Leo
and Louis
Interesting to hear
about someone still working as a
locomotive engineer who is almost as
old as I am..(81)...I thought
that...even back in my day (1956)
that an arbitrary requirement for
engineers was agreed on by both "The
Company" and BLE and Bof LF&E.
Can they keep on working
as long as they can pass the
"physical"..??
I believe that steam was
last used on the Omaha-Lincoln
divisions in fall 1959. In my first
summer as a trainman (1956) there
was still lots of steam working the
yard at Lincoln and some on the
Lincoln-Hastings line. I think also
some was used on "Lines East" into
fall 1959. If that's so then Mr.
Hill could have fired steam in his
first year.
Also in the summer 1956
a steam engine (5080 was one I saw
at least) was kept hot at Ravenna as
protection. In those days waycars
were still being changed at Ravenna
and I made a trip or two off the
extra board from Lincoln-Ravenna and
saw the 5080 at work on the Ravenna
switcher..)Hours 1:00am-9:00am.
In late summer 56 I was
"forced" on the Ravenna switcher for
a three week stint...a lousy
job..Night hours and no OT. Well, I
thought maybe I'll get a break and
get to work with steam. Well, it
never happened. Here's why..
At that time two locals
worked out of Ravenna. There was
the Ravenna-Aurora-Burwell local and
the Tri weekly Lincoln-Ravenna
local. Both those locals used Geeps
as regular power and they worked out
of Ravenna on alternate
nights..Hence there was always a
"Geep" available for night use on
the switcher..An excellent and
efficient use of motive power but
"fatal" to my hope and dream to
work with a steam engine. Also that
5080 was run to Lincoln every month
or so for "inspection"..They would
usually tie a few cars on her and
run her extra..I never got to do
that either...
Hence I never got the
opportunity to make the claim that I
could have made to "have worked in
PAID REGULAR REVENUE SERVICE on
steam.
I do hold claim however
to have "worked" in NON PAID revenue
service firing RPLN 440 Nee
B&MR 156 on the Rock Port
Langdon and Northern..ages up to 9.
Pete
-----Original
Message-----
From:
LZadnichek@aol.com [CBQ]
<
CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
To: cbq <
cbq@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thu, Jun 29, 2017 5:40 pm
Subject: [CBQ] Still Working As
Age 78
June 29,
2017
Leo -
Here's someone else
you may want to
interview:
Mr. Hill
started out firing Q
steam at Galesburg
in 1959. He's still
working as a BNSF
hogger at age 78. That
must set some kind of
record, at least for
today. I'd like to
have some of his DNA!
Wonder if
he's a BRHS member or
knows about this
Group? Best Regards -
Louis
Louis
Zadnichek II
Fairhope,
AL