The former Milwaukee Road conductor about whom you are speaking is
Mitchell Markovitz. Mitch was always impeccably dressed and even
wore detachable, heavily starched collars on his custom-made uniform
shirts. Mitch had started on the C&NW, did a stint on Amtrak as a
reservation and ticket clerk and then moved on to the Milwaukee
Road. He later worked for NICTD and served as a conductor and
engineer on the South Shore. All the time Mitch has pursued his art
career and some of his work has appeared over the years in Trains
Magazine. He has also done illustrations for many railroad books. I
count him as a personal friend and own several of his original pieces
of art work. He lives with his family in Knox, IN, and is an expert
and authority on railroad passenger uniforms.
Don Crimmin
--- In CBQ@yahoogroups.com, Jpslhedgpeth@... wrote:
>
>
> Thanks Leo...BTW your mention of a former Milw brakeman reminds me
of something I observed back about 1974 or thereabouts...
>
>
>
> My dad passed away suddenly in the spring of 1973.?? It was
sometime after that, possibly that winter of 73-74 my mother came to
Chicago to visit us.? I was meeting her at the CUS.
>
>
>
> While waiting I saw a Milwaukee brakeman, obviously from his dress
he was working as flagman on a passenger train.? He could have posed
for a photo as a trainman from the 1890's.? He was the neatest and
most authentically attired trainman I have ever seen.? Dressed in an
immaculate uniform with stovepipe hat.? He sported an authentic
1890's style mustache carefully trimmed and manicured.? He was
carrying his flagging kit and lanterns..? I, of course, didn't have a
camera with me, but I sure longed to photograph that guy.? Looked
like he "stepped out of a bandbox"..
>
>
>
> It's too great a speculation to presume that he might be the guy
who helped with the design of the "new look" for Amtrak.? BTW, while
I didn't get real close to the crew members, it appeared that in
addition to the stovepipe hat that the cap badge looked like the old
style badges from the same era.
>
>
>
> Pete
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: qutlx1@...
> To: cbq@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Sun, 9 Sep 2007 3:55 pm
> Subject: [CBQ] Amtrak
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> It's been at least a few years that Amtrak crews have reverted to
the "stove
> pipes". Not sure if this is totally correct but one BNSF Condr I
know
> attributes the change to a former Milw brkmn who ended up helping
to design the
> Amtrak uniforms. Believe his first name is Mitch. Keep in mind the
Milw kept the
> stove pipes far longer than the Q. And,yes you are correct the Q
went to
> airline caps in the 60's as I have a matched set of Trainman and
Condr. airline
> caps.
>
> Leo
>
> ************************************** See what's new at
http://www.aol.com
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>
>
______________________________________________________________________
__
> Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL
Mail! - http://mail.aol.com
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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