In the mid 1980’s I was working on a Burlington Northern steel gang that relayed ribbon rail through this stretch of track in the picture. I was an assistant foreman at the time.
The Roadmaster came up to me at the start of the job and asked me, “How far is it to that switch at south end of Rock Island?” (The potential end of the day’s work)
I then used my thumb and forefinger as a ruler, my thumb at the beginning of the first ribbon with the forefinger at the end of it. Moving them ahead I then guessed as to where the next ribbons would lay up until the switch.
I told him 6,000 feet. And that was the end of it.
That is until the end of the day at the switch when he approached me looking pissed off. He yelled, “How many feet did you say to this switch??” I said 6,000.
He yelled back at me, “You were WRONG! IT WAS 6,003 FEET!!”
3 comments:
In the mid 1980’s I was working on a Burlington Northern steel gang that relayed ribbon rail through this stretch of track in the picture. I was an assistant foreman at the time.
The Roadmaster came up to me at the start of the job and asked me, “How far is it to that switch at south end of Rock Island?” (The potential end of the day’s work)
I then used my thumb and forefinger as a ruler, my thumb at the beginning of the first ribbon with the forefinger at the end of it. Moving them ahead I then guessed as to where the next ribbons would lay up until the switch.
I told him 6,000 feet. And that was the end of it.
That is until the end of the day at the switch when he approached me looking pissed off. He yelled, “How many feet did you say to this switch??” I said 6,000.
He yelled back at me, “You were WRONG! IT WAS 6,003 FEET!!”
Ah, those were the days. lol
Lol!! Great story! Thanks for sharing it.
Dan
lol! That's a great story!
Missed it by 3 feet!
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