Bruce Turner was one of the best Trainmasters we've had in Edgemont. He worked
harder than the Company had any right to expect, handling the number of men
that they've got a dozen TM's babysitting now.
Shortly after he arrived in Edgemont, he asked me "Don't I know you from
Wisconsin Dells?" Turned out that when he was an ATM in La Crosse, he'd been
down to ride The R&GN Ry. at the Dells. I ran engine there for fifteen years
before I hired out on the BN, and he recognised me. We probably could have
been friends, except that I was the S-T of Div. 213, and that kind of thing
didn't happen then.
BAT didn't put up with any BS, but he was fair, and didn't go around behind
your back. If he had a problem with you, you knew it :>) But, he would back
up his men if you were right. One afternoon, the rear truck on my lead motor
split the 1 Track switch pulling in the West end of Edgemont Yard. He came out
and looked at it, said OK, and we tied up and went home. Next day, when I came
back to work, the motor was still sitting in the mud, 300 feet of 1 Track is
tore up, and Ass't Sup't Reilly wants my head. Well, Turner told hm it wasn't
my fault....it was the switch crew, the ATM and the RH Foreman trying to
re-rail it with blocks on mud ballasted track that tore it up.
He had some bad luck involving a hand throw switch, a rail grinder, and an
Engineer who didn't know what "Restricted Speed" meant, that probably kept him
from advancing as far as he could have as an official.
Mike Decker, Edgemont
--- In CBQ@yahoogroups.com, "Larry" <lsallee@...> wrote:
>
> Yes I do indeed remember Bruce - he was a trainmaster for awhile at Edgemont
> SD when I was dispatching the North End (Edgemont - Gillette). Very nice guy
> and I really liked working with him. He was there during a difficult time -
> too many trains and too little track!
>
> Larry
>
>
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