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Jim,<br>
<br>
Mine runs had six-man crews. The middle brakeman of three was senior
man and rode in the caboose with the conductor. Some short runs did
not always have a caboose, including Algoma on the North Fork
shifter and up Carswell Hollow on the Vivian Goat.<br>
<br>
Backing empties downgrade into tipple delivery tracks was relatively
easy. The track configuration was designed to make it as safe and
efficient as reasonably possible and crews had ways of dealing with
the caboose. Tipple carmen called "droppers" would help set brakes.<br>
<br>
Grant Carpenter<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/5/2025 12:33 PM, NW Mailing List
wrote:<br>
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<div dir="ltr">OK, I sit corrected on cabeese on mine runs.
Putting it behind the loco prevents those extra maneuvers I was
worried about. BUT, and there's always a but, how many men made
up a mine run crew? Engineer, fireman and probably a brakeman
at the nucleus, anybody else? Did the mining operations supply
workers to assist in the process?
<div>Jim Cochran</div>
</div>
<br>
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<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Dec 5, 2025 at 6:46 AM
NW Mailing List <<a href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org</a>>
wrote:<br>
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style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)">
I've seen many pics of the caboose riding behind the
engine on switching moves to keep crews together.</div>
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style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
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style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)">
Carl Barna</div>
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style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)">
Emmaus, PA</div>
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<div id="m_-7372071753362676774divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font
face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size:11pt"
color="#000000"><b>From:</b> NW-Mailing-List <<a
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces@nwhs.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
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on behalf of NW Mailing List <<a
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target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org</a>><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, December 4, 2025 4:22 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> NW Mailing List <<a
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
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<b>Subject:</b> Re: North Fork Hollow Mine Run</font>
<div> </div>
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<div>
<div dir="ltr">Thanks Jimmy, this helps some of us
modelers or others who are just curious about history,
who have never worked for the railroad.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Your question about "where would the crew ride"
without a caboose is helpful because I would not
have thought of that.</div>
<div>Some of Jim C's questions are interesting to me
as generalities to understand the hows and whys of
how things worked.
<div>
<div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Mike Rector</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div>
<div dir="ltr">On Thu, Dec 4, 2025 at 2:47 PM NW
Mailing List <<a
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wrote:<br>
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<br>
On 12/4/2025 8:19 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:<br>
> However, Grant's information suggests that the
run pulled past the <br>
> trailing points turnout and then backed the
empties into the holding <br>
> track. What was the motivation for this?
Hauling a caboose around <br>
> through all these gyrations would have
seemingly meant additional <br>
> moves to drop it off and pick it back up, so I
am assuming (and yes, I <br>
> know what assuming can do) that these runs were
cabooseless.<br>
<br>
Jim,<br>
First, the trains were not cabooseless! Where would
the crew ride? <br>
Second, these crews have been switching out these
plants for years and <br>
they know how best to do it! Trust me, they are not
going to do it the <br>
hard way! What we don't know is everything that is
on their list that <br>
needs to be done AND what the physical situation of
cars left over in <br>
the tracks may be. Not knowing any of this, it is
inconceivable to guess <br>
just how a plant needs to be switched on any given
day. Sure, there is a <br>
basic system of working each place, but, that can
easily change <br>
depending on what other work needs to be done.<br>
<br>
Jimmy Lisle</blockquote>
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