As darkness begins to fall, the last few switching moves are made at Brockville.
To see the earlier parts of this series, here are the links:
Brockville, May 1981, Part 2
As Number 46 departs up the CPR Brockville Sub, the power for Number 56 waits for the switch.
No 46 begins its maximum 40 mph trip up to Smiths Falls,
56's power makes its move.
The semaphore governs the CPR Loop Line to the Brockville waterfront.
A clear signal beckons.
With his hammer, carman's lantern, and ankle bands
(to prevent his pant cuffs from catching on passing equipment)
the carmen prepares to make the joint.
After the safety stop, he prepares the knuckle to hopefully make a good joint the first time.
If you follow the coach air hoses back, you can see the relative pipe sizes of the
train (air brake) line and the communicating signal line (above the train line, thinner).
The hammer is propped on the inside of the rail,
before it is used to secure the locking fittings of the Barco steam line connection.
I thought the 'rumpled tan raincoat' at the joint looked like the traditional outfit of a master mechanic/official
(as seen high on the tenders of refuelling steam locomotives in excursion service).
On closer inspection ...
He may be attending to the needs of the author/historian/dignitary
who seems to be wearing a nametag on his right chest
and a white engineer's cap.
There seems to be a crowd in the cab on departing.
(I checked, and OS Nock wrote about the 'corridor' trains way back when the old
'outer' Kingston station was still on the long curve.)
Time to go.
And a nice freight to round out the evening.