The Wonderful Mods:
In Eugene you were right next to the One Spot. Bang & Crash all night. The east end switch engine would keep you awake at K Falls. The Mods at Roseville were right on the east valley curve and the main to Sparks. Wendel was almost the worse. Nothing out there but jack rabbits. A lot of these places had their own beanery was awful. If you worked to Oakland, you got to stay right downtown at the Jack London Whore House & Muggers Inn. Ashland was okay until bums and drugies would break in to the rooms. The main line was only 12 feet from your room door. It finally burned down and we moved to Medford in a nice motel. The best Mods on the SP system were at Dunsmuir, right next to the river. I knew a lot of guys that paid for a motel room in Yuma and SP had to kick back part of it. You wrote it off on your income taxes. They had a hotel deal in San Jose that was a dump and of course the Resitar Hotel in Wat. Jct. They put us up in the Olympic Hotel in downtown LA for awhile until I got it moved next door to a AAA motel. I had George DeLellis, asst. Superintendent stay at the Olympic one night with 2 train masters and they couldn't stand it over 2 hours. Thats when we moved. They put us there because they had a 24 hour beanery. What I never understood was why guys would go up to the Pantry. That place had bigger roachs that could push an order right off the counter.

Im sure there are other tales out there. Now its Pennie's Diners that is right next to the motels on the UP.


Nudge