The Gloved Hand

By M.C. ?MIKE? WIKMAN

This book is a compilation of my 55 years in the railroad industry. From my beginning to the year 2008, a lot has happened since 2008 until now. My dear wife of 56 years passed away on March 2, 2011 and I'm now going it alone. I still work as a railroad consultant at a mine in New Mexico and the Border Pacific Railroad on the Mexican border here in Texas, at 77 years old but not steady. Life has been good to me as I still do a lot of photography in this area, hot San Antonio.

Next on my agenda to write a railroad novel as a child I used to read all the novels about railroading in man's imagination which I could not get enough of. So I'm going to try to see what I can do as my mind seems to be working pretty well at this time.

I spend at a maximum of four hours a day on the computer Internet writing friends all over the country, some of the people I communicate with, I used to work for them when I started my career in the railroad industry. E-mailing friends is one of the greatest things that I do.

Learning never ends I try to learn the locomotive inside and out as I can't get enough of that either.

Living here in San Antonio isn't what it was 23 years ago; today it's crowded with people coming from all over every day to live here. I would like to move back east where I came from in Eastern Pennsylvania as I love the mountains and fewer people.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 2, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477216897

Book preview

© 2012 by M.C. ‘Mike’ Wikman. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 07/31/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4772-1687-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-1688-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-1689-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012910329

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Introduction

The Gloved Hand

Clearing Up Some Questions In This Book Before They Start—Technical Terms In The Book

Glossary Of Terms

Chapter 1: Beginning

Chapter 2: First Trip In The Cab Of A Steam Locomotive

Chapter 3: Scranton

Chapter 4: My Train Trip To Buffalo

Chapter 5: Moving To The Snow Belt

The Pennsylvania Railroad And East Aurora

The Snow Is Blowing

Everybody Has A Hero—So Do I

Chapter 6: Here We Go Again

Go East Young Man

Chapter 7: New Jersey’s Railroads

Erie Terminal And The New York, Susquehanna, And Western

Weehawken Terminal, The New York Central’s West Shore Line, And The Pennsylvania Railroad In New York City

To Jersey City On The C.N.J. And New York City Transit Authority

Subways And Staten Island

Grand Central, North And East

The New York, New Haven And Hartford

Red Bank And The Jersey Shore

The Woodbridge Wreck

Gas Electrics And Monmouth Race Track

Chapter 8: The United States Army

Fort Eustis, Virginia

Go West Young Man

The Most Important Day In My Life

Across The Pacific

To Frozen Chosen

Seoul

Pusan

Ulsan

Staff Signals On The Korean National

Trip To Ulsan

R And R

Japan

Mt. Fuji, Lake Yamanica, And Tomico I Thought This Was A Railroad Book…

It Is—But…

Now Back To The States And Railroading

Chapter 9: Home Finally

Fort Meade, Maryland

Fort Eustis, Virginia

Chapter 10: Railroading On The Lackawanna, Finally

Engine Service On The Dl&W

Port Morris, Top Of New Jersey

Suzies Diner In Port Morris

The Bangor And Portland Division Of The Dl&W

Chapter 11: 1960 And The Merger Of The Erie Railroad AndThe Delaware, Lackawanna, And Western

The Modern Railroad Official

Chapter 12: The Fairbanks-Morse And Trainmaster Locomotives On The Dl&W And El

Chapter 13: Promotion To Locomotive Engineer

First Day As A Locomotive Engineer For Pay In The Usa

Speeds

Port Jervis Crew Dispatchers

The General Electric U50c Locomotive On The Erie

Chapter 14: Me, An Operating Officer Of A Railroad?

My First Child, Lee Ann

My First Job Location As An Official—Meadville, Pennsylvania

The Hours Were Long

The Meadville Wrecker

Chapter 15: The Meeting Of The Rails, May 10, 1869

Chapter 16: Going Back East, Where It Started

Teaching Is Really What I Am Cut Out For, I Love It

Working In Hoboken

School For Me Too

Port Jervis, New York - Pay Back Time

Assistant Terminal Superintendent, Huh?

On My Way Out

On My Way In

Chapter 17: On The Central Railroad Of New Jersey

Raritan Engine Terminal

Kithcart’s Doom

The Long Valley Wreck

Investigating Officer

Clown Rail, Huh?

