Viewing page 73 of 99

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

In Providence, for the first time, we were introduced to a hand signal delivered usually by a brakemen on the ground to the engineer or fireman. It wasn't a railroading signal at all but rather a hand sign expressing supreme derision. The signal was given with the right hand clenched into a fist except for the thumb, which left was pointing straight up. The signal consisted of three short upward sweeps of the hand concluded by a fourth and much higher sweep as indicated by the following:

[[image: drawing of 4 curved arrows pointing upwards]]

As far as I could figure it out, this signal was exhibited whenever the ground man wished to express extreme displeasure to the men in the cab. Depending upon one's imagination and experience, varied connotations may be attached to the sequence of motions but any purity can probably be discounted heavily.

We had two incidents while riding steam locomotives in Providence that were worth noting:

I'm not sure of the implications of the first at this point although I may have been at the time. At any rate, I'm reasonably sure it wasn't a friendly admonition. I climbed on a 3400 one day to ride for a while. I had my usual clip board at the ready to put down the data we were collecting. After sizing up just what I had in mind, the engineer said somewhat heavily, "I wouldn't count the scoops." These locomotives were hand-fired and it appeared that the engineer was not keen about anybody checking up on just how much coal was used while he was handling the 3400. That's all I can figure now anyhow.

The other incident was amusing. I was riding a 3400 when a new engine crew came aboard. The first thing the fireman did was to open the furnace door and have a look at the firebox. His comment: "Well, the roof's still there."

Somewhere on these tests, we encountered an engineer named Mahoney. I think it was in Providence. Mahoney was one of the type commonly referred to as "characters." His most outstanding characteristic was that of being critical of just about everybody and everything. Also, he was noted for being something of a violent individual. Bill Libby was much impressed by Mahoney and when we got together in Boston in 1939, Bill and I reminisced about him. Mahoney often referred to the ground men in his crew as "cheerleaders" because of the way they waved their arms at him during hand-signaling. One of Mahoney's favorite gripes: "There are two things I hate--and they're both yardmasters." One of the Providence yardmasters was always referred to by Mahoney as "Drizzle Puss." Conductors ran a close second to the yardmasters on Mahoney's blacklist.