My general understanding for the railroads was that the trains moved at night so that the cars (freight) could be loaded and unloaded at their destination industries during the day.
In the era before electric lighting work in factories and warehouses was particularly challenging in the dark.
As far as I know they tried to make up trains in the day and run them at night.
Railroads having a fixed guideway at least theoretically did not need to see where they were going.
I will share however that when I first came to Chama I was involved in a night photo shoot where I was riding cars and lining switches in the dark in a yard that I was not familiar with without radios and only an oil burning switchmans lantern for light. SCARY!
It made me think about the old days when there was no love lost between "boomers" and "home gaurds". Add in link and pin couplers, no water glasses only gauge cocks, no injectors only crosshead pumps and only straight air or no air at all and life was pretty damned exciting.

John Bush.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2020 07:14AM by John Bush.