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The lunch with Grant and Uncle Bob-Part 2 The BRHS Meet of 1992 was held at Willowbrook and one of the special events was a run from Chicago Union Station to Hinsdale behind the last two rebuilt E9s , 9900 and 9902. After that event the F40 or F59 Metra units were the power of choice on the Dinkie fleet. It was that close of an era setting that directed our lunch conversation. Bob Landregan and Grant Areosmith were graduates of the Railway Engineering program of Purdue University, both graduating in 1949, attending as veterans under the GI Bill. So when Grant found himself in Charles Kettering's office defending the use of 30-year old Pacifics in preference over EMD's new GP7, he was a new hire in Henry Urbach's Mechanical Department . (This is a relative description in terms of seniority. He actually started as a roundhouse helper in Casper Wyoming prior to the war). After making his case for the continued use of steam power, Grant then had the satisfaction of Mr. Kettering, who had mostly been a passive observer for most of the debate, quietly puffing on his pipe, motioning to his staff engineers, that Grant had made his case and the young man was correct. There was no way that their new road switcher could approach that level of performance. A few months later the E8 Demonstrator was dispatched to likely customers and Grant was one of the Q's Mechanical staff chosen to evaluate the new design. It would seem that the boys at EMD were listening to the arguments concerning the shortfalls of the earlier E5 and E7 models because Grant reported back to his boss that the new E8 was a vastly superior product that should meet the road's operating requirements, Railroading did not invent nepotism, it merely perfected it. Urbach wanted his staff to find some short comings with the new model that he could use as an objection to purchasing them. The reason was that his son worked for Timken Roller Bearing and EMD was adamant that they would only sell the units (and guarantee them) if they were equipped with GM Hyatt roller bearings. Henry was ultimately over-ruled on this one and Grant's analysis lead to the first order being placed. That was a really great lunch. Jim Sandrin
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