About the Author J. D. Santucci (a.k.a. "Tuch") began his railroading career in 1978 as a trainman on the Missouri Pacific. After a round of lay-offs in 1985, Tuch embarked on a railroad odyssey, working in many different situations for different roads. This column tries to explain some of the nuts and bolts of the job and also demonstrates what we have to deal with on a regular basis within and without the industry. Tuch currently works through freights out of Chicago for Canadian National/Illinois Central. ©1999, 2003-2007 JD Santucci. Logo ©2002 The Railroad Network. By J.D. Santucci

August 4, 2002
Today's column has been pre-empted several times already. Finally this time for sure it gets its turn to appear.

There are oodles of people out there who love to take pictures of trains. Trains are very photogenic. There is that romance with and allure of the train that continues to fascinate both young and old. On any weekend, especially when the weather is nice, there is great probability and likelihood of there being at least half a dozen or more people out there along the way taking pictures of my train and me as well. And if not along the CNIC, then certainly some railroad right of way. Even when the weather is bad there still may be somebody out there preserving today what will be tomorrow’s history. Some great photos of wintertime railroading have been captured during snowstorms. I laugh and tell people that I have probably have had my picture taken more than the President of the United States.

A properly staged and framed photo including a train or a railroad related scene can really tell quite the story. The late O. Winston Link’s dramatic black and white photography of steam was legendary. Mr. Link’s work set a standard that many others can only dream of achieving. Don Ball’s color photography of railroading was also legendary.

There are many others, while lesser known, who are also highly accomplished in their photography skills of trains. They have been published in numerous periodicals and books. I am personally acquainted with several of them, including Randy Olson. Over the years Randy has had numerous shots published in various periodicals. For those of you included on my family Christmas card list, Randy performed the honors or perhaps suffered through sentence of getting the beautiful bride, the wildlife and me into a suitable family photo. Randy had to shoot an entire roll of film. From that roll we only had two shots from which to chose where everybody was looking at the camera. If he could do that well with three dogs (the bride behaved herself quite nicely), you can imagine how well he does with trains. If things ever get worked out with the book, perhaps some of his work may show up there.

Inspired by the likes of these folks along with the draw and allure of trains, there are many aspiring and well established photographers out and about every Saturday and/or Sunday. And many others are also out there at other times during the week, day or night, rain or shine. There are railroaders who also participate in this activity as well. Some railroads like Canadian National and Norfolk Southern sponsor contests for their annual calendars soliciting photographs from their employees. Those employees seeking to win a little cash and have their work displayed nationally or even worldwide will go out in force to attempt to capture that prize winning right shot. Others railroaders shoot photos for their own amusement as well as for documenting and chronicling their careers. I am somewhere in the midst of all the above although a Mr. Link or Mr. Ball I will never come close to being.

I lug my trusty Olympus OM-1 with to work daily and have done so for years. It has been with me at every railroad I have ever worked for all across America. After twenty-seven years of trusty service (I had this camera before I began railroading) and several rebuildings and some repairs, it continues to soldier on faithfully.

I guess I'm sort of the Palladin of railroading, "Have camera will travel."

I have documented many of the people I have worked with including two of the Engineers who trained me, Howard Hanna and Stanley Pipinis. I have chronicled most of the places where I have plied my trade throughout my career. Also captured have been many of the unusual events that occurred over the years. These includes the likes of the infamous load of lumber we turned over in my MoPac days and the derailment that resulted in a car turning over on its side at the CCP. This event inspired that "put on" letter to the Conductor of that particular assignment. I even photographed the end results of a giant derailment that occurred in 1987 on the Grand Trunk Western in Merrionette Park, a South Suburb of Chicago. While not being involved in this episode, I was still able to get up close and take photos where others were not allowed. Being a railroader really paid dividends when this episode occurred.

On another occasion, my railroad career got me up close to a test train being operated on Norfolk Southern. This photo opportunity took place at Argos, IN. I happened to stumble upon it purely by chance. Even though I was not employed by NS, one of their Trainmasters was more than happy to let me get close, take all the photos I my heart desired and answer all my questions. I was a Trainmaster at the IHB at the time, had my radio with me and was wearing a Norfolk &Western 1978 Safety Award belt buckle. No, I never worked for N&W but this guy, who looked to be about twenty-three years old, didn't know that. He must have believed I was somehow connected with Norfolk Southern. Oddly enough though, he never once asked my name or position with the company. Maybe he was afraid I might become upset if he didn't know who I was and it would cost him his job. Oh well, his lack of protocol was my gain.

If the manuscript for my book ever does come to fruition, there will be various photos from my personal collection. I have hundreds of photographs and slides taken throughout the course of my career. I have also taken hundreds more while out doing the rail fan thing.

The photographers are not alone along the right of way. They are also joined by videographers. Emory Gulash and Steve Neff are two of the more well known people who have spent a great deal of time capturing trains and various facets of the rail industry on motion picture film and videotape. In some cases, I have witnessed people along the right of way with both video and still photography cameras set up to capture their Kodak moments in several modes. This then, would make these folks multi-media I suppose.

