Re: [CBQ] Story Posts (Hannibal Shops)

["John D. Mitchell, Jr." <cbqrr47@yahoo.com>]

Many car foremen and "write-up men" paid for their wages with foreign road "billing". It was always good to catch an out of date COTS or repack.

--- On Wed, 1/30/13, archie hayden <klinerarch@charter.net> wrote:

From: archie hayden <klinerarch@charter.net>
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Story Posts (Hannibal Shops)
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, January 30, 2013, 7:33 PM

 

That's right, Glen, Charlie Easley who was Steve Shores fatherinlaw.  Steve retired recently form West Quincy yardmaster position.  The shops were not very active by the 60s.  They used the turntable but did no heavy repair work.  Fueling and general maintnance like brake shoes etc.  The rip track still did a lot of repairs to cars with several carmen on the roster.  Charlie was a second trick car knocker after the paint shop closed up.  He gave me his painters case full of stencils, gold leaf paint, and stencil brushes.  Huge metal suitcase size box.  Very nice fellow.  Car knockers were always on the lookout for "berries", repairs made to foreign roads which the Q got reimbursed for.  They seemed to have a quota for these.  Carl Hill the car foreman would sneak around the yard at night trying to catch his car toads goofing off.  He didn't have much luck.  Those guys taught me many tricks of the trade in keeping a track together, like how to correct a jam(two knuckles closed against each other) so the next kick would make the joint.  You would pull both pins then take a brake shoe and beat on the inside of each knuckle until they finally slipped by each other and opened up and were ready to connect on the next shove.  Those fellows were notorius for lacing air while the track was hot or being switched into.  We lost a couple lives and legs.  Sure wasn't worth that.  Archie

On Jan 30, 2013, at 5:41 PM, GLEN HAUG wrote:

 

Louis:
 
You mentioned the shops at Hannibal, and there have been many recent posts about railroad related smells.  I was in high school at Hannibal from the early to mid 60's, and would sometimes volunteer to help either the cheerleaders or the pep squad for Hannibal High School decorate their floats for the annual football homecoming parade.  It would take several days to make and set all of the crepe paper flowers, and the Q would let one or both of these groups use the shops to keep the floats out of the weather while the floats were being finished.
 
I can remember the girls complaining about the smell, but I actually liked the combination of the old railroad smells coupled with the smell of the river.  It was kind of an eerie atmosphere, however, as we always worked on the floats in the evening and the shops were poorly lit.
 
I wish I had taken the time to find out more about what went on in what was left of the shops during those last days.  There always seemed to be a Geep or an SD sitting in the shops near the floats with the motor not running.  I don't know what kind of mechanical work went on, although I remember the name of Harvey Niemeyer.  I think the Mechanical Department had a painter also, Charlie? Easley.  Maybe Archie Hayden will remember better than I.
 
There could have been a flood in '59, I don't remember.  The one I remember was the bad flood of '65, the year I graduated.  But then, my parents told me that the 1973 and 1993 floods were worse than '65.
 
Glen Haug 
 

---

To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
From: LZadnichek@aol.com
Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:40:01 -0500
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Story POsts

 

Great bell story. Dad was Hannibal Division Supt. the year of the Great Flood (can't remember the exact year - maybe 1959?) and I remember the name Harvey Niemeyer. A fellow Group member who is presently silent (like I was) has contacted me off-line to reconnect. He and I were school friends in Hannibal and his father was chief clerk to the master mechanic at the time. My friend said he would be posting some of his Q memories at an early date and I look forward to seeing them. At the time we lived in Hannibal, the roundhouse, portions of the backshop and turntable were still intact. I recently saw an image taken from Lovers Leap and there's nothing left but a big green field with the BNSF mainline to St. Louis running alongside the river. Dad's office was in an ancient coal smoke blackened two story brick building that, as I recall, even he complained of as being "dirty." I'm glad you brought-up the subject of the Ladies Auxiliary as this organization is all but forgotten today, but did so much for the railroad communities they served so long ago. Dad was always interested in Q history and I remember he would take my mom, brother and me on Sunday drives to show us where the original H&SJ roadbed was in the weeds - Louis     

 

  

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