soft touch

i ran into town the other day to deposit my check--i miss direct deposit--when a train came to a halt in the main part of town. i could see that some switching of cars was going on so when i could i drove to a crossing--which was blocked by the train, of course,-- and watched the engineers at work. it was a short train of cars to be deposited here and there pulled by two engines and as far as i could tell run by two engineers. one of the engines was number 813 which i have seen go by often. both the engineers where out walking and switching the tracks. as i watched they deposited one grain car by an elevator i thought no one used and then remotely backed up the forward part of the train to the detached back of the train. i waited for the crunch of the couplings, but none came. the engineer with his remote backed up the two engines and about ten cars so sweetly that there was not a sound above that of the engines as the train was rejoined. they walked back to the engines, each getting in there own, the train starting just as the forward engineer stepped aboard. no sound of jerking cars crunched the air waves as they slipped on to the next site. not everyone is so skilled as i am often awakened at night by the patterned staccato of cars being jerked one after the other forward.