Re: We have lost one of the Great Ones..

The Grand Canyon enginehouse had a drop pit that was exceedingly deep. In the bottom of it was a sump pump. Unfortunately the check valve was at the top of the pipe so when the pump stopped it would occasionally gurgle and make other interesting sounds. The joke became that there was the "pit rat". One day some work had to be done in the smokebox of 18 or 29 (I don't recall). Marty was the smallest so she volunteered. When I showed up for swing shift she had just crawled out of the smokebox. She was literally soot black from head to toe and very tired. I hollered out to Russ that I had just found the pit rat. She did get a tired "have sympathy for me" smile on her face! She never was afraid of work or getting dirty. JP