Newsgroup: rec.railroad
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 1994 16:08:46 +0200

------ Forwarded Article <10APR199421143589@glvc12.cen.encompass.com>
------ From robl@glvc12.cen.encompass.com (Ernest "FREIGHT TRAINS" Robl)

Overheard on the scanner on the eastbound Empire Builder on June 16, 1992,
about 20 minutes or so after leaving a station stop in Montana -- Havre,
I think, but this is reconstructed from memory:

Dispatcher:  BN dispatcher to the conductor on Amtrak 8.

Conductor:   Conductor on Amtrak 8.

Dispatcher:  We just got a call from [mumble -- station we just left].
             They have a passenger there that apparently forgot to get
             back on.

Conductor:   What do you want me to do about it?

Dispatcher:  He said he left some belongings on the train.  Can you drop
             them off at the next stop and send them back on the westbound?

Conductor:   Okay, what am I looking for?

Dispatcher:  Just a minute -- I'll get the station back on the phone.
             [After short pause]  He said it was a rolled up pair of 
             blue jeans.

Conductor:   Where was the passenger sitting -- which car?

Dispatcher:  [after short pause]  The passenger said he doesn't 
             remember.

Conductor:   Well, where was he sitting in the car?

Dispatcher:  [after short pause]  The passenger said he doesn't
             remember.

Conductor:   Okay, we'll look -- but it may take us a while.

[Conductor, sounding exasperated, rounds up other on-board staff with
radios to make the search.]

[Pause of about another 20 or 30 minutes.]

Conductor:   Conductor on Amtrak 8 to the BN dispatcher.

Dispatcher:  Dispatcher.

Conductor:   I think we found the missing belongings.  We also found
             why this fellow can't remember anything.  [short pause]
             Inside the rolled-up jeans was a two-thirds empty bottle
             of whiskey.  Do you want me to send that back, too?

Dispatcher:  Might as well.  It'll give him something to do while he
             waits for tomorrow's eastbound.  If he drinks it today,
             he might even be sober by tomorrow.

Conductor:   Okay, will do.  Conductor out.

(For anyone outside the U.S.:  Amtrak 8 travels through some scenic but
very sparsely populated parts of the north-central U.S.  There is only
one passenger train per day in each direction.  The duration of stops
is clearly announced.  At some of the longer service stops, passengers
are told they can get off and stretch their legs -- but are told to stay
close to their car.  I don't think this was one of the service stops.)

This was only part of the scanner entertainment on the trip.  Severe
electrical storms that evening caused signal problems and knocked out
some of the line-side dispatcher transmitters.  The Amtrak crew had to
copy train orders for several trains which were waiting for meets in
sidings -- and which the dispatcher could not talk to.  These were then
relayed to the trains when we got into radio range.  Otherwise these
trains would have been sitting in the sidings until communications
came back up.

-- Ernest

============================================================================
Ernest H. Robl, User Documentation, ENCOMPASS  robl@glvc12.cen.encompass.com
Cary, NC, USA  Work phone:  +1 (919) 460-3247  "I'd rather be on the train."
What?  Me speak for ENCOMPASS?   Of course not.  Especially not on internet.
Home:  Durham, NC, USA   +1 (919) 286-3845; fax 286-1696   erobl@mcimail.com
============================================================================

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