In a message dated 11/20/02 8:59:06 am, bherrick@k... writes:
>--- In BRHSlist@y..., qutlx1@a... wrote:
>> Prior to the stubbing of track at Mt Morris on (8/30/32 per L.O.
>>Murdock asst to v.p.) the branch was served by a job based in
>>Rochelle that was a 2 man crew(train that is)
>
>Leo,
>
>An interesting point. I assumed, pre 1932, that this job was based
>in Forreston, where there was a turntable and roundhouse. After
>reading your post, I went back to the 1917 Valuation map of Rochelle
>and dang! There was a single stall engine house next to the 60'
>turntable.
>
>Bob Herrick
Greetings Bob, Leo, et. al.:
My research suggests that pre-1932 this was a Forreston job (or jobs).
Conductor Jim Kereven's son told me the family lived in Forreston until
moving to Rochelle "about 1933." He wasn't sure of the date but thought it
was related to abandoning the Mt. Morris-Forreston part of the line. An old
family friend from Forreston remembers one Q engineer who lived in the hotel
there in the late '20s-early '30s.
Also Q engineer Hank Fruit told me that in 1920, when he got his firing job
back after World War One, he was sent to Forreston and lived in the hotel
except for occasions when he stayed with the Kerevens. He referred to the
position as "the Forreston job" and said it was double-crewed with enough
traffic for night and day turns from Forreston to Oregon.
Regards,
Bill Diven
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