On many of the former USSR's less modernized lines, rail traffic is still governed by flags at stations and yard limits. The wooden stairway in the foreground reached a platform on my left where a switchman could pass signals, between the rest of the crew working the lead and the engineer around a left hand curve behind me. There had been talk of saving the old depot, but one night a mysterious fire eliminated that possibility. Above the fourth car behind the BN6137, hiding behind the budding cottonwoods, can be seen the CB&Q's two story depot (with the second floor once used for living quarters for the operator/agent.) It was neatly kept in white side shingles with green trim. The whole yard can be seen in this shot, but beyond the Hwy26 overpass in the far distance is the beginning of the new yard with tracks of adequate length. The BN's Orin line had only been recently completed and there are signs of the beginnings of construction to convert the CB&Q yard into one that would accomodate the coal trains. I think we shot two similar SD40-2s around Minnesota in the 6300-series.Īrriving at the west end of the BN's yard, 103 and its homely hack cooled their wheels while SD9 6137 sorted out cars, probably including the outbound train for Colorado & Wyoming to take back to Sunrise ore mine. This lead C30-7 I believe had one of kind paint for a GE on the BN roster. These coal loads would change crews and head south down the K-Line towards West Quincy. Here BN 55 squeal eastbound around the corner and towards a crew change at the Burlington depot back in August 1995. The C30-7s and U30Cs seemed to even outnumber the deuces on the coal trains. There weren't SD40-2s on every train like it seemed to be back home in Minnesota around Northown. I especially enjoyed shooting BN and early BNSF in Burlington as it seems down there the motive power variety was a little better than up north. BN closed his yard and although he wasn't a fan prior, this sealed the deal.Įven though BN wasn't #1 on my list, I never had that kind of animosity towards it. He could have moved to Galesburg and bumped a YM there, but he chose to retire. His time on the railroad ended when BN closed the yard office closed here. By the time he retired in the early 1980s he was a BN Yardmaster. He hired out in 1949 a switchtender on the CB&Q in Burlington, but he would spend most of his years as a switchman, many times working the overnight Q mail/passenger trains. That is what my grandpa ALWAYS called the BN when he talked about the railroad. The "Big Nothing" is what comes to mind when I look at the BN pictures I took in Burlington, IA, visiting the grandparents in the 1990s. Yorkshire ~, Rayne and PetitChat (139, 246, 2969) - Moderate The train they call the Miners Silver Ghost. It's the train they call the Miners Silver Ghost. It's a high and lonely wail and searching up and down the mountain It's from mountain slides where many men're lost It was steaming for the caving there were men needed savingīut it missed the curve in trestle near the mine.Īnd every now and then you'll hear a whistle on the wind Now I heard the story how an engine went to glory Like a mother who was looking for her son. Then she vanished up the track by the lonely switchman shack Then I recognized the train by the number and the name The headlight switchin' wide searchin' all the mountain sideīut the only sound she's making it's a wail. Lord, she's coming now I see her round the bend and straight at meĪnd her ballet is glowin' red as coal in hell Then the telegraph again there's a caving in the mineĪnd the hundred men have buried neath the ground. She was poundin' down below I could hear her whistle blowĪnd I thought Lord that's a high and mournful sound Maybe I could spot her headlight in the rain. The train was on its way headed up to mountain gradeĪt the other switch they tried to put her on the mountain sideīut she kept on coming up the mountain gradeīut I quickly dowse the light to try to see into the night
The railway switchman code#
Then much to my surprise the telegraph jumped in the lightĪs I read the code I thought could this be true The storms were pretty bad and the telephone was deadīut it was just eleven hours till the dawn. Oh my switchman shack of mine post on the mountain On a cold and rainy night I was sittin' in the light
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