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I have some black-and-white photos of “hooping up lunch” at Illmo in the early 1980s. Will post at least one if I can figure out where they are. There was a stand patterned after a train-order stand, only with flat metal plates instead of forks. The crew ordered lunch by radio and sack lunches were placed in two cardboard boxes, one for the head-end crew and one for the caboose crew. One of the boxes was placed on each metal plate. Each box had a bail made out of twine and a member of the crew at each end of the train would put his or her arm through the bail, empty the cardboard box of its contents, and toss the box out along the right-of-way to be retrieved by a member of the beanery staff. Not sure whether that service was provided to MoPac crews, Cotton Belt crews or both, or why lunch was provided on the fly.
Pat Hiatte
