Thanks for the memory jog. It brought something to mind that had gotten
away from my memory bank.
While serving out my time in the military (Army Transportation Corps) at Ft.
Eustis VA in 1959 I was assigned to TRECOM (Transportation Research and
Engineering Command). Of course with my railroad background they immediately
assigned me to the truck division. After some pleading and cajoling..I would
never admit to whining. I got myself assigned to the Rail Division.
While there, among other things, I was exposed to government waste at its
best.
The division was composed of A Lt. Colonel in charge. A civilian
administrative assistant, and about three civilian engineers..(probably about
GS 11-13). Annual salary about $12,000-13,000). For comparative purposes
graduate engineers were making about $400/month...I was making about $250/mo
as a 2nd Lt. There were also a couple of lower grade civilian employees and
2 PFC military.
Guess what there was to do.......Absolutely nothing. All funding had been
removed from the division and there were no projects to work on. However,
the engineer I was assigned to was a real "make work" kind of guy. He would
come rushing in every morning and diligently do something at his desk all
day...I don't really remember what he did, but there were no projects.
Anyhow he assigned me to do a Staff Study on the winterization of the 44 ton
Diesel Locomotive....I piddled and fiddled with this thing for the four
months I was there and had it about done when I left in October 1959.
About 2 years or so later, I received in the mail an official US Government
envelope containing a yellow US Army manual on.......The Winterization of the
44 ton Diesel Locomotive.....My engineer supervisor Kaare Loftheim was shown
as the project engineer and I was listed as the Assistant Project
Engineer...or something like that.
I still have the manual "among my souvenirs and I'll get it dug out sometime
soon.
With all of the recent conversation about shutting down the diesel engine in
winter it didn't click with me, but the Red Oak thing did the trick.
When I get it located I'll give the list the benefit of my scholarly
discourse....Talk about trivia.......
If you will refer to the BB which features the TRAINS OF THE GODS AND
GODDESSES you'll find an article entitled OS CRESTON.....I believe Steve
Holding is the author.....It's one of my all time favorites. It describes,
among other things, the branch operation out of Red Oak and how the 44
tonners were used.
I'd be really interested in seeing the MR article.
Pete
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