Miss Phoebe extolled the many wonders of the DL&W and here's she's seen assessing the road's block signals. Before long though, she'll regret not having packed her goggles.
What a memory. One of the Phoebe Snow engineers was the brother of a co-worker in the 1960's. Initially he was qualified for steam, but transitioned to the E units as they came on line. I was so proud to even know the brother of a Phoebe Snow engineer. Sure doesn't take much to impress a 20 year old.
Neat recollection Hytec! The Phoebe Snow interchanged sleepers and some coaches with the NKP at Buffalo to provide Hoboken <=> Chicago service and from what I read, nobody took the route for speed, which I think was in the neighborhood of 22 Hours. Instead, it was the scenery that drew travelers. To have ridden through the Delaware Water Gap in this Tavern Lounge must have been a treat. [Picture linked, not mine]
I was trying to think of trains named for women and the only other I can think of was the C&NW's Kate Shelley 400. There must have been others.
Camelbacks always have made me wonder about how the engineer and fireman's sides communicated. But unless there was a stoker, there had to be someone also at the backhead. So, a three man engine crew? Not counting number four, a head brakeman?
That's a great question Boxcab and I'm not sure how communications were made with each man isolated from the other. Maybe they just did without, knowing well the line, train tonnage and required speed. But, there would have been no way to call out signals and train orders would have been a problem. I have a friend who's knowledgeable in this sort of thing and I'll ask him. In any case, Miss Phoebe got along fine without PTC.
It has been my understanding that this could be a huge problem. There have apparently been instances where the engineer has become incapacitated by the train striking something (such as a mail crane) and with the fireman totally unaware of it, the train has travelled for miles, sometimes at a high rate of speed.
Good ones Point! I thought of the CofG's Nancy Hanks, but wasn't sure how to categorize it because the train was named for a race horse which was named for Abraham Lincoln's mother.