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True Tales of the Rails
By Jim L. Rueber
After working on the railroad for 41 years,
Jim Rueber has a few stories to tell. Jim hired on with the Great
Western on June 26, 1956, and retired from the Union Pacific
on December 1, 1997. Jim fondly recalls his life on the CGW;
"I have always said that I would work one year for nothing
if they could have brought the CGW back." He continued,
"I knew just about everybody all over the CGW and it was
more like one big family. After the merger I was nothing but
a number." Today, Jim often writes stories about his life
on the CGW, stories he calls "Tales of the Rails."
- Jerry Huddleston
Big Hogs | Milton
Smith | Benny Nelson
| Blizzard of
'59 | Pension
| Pay Attention | Brave
Engineer | Oops | Westgate
| D.O.P. | That
Gang on Nights | CGW Oelwein Shops | Inspection
Trip | Vic Nordman
| Road Trip | Stogies
Updated February 1, 2000
Big
Hogs
The Chicago Great Western
Railroad took delivery of 36 Texas type 2-10-4 locomotives in
1930. To help pay for these hugh engines a lot of employees lost
their jobs. The shop force at Oelwein, Iowa was reduced. The
Terminals at East Stockton, Illinois and Conception, Missouri
were closed. These bigger engines resulted in fewer trains so
the trainmen and enginemen took a hit. Even the operators at
the various coal chutes were reduced to just one man.
Frank Anderson was a CGW engineer
working out of Des Moines, Iowa and he told me that shortly after
these Texas engines showed up on the property he was setting
up in the cab of one of them waiting to take a train out of Des
Moines one day when Superintendent Charlie Foster comes walking
over and hollers up to Frank, "How do you like these new
engines, Frank?" Frank says "I don't." Foster
says "Whats the matter with them?" Frank says "They
pull too many cars." Foster says "That's what we bought
them for." Frank Says, "I'll tell you something, my
father was a contractor in the construction business and I would
hear him sometimes at night downstairs talking with mother, that
the men were wanting more money and he guess that he was going
to have to raise their wages. But you know after he gave them
a raise he didn't make them use a bigger hammer or a bigger saw."
Foster says "You're impossible" and walked away.
Milton
Smith
Milton Smith was in engine
service on the Chicago Great Western between Oelwein, Iowa and
Stockton, Illinois. He lived in Oelwein by himself having been
divorced many years ago. He always drove a Studebaker car and
he was still driving one long after the Studebaker factory had
gone out of business. He wore bib overalls every day of the week
and said he saw nothing wrong with that as Oelwein was a farming
community and most farmers wore bib overalls all the time. He
was telling me one time about when he first went to work for
the CGW they sent him to Graf, Iowa to be the fireman on the
helper engine stationed there to assist westbound trains up over
Farley hill. He said that one day they had just tied up and the
engineer had gone home and Milton went in the depot to talk with
the operator for a few minutes. He said he happened to look out
the window of the depot and the helper engine was gone and there
was just a little trace of smoke coming from around the curve
east of Graf. Milton took off running as fast as his short legs
would go and he caught up with the helper engine, climbed up
into the cab and not even thinking about any trains coming, he
backed the engine into Graf and with some help from the operator,
they managed to get the engine through the damaged east switch
and back in on the engine tie-up track. While Milton put a short
piece of log chain in front of one of the drivers so if the brakes
leaked off again, the engine could not get away, the operator
got on the wire and found the sectionmen working over by Kidder
and had them come back to Graf and repair the damaged bridle
rod on the east switch. Nobody reported this incident and Milton
was able to continue working for the CGW for many more years
but he never forgot to put a chain around one of the driving
wheels whenever he had to park an engine.
Another note about the helper
engine at Graf. Chet Cole grew up in Kent,
Illinois and went to work for the CGW at East Stockton in 1910
when they were building a big terminal there. He later worked
as a telegraph operator at Graf and he told me that when the
firebox on the helper engine would need caulking, they would
send out a machinist from the East Stockton roundhouse. The guy
would ride out to Graf on one of the passenger trains and he
would be nipping on a bottle of booze and by the time he got
to Graf, he could hardly stand up. The helper crew had dumped
the fire on the engine before they went home but it was still
pretty hot inside the fire box. The machinist would tear apart
a wooden grain door and throw some of the boards inside the fire
box to crawl around on while he was doing the cauling. Chet said
that it was so hot inside the fire box that by the time the guy
finished, he was sober.
Benny
Nelson
Ben T. Nelson was born in
1911 and started his railroad career with the Chicago Great Western
RR at St Joseph, Missouri as a lineman maintaining telephone
and telegraph lines. He told me that one time they had a very
bad ice storm in the St Joe area and he could not get out on
his motor car to repair a break in the dispatchers wire so they
ordered up a light engine to take him out to the location of
the break so that he could make repairs and the dispatcher could
get the trains moving again.
Benny came to Oelwein in 1943
and began working in the Mechanical Department of the CGW and
was promoted to Superintendent of Motive Power on September 1st,
1958 when Ted Olson retired.