Chapter 18: New York City And The Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Walter Schleger

Saving The Day For The Erie Lackawanna

Chapter 19: Get Out Of The Crowds And Get A New Life On The Missouri Pacific Railroad In Texas Y’all—From The Frying Pan Into The Fire

The Whiz Kids Of The Missouri Pacific

Amtrak: To Go, Or Not To Go

Amtrak At Last

Chapter 20: I Leave The Lone Star State For Amtrak—For A While.

The Pueblo, Colorado, Test Track

Get Killed In A Sand Pit, Huh?

Back On My Regular Job

I Like Training Engineers And Riding Trains

Test Engineer?

Accidents, Fire, And Derailments

Human Reasorce Development

A Little Bitterness: Politics, Or How To Destroy A Man Who Loves The Industry

Finally—The Sun Shines For Me In San Antonio

The Beginning And The End Of Me On Amtrak

Chapter 21: My Future In A New Life

Chapter 22: What’s A Consultant Anyway?

Nebraska Central

Grand Island Nebraska

Idaho Northern And Pacific

Homer Henry, Transportation Certification Service, And The California Northern

Stuck On A Hill

Chapter 23: Some Short Stories; Me On A Simulator?

Death Rides The Railroad

Gulf, Colorado, And San Saba

Gateway Western

The Texas Transportation Company

Working With Lawyers

To Russia As A Missionary

1997, A Good Railroading Year In The Northern Plains

Doctor Bill White

Alaska

Louisiana delta railroad, new iberia, louisiana

Long Beach California. And The Pacific Harbor Lines

The Camas Prairie And Camas Prairie Rail Net

Half Moon Trestle On The Camas Prairie

Whew… Almost The End

A Little Shooting From The Hip To Bring An End To My Railroading Career

Introduction

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It Started On A Rug

IN 1938, AT 4 YEARS OF AGE, I FOUND THERE WERE SUCH THINGS AS RAILROADS… TRAINS… STEAM LOCOMOTIVES. FIRST THERE WERE MODELS ON A RUG, THEN ON A PLATFORM, THEN REAL TRAINS. GOD HAS BEEN SO GOOD TO ME. I BELIEVE THAT WE ALL ARE PUT HERE ON THIS EARTH TO DO WHAT GOD WANTS US TO DO. WHAT DO YOU THINK? SITTING OUTSIDE OR IN A BEDROOM WITH THE WINDOW OPEN ON A QUIET WARM SUMMER NIGHT I COULD HEAR THE WHISTLES AND SOUNDS OF THE STEAM LOCOMOTIVES ON THE DELAWARE, LACKAWANNA AND WESTERN BECONING ME TO SEEK LIFE’S ADVENTURES. DO YOU REMEMBER THOSE SOUNDS AS I DO? THIS BOOK IS A TRUE STORY OF MY 54 YEARS WORKING IN THE RAILROAD INDUSTRY. I SUFFERED FROM POLITICS THROUGHOUT MY CAREER, AND WAS A LOSER EVERY TIME. BUT WILL TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT IT WAS LIKE WORKING FOR THE INDUSTRY I LOVE. THIS BOOK IS TOTALLY FACTUAL. JUDGE FOR YOURSELF. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

The Gloved Hand

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By M.C. ‘MIKE’ WIKMAN

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The controller of a Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 electric locomotive

MY LIFE HAS BEEN CONCERNED WITH RAILROADING THROUGH AND THROUGH. I LOVED IT ALL. WHEN MY FATHER RETIRED, I ASKED HIM TO WRITE A HISTORY OF WHAT IT WAS LIKE FOR HIM TO GROW UP IN SWEDEN. BUT HE DIDN’T DO IT. HE DIED BEFORE HE COULD START IT. I SAID TO MYSELF, I DON’T WANT THIS TO HAPPEN TO ME, SO HERE I AM, WRITING MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY. I FOUND THAT PEOPLE ARE FASCINATED BY THE RAILROAD INDUSTRY AND WHAT IT DOES, AND HOW IT DOES IT. A FEW YEARS AGO, MY BROTHER GAVE ME AN OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK TO SOME MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL SPEAKERS ASSOCIATION IN SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA. THEY SAID THAT I WORKED IN AN OCCUPATION THAT NOT TOO MANY PEOPLE KNEW MUCH ABOUT. THEY ASKED ME, WHY DON’T YOU WRITE A BOOK ON THIS FASCINATING SUBJECT. I THOUGHT, WHO WOULD BE INTERESTED IN MY LIFE AND THE RAILROAD INDUSTRY? BUT I FOUND THAT MOST OF THE CONVENTIONEERS I TALKED WITH SAID THAT THEY WISHED THEY COULD HAVE RUN LOCOMOTIVES PULLING TRAINS DOWN THE TRACKS THROUGH THE CITIES AND TOWNS OF THEIR IMAGINATIONS, GOING TO IMAGINARY PLACES WHERE THEY KNEW THE RAILROADS WENT. REMEMBER WHEN YOU SAW MODEL TRAINS IN A STORE AROUND CHRISTMAS TIME, RUNNING AROUND GOING NOWHERE? I WAS FORTUNATE IN MY LIFE, I PLAYED WITH TRAINS AND GOT PAID FOR IT. RAILROADING IS A PART OF MY LIFE. THAT PART OF ME THAT WAS GIVEN TO THE RAILROAD INDUSTRY. I CANNOT REMEMBER A DAY THAT WENT BY IN MY LIFE WHEN THE RAILROAD OR A LOCOMOTIVE WAS NOT INVOLVED WITH SOMETHING IN MY DAY-TO-DAY ADVENTURE. I AM DOING THIS BOOK MOSTLY FROM MEMORY, SO PLEASE DON’T HOLD ME RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THE SMALL FACTS SUCH AS LOCOMOTIVE NUMBERS. I WILL TRY TO BE EXACT, BUT…

