Re: Gunnison TT Outriggers explained

Quote
Gilbert Gould
One day a newly promoted engineer came to the supply house where
I was supposed to keep all the surplus (that did not exist). He had been
promoted off the Bingham Branch and was going back to run an engine
out of Welby. He had a brand new tool box with his name painted on it.
He came in the door and laid that newly painted tool box on the floor. It
was completely empty. He wiped his hand on a piece of waste and extended
it toward me.
"Mr. Gould?" he inquired. I acknowledged the identity with some
apprehension. He told me his name, and we politely and solemnly shook
hands. Then he told me what he wanted. He was going back to the Bingham
Branch to work, but while he was here in Salt Lake he thought he would
get a full set of tools.
He had made out a complete list of what he needed. Mr. Roberts,
that fearless, white-bearded roundhouse foreman, had signed it in approval
and sent him to me. He laid that authoritative document on the counter
and started to read what the list specified.
One ball-peen hammer and cold chisel.
One twelve-inch stilson wrench.
One twelve-inch monkey wrench.
I was inclined to interrupt and break the bad news, but I didn't have
the heart. He seemed so confidently sure of getting what he wanted. The
list went on:
One fifteen-inch monkey wrench.
One eighteen-inch monkey wrench.
I wondered what old man Roberts had been thinking when he signed
that list in approval and sent him to me. Still the list went on:
One dope cup wrench.
One engineman's torch.
And so on and on he went until he had named a dozen tools that I
hadn't seen since I had been on the job. When he got through he looked
at me, expecting that I would start handing out those items.
I just looked at him helplessly. "Did Mr. Roberts tell you that you
could get those tools here?" I asked.
He didn't know how to answer for a moment. "Why, yes. He told
me that you would fix me up. Here, he signed this request."
"Do you see any of those items hanging around here?" I asked.
"Well, where are they?" he inquired in a puzzled manner. "Isn't this
the supply house?"
I assured him that it was the supply house all right, but there were
no supplies. For a while he couldn't believe that I was serious. After a short
time he picked up his newly-painted tool box and reluctantly left the
supply house.