The other CGW officials always
seemed to be trying to give Benny a bad time if something went
wrong with any of the CGW equipment. One of the Baldwin
switchers was involved in an accident in the Twin Cities and
the cab of the locomotive was demolished. Since the Baldwin Locomotive
Works had been out of business for some time there was no way
to order a new cab. Everybody figured they would just have to
put the old switcher away on the dead track at Oelwein and use
it for parts to keep the other Baldwins running. Well Benny Nelson
was not about to give up easily so he got on the phone and made
made a few phone calls and found some small road down south that
had one of these old Baldwins that they had taken out of service
and they agreed to sell the cab off it to the CGW for $500 and
they would take it off the engine and load it on a flat car and
ship it to Oelwein. Well the big day arrived when the flat car
with the locomotive cab showed up at Oelwein and all the officials
gathered officials gathered around to see what Nelson had bought
for $500. Well it didn't look too good. The windows were all
broken out and the whole works was rusted and looked like it
should have gone to the scrap pile instead. After they all got
done laughing at what Benny had bought Benny had his men unload
the cab and then they went to work on it. Sandbasting got rid
of all the rust and then they went to work on painting it inside
and out and then new windows were installed and the cab was placed
in position on the old switcher. Well this made the rest of the
engine look not so good so Benny had them paint the rest of the
engine including a coat of black paint for the trucks. When they
were finished with the engine Benny had them start it up and
back it out of the shop and then he got on the phone and called
the other officials to come down to the shop and take a look
at his $500 locomotive cab.
Another time one of the "F"
units was cornered in a side collision and the corner post that
the side panels and the end panel are fastened to was so badly
damaged that it could not be repaired. Benny called up EMD to
get a price on a new corner post and the price he was quoted
about knocked him out of his chair. Benny hung up and went out
into the shop and there was one of the old time blacksmiths,
Charlie Peterson, who had over 50 years service with the CGW.
Benny asked him if he could make a corner post for that damaged
"F" unit they had setting there in the shop. Charlie
said, "I think I can." Benny said he went back out
into the shop later that afternoon and they were just finishing
up the job of installing the new corner post. It didn't look
quite exactly like the one that EMD made but it sure did the
job and Benny figured it cost the CGW about $43 for material
and labor. After the CGW/CNW merger on July 1st, 1968 the CNW
sent Benny Nelson to work in the CNW locomotive shop at Marshalltown,
Iowa. After just a few weeks at Marshalltown, Benny became sick
and he died on August 13th, 1968. Some of us wondered if it wasn't
from a broken heart as things were not the same at Marshalltown
as they had been there in Oelwein.
Blizzard
of '59
I was on the Telegraphers
Extra Board of the Chicago Great Western RY in
1959 and was told to report to the agency at McIntire, Iowa on
March 5th, 1959 to relieve Art Lagervall for one weeks vacation.
This was a night job working 6 nights monday through saturday
from 845pm until 545am and then you had to come back at 8am on
the weekdays to copy the 8am line up for the sectionmen. You
put in for a 2 hour call on monday even though the sectionmen
copied their own line on monday. You also got overtime for working
saturday night. I drove up to McIntire on monday evening without
any trouble and went on duty at 845pm but it wasn't too long
before it started to snow and boy did it ever come down and then
the wind picked up. Around midnight the train from Rochester,
No 125 arrived. The crew lined up the pickup for No 41 and then
ate supper in their caboose as there was no cafe in McIntire.
Then they went back out into the storm and tried to do some more
switching. They had an empty box car jump off the track but the
crew acted like this was something that happened once in awhile
as they didn't bother to call for any help or start making out
any accident reports. They went over to the caboose. got a big
chain and hooked it to that derailed box car and started dragging
it down through the yard and it wasn't long before it jumped
back on the track and they continued to do their switching. No
42 from Oelwein showed up and made a set out and then went on
up to Elkton to meet No 41. No 41 showed up a couple of hours
later and made a small set out for the Rochester branch and then
No 126 headed back home to Rochester. I stayed up until the dispatcher
put out the 8am line which I copied for the sectionmen and then
I tried to get a little sleep on my army cot there in the depot.
It was still snowing and blowing outside and the sectiomen were
coming in the depot all the time to get warm so I didn't get
much sleep. Later that afternoon the storm let up a little and
6 "F" units with a Russell plow came out of Oelwein
to make a Hayfield Turn to get the Hormel meat. An operator by
the name of Bahnson who lived in Riceville and was working at
Hayfield showed up at the depot in McIntire and said he couldn't
make it to Hayfield on the highway so we got in touch with the
snowplow extra on the radio and had them stop at the depot and
pick him up. That night the crew from Rochester came down pushing
a plow ahead of them so that they could get through. The rest
of the week was spent digging out and things were not back to
normal until the end of the week. The depot was located on the
east side of McIntire and there was a long driveway from the
street over to the depot. The town had a 1939 Ford truck with
a V plow mounted on the front and I saw this old guy driving
it around town clearing the streets. When he got that done he
started in on the drive up to the depot. There were some big
drifts and he would back up and hit them as hard as he could
with that old Ford truck. He was racing the motor on that old
truck and I thought to myself that somebody that abuses machinery
like that should not be allowed to operate it. Well it wasn't
long before he blew a rod in the motor of the old Ford and somebody
had to come with a John Deere tractor and pull it back to the
garage there in town. Well I had parked my car up by the depot
and the drive was still blocked as he did not get all the way
through it before he blew the motor. The sectionmen offered to
help me drive my car down the track to the first road crossing
but I didn't really like that idea so turned them down on that.