While at the Wisconsin Central I had Kenny Caflish, a photographer from the Northern Suburbs of Chicago ride along with me between Schiller Park, IL and Vernon, WI. A photo Kenny took of Conductor Dave Soesbe and I, sits on my desk to this day. Kenny was very generous in coming out in all sorts of weather to assist WC crews if we encountered difficulties while operating through his neck of the woods. There was many the night he came out in foul and stormy weather to lend a helping hand by giving the Conductor a ride to and from the problem saving the crew involved even more delay. His generosity also saved many the Conductor a long walk under less than desirable walking conditions.

Near the end of my days at the Wisconsin Central, I had a videographer ride along with me from Schiller Park to Fond du Lac. He captured most of the run. He also went on to ride with a crew from Fond du Lac to Green Bay as well. He was kind enough to send me a copy of the two trips he took.

Periodically I encounter those individuals who give chase to our train. This would have them photographing or videotaping us at a location, quickly loading their gear back into their vehicle and then racing ahead of us to another location to set up and capture yet another moment on film or videotape. They may chase us for miles and set up at quite a few locations. I will try to accommodate them by maybe throttling up and getting the units to smoke it up pretty good. Or I may offer a shot of whistle if the videotape is rolling. On some occasions, they may pace us along the parallel U.S. Route 45 with a one passenger in the car pointing a running camcorder at us.

In some instances I will "register by ticket" with the trackside photographers. Back in the days of Operators, train registers and operation by timetable and train order, trains were required to register en route at open register stations. Instead of having to stop the train and have a member of the crew walk into the office and sign the register book, you were allowed to register by ticket. There was a prescribed form the Conductor filled out and tossed off to the Operator or Agent at the register station. This employee would copy the information from the register ticket into the register book. This information might normally include engine number, train symbol, Engineer and Conductor’s names and if signals were displayed. In addition to all of this information, the employee making the entries into the train register might also include the time this train arrived and/or departed.

The signals would be the illuminated class lights or flags (or both) or absence of signals displayed on the lead locomotive to indicate if it was a scheduled train, a following section of the scheduled train or an extra train. A regular train would indicate no signals displayed, as they were not required to display them if there were no following sections. If there was a following section, the train would display green signals. The last train running as a section of the schedule of the regularly scheduled train would display no signals. A section is one or more trains operating on the same schedule of a regular train.

To explain this briefly, say the railroad involved wanted to operate three trains on #1’s schedule, first #1 would display green signals to denote a following section of #1. Second #1 would likewise display green signals for the following section. Third #1 being the last of the three sections would display no signals indicating there were no more sections of #1 to follow. Extra trains would display white signals. I do have plans to go into all of this in depth in the future when we will look at real train schedules and timetable and train order operation.

On occasion I will do something similar for those who are chasing my train. I will take a piece of paper and write down the train symbol, loading and both mine and the Conductor’s names. I rubber band it to a fusee and toss it off to them. Recently I've begun adding my e-mail address to the register ticket. If they have any questions about the train or the trip, they have an avenue to reach me.

One recent Sunday we had a couple of guys chasing us on our 325 train. They started at Leverett Jct. at the north end of Champaign Yard and followed us all the way to Ashkum, some fifty-one miles north. They captured us at several locations along the way including Paxton, Buckley and Gilman. At Ashkum we dropped off a register ticket to them.

The Desk Two Dispatcher called and told we would meet two trains at Ashkum, so I knew we would be there for a little bit. I was pretty certain they had a scanner with them so I called them on the radio and told them to come up to North Ashkum. While they did head up there, they didn't stay. I was hoping to have a word or two with them. There was a Norfolk Southern train in the siding at Gar Creek and when the Engineer heard this he commented that I shouldn't "feed the foamers." I responded that it was to my advantage as that is how I my picture appeared on the cover of TRAINS magazine some years ago.

Yes it’s true; I was on the cover of the September 1990 issue of TRAINS. While you cannot see my smiling face, you can clearly see my silhouette and my left arm hanging out the window. The beautiful bride recognized it as being me right away. I had to double check it with my time book to verify it, but in the end, it indeed was me. Unfortunately though, they had the train identification wrong. Oh well. It was still my picture though, so I guess I have a little more positive fame anyway.

I generally try to make for a good subject to photograph. Some of the photographers out there have come hundreds, if not thousands of miles to take pictures of my train. Might was well give them their money’s worth. I know guys who go out of their way to ruin a photo opportunity for some fan along the right of way. I don't understand this mentality, but that is what seems to make them happy. Never mind you the person taking their picture might have come from across the continent or even the globe. I guess I feel I should be representing my occupation as well as my employer in a positive light.

On occasion, I have pulled my camera out and taken pictures of people taking pictures of me. It brings quite the bewildered look from some of them. I'm pretty sure this is the last thing they are expecting to see.

