Train Stories-Beaumont Straight Away: by Andy McCreight

I was called on duty for the Beaumont Straight Away. A train that originated at Houston and terminated at Beaumont Yard. We came on duty at Hardy Street. We got our locomotives out of the Round House and proceeded to the Hardy Street Caboose Track. Back in the day (1979) we gathered up our Power and Caboose at Hardy Street and headed down the mainline to Englewood Yard.

Along the way we passed Tower 26 and Tower 68. Both were occupied by operators who controlled the signals between Hardy Street and the West End of Englewood. As we approached the north yard, we ducked inside the yard to Cab our train. Back in the day we had three trainmen on all trains and switch engines. In this particular case, we had to drop our caboose on the train. One man was positioned at the switch that accessed the track to the rear end of our train. One man was on the footboard of the locomotive. The Conductor was on the ground giving signals. He would raise his hand above his head and give the High Ball to the Engineer. The Engineer would throttle up to about ten miles per hour. The trainman on the footboard would give him the easy signal, the slack would run in and then he highballed the engineer. The engineer would throttle up again separating from the caboose. The trainman at the switch would allow the locomotive to travel down the lead and line the switch behind the locomotive and put the caboose in the hole against our train. This is termed a Gravity Drop. This move is not allowed in today's railroad world. Probably a little too dangerous and complicated for today's railroaders.

Now that we have cabbed our train we move on down the main track  to the east end of the yard to put the locomotives on our train. About midway down the main track we drop off the rear brakeman at the old tunnel that used to run underneath the yard from Liberty Road to the north bowl trim shanty. The brakeman would walk under the yard thru the tunnel. It was dimly lit, sometimes water puddled in the walkway, and we were always blessed with a couple of big rats along the way. Anyway, after traversing the tunnel the brakeman would emerge at a speaker that was used to communicate with the yardmaster as to which track our train was built. He would remain there until we put our power on the track and we were ready to close the puzzle, completing the process of putting our train together. The term puzzle actually described the switch that controlled access to middle of the yard. The switch could be lined for straight away movement or it could be lined to go left and right while traveling up the switching lead. It reduced the footage of track necessary to make these multiple moves. It was a sight to behold!

Now we arrive at the east end of the yard. The conductor goes in the yard office to get the paper work for our train. I was the head brakeman and proceeded to tie the power on our train. We would let the yardmaster know that we had tied on and pumped up the air brakes and were ready close the puzzle. (Not very many trainman had hand held walkie talkies at this point in our railroad careers.) After notifying the yardmaster with the radio on the locomotive, he would contact the rear brakeman on the speaker at the trim shanty and instruct him to close the puzzle on the track.

After lining the puzzle switch, the rear brakeman would use a fuse at night to give the engineer a backup signal to couple the headend of the train to the rear end of the train. During the day, we would use a large white paper object or a fuse. Next, the engineer would pump up the airbrake system to the appropriate amount. A carman would check the air gauge on the caboose and using the radio on the cab tell the engineer to set the brakes. He would ensure that the brakes set on the rear car and tell the engineer to release the brakes. If the airbrake system worked appropriately, he would let the engineer know that his brake system worked.

Now comes the Hi Ball from the Yardmaster. He would give us authority to leave the yard. The departure went pretty smooth on most trains but the Beaumont Straight away was always under powered and consisted of too many rail cars (tonnage). Sometimes the car count was near 200. Many times we could not pull the cars with the locomotives assigned to the train. When that happened, the yardmaster would tell a switch engine crew to come against the rear of our train and help push us out of the yard. The switch engine would help get us going about 10mph or so, the engineer would power up and give the switchman some slack so that he could cut away from our train, and away we would go!

to be continued...….

Client-Lawyer Privilege: by Andrew McCreight

After watching Cohen testify before Congress, I pondered, how is what came out of his mouth even legal. If I  had a lawyer with whom I had retained to represent me, I would expect that legal remedies would be available to me in case he divulged any conversations, information, or advice that was communicated between my lawyer and me! I don't understand how Cohen could have provided any lawyer/client testimony to Congress, Mueller, or in any Court proceedings. I can only suppose that since he has been disbarred that he has abandoned his moral and legal obligations to protect his client!

Having said the above I would advise Cohen to shut up, serve his time, and move on with his life. Also, I can only hope that Big Bubba makes him sing and compose when they slam the prison door behind this piece of excrement!

The actions of the Democrat Committee Leadership today was despicable. We all know what the Hearing was about. It was the beginning of the 2020 Presidential Campaign against President Donald Trump.

Dear Democrats:

Your tactics will not work. We the Trump Nation will, unlike Cohen, take a bullet for Donald Trump! He will be re-elected in 2020 and we will put the Democrat-Socialist-Communist-Marxist Party in the rear view political mirror. Perhaps witnessing the Democrat Party completely destroying its credibility with the American People!

Liberty Dispatch Reader Request

Dear Liberty Dispatch, Would you please send out a get well wish for Texas Ranger Frank Huff...? I heard he was in the hospital. He and his family are on our prayer list. Thank you,

It begins....

By, Ray A. National Political News Investigator

Derailed on the Rabbit! by Andrew McCreight

In the early 1980's, while riding the Rabbit between Houston and Lufkin on a northbound freight train, the unexpected happened.