I dedicate this book to railroad men whom I worked for and with, and to other railroad men whom I did not know personally, but who built and ran the railroads and invented a better way to run them through all kinds of sickening government regulation that almost put them out of business, whether economic depression caused by the government, or all kinds of inclement weather. Many were leaders I was proud to know. Many others I did not know personally, but know of. Leaders like James J Hill the Empire builder, Donald Russell, Alfred Pearlman, Edd Bailey, William White, Lewis Menk, George M Leilich, Earl T Moore, Perry M Shoemaker, Champion McDowell Davis, Downing Jenks, Michael Haverty, and Gilbert Gillette, just to name a few. I want to thank the owners of the class three railroads and their dream of making them work. Instead of tearing up line for scrap, these men are made it work, where the others could not…

I celebrate the many hundreds of responsible rail buffs (I am proud to be one) I have befriended through the years. The rail fan movement has made the railroad industry fascinating through their books and museums. Magazines like Trains, Railfan & Railroad, CTC Board, Rail Pace, Extra 2200 South, Diesel Era, and many others, that keep us up to date. There are books by Lucius Beebe, Mallory Hope Farrell, Professor Donavan Hofsomer, Richard Prince, Bill Withun, and many others who poured their hearts out to give us history in pictures and writing about this great industry. Others are photographers that have made history in the railroad field, such as Richard Stinehimer, Bill Price, Emory Gulash, O. Winston Link, and there are lots more, including me, even though I am not making a living with my camera.

The National Railway Historical Society, the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, and individual railroad historical associations bring history to us through their publications. They hold meetings to share their interests with others. They also hear other rail fans and what they specialize in, that makes the industry alive and interesting for other than its employees.

Clearing Up Some Questions In This Book Before They Start—Technical Terms In The Book

I want to apologize for using the personnel pronoun ‘I’ so much. I am me, and I don’t know how to address me other than ‘I’, so… The word ‘remember’ is also used a lot, as I did a lot of ‘remembering’ to make this book possible. I promise the book will be interesting, to be sure.

This book will have some technical terms, like any book will have that is about any machine, such as an airplane, boat, or other mechanical contraptions. I will try to keep these terms at a minimum, but let me explain a few that you will see throughout this book.

Steam locomotive wheel arrangements, such as ‘2-8-2,’ means a two-wheel truck in front, 8 drive wheels, followed by a 2-wheel trailing truck under the firebox of the locomotive. Drive wheels propel the locomotive as they are connected to the piston by a main rod and connecting rods. This is known as the Wythe System. Some wheel arrangements have been named by the individual railroads. Here are some:

0-4-0, 0-6-0, 0-8-0, 0-10-0 Switchers

2-6-0 Mogul

2-6-2 Prairie (first used on the AT&SF railroad)

2-8-0 Consolidation

image003.jpg

A steam locomotive of the 4-8-4 wheel arrangement

2-8-2 Mikado (Some think it was named for

McAdoo, the administrator of the USRA

during WWI. But it comes from the

Japanese name for their Emperor, Mikado.)

2-8-4 Berkshire (Named for the mountains in

Massachusetts, where this wheel

arrangement was first used by the Boston

and Albany Railroad.)

