Louis Thanks for sharing with Mr Currie who I might add would be a
welcome member for our group. The female clerks working in a man's
word as it was back then were subject to lots of ribbing and kidding.
The ones who lasted could dish it right back or at least grin and bear
it. Archie
On Mar 2, 2014, at 3:26 PM, LZadnichek@aol.com wrote:
March 2, 2014
I shared Archie's earlier post about Elsie Morsch with family friend
Earl J. Currie who sent me the following reply. Earl started his
railroad career in the mid-1960s on the Q's Chicago Division and
rose through the ranks to retire as a BN vice president. Earl gave
me his permission to post his reply on this List. Some of you may
remember Earl from Lines West when he was BN division superintendent
at Lincoln at about the time when many of the BMR/Q branch lines
were being either abandoned or cut-back. Earl is interested in
joining this List and I think his operating department memories of
the Q's last years and its employees will be valuable history to
preserve.
Louis Zadnichek II
Fairhope, AL
Louis,
Yes, I knew Elsie very well. On my first day as Trainmaster Aurora,
she came to work for me (also her first day in Aurora) as a
combination secretary/personnel clerk. It was a new job established
on that day to give me a hand with all the paperwork involved in
hiring new Brakemen, which we were desperately short of in those
years, due to the draft for the Viet Nam War taking so many people,
plus our wages not being competitive at that time with those paid by
the big factories in the area. .
We hired literally dozens of people in a short time.
Elsie was a hard worker, very loyal and conscientious. Her previous
job had been in the office at the Clyde Diesel Shop.
I was transferred out of Aurora in a few months but returned in a
year or so as Asst. Supt. During that time she married Jimmie
Morsch, a Brakeman. I can't remember if he still had his
Conductor's rights at that time, or had given them up so he could
work a regular job as a Brakeman or Collector on the dinkies or
other passenger jobs.
Elsie was a fine person, and it is wonderful of her to have taken
time to write these memoirs of her early days on the railroad. I
wonder what job she was working at the time she retired.
Van Nortwick was a classic, old school mechanical officer. After he
set me straight on how he did railroad business, Van and I got along
well. At first, he would not even recognize that people on such
lowly positions as Trainmaster even existed.
Like so many loyal old-timers, Van was not enthralled with the
merger. In the early 1970's an officer of the former GN was sent to
Chicago to be on Van's staff. Van never even spoke to him for the
first six months. At that time, they had a big run-in on some
routine mechanical matter which forced Van to talk to him. even
though he had no use for the GN guy. With that interaction, they
came to understand each other,and they got along well after that.
The GN guy (Tom Kotnour) became the System CMO-Cars in later years.
Thanks for passing this item along.
Earl
From: LZadnichek@aol.com
To: ejcurrie@comcast.net
Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2014 10:24:53 AM
Subject: CB&Q Clerk
February 27, 2014
Earl - Do you remember Elsie Morsch who was hired on in the
mid-1960s as clerk to J.R. VanNortwick, master mechanic, Chicago
Division? Good recollection from her below about Mr. VanNortwick who
was good friends with my Dad. Best Regards - Louis
From: klinerarch@charter.net
To: lzadnichek@aol.com
Sent: 2/26/2014 4:44:51 P.M. Central Standard Time
Subj: CB&Q clerk
Louis, Hope you enjoy this letter from Elsie Morsch written to her
fellow employees when she retired in November of 2003. I can relate
to this era of railroading as I am sure you too had a close look at
it. Best Archie
<ElsieQclerk_NEW.jpg>
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