On sunday after I had slept a little I took one of the sectionmens
shovels and I started digging myself out. I shoveled snow about
all day until I got an opening down to where the snowplow guy
had stopped. I got my car started and drove it down to the street
and parked it along the street just in case we got more snow
or the wind came up during the night. I stayed in the depot that
night and then copied the lineup at 8am for the sectionmen and
then I headed back home to Oelwein. It had been a really bad
blizzard and there was a lot of one way traffic where the highway
dept rotary plow had cut through some really hugh drifts.
Pension
The following article appeared
in the Freeport Daily Journal of Freeport, Illinois on Tuesday
January 24, 1899:
Railroad men say that on the
occasion that Augustus H. Preston, the veteran engineer on the
Chicago North Western road, retired a few weeks ago, he was offered
by the company his choice of $5,000 in cash or a pension of $100
a month. He chose the pension. His acquainrtances say that in
this he acted wisely, as he is not exactly what might be called
economical, and the $5,000 might not last very long. He holds
the record of being the oldest engineer on the road, as well
as the longest in the service. He also holds the world's record
for length of miles traversed by any engineer, his run during
the forty six years, making a total of 2,500,000 miles.
Pay
Attention
One sunny summer morning in
the 1960's Chicago Great Western westbound freight No 91 enroute
from Chicago to Oelwein was waiting at Golden, which was the
end of double track at the west edge of Stockton, Illinois for
eastbound freight No 192 and just as the 6 "F" units
dragging a heavy tonnage train came into view they heard the
rear end crew on No 192 tell the headend on the radio that they
had lost their air. The head brakeman started walking back and
the conductor, Arnold Schmidt, started walking towards the headend.
They met in about the middle of the train and discovered that
they had pulled the drawbar out of the wrong end of a car. Since
walkie talkie radios were not used on the CGW the brakeman and
conductor had to walk to the headend and tell the engineer what
was wrong and then conductor Schmidt walked over to No 91's motors
and climbed up into the cab and told them that they had a drawbar
out of the wrong end of a car and that they would pull their
head end up the eastbound main and for the crew on No 91 to tell
them when the rear car cleared the Stock track switch. They would
then cut off No 91's motors and run down to the bad order car
and chain it up and take it up the eastbound and duck in on the
Stock track with it and while they were putting blocks under
the wheels and taking the chain off, No 192's headend would back
down the hill to make the joint and then No 91 could bring their
motors out the east switch of the Stock track and come back down
the eastbound main and get back on their own train on the westbound
main while No 192 was pumping up the air. Just as conductor Schmidt
started to climb back down out of the cab of No 91's lead motor,
head brakeman on No 91, Vince O"Brien, says "Run that
by me one more time!"
Brave
Engineer
Harold E. "Mac"
McMurray was a Chicago Great Western engineer working
between Des Moines, Iowa and Oelwein, Iowa. Mac hired out as
a fireman on November 22nd, 1945 and was promoted to engineer
on August 12th, 1953, He was captured by the Japanese during
World War II and survived the Bataan Death March on March 10th,
1942. After surviving that ordeal there was nothing on the railroad
that would scare him. Mac was one of those guys that just went
out and done his job and never once did I hear him complain about
his engines being a pile of junk, or that his windshield was
dirty or the engineer's seat didn't feel comfortable. He always
made good time getting over the road and could handle whatever
kind of train the yard put together. One summer morning in the
1960's Mac and his crew were called at Oelwein to handle a southbound
freight with 6 "F" units to Des Moines. The yard crew
at Oelwein had spent most of the night putting this train together
and when they finished with it the headend was directly across
from our dispatchers office. Now the tonnage rating between Oelwein
and Des Moines as listed in the employee timetable for 6 "F"
units was 8,520 tons. Well Oelwein yard had been building up
tonnage and since the trainmaster didn't want to leave any tonnnage
behind he instructed the yardmaster to exceed the tonnage rating
so they could clean out all of the south tonnage. I do not remember
just what they finally ended up with for tonnage on the train
but I do remember the train was about two miles long as it stretched
from one end of Oelwein yard to the other. We all knew this was
going to be a tough job for engineer McMurry so the other two
dispatchers and myself were watching from the upstairs windows
of the dispatchers office as Mac tried to start the train after
making the required air test. He was able to get part of the
headend of the train moving just a little before he had to back
off on the throttle and then back them up to bunch up the slack.
He made another attempt to get them started and after some of
the slack came out on the headend end it looked like those 6
"F" units were jumping up and down on the rail as they
tugged for all they were worth to try to get the train started.
Mac had to shut down again and the yardmaster watching from the
tower then told Mac he had better back the train out to Jeff
which was the north end of Oelwein yard and see if he could get
them started out there. We watched Mac back the train up until
we could not see it anymore and then we waited for quite awhile
until we finally saw a headlight coming down through the yard.