2-8-8-4 Mallet (also called a Yellowstone)

2-8-8-8-2 Triplex (only the Erie and Virginian

Railroads had these)

4-6-0 10 wheeler

4-6-2 Pacific

4-6-4 Hudson (for the river paralleling the

New York Central Railroad)

4-8-0 Mastodon

4-8-2 Mountain

4-8-4 Northern, Niagara, and Pocono

4-8-8-4 Articulated. These locomotives had 2

sets of 8 driving wheels. This one

was named BIG BOY by the Union

Pacific Railroad and was built by the

American Locomotive Company at

Schenectady New York, in the 1940s.

image005.jpg

2-6-6-6—Alleghany, the worlds heaviest, at over 500 tons, articulated steam locomotive

The Allegheny type was the largest and heaviest locomotive in the world, larger than the Union Pacific’s Big Boy (see Gene Huddleston’s book The Alleghany Lima’s Finest). The Allegheny was built by Lima Locomotive Works for the Chesapeake and Ohio and Virginian Railroads in the 1940s. It had two sets of drivers and four cylinders. The front engine (consisting of a 2-wheel pony truck and 6 drivers) could swivel around curves, while the boiler stayed straight. There were 2 types of articulated locomotives, simple (single expansion) where all four cylinders received steam at the same time, and compound where the rear two cylinders would receive steam first, then exhaust the steam to the front two cylinders, where it expanded and was used a second time before it was finally exhausted to atmosphere. The steam was used twice in a compound type, once in the high-pressure rear cylinders, and once in the low-pressure front cylinders. The front low-pressure cylinders were noticeably larger than high-pressure cylinders. The Mallet was first designed by Frenchman Anatole Mallet.

There were 3-cylinder steam locomotives on many railroads, the Lackawanna for one, had 4-8-2 Mountain-type 3-cylinder locomotives. The Union Pacific had a 4-12-2 3-cylinder locomotive. It was a huge machine, being the only non-articulated American steam locomotive with 12 drivers. They were slow and hard on maintenance as the 3rd cylinder was between the front two cylinders, and was very hard to get to for cleaning and maintenance. The exhaust was an odd sound with 3 cylinders - chug–-chug-chug-chug-chug, but what a sound they made with a wide open throttle! A sound I will never forget.

Booster truck The booster truck on the NYC Hudson worked on a gear on the rear axel of the trailing truck. They provided additional adhesion for high-drivered locomotives when starting a heavy train. NYC’s cut out automatically at 35 mph. There were engines with tender boosters too,

Glossary Of Terms

A Truck: The assembly (unit) that keeps axels, other than drive axels, properly spaced.

Camelback or Mother Hubbard: A steam locomotive that has its cab on top of the boiler and the fireman’s station on a platform on the rear of the firebox. They were used mostly by eastern anthracite railroads, and most had a Wooten fire box that burned hard coal.

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MU cars( multiple unit): Two or more units of passenger cars operated together and controlled from the front car by one engineer. The cars were all connected to the lead car by electrical cables. Most were electrically powered by overhead wires (catenary) or a third rail along the tracks a ground level. They can also be diesel powered, but these are not in this book. Most MU cars are used in commuter service.

Highball: A signal given to an engineer to move the train forward at authorized speed. Can be given either by hand, or by communicating whistle signal.

Pot, Bug, or Dwarf signal: A fixed signal mounted approximately two feet off the ground. Usually found at the ends of sidings or secondary tracks, or at the beginning of track pans where water is picked up by steam locomotives while in motion.

Locomotive classes: Each railroad would classify their motive power with alpha designations, such as A, B, C class, etc… The Pennsylvania Railroad classified as A class an 0-4-0, B class an 0-6-0, K class and 4-6-2 Pacific type. After the letter, sometimes, on some railroads was a sub class. For example, a K4 on the Pennsylvania was the 4th sub-class of the K series. This was not universal, each railroad used its own classification system.

image009.jpg

Straight electric locomotives: These locomotives picked up their power using a pantograph on top of the locomotive that engages an overhead wire (catenary), or through a shoe engaging a third rail. Electric locomotives have been around for many years. They are powerful. They get their power from generating stations. They are only as powerful as the transformer on the locomotive. The power taken from the overhead wire or 3rd rail shoe goes to the transformer and is then reduced for geared motors on the wheel axels.

