Working for the Railroad
Indirectly, I come from a family of railroaders. My grandfather on my dad's side of the family, and all of his brothers worked in the car shops on the Erie Railroad in Huntington, Indiana. Dad used to tell me stories of his dad being gone for a week at a time when there would be a wreck. Dad was the only one of the boys that did not work for the Erie. My grandfather on my mom's side of the family worked a short stint in the shops, probably as a boiler maker's apprentice. He was in the firebox of a locomotive, and the fellow he was working with decided to taka a nap. He told my grandfather that if he saw the foreman coming around, to just take his hammer and start hitting metal with it! My grandfather later became a school teacher and state senator in Indiana for two terms.
I started railroading 10 months after high school in the Bloomington, Illinois, shops of the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad as a machinist apprentice. A retired engineer took me down to talk with the superintendent about getting a job as a brakeman, but there were no openings. The super suggested that I talk to the master mechanic, and I was soon working on an F-7, and later an Alco RS-3 my first day on the job.
I went to college about a year later, and worked summers for the GM&O as an operator, agent, car clerk, etc. I have also worked for the Chicago & Northwestern and new Toledo, Peoria & Western, for each, train dispatcher and clerk. I was also the company photographer for the TP&W.
From time to time I will post some of my work experiences. Please enjoy!
