| Posted by on April 17, 2020 | |
Back in the 1960's I was firing for Jerry Knickel Sr. on R&SW train 68 out of Savanna,IL. We had three of those double decker stock cars on the head end the first to be un-loaded at Shannon,IL..On the Milwaukee Road the train and engine crew helped the farmers or stock handlers unload the cars. Tony Charland was the Head Brakeman and was not afraid of a little work. We stopped at Shannon cut away with the lead car and shoved in on the short stub track where there was a cattle chute. Once spotted we attempted to unload the upper level with about 40 head of cattle packed in there like sardines. Well as you can imagine once the door was opened all 40 cows wanted to come out at once....ya know..FREEDOM! Well...this with all the pushing and shoving of 1000lb beasts was not conducive to and unloading in an orderly fashion plus the farmers had cattle prods that give a cow when touched an electrical shock. Cows were falling down between the carside and the chute meaning they had to be roped and dragged out from under the cattle car with a tractor. Needless to say we were there for hours.....remember this was around two AM right in downtown Shannon....the commotion brought out the county mounty! After we finally got both levels of the car onloaded with minimal injuries to the cattle and farmers we tied back on our train and headed for Beloit and Milwaukee....don't remember where the other cars were unloaded at...… the Lacrosse
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| Posted by on April 17, 2020 | |
Again.....back in the 60's we had what we called the "MEAT TRAIN"between the Twin Cities and Chicago on the Milwaukee Road.....most of the train was reefers full of meat from the Dakota's and Minnesota.....sometimes on the head end would be 4-5 cars of stock(cattle)that would be handled by herders(cattlemen and women)that would ride in the stock cars with the cattle with their bed rolls. At Portage we'd hose everyone down on a hot summers night with water from hoses that the car dept. would have at the ready for just that purpose.
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I believe these cars were handled through Ashland Avenue Yard in Chicago. They were set out there so rabbis could bless the beef as Kosher. Once "certified" the cars could move east to destination.
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...and this is exactly why I so enjoy this site: Thanks guys for the contribution and (most) always the educational comments.
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