Diesel electric locomotives: These locomotives are power-plants on wheels. Power originates from a diesel engine connected to a generator that provides power for wheel axels. They are designated as switchers, road switchers, passenger, and road freight by the kind of engine hood and cab they are equipped with. Some examples are: F-7, GP-9, E-8, etc…

Railroad official’s titles:

• The Superintendent is the boss of a Division.

• The Trainmaster is the Superintendent’s assistant, and is mostly responsible for the actions of conductors and brakemen.

• The Road Foreman of Engines is the person responsible for hiring, training, disciplining, and supervising locomotive engineers on a Division.

• The General or Roundhouse Foreman is the man in charge of repairing locomotive equipment.

Roundhouse: A semi-circular building that was built around a turntable which locomotives could be turned to be stored or repaired on one of several tracks radiating from the turntable. Today we still call a locomotive storage building a roundhouse, even if it is not round.

Turntable: A track on a platform that can be rotated 360-degrees so a locomotive can be turned around, or put in a stall in the roundhouse so it can be repaired out of the weather. Turntables usually are in a pit and look a little like a small bridge because they have to hold the weight of a locomotive.

These are but a few of the definitions used in the railroad industry and this book.

Chapter 1

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Beginning

It was August 20th, 1934, at 8:40 AM. in Green Ridge, (Scranton), Pennsylvania that I was born to Helen Elizabeth Pierson Corser Wikman and Allan Wikman. This home was my grandfather’s home. He was a doctor, so my mother had me there. My family lived at 611 Glenburn Road in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, just eight miles north of Scranton. Clarks Summit was on top of a range of the Moosic Mountains and Scranton was in Slocums Hollow.

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The Summit was a great place to grow up. The country farms were peaceful and quiet. I don’t remember too much of my early years to age four, but nobody ever does. I do remember that when I was four, my father took me down to the railroad in Clarks Summit. The railroad was down in a cut and the town above it. My father showed me a box car at the freight house and told me to push it. So I did, and it didn’t move. He laughed. I was going to move it if it killed me trying. Suddenly I heard a loud noise, and the noise and smoke were unbelievable. I looked down in the cut and saw monsters coming. I found out they were steam locomotives doing their thing, pulling and pushing trains. The sound of them operating scared me to death. When the train disappeared, my father laughed as he put me in the car and took me home. I believe this adventure started me on my way to what I am 68 years later, with railroading and cinders in my blood. Later on, my father asked me if I wanted to see the trains again. I couldn’t wait to get there. We would sit on the bridge abutment and wait to see the train coming.

There were three main tracks into Clarks Summit (on top of the hill eight miles west of Scranton) on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (the Lackawanna it was called). You could see the smoke far off in the lower valley, then hear the locomotives working hard climbing the hill to the top where we were sitting. Most steam locomotives had two cylinders and their chant was an exhaust sound every 180 degrees of the revolution of the driving wheels. The Lackawanna had some three cylinder steam locomotives that had a different chant when working, something like this chug, chug, chug, chug-chug, chug, chug, chug. Four chugs per revolution account drive pins offset 90 degrees on alternate sides of the engine. The third cylinder drive rod was connected to a crank on a driver axel inside the frame. This axel was like an automobile engine crankshaft. I didn’t know much about them at four, but I was on my way to learn. It seemed from this time until now, I have been hooked on locomotives, any kind, but steam was my favorite and still is. They were almost alive, operated by an artist who helped build this great country of ours.

In 1938, locomotives were mostly steam and straight electric. There were a few diesels in 1938, but I never knew of them or saw one. At 6 years of age, my father bought me my first copy of Railroad Magazine, and I soaked up every page and found out that there were railroads all over this country. They had different kinds of steam and electric locomotives, that really got my interest, such as box cab side rod electrics that the Virginian and Norfolk and Western Railroads had. What a sight it was to see them pulling large coal trains in the states of Virginia and West Virginia.

My father worked one half day every Saturday in Scranton and drove his car to the office. On the way to the office, sometimes he would pick up his friend, a Scranton policeman named Abe Jones, in Providence, and take him to his office. Abe would always kid around with me, as he was a funny guy who liked kids. When I went with my father, I had to wait in his office until he finished working, then we would go to the Overbrook Restaurant to see Elvira the waitress, have lunch, and then head home. On the way home we would see the Scranton Transit trolley car barns. I would ask my father to stop so I could see the cars being moved and switched. Most of the time he wouldn’t stop, as he had work around the house to do. One Saturday morning my father asked me if I would like to ride a train to Scranton. The time couldn’t come fast enough. He drove me to the station in Clarks Summit and bought me a half-fare ticket for 8 cents.

