Why I got into Boating or The Caboose Ride from Hell! Part Two

Why I got into Boating or The Caboose Ride from Hell!

PART TWO

Forty five years ago! ...And the rain started and the wind blew and the train wrecked!

There wasn't a scale in Lisbon so the Bill of Ladings had no weights and no overweight notations on the hopper cars. They were loaded by John Deere type front-end loaders so we had no idea if they were level loads or not. In the back of our minds, every Conductor and Engineer mulled over those questions whenever taking a train down that old, poorly maintained tracks. But it wasn't our jobs to know or check?

There is an old Railroad Poem that explains the frustration of most of that era's train crews;

"It's not my job to run the train.

The whistle I don't blow. 

It's not my job to say how far,

the trains supposed to go. 

I'm not allowed to pull the brake,

or even ring the bell. 

But let the damn thing jump the track,

and see who catches hell!"

It wasn't going over and over in our minds as we waddled down the track that night. I was the Flagman so I had no responsibility to align the paperwork. I had taken the order over the telephone from the Dispatcher allowing us to occupy the single track from Lisbon to Niles but once underway I climbed up into the Cupelo and tried to get warm.

I couldn't doze off so I just listened to Jimmy tell me about his Son's latest athletic adventure as he sorted the Bills. I stared into the darkness at the dwellings that were so closely lining the track in the little towns we went through. The train whistle sounded two longs a short and a long for each street crossing and they were very close together as we entered Washingtonville. The little town had a lot of crossings and the lonesome sound of the whistle easily traveled the mile between us.

Suddenly there was a strange sound. A loud clanking like metal banging against metal near the last third of the 60 cars. I remembered Jimmy asking, “What the fuck is that,” a second before the train's air brakes made the sickening 'whoosh' sound followed by a gnarling sound of rail cars twisting all out of proportion.

Then the world spun around and went upside down and there wasn't any mistake what happened.

Once the Caboose quit rolling down the bank, it ended sort of upside down. There were weeds and grass sticking through 'Cock-loft's window, “Great Scott, what a lawn,” I said aloud. I thought it was funny but Jimmy just groaned. He was banged up from all the equipment that went flying as we rolled. My immediate question was; did I start a fire? We'd have burned up for sure if we had but we were on a short day.

As I helped Jimmy out of the Caboose, I looked up and there were two female figures attired in baby doll nighties holding Umbrellas. “Was there anyone in there,” the older one asked? Jimmy and I chuckled softly. We were glad for her concern but amazed that she assumed we had crawled inside to check. She invited us into her track side trailer and in the morning we realized that if the other rail had broken, all the coal cars would have buried them.

Mom made coffee while her teeny-bopper daughter entertained us with teen questions. We used their phone to call our dispatcher and an ambulance for Jimmy. Once my Adrenalin wore off, I realized I would be riding that Ambulance too!

We covered ourselves by having the crew caller sign our names in the Orders-of the-Day book and a few other housekeeping details that we always ignored. No one ever checked them unless there was an accident and then it was a good way to shift the blame onto the crew. An hour went by and Mom fed us breakfast before the police, Train Master and EMS found us. Jimmy wasn't in a hurry. The floor show was too good.

Not once did the Mother and her 16 year old daughter think of putting on robes or other cover-ups. They were very nice women, just not overly modest nor prudish! Maybe they were Voyeurs or just uninhibited. It didn't matter, we were otherwise occupied. Half the town came by and several boyfriends showed up. That's when the street clothes went on.

I've always marveled at God's sense of humor!

THE END

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