choochoodood
Service Attendant
Can someone tell me what the legacy railroad is on the Cascades route from Portland to Seattle? Is it Northern Pacific?
I've heard them referred to as "hoops", and giving them to the crew as "hooping up" the order's...not sure if exactly the same implement....Great pictures! Your photo of the block operator brought back memories. In the late 60s & 70s my Dad was a summer vacation replacement block operator for the Penn Central. He worked the old Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad, moving to various locations every week to replace the vacationing block operator.
I would sometimes go to work with him - it was a lonely job. I witnessed many times him typing up his orders in triplicate with carbon paper, attaching them to string on giant “forks” (don’t know what they were really called) and handing them up to the engineer in the locomotive and the conductor on the caboose as the train flew by the depot/tower. They would catch the string with the orders attached with the crook of their elbow as they leaned out the window, as I recall.
That's what they were called on the SP where my Grandfather was a 40 year hand.I've heard them referred to as "hoops", and giving them to the crew as "hooping up" the order's...not sure if exactly the same implement....
I remember those stationary hoops...there were usually two...the upper one for the fireman to grab, and the lower one for the conductor or flagman...That's what they were called on the SP where my Grandfather was a 40 year hand.
I still remember what a thrill it was when I was a kid to hold it up as the Train approached, and see the Fireman ( ask your Grandfather kids) reach out and snag the Orders as the Train rolled by.
The Stationmaster was also the Telegraph Operator, and I learned Morse Code and how to use the key and copy messages, which led me to becoming a Radioman in the Navy when I made a High Score on the Classification Tests!
Other Stations had fixed pedestals the Hoops were attached to, and the Trainmen snagged them as they rolled by.( usually the Fast Trains).
They also hung Mail pouches on a Hook and the Mail Car workers would snag them as they rolled by @ night.( this was a Small Depot where only certain Trains stopped).
Your application of "civilian acquired skills" in the Navy reminded me that the Army was amazed that I knew all the train station jobs already when I was malassigned to the Rail Transportation Office in Berlin in 1969. It was a militarized version of a 1950's American train station, complete with manual reservation system and so my time waiting around the Vancouver SP&S station paid off!That's what they were called on the SP where my Grandfather was a 40 year hand.
I still remember what a thrill it was when I was a kid to hold it up as the Train approached, and see the Fireman ( ask your Grandfather kids) reach out and snag the Orders as the Train rolled by.
The Stationmaster was also the Telegraph Operator, and I learned Morse Code and how to use the key and copy messages, which led me to becoming a Radioman in the Navy when I made a High Score on the Classification Tests!
Other Stations had fixed pedestals the Hoops were attached to, and the Trainmen snagged them as they rolled by.( usually the Fast Trains).
They also hung Mail pouches on a Hook and the Mail Car workers would snag them as they rolled by @ night.( this was a Small Depot where only certain Trains stopped).
Bingen-White Salmon, now on the Empire Builder, was one of those places till the (bitter) end on the night of 29 April 1971. Mail was also tossed off at those stations. Years before, a friend of my dad's nearly maimed the Lyle, Washington SP&S operator. The engineer forgot the speed restriction till too late. The green RPO clerk tossed out the mail bag at the right point, but it flew down the platform and the agent had to jump. Now you know why little boys liked to watch the operation. Bingen-White Salmon is bigger now, so they probably have other kinds of excitement.They also hung Mail pouches on a Hook and the Mail Car workers would snag them as they rolled by @ night.( this was a Small Depot where only certain Trains stopped).
I forgot about that one, they used to toss bundles of Papers out on the Platform as the Trains rolled by. I remember my Grandfather liked to read the San Antonio "Light" ( now defunct)and I went down on Sunday morning after Breakfast to get his Paper on the Platform from the Paperman.Reminds me of newspaper delivery trucks racing around the streets of NYC, and pitching bundles of newspapers off 'on-the-fly' towards newstands...you don't want to get hit by one...
BTW, thanks for your service....
Newspaper distribution is how I got into all this, but in Portland, Oregon we didn't toss papers on the street because the sidewalks were wet. My father was the wholesale newsdealer for out of town papers, academic magazines, tourist oriented books, etc. We had all the air, intercity bus and rail schedules in his home office.Reminds me of newspaper delivery trucks racing around the streets of NYC, and pitching bundles of newspapers off 'on-the-fly' towards newstands...you don't want to get hit by one...
BTW, thanks for your service....
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