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For suggestion or comments contact Cy Martin via E-Mail
A little item from the June Safety Hot line:
"FW-159-98 Eng E.D.Warner 6/18. Windows of engine
cabs: when (we) leave and close windows it gets very hot
inside. Need to get (the) rule changed so (we) could leave
windows cracked. Bob Hestes/Charles Airhart contacted
Joseph Moreaux. He discussed it with Bob Pugmire and
advises rule will not be changed due to vandalism."
If Joseph Moreaux and Bob Pugmire have been outside their air conditioned offices and inside a locomotive cab, anywhere in the Southwestern United States when the temperature of the control stand was 130 degrees Fahrenheit, I bet they didn't stay there very long.
I have never seen any UP locomotives equipped with usable locks on the doors. Some of the SP engines had them, but I am told that most of them have been removed, hence closing the windows provides about the same level of security as a pup tent.
If I recall correctly, the last time one of our engineers was overcome by the heat, the company called an investigation on the poor guy for "not maintaining his body fluids" or something equally stupid and silly.
Why is that some of the people that holler the loudest about safety issues act like children when it comes to using the railroad radio? Many of their actions are an embarrassment to those of us who care about safety. Whistler, The Phantom, and Mister Flatulence, you know who your are.
Someone said our Congressional leaders are afflicted with "tunnel wisdom." I wish I'd thought of it.
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. -Abraham Lincoln
"Due to recent cutbacks the light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off." -- From the Internet.
There is a new online magazine on the world wide web called Railway Preservation News. The URL is http://www.rypn.org/index.html
....Quote from a boss: "I didn't say it was your fault. I said I was going to blame it on you."
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. That is the principal difference between a dog and a man." -- Mark Twain
Sunday July 12 was the hottest day on record in North Texas. It hit 110o at DFW Airport. Some of us recorded 113o at home.
"Just because you're in the left lane and have no room to speed up or move over doesn't mean that a driver flashing his high beams behind you doesn't think he can go faster in your spot. -- Source unknown.
A copy of an old 1930s advertisement for the
"Sunshine Special" Passenger Train featured in the Missouri
Pacific Historical Society Magazine reads:
Retired Conductor Boyd Pulliam called to say that 44 persons attended the Retiree's Breakfast last Wednesday. He said, "We average about 50 persons. Last month we had 54 attendees."
Boyd said his twin brother Lloyd has been receiving chemotherapy, but is home now. He ask that we remember Lloyd in our prayers.
Boyd and Lloyd are identical twins. They were regular crew members on the Fort Worth - Texakana Amtrak before they retired and looked even more alike in their uniforms. Sometimes they would accidentally startle passengers when one of them would walk through the train and then a moment later, the other one would walk through in the same direction.
On Risk Management:
The term "Risk Management" sounds scary to people
whose lives and future depend on safety in the work place.
The thought that came to my mind when I first heard the
term was, "I wonder just how much of my personal safety
they are willing to risk to make a buck." I think the same
Harvard MBA (maybe it should be M-BS) thought this up as
thought up the term "UPGRADE."
Most agreement personnel find the term "Risk Management" offensive.
Insulting the employees:
Too many people in upper management can't open
their mouth to the media with out insulting our work force
-- the very people that are taking the brunt of the crisis we
are in. No airline ever talked about its people the way
railroads do.
Nitrous oxide gradient:
I believe there is such a thing as a Nitrous Oxide
Gradient in our atmosphere, that is the NO2 content obviously
increases with altitude -- the higher up you go, the more of
the stuff you breathe into your system.
The stuff is slightly toxic, in that it produces a "high." It makes people giggle, among other thing. I believe it also makes executives and politicians believe in their own infallibility, immortality and press releases.
This might explain why American businessmen and politicians have insulated themselves from the rest of us.
An acquaintance in Australia (a Policeman) says: "... it's a small world - down here, we have managers who couldn't lead a starving Biafran to a free banquet at McDonalds - their management skills are zilch, but they still keep their jobs.
"Would you believe that we find out things in the newspaper or on the TV news before being officially told them - pay raise offers, restructuring, etc., hit the headlines and then a fax comes out the next day ..... great management skills.
"The morale just keeps going down as a result. But then again - how can we have problems with morale when we haven't been issued any yet?"
Cy Martin is a locomotive engineer at Centennial Yard in Fort Worth, Texas.
7-98