My records show that this would have been late on the night of August 13, 1983 or early the morning of the 14th. I was Trainmaster in the Missouri Pacific's Dallas Terminal, and the Ringling Bros., Barnun & Bailey Circus had just finished a week's engagement in Dallas.
My regular yard crews were assigned to switch the train together and the road engines would arrive from Ft.Worth for movement to the next stop, which I believe was Ft.Worth.
I spent the night of August 13 - 14 with my crews, as we assembled the train in the old East Dallas Yard. I was in the engine cab as we nosed against a cut that included one of the animal cars. From the fireman's seat, I noticed a man mount the steps of the engine and come along the walkway toward the cab.
I opened the door to let him in, and immediately the cab was filled with the most TERRIBLE SMELL! The fellow was a circus employee, who asked us for a drink of water, and a few minutes to cool off (?) in our non-air-conditioned engine cab. I asked the guy what he did, and he told us he was in charge of feeding the elephants in that first car, a former baggage car!
The car's doors always remained shut, of course, and it was a typical August night in Texas. No wonder the poor guy smelled so bad! Being the nice guys railroaders usually are, and hearing his story, none of us had the heart to ask him to leave. I looked over and caught the engineer's eye, widening and crossing my eyes. He replied with a wide roll of his eyes, which said "amen, brother!" loud and clear!
We must have had ahold of that cut for ten minutes of so before shoving it against the train we were building. My railroaders stayed by the open windows or retreated to the engine's walkways as much as they could during that time! Even with the windows open, by the time we left that cut of cars and bid our grateful friend good-night, my eyes were literally watering from the smell.
When the poor guy was safely out of earshot, the cab resounded to cries of, "whoooo-eeee! and "holy sh--!!".
We always grumbled about the Santa Fe's crews. In summer, you'd see them running around with the cab windows closed, as THEIR railroad "cared enough about them to provide air conditioned cabs". The Mop (read this as far different from the old Texas & Pacific) was known for not going out of the way to provide for such personal comforts, especially if it meant spending any money!
But we all felt much cooler when the "elephant boy" went back to work, probably a result of just thinking about the conditions he worked under! I know that smell was so heavy and pervasive that it stayed in my clothes (or at least in my nose!!) all night just like cigarette smoke!
A small knot of railfans watched the action from the vacant lot north of the tracks, including a husband and wife who remembered me from the previous year's circus train. The couple stayed out there all night until the train left early on the morning of August 14th.
It was one of a trainmaster's few moments of glory to go over and tell the group of fans what our plans were for the next hour or so, where would be a good place to watch the action, and where the Fort Worth road engines were at any given time. I felt like a big wheel!
But I remember trying to keep a little distance from the lady, just knowing that I must have smelled like the inside of the elephant car.
Tom Greco is a former MP Trainmaster in Dallas. His email address is colomid@flash.net 4-97