Bandanas

........no Frad, "bandanas" aren't sumthin' to eat......
When I started firing, I thought wearing a bandana around ones's neck was about as cliche' as you could get. That was until about my 3rd trip when we were banging away up the hill and I leaned forward on my seat to get the deck hose and a red hot cinder the size of the end of my thumb made a direct hit down the back of my shirt. Old George Knauff thought I was having an siezure the way I was jumping around. Being the exceptionally bright young fireman I was, I figured out bandanas really did make sence.
When GBart showed up, he wanted all us to look cute so he got us striped caps (one size fits all) with big C&TS patches on them and a bandana that was big enough to use as a table cloth. We looked like a bunch of "GQ" railroad guys (well, sorta). My hat promply got "baptised" by a piece of greasy valve gear when I stuck my head under the engine, then it magically got caught in the wind and sailed off Cascade Creek Trestle. The bandana did indeed become a table cloth.