While working in New England, there was some old guy who used to come out of his house rain or shine and give us the finger. Actually, he gave us the finger in stereo as he would flip us off with both hands. His house faced the railroad and was probably one hundred fifty feet or so from the right of way. We'd see him come running out of his garage to the end of his driveway and then he'd gesture us. I decided that he was really telling us we were number one. One day I had the camera ready and fired off a couple a shots of him and his friendly gesture. I found out later he used to work there and was told he was pretty much a miserable sort of soul and not at all missed.

I have also taken pictures of events occurring along the right of way. One time there was a house on fire that was very visible to us. I snapped off a couple of shots of it. I have taken shots of people driving around the gates as we approached a crossing and even traffic stopped on the crossing as we approached.

Remember, big brother is watching.

I have also chronicled the routes I have run. I will take pictures of the road I run documenting many aspects of it. Included have been stations, sidings, signals and any unusual aspects of the line. I have also taken a shot of the helper engines pushing my train as we rounded a curve.

While I was assigned to the welded rail installation project during my Trainmaster days at the IHB, I took photos of every aspect of the process of installing welded rail. I captured every single step from removal of the old rail to the in-track flash butt welding together of the 1400 foot length sticks of rail after they were installed.

Being a day one employee of Wisconsin Central, I captured the very first train they operated as it arrived at Shops Yard in North Fond du Lac from Stevens Point on the morning of October 11th, 1987. It was lead by three Soo Line engines, so if you didn't know about the new railroad you would have figured it was business as usual on the Soo's Lake States Transportation Division as opposed to the dawning of a new railroad as well as a new era in railroading. I also photographed the very first crew to depart from Shops Yard with train TO46 to Milwaukee.

I have documented the interiors of various locomotives by taking photographs of cab interiors. I have also photographed the various types of head end telemetry devices we use as well.

On the tail end of trains I have captured what are now long departed cabooses and also several generations of end of train telemetry devices.

As change is constant, I have documented many facets of the industry aside from locomotives. I have captured what are now, fallen flag lines on film. Various freight cars in long departed schemes are a major part of this undertaking. I have also captured the exterior of many towers as well as the interiors of several of them. Some of these towers have long since been closed and either demolished or relocated. There are also photographs of various railroad structures including phone boxes that were once common along the right of ways all across America.

As mentioned in previous columns, I have also used the camera to capture the mishaps, oopses and excuse me's and parlayed some of the end results into practical jokes. I have captured more than one Conductor or Brakeman in a state of sleep. In one case I blew one shot up into an 8X10 and posted it with the caption "Employee of the month" on the bulletin board. This particular guy always bragged how he never ever fell asleep. He was not too pleased. Oh well. I even captured one Brakeman who was having a difficult time lining a switch the normal way. She resorted to actually sitting on the switch handle to get it all the way down. Again, this became a practical joke with the requisite letter to her.

While it is quite likely most of my photos and slides are not likely to not wind up appearing on some wall calendar, they will show up some place. I have forwarded some of them to friends who have been given permission to post them on their websites.

You just never know, while you are taking my picture, I may be taking yours as well.

"Smile, you're on Candid Camera."

This past Thursday, August 1st, the new contract with the BofLE and CNIC went into effect. We are now working under an hourly wage system. Being that folks in some circles are calling this contract historic, I guess that means I was part of history that day as I was working my regular 322 assignment.

To those of you who were kind enough to send along birthday wishes to the beautiful bride, she thanks you. I really treated her this year as I took this weekend off and we went out and celebrated. We saw a play in Chicago and then went out to dinner with some friends and family. It was a very enjoyable time.

A couple of post scripts to last weeks column; Being that I have a common tendency to remember something I was supposed to include in a column after it gets put to bed, last weeks column was no exception. I left out something that I had intended to include, so it gets added here.

The first year we were married, the beautiful bride was working for a law firm in downtown Chicago. This had her out of the house by about 630 or so every morning. She had to leave early to catch her bus. Being that there were two sets of railroad tracks for her to cross, there was the distinct possibility of her getting caught by a train on the way to work. If having me around (sometimes) wasn't bad enough, she had to deal with railroading on her way to work too.

During this time, I was on the extra board for the most part. I was working all sorts of hours and we did not get to see too much of each other. I knew there was somebody there though as things were getting done in the house and I wasn't doing them. Food appeared in the fridge, clothes were getting washed and I wasn't dropping them off at the laundry like I did in my single days. And there was somebody sleeping in my bed oftentimes when I got home. Wait a minute, oh yeah that's right, I took a wife.

Whenever I went off to work or out to do errands or something where she might come while I was out, I would leave her a note telling of what was going on. So that she would fully understand who it was leaving her these notes, I always signed "Your husband" at the bottom. I figured this would help her would recall who I actually was aside from the guy that sometimes appeared in her home, ate a ton of food and left dirty clothes behind. Nearly sixteen years later, I have kept up with this tradition. I do believe at this point though, the bride pretty much remembers me now.

And so it goes.