CSSHEGEWISCHNote to tree: you sound like you've watched Tom Skilling on WGN. He mentions the change of meteorological seasons at the appropriate times.
That came out of our local NWS office (Buffalo).
MC - Engineer for us involves the same thing every trip - speed limit north to the "North Pole," then returning at reduced speed dependent on how long the Big Guys take to visit all the passengers. Some are quick, some are slow, but they're getting better. Haven't made a "caribou stop" in the Utica Marsh in quite a while.
For on-board crew (conductors, brakemen) the big thing is tracking the Big Guy's progress so the conductor can advise the southbound engineer as to speed. It's also a chance to schmooze with the passengers - my standard question is "where's home." It's amazing how far some people travel to ride the train (I had some visiting family from Houston a week or two back). Otherwise, the crew isn't really involved with the "show." That's up to the mostly teens we hire for the purpose. And we have staff on-board as well.
We added an extra night late in the game this year, so I'll be headed there Tuesday night. Saturday I was conductor - we had 544 riders on both trips - an odd coincidence. That brings us to 44 trips this year.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Well, the last night of Polar is in the books. Apparently these two added trips sold out within a day or two of being available.
First trip had something like 504 passengers, the second 540.
Didn't see many of them, as I was in the northbound locomotive.
Many sighs of relief...
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