Don
Brown..I love your Mr. Dithers analogy..My. Mr.
Dither's was George Voss..Terminal Supt at Blue
Island for the Rock Island. My experience is a
close parallel to you...In fact it is an "exact"
representation. My "supposed" hours were to be
6:00pm to 6:00am. However George wanted me to
come in "early"..before 6:00pm so he could telll
me all the things he wanted to be done that
night and to "regurgitate" all of the things
that he had bawled me out that morning for not
doing the night before....Then he wanted me to
stay "late" in the morning so that he could
rehash all the stuff that hadn't gotten done
that night that I was supposed to have done
then. One morning after one over these
"overtime" sessions George told me to "go home
and get your rest"..I replied "SLEEP FAST
HUH"..George did not like that comment.
Later on in my "career" at Blue Island George
took to having me give him a "wake up call" at
home at 6:00am. Then, I presume the inquisition
on his end was being done from his bedroom.
As a "parting shot"..when i availed myself of
an escape hatch by accepting the offer of a job in
the Freight Claims Department in the spring of
1964 and it became necessary for George to release
me...he hemmed and hawed and stalled delaying my
release for about two weeks after he was supposed
to have done it....
Toward the close of my tenure and during the
"transition" one of my CO NIGHT TRAINMASTER
"Targets" made this astute
observation...."Hedgpeth went from the "guy who
couldn't do anything right"..to THE MOST VALUABLE
MAN ON THE DIVISION.
Don, if it wasn't for this stuff we wouldn't
have any good stories to "regale" the Troops
wit;h...I always fall back and quote this
statement from a story in an old issue of RAILROAD
Magazine. "What we endure with hardship....we
remember with delight"....
Louis Zadnicheck whose father was Q Division
Supt at Aurora during this same time was
acquainted with GHV.
Pete
-----Original
Message-----
From: Don Brown
dbrown02@rochester.rr.com
[CBQ] <
CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
To: CBQ <
CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sat, Jan 13, 2018 1:00 pm
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Re: Elephant Style Es
And then there were those of us
who worked under a (non-CB&Q)
Terminal Superintendent to whom
WHATEVER you did was wrong! As
midnight Yardmaster, the last order
of business before I left each
morning was having "Mr. Dithers"
scream and yell about what I SHOULD
have done at 2AM. If we held the
local to switch more cars into it,
he blew a fuse because it was late
leaving the yard. If it got
coupled, inspected and dispatched
promptly, he would go ballistic
because there were cars still in the
receiving yard which could have gone
on the train. And many other
similar stories. I'm sure the Q
didn't have any guys like that ;)
but other roads sure did!
I
love these stories about how
things were done "back in the
day"...ie "The engineer
brought the train into the
station just like he would
have had he been up front"
I'll bet that old hoghead
didn't have to call
"management" to find out what
to do in that situation..He
just went ahead and did it,
because he knew he could and
because it was the right
thing. I always...at least I
think it was always...tried to
get any employees under my
supervision to "DO
SOMETHING..even if it's
wrong"...Today they
might do something utterly
stupid, but there was a time
when most people had common
sense.. I even tried to get
my children to perform that
way also..
My dad said...'Don't just
stand around with your thumb up
your ......." Do something.
Pete
-----Original
Message-----
From: Walter Ohrnell
wohrnell@kc.rr.com
[CBQ]
<CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
To: CBQ
<CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Fri, Jan 12, 2018 8:44
pm
Subject: [CBQ] Re: Elephant
Style Es
Ed,
There is photo
evidence that
running elephant
started before
1965.
Bill Hirt eluded
to a story I have
told. I was an
operator working
in Burlington, IA.
This incident
occurred in late
1963 or 1964 the
California Zephyr
arrived in town.
The lead unit was
followed by two
units running
backwards elephant
style. There was a
control problem on
the lead unit.
When the train
arrived the
engineer was
running the train
from the second
unit. The fireman
was left in the
lead unit to call
signals. The
engineer brought
the train into the
station just like
he would have had
he been up front.
I can only guess
the lead unit was
replaced upon
arrival in
Galesburg.
Lenny Ohrnell
Sent from my iPad