Mac had got the train moving and he was not going very fast but
he just kept going and finally the caboose showed up and the
conductor and rear brakeman jumped on. That night when I went
to work I checked the train sheet to see if Mac and the big train
had made it to Des Moines and they did. When the day dispatcher
came on duty the next morning I asked him how well the big train
had done and he told me that after the train left Oelwein they
went right to Des Moines without any problems.
Engineer Harold McMurry died
this past week on tuesday May 18th, 1999. A very brave engineer
and a very brave man.
Oops
The following incident was
told to me by retired CGW conductor Rex C. Beach. In the early
1960's the CGW RY had a tie gang working between Elma, Iowa and
Alta Vista, Iowa installing new ties. The operating practice
at that time was to annul train No 43 on tuesdays out of St Paul
and then have the St Paul crew that had operated on train No
43 on monday make a Hayfield turn on tuesday to handle the Hormel
Meat back to Oelwein in time to connect with train No 90 for
Chicago. Rex said that this one particular tuesday his crew was
called early at Oelwein for No 92 and they were to handle about
15 cars of ballast up to Alta Vista and dump it where the tie
gang had been installing the new ties. When they arrived at the
spot where they were to start dumping ballast they were met by
the Roadmaster and sectionmen from New Hampton. Now the CGW used
two kinds of ballast, slag, which was about 2 inches in diameter
and came from the steel mills around Gary Indiana and the other
ballast was called chatt, which was a fine rock suitable for
yards and around stations where smooth footing was necessary.
Well on this day they had all chatt ballast and when the sectionmen
opened the doors on the first car none of the ballast would fall
out as the cars had been setting out in the rain for a couple
of days and the ballast was caked in the cars. The roadmaster
then had them open the doors on the next two cars of ballast
and it was the same thing, nothing would fall out. It was then
decided that they would uncouple the head car and pull up a little
ways and then back up and make a hard joint to see if they could
knock some of the ballast loose in the cars. When they came back
hard against the train the ballast in the second and third cars
came out of the cars all at once and when the dust settled they
discovered that the rear trucks of the second car were derailed
and the lead trucks of the third car were also derailed and both
cars were shoved out in a "V" away from the track.
Well Roadmaster Andy Shubert just about had a heartattack, as
he could see his job going up in smoke as he was in charge of
the ballast unloading and now it looked like they would have
to get the wrecker from Oelwein to rerail these hopper cars and
one of the officials in Oelwein would have to call Hormel and
tell them the CGW main line was blocked and to give all the meat
to the MILW as No 92 was derailed and would not be able to get
to Hayfield in time to handle the meat to Oelwein and make connections.
Eddie McDonnell was the conductor that day on No 92 and Eddie
had learned railroading from some of the old timers who had worked
back in the link and pin days. Eddie looked the situation over
and found that all the cars were still coupled together so he
told roadmaster Shubert to have his men get busy and shovel some
of that ballast out of the way and then he told Rex to go over
and bust the air on the 13 loads of ballast that were behind
the derailed cars and he said they would then use them for an
anchor and make a pull on the derailed cars and see if they couldn't
get them back in line with the track. Soon the sectionmen had
enough of the ballast moved out of the way and then Eddie gave
the engineer a go ahead easy sign and the 3 "F" units
dug in and slowly started to move and then pretty soon the two
derailed hopper cars started moving and the trucks came back
over next to the rail. The sectionmen got some blocking and put
that down in front of the wheels and then conductor McDonnell
gave the engineer a go ahead easy sign again and the two derailed
cars came right back up on the rail. After a quick check to see
that the journal brasses were still in place on all the cars
they took off for Hayfield and after setting out the ballast
cars at Elma they arrived in Hayfield just in time to connect
with the First Austin Turn and take the meat back to Oelwein.
Roadmaster Shubert called the Division Engineer in Oelwein and
told him that the ballast was caked in the cars and that the
crew set them out at Elma so they could dry out and they would
then try to dump them at a later date. Conductor McDonnell had
saved the day and nobody ever heard about it back at headquarters
in Oelwein. Rex said one other time when he was braking for Conductor
McDonnell and they were making a Bremer Turn over on the Bremer
Branch an empty box car just ahead of the caboose had a wheel
drop between the rails when the rails spread. After looking the
situation over conductor McDonnell told Rex to go back to the
caboose and get the big chain out of the tool box. When he got
back to the derailed car with the chain, Eddie said they would
string it out in front of the derailed wheel a little ways and
they lay it over the top of the rail. After they got this done
he gave the engineer the go ahead and the empty box car came
right back up on the rail. Things like this were learned from
the old timers who had to help themselves when they had trouble
out on the road and there were no telephones or radios back then
to call for help.
Westgate
Westgate, Iowa was the first
station north of Oelwein on the Minnesota Division of the Chicago
Great Western RR. In the early days there was a Lumber Yard,
an Elevator, a Stock Yards and a Bulk Oil Plant. Westgate also
done a lot of LCL (Less than a Car Load) freight business and
their biggest customer was Martin "Moose" Swartz. Moose
was my dad's cousin and he ran a Hardware Store in Westgate.