He left me there until the Number 2, the Pocono Express from Buffalo, arrived an hour or so later. My father asked the agent kept an eye on me, which he did while he did his work. I heard a train coming and ran out of the station, looked over the railing of the cut and saw the most beautiful sight I had ever seen, a three cylinder 4-8-2 blasting its smoke and sound to heaven at about 5 miles per hour (mph) with its off-beat crescendo exhaust. I will never forget the huge wheels, rods moving and steam coming out, it seemed everywhere. You could see the men in coveralls wearing the standard railroad cap with goggles to keep the cinders out of their eyes, commanding these steeds. They waved as they moved by me. Trains going east would coast down the hill into Scranton with the air set (brakes on) and they were a sight to see too. The Lackawanna kept their locomotives clean as a whistle. They were painted black, usually with gold lettering. Some of the lettering was sheet stainless steel screwed on. The inside of the cabs were dark green. To see them working the hill was an adventure in its own. I never got tired of watching trains, especially in mountain territories where the locomotives were working their life out. MAN, HIS GOD, AND HIS MACHINE, THAT IS WHAT LIFE FOR ME IS ALL ABOUT.

At this time, the Second World War was on and the fighting in Europe was bad, with lots of our men losing their lives. Wouldn’t the men who died in the wars turn over in their graves seeing what our government has done to ‘we the people’ in the year 2005? My family and I would be in our living room after dinner listening to Lowell Thomas on the radio, with Winston Churchill sometimes speaking, and sometimes the mad man Hitler screaming his ilk on the news with static. We’d loose his voice from time to time due to poor broadcasting equipment of that time sending the signal from New York City and Europe.

Chapter 2

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First Trip In The Cab

Of A Steam Locomotive

image013.jpg

On my trips to Scranton with my father and other family members, I would keep my eyes open, as there were railroads everywhere, not just the DL&W. There was the Delaware and Hudson, Lackawanna, and Wyoming Valley (otherwise known as the Laurel Line, which was an interurban railroad), the New York, Ontario, and Western, the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania, and the Scranton Transit. The trolleys went everywhere throughout the city. To me this was heaven on earth. On a Saturday many years ago, my father and I were coming home from his office in Scranton and he had to stop at the Carbondale Yard of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. Carbondale was approximately 16 miles north of Scranton on the main line of the D&H Railroad. We arrived at an office of the D&H. It was a wooden structure out in the yard. My dad went upstairs in this office and man came downstairs with him. My father introduced him as the trainmaster for the railroad. Gil says he was probably Max Berry. The trainmaster told my father that there was a train leaving in about one hour for Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. I wondered why this trainmaster was talking about a train that was going to Wilkes-Barre and what that had to do with me. The trainmaster asked me if I would like to ride in the cab of a steam locomotive to Wilkes-Barre. My father would drive down in his car to pick me up. What an offer! I was thrilled! Looking around the Carbondale yard I could see steam locomotives everywhere, and a large roundhouse. The Delaware and Hudson Railroad had many consolidation type steam locomotives, which had a 2-8-0 wheel arrangement. They also had many articulated locomotives of the 0-6-6-0 and 4-6-6-4 wheel arrangement. These were huge locomotives to me; I was only about four feet tall at the time. The trainmaster took me to the train that I was going to the ride. The crew helped me climb the long ladder to the cab that seemed like a room. It was painted dark green. He introduced me to the engineer, who as I remember, was a stocky Irish man named Mr. Gallagher. There were two locomotives on the train that I was going to ride - two consolidations. What sounds these two beasts made while getting ready to pull the train out of town. The air compressors would exhaust their steam into the smoke box of the locomotive causing a vibration as they worked. This was to keep the fires hot while the engines were standing still.

The trainmaster spoke to the engineer about me and wished me a good trip, then got off the locomotive and waved goodbye. My father and the trainmaster walked across the yard and left me with the crew. The smells and the sounds of steam and the stoker running were weird and beautiful to me. The fireman was busy keeping the locomotive hot by shoveling coal and adjusting the stoker.

The locomotives were equipped with a stoker, as no man could shovel enough coal to satisfy these beasts. Right behind the locomotive was the tender. The tender contained all the water, coal, and other supplies to keep these beasts on the move, and were sometimes just as heavy as the locomotive itself.

