They
finally figured out a way to eliminate one more crewman, many were
surprised to find out that they were eliminating the engineman. And
they replaced him with a baboon who had been sent to school for
only 12 hours.
On
the first trip the brakeman was a bit leery but thought he's give
it a
try. They outfitted the cab of the engine with two color monitors,
one in front of the baboon and one in front of the
brakeman.
While
in the yard, the brakeman heard the carman on the radio call for
the
brakes to be setup for the brake test. The screen in front of the
baboon flashed the message "SETUP BRAKES" which the baboon
did.
Next
the carman called for the release of the brakes, the monitor in
front of the baboon flashed "RELEASE BRAKES" which the baboon
did.
Finally
the carman call and gave the "OK on the brakes, you may proceed".
The dispatcher gave the train the clear signal and the monitor in
front of the baboon flashed "CLEAR TO PROCEED" and the train
departed.
For
the next several (make that four hours we wouldn't want the
overtime ticket) hours the screen would flash various messages and
the baboon would do exactly what the screen
instructed.
As
the train pulled into the destination yard the baboon's screen
flashed the instruction "APPLY BRAKES, YARD TRAIN" and the train
came to a stop right in front of the yard office.
The
brakeman started to become worried, here was the baboon driving the
train and getting all the instruction. He started to wonder why the
railway had kept his position.
Then the screen in front of the brakeman started to make a horrible
sound and started flashing "FEED THE BABOON"
