This actual event happened in 1981 on a chat train on the west end of our division of the Frisco (it was BN, inc. by that time, but you could not tell us that). I do not recommend the behavior, but it gives insight as to how it used to be. Or could be at times.
After working for one day with Road Foreman Wilson Jones and his track crew putting out ballast between Lawton and Snyder, OK we headed home with our empty open hoppers. The engineer was going at track speed, 40 mph, when he put his head out the open cab window to watch the wheels on a right hand curve. That is when his newly prized possession, a Rolling Stones cap, blew off his head. (You know, the cap with a logo of big lips and tongue out.) His immediate reaction was to look at me and say, "I gotta have thay cap!". So he makes a suppression application and the train quickly comes to a halt. Then he radios the conductor in the caboose and simply makes the statement, "Dewey, I need to back up". The only reply he gets is, "OK". No explanation...no questions...no nothing. It was a remote area with no crossings, so we back up the entire train whatever distance it was until his cap comes into view, and I drop off to fetch it.
At the time, I found it curious that this type of running could occur, but I was a new hire and all I did was keep my mouth shut and do what I was told. Over the years I lost track of the engineer, but Dewey went on to promote to engine service and kept on working into his early 70's. He always kept a set of dominoes in his grip, and we played in the caboose on several occasions while waiting in the hole at a meet. That is him on the right in 2018:
