A beer-writer friend of mine shot the following photo while visiting the Strasburg RR.


He jokingly said to the crew, "Casey Jones didn't eat pizza!"

The engineer's reply: "He's dead and we're not!"

Thus proving once again the many benefits of pizza. Beloved by rail preservationists everywhere, a vital fuel for thousands of late nights spent laboring over balky machinery, and an annuity for so many cardiologists!

Pic didn't show up; I'd guess the crew was partaking of a few slices?

Howard P.
New York (home of REAL pizza!)

I dont "Volunteer" anymore, but I have no issues working for pizza. Real pizza that is..

Paul
New York (home of REAL pizza!) (stolen from Howard)

Picture didn't show up on my end either, but I take it it's from Pizza City in downtown Strasburg? Definitely a hit among most buffs.

I think every railroad museum has a beloved hometown pizza parlor. I'm acquainted with ones in Union, Clinton, and Grand Rapids OH. None in Rio Vista, but after people in California heard about Detroit pizza, they just gave up.

I don't know if I would eat pizza on duty. Cinders are not my favorite topping.

That quote was from my fireman, and the pizza was from Hershey Farms. Don't knock cinders as a topping until you've tried them.

There are times when the pizza place is popular because it's the only close-by local cheap alternative to fast food or the railroad's own food grill (ex. Strasburg), will readily deliver to the railroad or shop because they're called often enough (Bella Roma, up Falls Road 3/4 of a mile from the Baltimore Streetcar Museum), or are literally the only option in town (Orbisonia's pizza/sub shop and EBT).

It's always great fun to order pizza, delivered to a certain locomotive at a certain location and a certain time... the reaction of the guy answering the phone can be priceless!

Until this thread, I'd forgotten about this silliness. Must do it again soon!

Steve Hunter

Try calling for a pizza delivery giving a Mile Marker along the interstate as the delivery address...

Our vol. Haz-Mat team was working an extended chemical spill incident and the crews were getting hungry. We were just trying to get a half dozen large hand tossed pepperoni pizzas delivered to the 33 mile marker of I-68. Took about 20 minutes to convince the guy it was a legitimate call.

It is also a challenge to get a pizza delivered to a caboose at the edge of a railyard while nightwatching a steam engine. Nothing like sitting up in the crummy munching your 'zza.....mld

I once had a pizza delivered to the Newark, Del. Amtrak station while a nighttime bridge replacement was in progress. The real legend involves trying to fasten a pizza to a train-order hoop....

The most epic story along these lines I ever heard was an Amtrak excursion in Oregon from Portland to The Dalles in the 1980s using Superliners that had a massive derailment or rock slide occur on their route, and a lengthy detour through Redmond and Eugene was chosen. They supposedly canceled 700 KFC box dinners to be picked up at one place, had the order transferred to a place along the detour place, and picked them up a few hours later.

KFC was, and maybe still is, one of the go-to providers for enroute delay food for Amtrak. On the Capitol Ltd. route, the Roy Rogers in Cumberland was the standard place for getting delay free meals for passengers Eastbound (the diner does not normally serve lunch inbound to DC). They could get together a couple of hundred two-piece chicken dinners in an hour or so and deliver it trainside, once the CSX yard master in Cumberland relayed the order from the train.

When DC had the Montrealer, occasionally the OBS crew would go in together and order a couple of pizzas to be delivered trainside for the customs inspection stop Southbound at St. Albans. U. S. Customs (pre-9/11) would get on at the U. S. border and do their inspection of passengers enroute to St. Albans, then question any suspicious passengers in the lounge car as long as necessary after the train stopped in St. Albans. As long as they were on the train the rest of the passengers had to stay in their seats so the crew had a break and we would eat.

Cinders are almost as good as the finger print on the crust........

"Don't knock cinders as a topping until you've tried them."

"Cinders are almost as good as the finger print on the crust........"

How many old-timers recall the late Bill Purdie's recipe for "cinder pie?"

Ingredients included coal, water, and chewing gum. Utensils included a steam locomotive and a shovel. Preheat the locomotive to 200 psi, then start locomotive to 45 mph. Stand on tender deck, and insert gum in mouth; when the gum is soft, open mouth and enjoy.

What would railfanning be without the corniest and nerdiest jokes in the world?