Railroad Bingo
Crew
Crew
The engineer of a steam locomotive (or hog) was sometimes called the Hogger. Jim Connor was an engineer for the Denver & Rio Grande who lived in Durango. Connor is shown checking the engine in this image above (catalog number 03.58.18).
The fireman was called the ash cat. The fireman sat on the left side of a steam engine and was responsible for shoveling coal from the tender into the boiler. The idenity of the fireman in the image above (catalog number 03.58.21) is unknown.
The conductor of a train was called Brains because the conductor is the one in charge of any train. The hat in the image above was worn by long-time conductor and Durango resident Alva Lyons. He is shown in the image below (catalog number 96.8.14) with Wayland Bruce and Tom Martin. Bruce was probably the conductor and Lyons and Martin were brakemen on the day this photo was taken. Brakemen are responsible for the safety of the train and its passengers.
The railroad hired many gandy dancers to maintain the tracks. One of the jobs of the gandy dancers was to ride on the locomotive's cowcatcher, perhaps like the man in the image below (catalog number 94.26.58) to make sure the rails were straight.
Railroaders had colorful names for trains and crewmembers. One of the most interesting is lizard scorcher which is what the chef in the dining car was called. The Denver & Rio Grande did not typically operate dining cars so stops were made along the way for food and services. One of the three Silverton shortline railroads, the Silverton Northern, did boast a dining car called the Animas Forks. The menu and wine list seen below seem very ambitious for a railroad which was less than 15 miles long! This dining car was known to be in the shop a lot for repairs.