We now refer to it as the first Wal-Mart store as he sold just
about anything and everything. There were just little paths for
people to get around all the merchandise piled up everywhere
in the store. When Moose needed to expand he would just build
on another little room and so the store was made up of all these
different rooms and when you are just a 10 year old boy it was
easy to get lost in that place. After a customer found what they
were looking for, that was just half the battle as they then
had to find Moose somewhere in the store to find out how much
the item cost as nothing was marked. Moose had the price of everything
in his head. My dad liked to tell about the time two IRS agents
showed up one day and told Moose they were going to do an inventory
of his store. They worked there for three days before they went
and found Moose and told him that they were going to accept his
figures on his tax form and then they left town and were never
seen there again. The CGW sometimes had trouble collecting from
Moose for all the LCL freight and C.O.D.'S that came in and sometimes
his freight would lay out in the freight room for several weeks
before he got around to coming down to the depot to pick it up
and by then the demurage had started to accumulate.
Joe Leiser was the long time
depot agent at Westgate. I don't think he ever owned a car as
he rode a bicycle down to the depot everyday and around town
to do his errands sitting up real straight on that bicycle. My
father-in-law grew up in Westgate and he said that Joe had a
punching bag mounted out in the freight room of the depot and
he would work out on that punching bag everyday. He said that
if Joe Louis, the famous prize fighter, would have showed up
at Westgate, Joe Leiser would not have been afraid to climb in
the ring with him. Joe liked to hunt and run a trap line in the
winter time and this one winter back in the 1930's Joe was able
to trap several skunks. One day when the northbound passenger
train stopped at Westgate, Joe tried to put a bundle of skunk
pelts on the Express car consigned to a fur buyer in the Twin
Cities. The Express Messenger said "You're not putting those
things on this car!" and then he put his hand on the butt
of the Colt 45 revolver that he had in a holster on his belt.
Old Joe quick like steps back into the freight room and comes
back out with a rifle. After a few more words were spoken the
skunk pelts were loaded on the Express car and the train pulled
out of town.
D.O.P.
Daniel Otis Porter was born
in Alabama on Feb 6th, 1892 and after growing up on the farm
decided that railroading would be a better life for him. Dan
became a boomer telegraph operator and train dispatcher working
for several different railroads over the years. Dan showed up
in Chicago in 1946 and at age 54 none of the bigger roads in
Chicago were willing to take him on. He went over to the Chicago
office of the Chicago Great Western and someone there took the
time to get the chief dispatcher at Stockton, Illinois on the
phone and let Dan talk to him. The Chief told Dan he needed a
dispatcher and for him to come out for an interview. Dan had
the chief send him a wire pass to the depot at St Charles and
he caught the night train and rode it out to Stockton. The chief
hired Dan and he went to work on Nov 11th, 1946 and worked there
until the office was closed and he then moved to Oelwein, Iowa
May 1st, 1949. Since Dan didn't have much senority he could only
hold 3rd trick by the time I hired out in 1956. Starting out
I had to work a 3rd trick operators job someplace most of the
time and whenever I had a chance I would listen on the dispatchers
telephone to learn more about railroading. It was always a fun
night when Dan was working as he was a little different than
most of the other dispatchers in the way he went about his work.
Dan was not one of those hem haw dispatchers that couldn't make
up their mind when the situation changed. Dan always seemed to
be in control of his territory and he knew right now what he
was going to do when the situation called for a change. I would
guess that in working for a lot of different railroads there
was not much that Dan had not seen before. This one winter night
he was working and I was listening in on the phone and I heard
Lenus Luke, the headbrakeman on No 42, hollering on the dispatchers
phone, " Dispatcher Dispatcher". Old Dan came on the
phone and said, "What do you want?" Brakeman Luke says,
" You better get ahold of that No 41 and tell them to stop
and back up to Des Moines as this north switch at Cumming is
frozen and we can't get them lined into the siding." Dan
didn't hesitate a bit but came right back with, "What are
you talking about, you got six big motors, back up and head in
there yourself." Brakeman Luke had not thought about doing
that. He never said another word, just hung up the phone and
went back out and told his engineer that the dispatcher said
for them to back up and head in on the siding. When they got
back to the south switch they found it was not frozen up so he
lined it for the siding and they pulled their train in the clear
just before No 41 showed up and then waved them on down the main
line and soon as they cleared the south switch then No 42 backed
out of the siding and went on into Des Moines. I thought that
was pretty good dispatching. No 41 who was already late, didn't
get anymore delay and No 42 really didn't get too much pulling
in and backing out of the siding.
Dan retired about a year after
that and passed away March 25th, 1965.
That
Gang on Nights
The following comes from W.
L. "Bill" Heitter.
The General Yardmaster showed
up at half past eight;
He was crabby, as usual, because he was late.
As he was handed the dope, you could hear his roar----$#"&
Something had happened the night before.
A car of eggs tipped over
on Six;
The bottom fell out of a car of bricks;
Sixty-Six left about three hours late;
There is a drawbar down about the middle of Eight.
A car of gas was leaking on
the east end of Two;
"Order an Extra for Ten, call a crew;
The Mill and Elevator want a switch right away;
They claim you promised them yesterday."
"A Circus train will
arrive about four,
They want an engine---maybe more.
