I believe that I can say...subject to correction by someone of "proper authority" that I'm the only guy on this list who has had motor car experience which includes....Riding in one as a passenger...riding behind one in a combination car, as a passenger, and working with one as motive power and, if you consider the Pioneer Zephyr as a Motor Car (and it was) as a paid employee (brakeman) of the CB&Q.
Here are the facts which can be documented.
My first Motor Car ride was summer 1952 with my long time Railfan cohort Jim Christen on Train No. 30 Don't have the MC number from Creston IA to St. Joe Mo. No. 30 left Creston at 7:05 am and arrived at St. Joe about 10:30am.
Second ride was the same trip in Motorcar No. 9845. August 1954
Third ride was Wymore-Oxford with Motorcar 9767 with trailer combine ??? As Train No. 15 August 20 1954...See WYMORE STORY Pg 60 (most recent edition)
Crew consist on these motor car trains was, as Leo has pointed out, was negotiated pursuant to business handled etc.
What I recall vividly are two things
1. Talking to the engineer on the 9767 before we left Wymore..Jim C. and I were standing on the platform and visiting with the old engineer through the cab window...Those windows were just a tad above head height so it was almost a face-to-face conversation..As we talked back and forth it became apparent that you had to almost yell at full voice to be heard over the racket of the engine which was almost against the hoghead's left arm...
As we "conversed" back and forth the old guy said in typical railroad parlance...."Now you know why I can't hear THE OLD LADY when she talks to me at home"....Maybe Kistler knows who this guy might have been.
2. When we left Wymore our train consisted of MC 9767 which is a full mail-baggage unit pulling a heavyweight combination coach-baggage car...I don't have the number. The crew was the engineer and conductor in full passenger uniform and a brakeman also in full passenger uniform.
At Red Cloud the crew changed and from Red Cloud to Oxford the conductor was in full passenger uniform, but the brakeman was wearing overalls...they were clean and starched...and a passenger uniform cap. I know that he handled the express and cream cans, but don't remember whether the brakeman handled the "head end stuff" between Wymore and Red Cloud or not...Jim and I have discussed this over the years as to whether the uniform and work arrangment was different between Wymore-Red Cloud and Red Cloud Wymore. It was an interesting trip and I've got a couple of brief movies taken from the rear platform of the combine.
No.s 15-16 came off March 15, 1958. When I worked trains 93-94 (Lincoln-Wymore) local summer 1958 the Employee TT in effect prior to 15-16 coming off was still in effect...Each day with our orders out of Crete we would get an order reading...No 15 and No. 16 Due at Wymore (date) are annulled. This was necessary since, in the absence of this order we would have had to protect against No. 16 before using the main track at Wymore.
Now for the mostest and bestest Motor Car experience. My first summer braking...1956 July...I worked the Hastings-Huntley local two weeks...Engine was the 9769.
I deadheaded from Lincoln-Hasti;ngs on Train 19..The crew caller at Lincoln, when he called me for the deadhead and assignment said..."Be sure you call "the yard" when you get to Hastings and tell them where you'll be when they call you in the morning. 19 left Lincoln about 11:30pm and got to Hastings about 2:30am or so...Hence when I got there and checked in at the Carter Hotel I called the yard and told them where I was.
About 6:00am the clerk called me for The Huntley Local for 7:30am..and said..."Elmer Boyer (the other brakeman) said to tell you he'd bring the engine down (from the roundhouse to the depot where or train originated...about a mile walk)..so you won't have to walk all the way out there. OK
I walked down to the depot from the hotel and found my conductor (ICarl Fahrnbruch) who took me across the two main tracks to our train, which was made up on one of a couple of stub tracks south of the main tracks. In a few minutes I heard the "blat" of an air horn and here came the 9769 backing down...This was the first I knew what our power would be.
Elmer Boyer introduced me to our engineer Kenny Froscheiser. We loaded a few empty cream cans in an empty boxcar ahead of the waycar which served as our baggage car and we were off. Carl, Elmer and I in the waycar.
We headed down the Hastings-Lester Sub to Ayr Jct. We had maybe 5-6 cars..empty boxcars...as we slowed for the switch I started to get down from the cupola to line up for us to head down the old KC&O for Huntley...Elmer said..."Sit still he'll get her (the switch). We stopped at the switch and Kenny climbed out of the cab...unlocked the switch and away we went. I did line the switch back.
