Archie thats interesting because I first met Joe at Aurora in the mid 70s
as Asst Div Supt. He was smoking those little cigarellos on a constant basis. He
was a RRer's Railroader. The first real, first hand dealings I had with him was
when we derailed a load of lumber coming down Sugar Grove hill at about 60
MPH(see prior post for all the details). He heard our call on his office radio
and was on scene in minutes and was directing things and knew immediately the
cause and sent the trainmaster walking looking for a broken rail.
Then a couple years later I spent a night with him in a Jordan
spreader on the Denrock-Mendota line when the track looked like a canyon with
snow all around higher than the loco cat walks and in some spots higher than the
windows. He had been on the plow all day when we got there to relieve the first
crew and he was still there when another crew came to relieve us 12 hours
later.
Joe had been an operator somewehre in Missouri or So IL early in his career
as I recall.
When I worked for him at the White House he really treated his staff well
and really knew his business. He didnt take any silliness from the line mgrs
when he wanted something resolved. He knew the regions operations like the back
of his hand. He reported directly to Gary Wittle, who I believe went onto
Montana Rail Link and wrote a 3 part series on his mgmt expereinces. It's a good
read but hard to find. It's title is "It gets in your blood".
I understand Joe did later get the axe in a downsizing and tried to put an
end to his life at Big Rock but I believe he survived but have not heard
anymore.
Leo