[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Back during the war, when anyone could get a job braking, the D&H hired a new kid from Troy. The Superintendent gave him his copy of the [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Book of Rules [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]and told him, "Now take this and study it. Keep it with you at all times on the railroad, because any situation that might come up is covered in the [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Book of Rules[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]."
So the kid takes his book, says, "Thank you, Sir, I sure will!" and goes home to study the book. That night he gets a call for No. 7, the less-than-premier sleeper train from Troy to Montreal. He gets on the train at Troy, and the conductor tells him to go back and make sure the lanterns are all lighted and ready to go on the rear platform. The train pulls out while he's walking back through the sleepers, and up around West Waterford he's walking through one car when he sees a woman's bare posterior exposed through the curtains of an upper berth.
"Hmmmmm — How do I handle this? Oh yeah, the [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Book of Rules[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]!" So he gets out the Good Book, then runs to the rear of the train, grabs a red lantern and hangs it on the berth. Next comes a traveling salesman, who sees parted curtains and the red light, and gets the entirely wrong idea. Needless to say, there was blood on the moon when the word got back to the Old Man the following day, and the kid had a message waiting on his return to report to the Superintendent's Office RIGHT NOW!
He walks in, and the Old Man inquires politely, "Son, what in the world were you thinking of when you hung that red lamp on that poor woman's berth on Monday night?" "Well, Sir," the new hire started, "you told me that anything that came up on the railroad was covered by a rule in the [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Book of Rules.[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]"
"Yes, I did," said the Old Man. "But where in hell did you find a rule to cover that one?" "Right here," the new guy replied. "It says, 'The rear end of a sleeper, exposed by night, must be protected by a red light."
Next day the kid was a Trainmaster.
Author unknown
Loren
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