Do you have any wacky, amusing, or hard to believe?

Question

workplace stories . . . . . . this is in rail section because that's the only one I can spell.

As soon as I write the Great American Novel I will take speeling lessuns.

This is an extremely verrrry serious legitimate research question.

Answer 1

There was a guy that backed the forklift off the recieving dock one day.

that was pretty funny.

although he got fired for being drunk

Answer 2

Years ago we had an engineer who was from the old school as far as train handling went.Stretch brake everywhere you go.Old heads will remember them,they all carried a plug to put under the jam.Well this guy was going out a dark territory branchline to a place called Shellville with 2 units(plug in place on the jam),2 cars and a caboose.Going to Shellville is a navigable ship channel that had a turntable bridge.The station operator used to go close the bridge when you were ready to leave the station.Well away they go running along and yacking away on the head end. As they approach the bridge they see the company carryall stuck in the mud and they realize the operator never made it to the bridge to close it!The engineer plugs the train but because of the plug under the jam they get no engine brakes.It's a downhill approach to the bridge so the train keeps right on going.They jump from the headend and off goes the 2 units into the channel.Luckily the caboose and 2 cars stay on the rail.When the railroad pulled the 2 units out (which they had to dredge for because they sank into 15 feet of mud)there was the plug still in place.They fired the engineer for quite a while(due to the fact it cost a small fortune in lawsuits from the state and a woman that was on a boat that the engines almost landed on when they went swimming.She was pregnant and it scared her so bad she had a miscarraige on the spot) and when he came back they restricted him to the yard.His first night back on a midnight goat the entire switch crew showed up wearing swim fins,snorkels,and masks.Forever after he was known as the admiral.

Answer 3

Those who can recognize a 24-RL brake schedule (or even be able to operate one) will remember that;

Once upon a time...

"Track-side detectors" were there, but they didn't speak to the head end via radio.  Either the conductor or the rear brakeman would observe the scanner as the caboose passed and either see an "all clear" indication or that a "hot box" (overheated journal on the trucks) was detected in the train.

Although there were differing manners in which the information would be conveyed or displayed, the usual housing that contained all the electronics was a sturdy, fairly good sized yet simple metal structure.  Owing to the fact that electronics don't like temperature extremes, these primitive structures were vented by the familiar, mushroom-like, spinning metal turbines on the roof and some were even equipped with their own, "window type" air conditioning units (crewmen got to sit in a "cab," which at the time was pretty much just a steel box.  Bigger than those used for torture by the Japanese in WWII and with windows, but essentially the same idea).

One such hot box scanner was to be found at a place called "Riceton," on the SP's "East Valley Line" of the Valley Subdivision of the Sacramento Division.  

A train headed westward to Roseville derailed at the site and turned several carloads of lumber loaded on conventional and bulkhead flats into toothpicks.  An overheated journal was the immediate suspect.

One of the first Company Officers on the scene of course asked the obvious question, "How close is the nearest hotbox scanner?"

The conductor pointed to the mangled cooling turbine sitting atop a pile of splinters and answered, "Rrrrrrright there."

It must have been blasted right straight up and straight back down as it was nearly occupying the same relative space (thank you, Albert) as before the derailment.

Turns out they did in fact burn off a journal.  I wasn't there, but I would have loved to be. I do have a photo of the carnage around here somewhere, though...   and, it's still funny.

Answer 4

Dude, you look vaguely familiar, have I seen you somewhere before??

A short one, the hot weather got me to thinking of sun kinks.

Now known as "thermal buckling" because apparently sun kinks didnt sound hifaluting enough for college educated roadmasters.

Goin west one hot Sunday afternoon, not so very long ago, it was in the upper 90's , which is much too hot for humans to exist in my opinion.

We were under hot weather restrictions, meaning we were to operate at a reduced speed.

.

( I dont think they go far enough, but that is a different subject)

Anyway, we lost our air (which means the train went into emergency brake application)

That is not a good thing when it is close to a hundred degrees.

I looked back, and because of the  S  curve couldnt see very far along the train.

But presently there arose a huge cloud of dust and all the cars on the freeway beside the tracks were going very slowly, the occupants pointing and gawking and snapping pictures.

I told my partner, who was getting ready to walk back and investigate, "you just as well leave that wrench and air hose here, all you gonna need is a train list to give 'em the number and show 'em the pile".

There were about a dozen cars all stacked and piled up in odd shapes and a big mess.

(by way of explanation, sun kinks are when the extreme temperatures causes the rail to expand sufficiently that if there is a weak place in the roadbed the rail can actually kick out to one side dramatically, enough to to cause a derailment. In this case, the rail was intact when the engines and head 25 cars of the train went over but the added stress combined with the vibration caused the rail to kick out sideways).

Typically when a train goes into emergency brake application, the crew member walking back to investigate takes a few repair items along, including a replacement air hose and wrench. Broken or separated air hoses are probaly the most common cause of undesired emergency brake applications.

Not really an odd or unusual story but even now, several years later whenever I run into the guy I was working with that day he chuckles and reminds me of it.

Ha, carguy, My Dad tells the story of my Uncle that did pretty much the same thing although he backed a loaded dump truck over a bank and was fired on the spot for being drunk.