I was working the caboose and a friend of mine was working the head end. As we were highballing thru Livingston Texas our train went into emergency. The routine in this situation was that the Head Brakeman started walking back towards the rear of the train and the Rear Brakemen started his trek from the rear to the headend. We did just that!

After meeting about halfway, we were perplexed about what happened. We could hear the trainline air supply started to pump up indicating that the trainline was still in tact. So what the heck happened?

My fellow trainman and I continued to survey the condition of our train and we noticed that a box car was leaning slightly and the main line had a little dog leg...a sort of U shape! We got to looking around for a causation and discovered a deep ditch was full of Bulk Head Pulp Wood Cars with Loaded Rock Hoppers on top of them! It was a mess!

Later it was determined that someone had taken the Hand Brakes off of the cars in the runaround and apparently enough of the air brakes on the cars bled off to allow the cars to roll. As we were going by the runaround, the vibration of our train initiated movement of the cars and they rolled into the side of our train and the cars piled up in the ditch.

I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky. If the cars had rolled out prior to our arrival, we would have hit them head on!

Is the Democrat Leadership Scared of Trump? by Andrew McCreight

President Trump invited both the Democrats and Republicans to come to a meeting at the White House to discuss the Government Shutdown. The only ones that showed were the Republicans...NOT ONE DEMOCRAT SHOWED UP!

I can only imagine that Chuck Pelosi and Nancy Schumer were behind this boycott of the meeting that could have Opened the Government back up and put our Federal Workers back to work.

Trump stood his ground concerning the Wall and took on the responsibility of a government shutdown to make a point but the Democrats are the ones responsible for prolonging the financial disparities that the government employees are undergoing!

He Nancy and Chuck...DON'T BE SCARED OF TRUMP! Go to the meetings!

Senate Attorney General Confirmation Hearing: by Andrew McCreight

William Barr was nominated by President Trump for the position of Attorney General of the United States of America.

First look, he carried himself very well during the Senate Confirmation Hearing today.
He seems as though he will bring some gravitas to the position and did not start off his tenure as attorney general from a position of weakness like Jeff Sessions did! Good riddance Jeff!

During the hearing Kamala Harris helped to justify President Trump's call for building a security wall on our Southern Border. Senator Harris repeatedly said that there is a national crisis when it comes to our people suffering from drug addiction and ending up dead or in prison. I applaud the fact that she recognized the plight of our fellow citizens.

Reports indicate that 90% of our drug problem emanates from Mexico South. President Trump should use the testimony of Senator Kamala Harris to justify his authority to impose Marshall Law along our Southern Border and use funding from whatever source necessary to BUILD THE WALL!

Mr. Trump, if the democrats are to arrogant to act and will not protect this citizenry of our country, then; I hereby authorize you to pull the trigger and declare a national emergency and protect our country!

1979-Riding the Rabbit-Southern Pacific Railroad: by Andrew McCreight

I hired out as a Brakeman on the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1979 about two months after graduating from Hardin High School in Liberty County Texas.

One of the great experiences that I had was working the caboose as a rear brakeman on a train that ran from Houston to Lufkin. We swapped crews at Lufkin, layed over at a hotel, and waited on a southbound train to take back to Houston.

Working the caboose was a treat for me especially at on a night train. We would leave Houston and end up in the middle of the Piney Woods. On a moonless night it would get so dark on the caboose that you could not see your hand in front of your face. IT WAS DARK!

As we traveled up and down the railroad one of our duties as a trainman was to curve the train. We would peer out the caboose window looking for any defects that might cause harm to our train. This might include "hot boxes" or "sticking brakes' or even signs of broken wheels that might cause the train to derail. (Trains no longer have cabooses and these duties are performed by track side detectors now days. Technology such as this allowed Railroads to do away with cabooses and those of us who had the pleasure of riding them).

Anyway, as I was curving my train one night, I noticed an amazing sight. The airbrakes had been applied and the brake shoes on the cars were applied tight. I new that they had been applied because all the rail cars had little sparkling lights emanating off of each wheel. It was very dark and we were going around curves in the middle of the piney woods and I saw what looked like Christmas lights all up and down the train. I am amazed that this vision still sticks with me after forty years of railroading.

YES MITCH MCCONNEL: FUNDING THE BORDER WALL IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE APPOINTMENT OF GORSUCH TO THE SUPREME COURT

Mitch Mcconnell...you damned Republican Establishment Majority Leader...it is time to invoke the Nuclear Option and pass the CR with 5 BILLION DOLLARS IN BORDER WALL FUNDING. You did it for Gorsuch...NOW FOLLOW THE WILL OF THE REPUBLICAN BASE AND FUND THE WALL!

THE GOVERMENT SHUTDOWN AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN: by Andrew McCreight

The government shutdown just saved the Trump second term as President of the United States!

I would like to thank the Democrats and the Republican Senate for the upcoming 2020 Presidential Victory for Donald Trump!

The RINO Republicans and the Democrat Party were counting on President Trump folding on the Border Funding Issue but they failed to understand the power of his base. We demanded that Donald remain strong or be replaced in 2020. I had already made my mind up that if he caved that I was going to switch my vote to Ted Cruz. I love Donald Trump and I appreciate what he has done for our country in the short time that he has been President. I also recognize the political pounding that he has received from the Media, Democrats and the Republican Establishment...and I applaud the strength that he has thus far exhibited. But mark my words...45...if you cave on the border wall funding you will not be elected in 2020.