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| War Wagon Hitched to Travel (April 2014) |
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| Bus for Workers After the Live Long Day |
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| One of Many From the War Wagon |
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| Fall Colors |
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| Calling in the Workers |
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| Lining Up to End the Day |
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| War Wagon Spread Out |
The men have been working on the railroad all the live long day,
despite torrents of rain. Elmira, Idaho was once a railroad town where
workers lived between the tracks with their families. Many were Italian
immigrants.
Today, BNSF hires workers at various hubs
with Spokane and Missoula being the closest ones. When the rails need to
be repaired or simply maintained, the hubs dispatch the War Wagon. The
first photo in today's line up is from April and shows what the War
Wagon looks like all hitched up for travel on the rails. Not only does
it have the equipment needed, it also trails outhouses.
When
the workers come to northern Idaho to work on the tracks, they stay in
Sandpoint and bus from there to here. The War wagon stays in Elmira
across the road from my house. It's fascinating to watch the equipment
and seems how it distracted me on this dark, rainy day, I thought I'd
share a look with you.
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What an interesting blog post! I'm glad you shared this. And now I can't stop singing that little song.
ReplyDeleteHa, ha! I've been working on the railroad...yeah, stuck in my head, too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Charli. That's very interesting. I haven't heard of or seen the like before.
ReplyDeleteLast night we met an Army Veteran who was the superintendent for the gang working across from our house. He's Navajo and it made me think of the irony that he is boss of a war wagon--sounds like an old western story about Cowboys & Indians.
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