Someone ran through the junction switch.
I think it was the engine for number Six."
"The house is not switched
and nothing is set,
And the agent is as mad as he can get.
"Someone shoved through track number Nine,
Tipped over a flat and a car of lime."
The General Yardmaster was
in a terrible rage,
And said awful things for a man his age.
Just then the old phone rang and the roundhouse said,
"Your night crew forgot to put coal in the shed."
As he left that night he was
heard to say,
"Oh, if I only, only had my way,
And wasn't afraid they would grab my rights,
I would certainly can that gang on nights.
CGW
Oelwein Shops
100 YEARS AGO. MY HOW TIME
FLIES............................
The following is courtesy
of the Oelwein Public Library, Oelwein, Iowa.
(From the files of the Oelwein
Register Newspaper dated September 20th, 1899)
BIG CELEBRATION. Chicago Great
Western Shops opening September 28th, 1899. Governor Shaw and
other speakers will be the orators on the 28th. Excursion rates
on all railroads, and all roads lead to Oelwein. Special trains
from Des Moines and other cities. This celebration of the opening
of the Chicago Great Western Shops will take place Thursday the
28th. There will be excursion and special trains from cities
fifty to a hundred miles distance and excursion rates are given
on all roads. The Commercial Clubs of Des Moines, Marshalltown,
Cedar Falls and Dubuque on special trains and thousands of people
of the surrounding territory will visit the shop city on one
of the dates either to take in the mammoth C.G.W. shops and their
opening celebration on the 28th or to witness the events in the
great field meet on the following day. It is expected that the
addresses will be delivered in the coach department of the main
shop and this will provide an audience room for all the people
who may be present. Fine music, eloquent speakers, including
Governor Shaw, the sporting events and the open hearted hospitality
of the shop city people will make these two days chock full of
interest and pleasure. An excursion rate of $1.50 has been made
from Des Moines and similar rates to other points. The streets,
business houses and residences will be decorate, the Shop City
Band will provide entertaining music, some of the commercial
clubs will bring bands with them, and as the thousands upon thousands
pour in on the excursion trains from different directions this
will be a lively town. The opening of the C.G.W. shops will be
royally celebrated the 28th.
(From the files of the Oelwein
Register Newspaper of September 27th, 1899)
SHOPS TO BE OPENED TOMORROW
WITH FITTING CEREMONIES.
It has now been nearly six
months since work began in the shops of the Chicago Great Western
Railway at this place. A few men were employed at first, but
the number was increased till at present five hundred men are
employed. This army of workmen, with a payroll aggregating over
a half million per year constitute the leading factor in the
prosperity of the "Shop City" of northern Iowa. The
growth of Oelwein from a hamlet to a city of 4,000 population
has been due principally to the location of the central shops
of the C.G.W. Railway at this point. During the day the shops
will be opened for inspection and everyone will have an opportunity
of looking through one of the most extensive railway plants in
the world. The buildings are very extensive, the main shop being
94 x 702 feet and two stories in height. The latest and most
improved machinary is employed. It will be a fine opportunity
to inspect these mamoth shops. It will be a great day in Oelwein's
history.
(FROM THE FILES OF THE OELWEIN
REGISTER OF OCTOBER 4th, 1899)
The Chicago Great Western
shops formally thrown open to the public.
Last thursday was ushered
in with dashes of rain, and finally it settled into a cold, cloudy
day with the wind blowing at a forty rate. The celebration had
not been sufficiently advertized, and in consequence the attendance
was not as large as was anticipated. However, several thousands
of people came in on the trains, or by private conveyances, and
were well repaid by having an opportunity to inspect the finest
equipped railway shops in the west. The Chicago Great Western
had appointed a number of the employees who courteously acted
as ushers for the people as they looked through the various shops.
The coach shop had been set apart for an audience room and a
platform had been errected, also an arch over the speaker's desk,
and flags and bunting in great profusion were used for decoration
purposes. The procession formed and marched to the shops and
assembled in the coach room. At 3 o'clock ex-mayor Peek, president
of the day, called the vast assembly to order and made a neat
introductory address. Rev. S. Conybears then delivered an appropriate
invocation. General Solicitor D. W. Lawler of the C.G.W. Ry.,
representing President Stickney, then delivered an eloquent address
that was well received. He spoke in complimentary terms of Oelwein
and its people, and prophosied a great future for the city. The
trainmen are the highest type of citizens. There may be larger
shops, but there are none better equipped. President Stickney
has been the benefactor of the city, and will doubtless materially
assist in its development. Colonel Lyon, of Dubuque, then delivered
a scholarly address, in which he told the story of the Chicago
Great Western Railway, of its accommodating officials, and of
President Stickney. Governor Shaw was then introduced and delivered
an address replete with practical suggestions. It was an effort
that met the approbation of the assembly and brought forth frequent
cheers. Between the addresses the "Shop City Band"
rendered some catchy selections in a high class manner that brought
forth frequent applause. Later in the afternoon there were running
contests by the Sumner and Oelwein Fire Departments. The street
and business houses were neatly decorated with flags and bunting,
and two electric arches spanned Charles street and Jefferson
at the intersection with Charles street. A band concert and a
Fireman's Ball in the evening entertained the guests and city
people till a late hour.
