Coast Starlight, "Big Bang", actress Summer Glau
hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com
train and meet actress Summer Glau (playing herself). Three of them
go crazy trying to meet her and strike up a conversation, while the
fourth worries about his paper he left at home.
Very funny.
hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com
Three engineers and three scientists were traveling by train to a
conference. The scientists went to the ticket window and bought three
one-way tickets. The engineers bought only one. The scientists
remarked that there were three engineers but only one ticket. The
engineers said to watch.
Right before the train left the three engineers crammed into one rest
room. When the conductor came through to collect tickets he checked
the rest room and, seeing it occupied, said "Ticket please." One of
the engineers cracked open the door and handed out the ticket, which
the conductor validated. After a few minutes the engineers returned
to
their seats. The scientists were amazed, and said they'd try it on
the
way back.
On the way back after the conference, the engineers and scientists
met
at the ticket window again. The scientists said "we know what to do"
and bought only one ticket. But the engineers didn't buy any! Once
again the scientists were perplexed. The engineers said "wait and
see."
As the train left the station the scientists got up and crammed
themselves into a rest room. The engineers did the same. After a few
minutes, before the conductor appeared, one of the engineers came out
of their wash room and knocked on the door where the scientists were
and said "Ticket please!"
Valentin Brückel
Actually, it's the other way around - personally, I knew the version with
mathematicians and physicists. Either way, you are missing the punchline:
After collecting the engineers'/physicists' ticket, one
scientist/mathematician remarks: "That's alway been the trouble with
engineers/physicists: They use our methods without properly understanding
them."
Val
Dave
UP. One of my assignments was car inspection at the GATX facility in East
Chicago (Hammond area) where they were building box cars (460xxx or 490xxx
numbers if I remember correctly) for UP. Living in Omaha, a number of us
would go down to the depot Sunday evening and get on the setout car which
was a Pullman roomette car that was picked up by the eastbound City of
whatever sometime after 10PM on Sunday night. We would arrive Monday
morning, walk over to the IC station and get on a CSS&SB car to Michigan
City. On Friday afternoon we would reverse this and arrive around 8PM or so
in Omaha on the City of whatever, riding mostly in a dome car with other RR
guys.
I got in a discussion with one of my fellow inspectors that I could ride
from Chicago to Omaha without turning in a pass to the conductor, in other
words ride "free". A bet was made and I was on. We were issued passes, a
number of them at one time as we were doing this every week. When the MILW
conductor asked for tickets, we would give him one of our passes. In return
we got a white numbered stub. As you moved around the train, if asked for a
ticket, you would show the stub you received. I had noted they didn't look
at the stub number. So how did I do it? Well I saved a number of stubs.
Arriving at the Chicago MILW station early one Friday afternoon, before they
opened the gates, and wearing a suit and tie like railroad officials tended
to do back then, I entered the track area through the commuter gates, made a
right turn, and strowed with purpose to the track the City of whatever was
on. Walking along the train, rear towards the front end, I was "challenged"
by a conductor. I told him I was going to put my suitcase in a coach and I
was going to ride the "head end". Since I looked like a junior official
away I went. I entered a coach door, put my suitcase up on the luggage
rack, and proceeded a couple cars toward the head end to a dome car, went up
and set down.
After some time, more people came up to the dome and set down, and soon we
were moving out of the station. Later when the conductor stuck his head up
into the dome and requested tickets I held up a previously saved white stub.
Good enough! The conductors were MILW men and served between Chicago and
Omaha. Nearing Omaha I left the dome and went back to the coach with my
suitcase. I happened to overhear one conductor telling another that there
were 6 UP men in the dome but he only had 5 passes. The conversation took
the turn, well were done at Omaha, let someone else worry about it. As the
train pulled into Omaha I grabbed my suitcase and beat it home.
If I remember correctly I collected on a drinks and dinner bet. Ah, those
were the days, good trains, good railroads, good people, good times.
--
Dave
IATR, xUP, xNYC
Gordon
news:c4629$4b414279$ad136ac0$30...@NETCONX.NET:
And this reminds me of the story of the three sales men and the engineer
who were riding the train to a convention.
Well, here is a version, except that it's accountants and engineers.
http://www.netjeff.com/humor/item.cgi?file=FreeTrainRide.txt
Stephen Sprunk
> Arriving at the Chicago MILW station early one Friday afternoon, before
> they opened the gates, and wearing a suit and tie like railroad
> officials tended to do back then, I entered the track area through the
> commuter gates, made a right turn, and strowed with purpose to the track
> the City of whatever was on. Walking along the train, rear towards the
> front end, I was "challenged" by a conductor. I told him I was going to
> put my suitcase in a coach and I was going to ride the "head end".
