battalion51
Engineer
I had a pretty long day today, it only got longer at the end. Boarded 98-22this morning at Ft. Lauderdale right on time. Nothing noteworthy until DLB-WPB. Had a couple of 10 MPH slow orders from a work foreman, as he appeared to be installing switches for segment 5 Double Track Construction. Worked West PAlm from the siding so that P683 could back out of his layover facility and continue on his merry little way. Nothing interesting to report til Winter Haven, where I got off to wait for 91-21, who was essentially on time. As it turns out P089-21 had hit a car between Auburndale and Lakeland, cracking his main reservoir. 89-21 was forced to wait for Q173 to come with a relief engine for him, I would never see them though, as the train had to be recrewed. 91-21 arrived a couple of minutes late, but nothing too major. After leaving the Conductor (a friend of mine) came up and told me that the 10 Car's (62008) Air Conditioning had ceased to function on the corridor, so an Amfleet I (82501) was added at WAS to handle that car's 30 or so passengers.
We were making pretty good time, 5 minutes early out of West Palm when it all came crashing down. Went in siding behind P687 for P686, through the 10 MPH's, and on our way. As we came down to a stop at Delray, P687 (Engine 802) reported his engine had failed
After 687 unloaded all of his passengers, we coupled up to his cab car, our AC on his headend. We pulled down six cars to let our Delray passengers off, and the proceeded at Restricted speed down to Yamato siding. P090-22 was in siding waiting for both of us, so we shoved in past the north switch, 90-22 left leaving us on the main. We uncoupled from 687's equipment, made a reverse move past the north end of Yamato, in the siding around him and our merry little way, total delay 80 minutes. As I stepped down at Ft. Lauderdale, the station agent informed me 89 was only 10 minutes away, I was unable to see anything as my parents were cranky and waiting on me. So an interesting day all in all.