At Huntley we pulled down to the depot...It was a closed station and the weeds were above head height. We left a couple of empties at the elevator and then backed the 9769 about a 1/2 mile east of town and turned her on the wye.
We got our train together and headed back to Hastings...This was the normal routine on Mon-Wed-Friday.
On Tues and Thursday the 9769 came down from the roundhouse headed east..We were usually called for about 11:00am. Our run on these days was Hastings-Sutton thence north over the old KC&O to Lushton where we dropped whatever cars we had and turned the motor on the wye and headed back to Sutton.
At Sutton we did whatever station work was to do and then headed southwest over the old KC&O through Verona to Clay Center. On one trip we had about 10 empty stock cars going to Clay Center to be stored. The elevator track on east side was apparently a stub track and it was necessary for us to make a "drop" of those 10 mtys into that track.
We shoved back quite a ways north to get the proper run...I rode the waycar back and cut it off. Kenny reved up the 9769 and we made a "wild run" to get up the necessary momentum for the drop. Elmer rode the rear step of the 69 and made the cut..Carl handled the switch and the cars rolled into where they were supposed to be...I rode the rear car and stopped 'em with the brake when we got in the clear.
On our return trip from Clay Center to Sutton we backed up waycar first to Sutton since there was no wye at Clay Center.
Such was our normal routine for the two weeks I was there...It was kind of a fun job....But there is a saddness that comes over me whenever I think of those two weeks....Talk about regrets....I NEVER RODE IN THE CAB OF THE 9769. I kept thinking that I should do it, but I never did. There was a wooden desk chair on the left side of the cab which I could have sat in, but I didn't. I think part of why I didn't was that Carl was a real old head conductor and knew all about the KC&O and other bits of railroad history...and he like other conductors I found during my time....when they found out I wasn't a complete klutz and knew something about railroading and history they would tell me lots of stories about the old KC&O and how the passenger trains ran etc. Hence I enjoyed my time in the waycar with these guys and waddling down that 56 lb rail on the Huntley and Lushton lines we had lots of time to visit.
Now as to my time on the Pioneer Zephyr...Even though I didn't have to I bought a uniform my first summer out since I wanted to work passenger if I had the chance. It was a hot night in June 1958. was braking off the Wymore Division extra board. The phone range about 10:30pm..."You're called for Train 44 11:45 on duty.
In those days the PZ was running as Train 44 Lincoln-St. Joe via Tecumseh and returning as train 42-90 via Table Rock-Wymore-Crete to Lincoln. 44 was due out of Lincoln at 12:15am making all the stops. The train crew was only the Conductor (Dean Greening) and Me.
The PZ, as you all know had an RPO apartment and was a working RPO...We stopped at every station..most of which were closed. My job was..unlock the freight house or shed...Drag the mail sacks from the train inside and bring out the outgoing sacks and hand them to the RPO clerk. It was an extremely hot night..In those days all uniforms were of the "wool serge" variety and I had about sweat mine all the way through. It sure felt good to get inside the train where the AC was keeping it about 60 degrees or so it seems. We got to St. Joe right on time and I returned to Lincoln as flagman on train 43 that night. That trip on that train goes down as a high point in my own personal history book.
Now there you have it...Can anybody beat that???
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Kistler <
rckistler@windstream.net>
To: CBQ <
CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Mon, Feb 4, 2013 12:30 pm
Subject: [CBQ] Re: Gas Electri cars(pre diesel)
Leo - I for one will certainly be waiting for an article on motor car
operation. I have ridden in the cabs of various locomotives, and even
more trips in the passenger compartment of Burlington's motor cars, but
the one thing I well remember was the ride I took on Motor car 9767 in
June 1951 on No. 16 from Oxford to Red Cloud, NE. It was only a 64 mile
trip, but ridding with an "up front view" of the track ahead of you was
certainly different. As we pulled into each little station along the way
I would wave at who ever was on the station platform, sometimes just the
agent or custodian and one or two locals who had come to see the train
go through, and wonder who was seated on the left side of the cab. After
cream cans, mail and several pieces of express were exchanged we were
off again. Quite a treat for 15 year old boy who loved trains. No.
16-15 were motor car trains from 1932 until off in 1958.
Richard Kistler