Bill
Service Attendant
Took the Cardinal from Cincinnati to Chicago on the 21st of january to hook up with the Chief to go to LA.Well a few miles east of Flagstaff(I have a scanner) an east bound freight sees alot of smoke coming from one of the cars,3rd,4th or 5th he didn't really know being at road speed.So we slowly roll to a stop in the middle of nowhere blocking the main we were on.We call dispatch to let them know we were stopped and had a man on the ground to inspect our train.Dispatch immediaetly notifies all trains in the area.I see the glow of the led flashlight starting at the headend walking past my car in the deep snow till I can't see back any farther,I am in a roomette three cars back.
Then he climbs on board and determines what the freight train crew saw,at night,very cold out and with us moving and him moving was the dinner releasing the hot dish water on the tracks and with it being soo cold out it turned to steam and only seeing it for a few seconds the freight thought it was smoke.
After all was said and done,a laugh or two our train said "Thanks for your observance" to the freight ...we took off and hit Flag a short time later..lots of snow.
Then he climbs on board and determines what the freight train crew saw,at night,very cold out and with us moving and him moving was the dinner releasing the hot dish water on the tracks and with it being soo cold out it turned to steam and only seeing it for a few seconds the freight thought it was smoke.
After all was said and done,a laugh or two our train said "Thanks for your observance" to the freight ...we took off and hit Flag a short time later..lots of snow.