On the prototype Indiana and Ohio railroad one day the engineer and I were running our old geep long hood forward and coming up on the US Rt. 63 crossing just off I-75 when a loaded gasoline tanker crossed right in front of us. I instinctively grabbed the arm rest on the cab seat as I thought we were goners. The truck was close enough to get his plate number and truck number, so I’m sure the state patrol and his company had a little talk with him.
The other close call I had was in Mason Ohio one day as we were switching out what was then called Hamilton Plastics in a freezing rain. Always never fun working outside and riding freight cars in that kind of weather. As I threw the switch into the horseshoe shaped siding and radioed for the engineer to back the train up I proceeded to grab the ladder on the last covered hopper. In so doing my hands slipped on the icy ladder of the car. Fortunately I pushed myself off and away from the car and hit the ground instead of probably going straight down the end of the car. That saved me by my pushing myself away from the car. Probably the reason nowadays where it’s a safety violation to mount or dismount a moving car or locomotive!
The Weathering Depot 
Leave a comment