(The son resumes letters to his father about The Milwaukee Road.)

March 12, 1946, Chicago

Dear Dad,

It's strange to be sitting at a desk again but I seem to be getting in the swing of things once more. Getting out of uniform into the loudest checked suit I could find helped a lot in that direction.

We're about to get underway with a really huge car building program at our Milwaukee shops which will put us far out ahead of other Railroads in the United States as far as building our own cars is concerned ...

K. F. Nystrom, our Chief Mechanical Officer and his staff, have shown the way in freight as well as passenger car construction. For example, the all-welded steel, plywood-lined freight cars that carry heavier pay loads with less dead weight were pioneered in our shops.

May 13, 1947, Chicago

Dear Dad,

Charles H. Buford was elected President of the Railroad succeeding Mr. Scandrett who resigned at his own request. I believe you knew Mr. Buford while he was our General Manager of Lines West with headquarters in Seattle. He left our company in 1939 to become Vice President of the Association of American Railroads and returned to The Milwaukee in 1946 as Executive Vice President after a great record in coordinating the war operations of the Railroads.

There's a satisfaction in knowing that the new "big boss" is one of The Milwaukee Road family.

I've been helping in some surveys for our Industrial Development Department. You've probably never heard of this important department but last year alone they helped in locating 424 new industries along our right-of-way of more than 10,000 miles.

June 30, 1947, Chicago

Dear Dad,

I suppose you people in Seattle feel better now that the new diesel powered Olympian Hiawatha is on a 45-hour schedule between Seattle and Chicago. Your newspapers and business organizations have pounded away for faster Railroad schedules and now you have them. So let up and give us a hand in making this train as profitable as the Twin Cities Hiawatha.

Unfortunately the Olympian Hiawatha as it left Chicago and Seattle is not the dreamliner it will be in a few months. The coaches, Touralux sleepers, Tip Top Grill and dining car were all beautiful new streamlined cars fresh from The Milwaukee shops. But, alas, the Pullman Car Manufacturing Company could not make delivery of the private-room sleepers and Skytop Lounge. Regardless – the present demand for space indicates it will be a most popular service. And so the Hiawatha fleet goes transcontinental in a big way.

Glad to hear that your business is going good. The new house in Laurelhurst sounds fine.

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