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Show for carrying water were stored in each car. A couple of galvanized tubs (laundry) were filled periodically with the drinking water from the drums. Whenever they were nearly empty the conductor would wire ahead to the next stop so the station yard men would be ready with hoses to fill the drums for the next leg of travel. In order to not crowd the rams in the cars and leave room for them to move around, the number of rams allowed in a stockcar was limited to around forty head. The usual entries to sales were geared to that number per consignor so that one car would suffice. For the convenience of the attendant with a shipment of rams, the livestock car was entrained next to the caboose. Because the caboose was the last of 60 to 70 cars, whenever the engineer blew the whistle as a signal for starting, Bill automatically braced himself for the tremendous jerk caused by the slack in the couplings between the cars. It was similar to a giant whiplash. There were seats and bunks in the caboose where the attendant would lie down between stops and sleep if he could. Meals were eaten at stops, often hurriedly, depending on the 21 length of time the train would be involved in switching. Years later when Bill was no longer attending ram sales, he said he still automatically braced himself whenever he heard the whistle of a train. 230 |
