After probably a 100 year the switchman is going here.

[Larry H.]

This is just a side note to all our exciting comments on amtrak, good and bad. And really this is about the railroads in general I guess, but amtrak depends on them so I guess its fair.

When I moved here about 22 years ago I was so surprised to go into town where the Illinois Central crosses the CSX and see a van sitting along the tracks and the fellow waiting to get out and walk up the bank and throw a single switch. The same thing happens with even Amtrak in a few places where they get out and throw the switch for a siding. In the town of Centralia which is the real rail center around, they always have men sitting in vans waiting to change the position of the switches when a train comes or passes. And in that town it is often.

So when I noticed some work around the tracks in Odin the other day I wondered what was up. Well amazing as it may seem we have come into the modern world. A nice little automatic switch is now sitting where the workman used to stand. Is anyone by me surprised at how long it has taken them to modernize the CSX even to this point? In Centralia you can still see the fellows just waiting for a train.. At railroad salary scales I am surprised it has taken so long.

 

[had8ley]

This is just a side note to all our exciting comments on amtrak, good and bad. And really this is about the railroads in general I guess, but amtrak depends on them so I guess its fair.
When I moved here about 22 years ago I was so surprised to go into town where the Illinois Central crosses the CSX and see a van sitting along the tracks and the fellow waiting to get out and walk up the bank and throw a single switch. The same thing happens with even Amtrak in a few places where they get out and throw the switch for a siding. In the town of Centralia which is the real rail center around, they always have men sitting in vans waiting to change the position of the switches when a train comes or passes. And in that town it is often.

So when I noticed some work around the tracks in Odin the other day I wondered what was up. Well amazing as it may seem we have come into the modern world. A nice little automatic switch is now sitting where the workman used to stand. Is anyone by me surprised at how long it has taken them to modernize the CSX even to this point? In Centralia you can still see the fellows just waiting for a train.. At railroad salary scales I am surprised it has taken so long.

One of the first things the railroads cut in times of posterity is track gangs and the equipment such as you describe. We went over twenty years with a switch that had to be spiked down in order to move cars over it. It took a 19 year old brakeman refusing to move over it to get it replaced. Besides, the trainman's salary comes out of a different budget than a hand throw or power switch.