> Since I looked like a junior official away I went. I entered a coach
> door, put my suitcase up on the luggage rack, and proceeded a couple
> cars toward the head end to a dome car, went up and set down.
>
> After some time, more people came up to the dome and set down, and soon
> we were moving out of the station. Later when the conductor stuck his
> head up into the dome and requested tickets I held up a previously saved
> white stub. Good enough!
So, basically, you're bragging that you're a criminal?
Lucky for you, the statute of limitations has expired.
S
--
Stephen Sprunk "God does not play dice." --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723 "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking
Clark F Morris
>This is a true story. Back in 1967-68 I was a Management Trainee in MP&M on
>UP. One of my assignments was car inspection at the GATX facility in East
>Chicago (Hammond area) where they were building box cars (460xxx or 490xxx
>numbers if I remember correctly) for UP. Living in Omaha, a number of us
>would go down to the depot Sunday evening and get on the setout car which
>was a Pullman roomette car that was picked up by the eastbound City of
>whatever sometime after 10PM on Sunday night. We would arrive Monday
>morning, walk over to the IC station and get on a CSS&SB car to Michigan
>City. On Friday afternoon we would reverse this and arrive around 8PM or so
>in Omaha on the City of whatever, riding mostly in a dome car with other RR
>guys.
What set out sleeper? I've checked my 1965, 1967, and 1969 Milwaukee
Road timetables and found no mention of a set out sleeper for
eastbound travel on either of the City streamliners (City of Los
Angeles/San Francisco arriving after 11 or City of Denver/Portland
arriving around 10:15 in Chicago.). I assume you rode the 3 PM City
of Denver/Portland westbound.
Clark F Morris
<ste...@sprunk.org> wrote:
>Dave wrote:
>> Arriving at the Chicago MILW station early one Friday afternoon, before
>> they opened the gates, and wearing a suit and tie like railroad
>> officials tended to do back then, I entered the track area through the
>> commuter gates, made a right turn, and strowed with purpose to the track
>> the City of whatever was on. Walking along the train, rear towards the
>> front end, I was "challenged" by a conductor. I told him I was going to
>> put my suitcase in a coach and I was going to ride the "head end".
>> Since I looked like a junior official away I went. I entered a coach
>> door, put my suitcase up on the luggage rack, and proceeded a couple
>> cars toward the head end to a dome car, went up and set down.
>>
>> After some time, more people came up to the dome and set down, and soon
>> we were moving out of the station. Later when the conductor stuck his
>> head up into the dome and requested tickets I held up a previously saved
>> white stub. Good enough!
>
>So, basically, you're bragging that you're a criminal?
Since he had a pass to ride anyway, he wasn't cheating in the sense of
stealing something he would have had had to pay for. He may have
cheated the Milwaukee Road out of a claim on the Union Pacific.
Stephen Sprunk
Based on his description, the passes were a consumable fare item. He
did not consume one, yet he rode anyway.
This is little different from buying a ticket and presenting a prior
seat check to the conductor. The ticket remains in the passenger's
possession after the ride is over (and still valid for another trip),
therefore the ride (for which the ticket wasn't presented) was stolen.
> He may have cheated the Milwaukee Road out of a claim on the Union Pacific.
That would make proving a theft-of-service case--or at least who the
proper defendant was--more difficult, but the crime still occurred.
gl4...@yahoo.com
<ste...@sprunk.org> wrote:
> Clark F Morris wrote:
> > On Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:08:30 -0600, Stephen Sprunk
> > <ste...@sprunk.org> wrote:
> >> So, basically, you're bragging that you're a criminal?
> >
> > Since he had a pass to ride anyway, he wasn't cheating in the sense of
> > stealing something he would have had had to pay for.
>
> Based on his description, the passes were a consumable fare item. He
> did not consume one, yet he rode anyway.
When the private companies operated freight service, they issued passes to
a number of employees that allowed them to travel via other companies
lines on their trains. They were about the size of a business card. Some
of them had expiration dates, while others were life passes for specific
special people.
Today, the airline companies do something similar with eachother, though
with every seat being reserved I think mostly they wind up flying
"standby", which doesn't work so well with every effort made to fill every
seat with a paying customer.
--
-Glennl
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