I was called for a plow extra engineer. The temps were below zero that day so I was dressed to the point of not being able to hold my arms at my side. My conductor Robbie was to ride the plow with the roadmaster. This is in Northwestern Maine to the boundary between the US and Canada. the railroad was shutdown for several days because of the snow and ice. This time of year the snow sledders think they gave the right to use the railroad as a recreational trail so in many spots the snow had been packed down and turned to ice. We were using a CP built Russel type plow that derailed at the slightest provocation. The plows really weren't that heavy anyhow. We had 117 miles to plow and we had derailed 3 times before we got to mile 76. At mile 76 we stopped to clean off the plow and walk over to the store and get provisions. I got a big gulp coffee, 5 hot dogs with relish and mustard , chips and a couple of Pepsi's. I had consumed most of this before mile 90. I was diagnosed with Crohns disease many years ago, sometimes it caused problems, this was one of those days. We came to the Boundary and derailed on a snow mobile crossing. We did manage to pull the plow back on since we had slowed down expecting trouble. Because of these snowmobiles the trip should have taken us about 4 hours but because of the snow sleds we were on duty for 8 so far. At after we rerailed the plow again I noticed a large group of sledders waiting for us to clear the illegal crossing. I was in a bad mood, My bowels were about to explode so I went out the rear dab door of the GE dash 8, dropped my pants, wound my arms around the hand rails and let it go. My conductor said later that he looked back and thought I had fired a fire extinguisher. Remember it well below zero. I believe that the spot I left in the center of the trail crossing could have been seen from orbit. There was only ONE way across the tracks. We left the area, I felt an evil satisfaction. Most of my railroad stories don't have happy endings.
As info the Asst. Division Manager was the individual that 'forced' the movement of the train that ran away and derailed at Glencoe - shortly thereafter he got reassigned, not fired.
