Page 5 - Working on the S&L; Railroad Part One

ISSUE : Issue 28

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1981/6/1

men strung out, especially after dark, when you gave signals by light. So you'd have to put the empties into the pit, clean out the coal, make it up, take it down to the yards--that was shunting ser? vice. And shunt coal yards. And shunt this. And shunt that. Freight shunts at differ? ent places. And the brakemen would turn the switches, pull the pin, open the knuck? les, make the hitches, couple the cars, make the hitches, take off the brakes--or if they're going down a hill, put on the brakes. If you were leaving a car standing on a grade, you had to put a brake on each car. But if you left it on the level, you didn't have to put one on each car. But if you were going down a hill, you get 2 or 3 brakes on to help the driver. (You just go from car to car?) Yeah, I'd jump over the top. (Now this wouldn't be so bad in nice, fine weather.) But it wasn't so nice in the winter though, when it was ice, glib ice.... The air brakes were coming in then--see, the automatic couplers came in after the link-and-pin--that was a big im? provement- -then after that the air brakes came in--quite a difference. The brakeman didn't have to go all over the train wind? ing on brakes. Well, once you got so many cars with air brakes coming in, you'd shunt, and you'd get 5 or 6 cars with air brakes on the head end to hold her. Then your driver controls the whole train. A wooden coal car showing the wheel of the handbrake and footboard for the brakeman. But going down the hills, to put on hand brakes, yeah, you had to get outside. You'd jump over the cars and get in the engine when you got down the hill and she didn't run away on you--because if you went too fast, you know what would happen, she'd go in the woods. Train can only go so fast. I was conductor on a train when 6 cars went in the woods one time. There was a flat wheel on one of the cars--flat wheel was bouncing her, bouncing her--she' SOUfENlR ??'' -".-OF-.. .;, AND FESTIVAL AT Loutsburg, C. SEPn S, 1896. -m'i' The Provincial Workmen's Association Miners' Picnic train crossing the bridge at Mira on its way to Louisbourg, September 5, 1896. fVinO Rrotnn cape Breton's BED AND BREAKFAST '' v'aiJ' LJl KyiKJl I program offers a unique and inter- n''' /-|K r'4 Dirr i'l>'fr%r%4' ??sting experience in overnight ac- rjr"Ti J OJ R J 'Dl tJaJxIrf'l commodations. Every season those _ '-'yoh for ' AND BH'lS'T si'*- ' J'ltrSfTth'ei'''SSSry tf or contact Cape Breton Tourist Assn. for a list, visitors with courtesy and warmth. (5)

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