Cab ride

[Iain]

Either this afternoon or tomorrow I will get a cab ride on the old Beaufort and Morehead, or at least what's left of it.  It is now known as the Morehead and South Fork.

[Skip]

And there will be lots of pictures posted, right?

[Iain]

Man, talk about sweet.  The locomotive was a SW1200.  It was loud, hot, and bumpy; in other words:  Fantastic.


The engineer was kind enough to come pick me up from the visitors parking area at the port.  We then went down the track to shove a string of boxcars back




After this, Sean, the engineer, let me have the throttle as we waited for a couple of hoppers to get loaded


Once the hoppers were loaded they had to be moved out of the way


While the cars were being shoved back out of the way in the back of the port, the NS train arrived from New Bern.  They picked up their load and left a string of hoppers and a sulfuric acid tank car to be switched.  The covered hoppers were pushed to the bit of the port were phosphate is to be loaded into them.  The sulfuric acid tank car had to be left in the yard because there was no room for it at the loading dock.

I only have a few photos because most of the camera's space was devoted to video.  The video will be posted once I transfer it over.  The quality isn't very high-shaking hand held camera plus fairly high compression.

[wm3798]

Cool!  Can't wait for the video... sounds like a winner with those "Blair Witch" production values!

Lee

[Pomperaugrr]

It was loud, hot, and bumpy; in other words:  Fantastic.

Sounds like a girl I knew in college! 

Looks like a fun trip.

Eric

[ñiao]

Man, that must have been fun.

Interesting the reader reaction between the other forum and here ...

[Pomperaugrr]

Interesting the reader reaction between the other forum and here ...

It is no surprise when you look at some of the personalities on the A board.  :

[ñiao]

Boy, and I always thought only us Germans were that @n@l about licenses and permissions and restrictions .....

[tom mann]

Looks like fun.

What is the heritage of that switcher?

[FrankCampagna]

Boy, and I always thought only us Germans were that @n@l about licenses and permissions and restrictions .....

You should live in NY state. At one time the legislature was passing about 20,000 pieces of legislation a year. At this point, it don't think it is possible to get through a day without breaking some law. Fortunately the state's too cheap to build enough jails to hold us all.

Glad you had a good time Ian.  Just ignore the roundhouse lawyers. Frank

[ljudice]

I know... If you read the post it does not say he was running, moving anything. It does not say "the engineer took off for lunch and let me finish switching". It says he took the throttle, while they were stopped.

There is nothing in the post that implies anything except good, clean fun - under appropriate supervision.

And yes, I am jealous too!!!

I like Paul, Cory, Rob, et. al, but I have about had it with their forum...

Lou

[Mark5]

jeez this country has become uptight. : anyone think it's an improvement?

When my oldest son was 3, he took the throttle on some CSX GP40-2s and shoved a cut of cars back a couple dozen yards. It was becuase the engineer saw us watching and invited us into the cab. He did'nt let me touch the throttle though.

[dnhouston]

Man I'm envious!  Can't wait to see the videos ;D

[3rdrail]

jeez this country has become uptight. : anyone think it's an improvement?

When my oldest son was 3, he took the throttle on some CSX GP40-2s and shoved a cut of cars back a couple dozen yards. It was becuase the engineer saw us watching and invited us into the cab. He did'nt let me touch the throttle though.

You can thank one Conrail engineer, Ricky Gates by name, for all these restrictions on engineers. High on marijuana and watching a football game on a portable TV, he overran a stop signal on the NE Corridor, resulting in a horrific crash with a high speed Amtrak train.

I was not about to enter the fray over on Atlas, but the FRA regulations do NOT apply to industry switch engines. Engineers on intraplant railroads do not have to be certified. If it was a Port Authority switcher, it might be considered as an industrial switch engine.

When I was 10, a Long Island Rail Road engineer not only let me sit in the seatbox, he got off, climbed up on a bridge girder, and took my picture while the fireman told me what to do. This was an H10s Consolidation on a work train.

Also got to mess around with Prairie 250 on the B&HS when I was 17. The engineer went into the enginehouse to get coffee while the fireman gave me instructions.

[Bob Bufkin]

How times have changed.  Back in early 60's I had my first cab ride on a PRR F unit near Penn Road tower.  Let me control his empty coal train about a dozen yards.  Sure wish I was taking photos in those days.  Now you got all the jailhouse (or what we called them in the navy sea lawyers) running the country.
Bob