The two men in the cab were quite busy reading their orders and discussing the train operation and getting the train ready to go. The engineer let me sit behind him, as he had a long seat. We were given authority to leave town and then all hell broke loose. The engineer blew too long blasts on the whistle and released the locomotive brake. He moved the reverse lever to put it in the full forward position, pulled a long rod called the throttle, and we started to move. The two locomotives started to make exhaust noise as they wobbled over the uneven track and switches in the yard.The engine in back of us did the same as the lead engine I was on. Between the two locomotives there was a tremendous crescendo as these two monsters started to move the train. I held on for dear life as we started to pick up speed. The noise was almost unbearable with the sound of the stoker added to the sound of the exhaust. The exhaust sound increased as we moved faster. It was a sight to see the fire door open as the fireman would check his fire, which he did many times The engineer blew the whistle as we proceeded over highway crossings, where I could see autos waiting. It seemed to me we must be going 100 mph, but it really was 40. The cab on this locomotive was jumping up and down and rolling from side-to-side. Between the noise and the movement of this machine, I was turned on as I never was before in my life and never will be again. It was great to be a part of this. I have told many that you have never lived until you have ridden on a large steam locomotive doing its thing. At this point in my life I was sold. I want to be the man I was sitting behind. I could see his head sticking out the window, with his goggles and bandana blowing in the wind. This was a site to behold. Man and his machine. I couldn’t believe a man could command all of this power. What a responsibility he had. He told me he had been on the railroad for many years and he asked me if I wanted to do what he was doing. I answered with a resounding, yes! The engineer and fireman laughed and seemed to enjoy the comments I was making. It seemed like just minutes later that we roared through Scranton. We looked up to see the Lackawanna roundhouse on the other side the Lackawanna River on a big curve. Through many small towns the engineer kept on blowing the whistle. He showed me what block signals were with their green, yellow, and red lights as we sped along. Between the tender and the engine was a plate that rubs on the cab floor, and as we moved it made a lot of noise. The fireman told me not to get near it as it could cut your feet off. We slowed down as the air brake made a blowing noise. The engineer controlled the train as we arrived in the Wilkes-Barre yard. These two monsters came to a stop. I saw my father and another man with him come out to the locomotive to pick me up. I thanked Mr. Gallagher for the trip, as the crew helped me off to the ground. The engineer and firemen waived to me and hoped they would see me again someday. I couldn’t wait for that someday.

Chapter 3

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Scranton

Scranton had a lot of interesting railroads in it. There were the New York, Ontario and Western, Central Railroad of Pennsylvania, Delaware and Hudson, Lackawanna, Scranton transit, and a real odd one called the Laurel Line. The Laurel Line’s full name was the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad. We will call it the Laurel Line from now on. This railroad was known as an interurban, it was a third rail electric railroad that ran passenger and freight service between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. The passenger cars were bright red with gold lettering. The Lackawanna station was above the Laurel Line station, which was in the bottoms. The station had a loop track and when the train would come from Wilkes-Barre, it would run around the loop and be ready to go out the other side of the station. The Laurel Line also ran freight service with small electric locomotives that looked like passenger cars with no windows in them. From the Lackawanna station you could hear the electric locomotives and the passenger trains of the Laurel line down below. Many times I would walk across the tracks in the station and look down and see all the action on the Laurel Line. As I got older, I would leave the Lackawanna station and walk out of Tony Harding’s Diner and walk underneath the Lackawanna tracks to the Laurel Line station, where there was always something going on. There was the train every 30 minutes to Wilkes-Barre and it was fun to walk inside the cars as they sat waiting to go back to Wilkes-Barre. The people who ran the trains were called motormen, and they had that badge on their hats. I met a motorman named Joe Wallace when I was roughly 11 years old, and met him again 25 years later in Hoboken on the Lackawanna, where he had to work as a switchman, starting over after the Laurel Line went out of business. He stayed a year or so, then retired. What a man! He could run a locomotive as well as any of our engineers, but when your railroad goes under, you loose, period.

My brother wanted to go to a large amusement park called Rocky Glenn, which was roughly half way from Scranton to Wilkes-Barre, and we had to ride the Laurel Line to get there.

