Buchaneer
06-30-2002, 06:51 PM
It's time for some more "Tales From the Rail" seeing its July 1st, which is Canada Day I am going to do a story from Canada. I have talking to some old retired Hogheads [locomotive engineers] at our pensioners meeting and was told the following;
Joe Cernak who retired from the Leaky Roof [Canadian National Railways] told me this story. As most railroaders did at that time he wore his pocket watch in his overalls. He did not use a chain instead he tied it with a shoelace, one end to the bow of the watch, the other to the bib on his overalls. He was at a station one day, and had to use the bathroom, when he had finished his business he pulled up his overalls and flushed the toilet. Unbeknownst to him his pocket watch had worked its way out of the watch pocket of his overalls. That was the last time he saw his Hamilton 992 B. as it swirled down the bowl, shoelace and all. It had become untied from his overalls.
Joe also told me about another incident on the C.N.R. this happened to an engineer and fireman he knew. They had worked a trip and were at the away from home terminal, and were sleeping in a bunkhouse when it caught fire. An alarm sounded and they were lucky to escape dressed only their underwear. They both lost their pocket watches. Gordon Poile a retired Canadian Pacific Railway engineer told me that he lost his watch the same way when the station at Fort MacLeod, Alberta burned to the ground back in the 1960s. That's all I have for today, the reason I haven't been posting lately is that my computer was down, but I have a good one for the Fourth of July so stay tuned.
Buchaneer
Joe Cernak who retired from the Leaky Roof [Canadian National Railways] told me this story. As most railroaders did at that time he wore his pocket watch in his overalls. He did not use a chain instead he tied it with a shoelace, one end to the bow of the watch, the other to the bib on his overalls. He was at a station one day, and had to use the bathroom, when he had finished his business he pulled up his overalls and flushed the toilet. Unbeknownst to him his pocket watch had worked its way out of the watch pocket of his overalls. That was the last time he saw his Hamilton 992 B. as it swirled down the bowl, shoelace and all. It had become untied from his overalls.
Joe also told me about another incident on the C.N.R. this happened to an engineer and fireman he knew. They had worked a trip and were at the away from home terminal, and were sleeping in a bunkhouse when it caught fire. An alarm sounded and they were lucky to escape dressed only their underwear. They both lost their pocket watches. Gordon Poile a retired Canadian Pacific Railway engineer told me that he lost his watch the same way when the station at Fort MacLeod, Alberta burned to the ground back in the 1960s. That's all I have for today, the reason I haven't been posting lately is that my computer was down, but I have a good one for the Fourth of July so stay tuned.
Buchaneer