Inspection
Trip
The following story comes
from Don Wigfield, CGW telegraph operator:
Gerry E. Traynor had a seniority
date of Nov 19, 1936 as a switchman for the CGW RR at Chicago
Transfer. He was later promoted to Trainmaster and was stationed
at Clarion, Iowa in the 1950's and early 1960's. One day in 1963
Gerry received word from headquarters in Oelwein that he was
to be at Oelwein on wednesday to high-rail over his territory
from Oelwein to Council Bluffs with Superintendent Harry Peterson.
Gerry got up early on wednesday morning and drove over to Oelwein
and at 810am they started out on the inspection trip. The first
station they stopped at was Readlyn, Iowa. They went in the depot
and found nobody around. Agent Duane Tobey was up town in the
pool hall where he stopped every morning after picking up the
mail at the post office. The inspection party took off down the
line and the next stop was at Waverly. Doug Farren had been the
agent at Waverly for a long time and he also had a very busy
station so he just shook hands with everyone and then turned
back to his work. The high rail car took off again and about
3 miles east of Clarksville they see two men walking along the
tracks. When they got a little closer they saw that it was a
couple of hunters, Arnold Barrer, Supt of Car Service for the
CGW from Oelwein and his partner was the Agent from Allison,
Junior Pandil. They both offered the Superintendent and the Trainmaster
some of the pheasants they had already bagged but their offer
was turned down and they were both told to get back to work where
they belonged. They continued on down the line without bothering
to stop at the depot at Allison as they already knew where the
agent was. When they got within radio range of Clarion they called
operator Wigfield at the Clarion Tower and asked him to get them
a line up and that they would be into Clarion in about 25 minutes.
Don tried to contact the Clarion agent, Bill Schultz, to tip
him off that the officials would be there in about 25 minutes,
but nobody answered the phone at the depot so Don then got on
the dispatcher's phone and copied a line up for the high rail
car. Don had no more than finished the line up when he saw the
high rail car stopping at the depot and the officials go inside.
Soon they came back out and drove on over to the tower and Superintendent
Peterson came up into the tower and called the Chief Dispatcher
in Oelwein and after talking with him a few minutes he picked
up the line up and they took off towards Council Bluffs. Don
tried to get the agent at Eagle Grove on the message phone to
tip him off but got no answer at the depot. Then Bill Schultz
comes up into the tower mad as hell and wants to know why Don
didn't let him know about the high rail car coming that day.
He said that came into the depot and then out into the freight
room where they caught him building a boat. They were not too
happy. When the high rail car stopped at Eagle Grove there was
nobody in the office so the two officials went into the freight
room and there was Percy Gunderson, the agent, picking the feathers
off about a half dozen chickens he had bought from some farmer.
Feathers all over the place. This did not go over very well with
the inspection party. The next stop was at Vincent and finding
no agent in the office, they peaked into the freight room and
saw the agent in there with his girl friend so they quietly closed
the door and got back in the high rail car and Superintendent
Peterson told Gerry, " No more stops until we get to Council
Bluffs, I just want to get this trip over with as quickly as
possible."
Vic
Nordman
Vic Nordman, retired CGW RY
agent at Meservey, Iowa passed away a few days ago at age 87.
I stopped to visit with Vic one day and he told me about the
time when he was the agent there in Meservey and one day a Hi-rail
car comes through and stops at the depot and Jimmie Dodd, CGW
Supt from Oelwein and Gerry Traynor, CGW Trainmaster from Clarion,
get out of the car and come into the depot. They looked around
and were satisfied that everything was in order, but just as
they were getting back in the Hi-rail car, Jimmie Dodd told Vic
that when he came back through Meservey again that old mail cart
standing beside the depot had better be gone. Vis said this was
an old home-made two wheel wooden cart with two wooden handles
that was used years ago by the man that transported the mail
between the depot and post office. Vic told him OK and the Hi-rail
car took off down the track and Vic went back inside the depot
saying to himself, those guys won't be back this way again for
another three months, so he didn't bother doing anything with
that old cart parked by the depot. Well later that afternoon
here comes the Rail car back through Meservey and they stop and
Dodd jumps out and comes in the depot and yells at Vic, "I
thought I told you to get rid of that damn cart." Vic said
"OK I will" and he went outside and grabbed the old
cart by both handles and when he lifted on it the handles broke
off in his hands as the cart was frozen solid in the ground.
Mr. Dodd and Mr. Traynor didn't say another word, just climbed
back in the Hi-rail car and took off down the track.
Road Trip
As a CGW Train Dispatcher
and Night Chief Dispatcher I was required to make trips over
the road to get a better understanding of the territory. One
trips stands out above all the others that I made over the years.
