'spaw...my uncle was a fireman, and my dad was a Western Union lineman who rode those funny little motorized units which had to get OUT of the WAY of trains...my dad was a foreman on the gang which ran the telegraph line on the D&RG-W to the Moffat tunnel ("Dotsero cutoff") in Colorado...

One of his favorite tales was of the dustbowl, when there was a grasshopper plague so bad the motor-cars couldn't get traction to run!...

(He also related the scare of losing track of the train schedule and being alone when a train was coming...and wasn't near a siding! It usually took at least 2 men to shift the car (extendable handles)..and they preferred 4...but this time he heaved it into a ditch by himself! Took a winch to get it back on, and later he couldn't move it to explain what he did...adreneline is wonderful stuff!