Pusher vs. helper

[NW Mailing List]

My great-uncle, Bill Buck, was a fireman for the pusher used on the
Blue Ridge for the last couple of years that it existed.  I asked him
about this several times and he always  stated that they did not have
an assigned locomotive or an assigned class of locomotive.  They got
what was available and ready "out of the pool" in Roanoke.  He said it
was usually one of the Ys but occasionally would be an A, etc.

He never talked about being in the lead locomotive of the double-header.
So I would guess that the crew for the pusher and the lead of the
double-header came from different pools (or he didn't have enough
seniority to make it up front).

He never used "helper" for the lead locomotive of the double-header
as far as I can recall.  I vaguely recall him saying that they
were "pulled by a Y and an A double-heading the train."

This is all from memory from 20+ years ago and should be taken with
at least a few grains of salt.

Toney Minter