On August 3rd, 1960 at Oelwein,
Iowa I climbed up on CGW motor 154 that was handling passenger
train No 6 from Kansas City to Minneapolis. I introduced myself
to Engr Ross and Fireman Burkhalter and then I sat down in the
middle seat of this old "F" unit and exactly at 1130
AM Engr Ross whistled off and we started moving away from the
Oelwein depot and down through the yard and soon we were on the
high iron at Jeff and on our way to the Twin Cities. I think
we stopped at just about every station to load and unload mail
and express. I did not see very many passengers getting on
or off the train. Up around Dodge Center, Minnesota Engr Ross
had the 154 in number 8 and at about 65 MPH the overspeed whistle
sounded and he notched it down a little. We arrived at State
Street Yard at St Paul at 408 PM right on the advertised and
I was the only passenger to get off. I walked across the tracks
to the yard office and introduced myself to the yardmaster and
told him I wanted to catch a ride on southbound freight No 41.
He told me I would not have to wait long as they were called
for 430 PM. Soon the crew started showing up for No 41 and I
found out I would be riding with Engr Andy Pitzel, fireman Gerry
Fraser and Condr Harold Zimmer and two brakemen whose names I
have forgotten. I walked over to the Ready track with the engine
crew and found our six "F" units all ready to go with
motor 109-C in the lead. We climbed up into the cab of the 109-C
and I watched Engr Pitzel get ready for the trip to Oelwein.
First he installed a small green plastic clip board onto the
control stand and that is where he put his train orders and work
messages. Then he reached into his grip and brought out a homemade
armrest that he installed on the sill of the engrs side window.
Next he removed the independent brake valve handle and got one
out of his grip that had a longer wooden handle attached to it.
I soon found out that with this longer handle he could stick
his head out the window during switching moves and would not
have to make the long reach for the brake handle. Next he turned
on the sanders for about 30 seconds and then shut them off and
then got down on the ground and walked around the power consist
to see if there was a little pile of sand under each sand pipe.
Finally everything was to his satisfaction and the headbrakeman
lined us off the Ready Track and we came out and coupled onto
our train. After an air test we headed for our first stop at
Randolph, Minnesota where they set out a few cars and then picked
up the south tonnage that had come in on the MN&S RY and
a few from the Mankato/Red Wing branch. The tonnage rating out
of Randolph southbound for six "F" units was 8195 tons
but we were a little under that and a good thing I found out
later. We left Randolph and it was dark by now as we headed
for Nerstrand Hill. You have not lived if you have not rode
high in the fireman's seat of the lead "F" unit in
the dark going up Nerstrand. Those six "F" units would
make transition and you could almost feel them dig in as they
worked a heavy train up the hill. When we were about half way
or so up the hill the head brakeman riding in the rear unit called
to engr Pitzel on the radio and told him that he heard a loud
bang and a flash of light come from one of the units towards
the rear of the consist. Engr Pitzel picked a spot and stopped
the train and told me to come with him while he inspected the
units. We walked back through the units and he found the ground
relay had tripped on the 107-B which was the next to last unit
in the consist. He said a traction motor probably had a flashover
and that kicked the ground relay. He reset the ground relay
and then we got down on the ground and he took his flashlight
and inspected all the traction motors on the unit. Finding nothing
wrong we walked back up to the lead unit and I was wondering
if we were going to have to back down the hill to get the train
started. After we got back on the 109-C he told condr Zimmer
what had happened and then he said I think I can get them started
right here. As the brakes started to release he started working
the throttle and soon condr Zimmer came on the radio and said
the caboose was moving. After what seemed like a long time but
really wasn't, our motors were going by the depot at Nerstand,
not very fast but we were moving. Next stop was at Hayfield
where they set out and picked up cars and then it was on to Elkton
where we found No 42 in on the siding. Next stop was at McIntire,
Iowa to make another set out and pick up. After leaving McIntire
it was a straight shot to Oelwein. We arrived Oelwein about
230 AM just ahead of passenger train No 5. It had been a long
day and I was dog tired but it sure had been a fun road trip
on the old Great Western. The end.
Stogies
The following is the courtesy
of J. R. "Dick" Ashpole, retired CGW RR Employee from
Clarion, Iowa.
About 1957 Dick Ashpole was
assigned as Conductor for a CGW Work Train that was handling
a wrecker working at Magill, Iowa (first station out of Council
Bluffs) a blind siding (no depot or telegraph operator at this
location) rerailing cars from a derailment that had happened
the day before. With a movie camera in hand, conductor Ashpole
was standing downtrack from the wrecker as it was pulling a car
up out of the ditch and in position to rerail, taking movies
of the action when he noticed Mr. E. T. Reidy, CGW Vice President
and General Manager accompanied by Mr. B. N. Howery, CGW Asst.
General Manager, come walking around from behind the wrecker.
Both men had their heads down watching where they were walking
along the right of way and neither one of them noticed conductor
Ashpole until they were within about three or four feet from
him. Mr. Reidy was the first to look up and with his proverbial
import cigar in the corner of his mouth, he said "Now I
know why we aren't getting things done around here. Put that
camera away and get to work".
Conductor Ashpole, being a
cigar smoker himself, said "Mr. Reidy, if I had one of those
things in my mouth I could probably make as much fire and smoke
as you do". Whereupon Mr. Reidy pulled out a cigar from
his coat pocket, took off the wrapper, stuck it in conductor
Ashpole's mouth and turned to Mr. Howery and said "Give
him a light!" and then turning back to conductor Ashpole
he said "Now get back to work." The end.
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