Home Page › Forums › Welcome to the MPHS Forum › New Forum Member Introductions › Fred Tefft › Reply To: Fred Tefft
Fred, I was the brakeman on a Missouri Pacific local that had the exact same problem in the exact same location. This would have been in late 1978 or early 1979. The conductor was Paul Leathers. He was short and thin and liked to talk. We had been fighting with this car for several miles and were on the wye between the two Santa Fe mains in this area and pretty much out of the way of their operations when we heard the siren go off. I’m sure the individual that saw the smoke thought the tank car was on fire and going to blow up. After the fire department had the fire out, the conductor went across the way to a store (local co-op, if I remember correctly) and bought some grease cartridges to lube the offending journal. I don’t remember how far the car made it before we set it out, but we were able to get off the Santa Fe before we had to stop for it.
I would be willing to bet that this was the same incident. If true, what are the odds that this event would set in motion life events that eventually lead to this thread on this forum. Amazing!
