Ballast

[nkalanaga]

My father was the night shift retarder operator in Pasco through much of the 60s and into the 70s, until he retired (medical disability).  The last few years he worked, the first years of the of BN, I spent a few nights with him.  I didn't have a drivers license, but he wanted someone there"just in case".  He never had any problems.  We think most of his "issues" were stress-related, due to the new computer system.  To his dying day he hated computers!

The new Pasco Yard was built in the early 50s, so you probably visited when it was new.  The old yard was in downtown Pasco, between the river and about where the Amtrak station is now.  It was a flat yard, and far too small for post-war needs.

The term "Termination Winds" came about during the construction of Hanford.  They had workers from across the country, and when the winds would blow, many of them packed up and left, terminating their employment.  "When the going gets tough, the smart get gone"!  The rest stayed and built the Tri-Cities.  That song is a fairly accurate description.

[signalmaintainer]

My father was the night shift retarder operator in Pasco through much of the 60s and into the 70s, until he retired (medical disability).  The last few years he worked, the first years of the of BN, I spent a few nights with him.  I didn't have a drivers license, but he wanted someone there"just in case".  He never had any problems.  We think most of his "issues" were stress-related, due to the new computer system.  To his dying day he hated computers!

The new Pasco Yard was built in the early 50s, so you probably visited when it was new.  The old yard was in downtown Pasco, between the river and about where the Amtrak station is now.  It was a flat yard, and far too small for post-war needs.

The term "Termination Winds" came about during the construction of Hanford.  They had workers from across the country, and when the winds would blow, many of them packed up and left, terminating their employment.  "When the going gets tough, the smart get gone"!  The rest stayed and built the Tri-Cities.  That song is a fairly accurate description.

My grandparents were among the first to move into a new mobile home park on the rise just west of the newer Pasco yard. As a kid in the late '60s and '70s during the summer, we'd sleep out on the porch, and I could hear the slack run in and out, the couplers banging, the rumble and burble of NP and SP&S power, and later came the BN.

Then we moved to Oregon in 1972 (Battelle was paying for Dad to finish his BS degree at OSU), and it mostly SP and BN on the old Oregon Electric.

You guys remember the old two-lane "Kennewick Bridge," and the "new" Blue Bridge? And the UP branch that went towards Hanford?

[John]

Amazing the things you learn in a "ballast" thread

[signalmaintainer]

Amazing the things you learn in a "ballast" thread

I think that's subtle hint. ...

[John]

I think that's subtle hint. ...

Nope:)

[nkalanaga]

Oh yes, that UP branch still goes to Hanford, although it's no longer UP.  I have no idea who runs it now.

I grew up in North Side Trailer Court, on 4th street, just north of Court street.  It also dated from the Hanford era, and showed it.  The lots were 20x40 feet, and our first two trailers fit in one.  When I was 12 we bought a 12x64, that had to be parked diagonally, like most newer trailers were.  The Court's still there, but doesn't look anything like when we lived there.  A lot neater, and cleaner, but doesn't look nearly as "kid friendly"!

We could hear the retarders squeal, and the other yard noises.  When the weather conditions were right, we could hear trains climbing Badger Canyon, west of Kennewick, on their way to Yakima and Tacoma.  I could see the trains through a gap in the buildings in Navy Homes, where Ruby St should have been.  At the time, Ruby was the front row of the trailer court, one block long, and still dirt.  The city would gravel it every few years, but the gravel sank into the sand, so it was usually just sand.  A little rain and it packed nice and hard!  No need for the gravel.  The "back row" was Agate Street, which went through to the west.  It and the two in-court drives were paved.