My brother and I would buy tickets at the station and get on one of the red cars. The train would take off like a jet! The sound of the motor gearing was a good sound to me as the train went through a tunnel and then rolled on and made a few stops before arriving at Rocky Glenn. We could see the roller coaster right alongside the tracks. I used to love to ride the red cars all the way to Wilkes-Barre. I also did this many times when my father would give me the money to do it. As the years rolled by, I lived in New Jersey. I remember I made a trip back to Scranton and saw that Laurel Line no longer existed. There were a few tracks left that were now Lackawanna railroad property. The station was leveled, and I understand the cars were scrapped in Carbondale. Driving up to Carbondale, I did see a scrap yard where a few of the red cars were lying on their sides being cut up for scrap. What a sad site this was. Is Scranton better off? I doubt it. The Lackawanna Railroad ran the Laurel Line’s freight service until the arrival of Conrail in 1976.

The Delaware and Hudson Railroad had a large roundhouse, and my father and I would pass it many times on the way home to Clarks Summit. On the way into Scranton one Saturday, I asked my father if he would let me off by the Delaware and Hudson’s roundhouse, and I would stay there until he returned about four hours later. You could stand on a sidewalk and look into the roundhouse and see all the steam locomotives being serviced and repaired, without going on private property. There was always a pile of crossties where I could sit and watch all the action for hours. Even though I did get creosote all over my pants. Some of the men would ask me to come on the property to look at the locomotives. Sometimes they would let me get up in the cab while they were fixing something. The Delaware and Hudson had mallet locomotives of the 0-8-8-0 wheel arrangement. They were monsters and were used as pushers on the different grades in and out of Scranton. I don’t remember ever seeing a challenger in Scranton. The challenger was an articulated locomotive of the 4-6-6-4 wheel arrangement. They were used from Carbondale North. The D&H also had a few local passenger trains that ran from Scranton to Carbondale to take the miners back and forth to work.

You see, the Scranton area of Pennsylvania was known as the anthracite coal region, and every railroad that came into Scranton was a coal hauler. There was usually a coal train that ran out of the valley every 15 minutes or so, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so Scranton was a busy place.

The Central Railroad of Pennsylvania had a large yard in Wilkes-Barre, and a small yard and station in Scranton. Crossing over the bridge and looking down on the C R of P you would always see a large U.S.R.A. (United States Railroad Administration) Mikado of the 900-series, 2-8-2 wheel arrangement, sitting, waiting for the next job out. Sometimes there would be a camelback 4-6-0, a ten-wheeler it’s called, which was used on the passenger trains. Most of time the C R of P (Jersey Central) would run an 800-class 4-6-2 Pacific-type locomotive on the passenger train, as a Pacific was a heavier locomotive and was needed in the Pocono mountains, which they had to cross to get into New Jersey.

I did not see much of the New York, Ontario, and Western, because it came into Scranton from the north, and they had a yard that was near Kaiser Valley, which was difficult to get to. One time my father showed me were it was, and I remember seeing a Bull Moose, which on the O&W was a 2-10-2 wheel arrangement. These locomotives had fat-boilers and were huge. When pulling a coal train out of Scranton, sometimes there would be two Bull Moose engines on the front, and one on the rear, as the train left the valley. A sight that will long be remembered, and the sound these monsters would make was deafening. See why my ears are shot now! You can see Scranton was a fascinating place for anyone who loved the railroad industry and the steam locomotive.

Chapter 4

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My Train Trip To Buffalo

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As the years went by, I got more interested in the railroad industry and I studied everything I could, but back in those early years there weren’t many things to study. I found a book in our school library called Train Tracks and Travel, the first railroad book I ever saw. I studied it and had to pay late charges many times on it. Time went on and on my eleventh birthday my father was transferred by his company the Fire Company’s Adjustment Bureau, in Buffalo, New York. My father went to Buffalo, leaving my mother, brother, and I in Clarks Summit while he looked for a place for us to live. One day my mother asked me if I would like to meet my father in Buffalo and I asked her how we would get there. To my great surprise, she told me that I would be going by myself on the train out of Scranton. Was I excited to ride a long distance passenger train in a Pullman sleeper!

As the days came nearer to my leaving on the train, I prepared for my trip by reading everything I could get about train travel in Railroad Magazine. The train that I was going to ride to Buffalo on didn’t stop at Clarks Summit, so my mother, brother, and I drove to Scranton to get the train. My mother had my bag packed and I had a jotting booklet made to put down all the locomotive numbers that I saw. We arrived at the station and parked the car. My brother was bored; he hated trains. He got my suitcase and we all went in to pick up my tickets. My mother spoke to the ticket agent. While she was doing that, my brother and I went out on the station platform to watch the action, and there was plenty of that. There was a switch engine going back and forth in the train shed. It was an 0-8-0 switching out passenger and baggage cars. On the