Tuesday, March 15, 2016

A Near Perfect 10

Engine 7046 was idling next to Clancy's Tavern, waiting for engine 9205 leading the east bound UN-2 Uniontown Trick. The traction motors of 9502, a sleek F3A, were digging into the slight grade out of East McKeesport. When it reached the crossover, instead of heading straight as it should, it suddenly lurched into the curve....someone had left the switch open! The men standing around Vic's Bait & Tackle Shop were witness to the most spectacular sight as the nose of the F3 drove straight into the broadside of the Heinz 73 pickle car. The force sheared the couplers off the adorning cars and sent the pickle car into a death spiral down the steep raven.
But wait...all was not lost. The spectators, now Olympic judges, were amazed as, in those final moments before complete obliteration, they witness Heinz 73, the ungainly and awkward pickle tank car, execute a near perfect 360 with half twisted, pulling out as it was reduced to the individual nuts and bolts that created it.
It only took a few minutes of discussion before the witnesses scored a unanimous 9.9!