. The age of cell phones made this process very efficient. We could depend on the weekend dispatcher to arrange pizzas in Michigan City. The pizza guy came to the Shops, and the dispatcher walked over to the main line and "hooped" the pizza up as we passed. <br /> <br />OF CAB CAR MIS-DOINGS. Once, when I was in train service on the MIlwaukee Road, we were coming eastward (south) at West Lake Forest, on a suburban train, with a cab car in the lead on a 2 car train. Snow piled on the main from freshly plowed snow at the grade crossing was high enough to cause the knuckles to part between the 2 cars and we came in two with the cab car rolling a little farther than the coach and power. The conductor stepped off the cab car and saw we were in two. He turned to the engineer in the cab car and gave a big back up signal. He never lived that down. <br /> <br />Mitch
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