 |
Re: Coast Division-March 31, 1955
Author: Exespee
Date: 03-06-2009 - 09:24
Tom Moungovan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ken, I just looked it up...2721 was still on the
> roster as a Coast Division locomotive on December
> 31, 1956. You still have your time books? Ever
> on an engine with a guy named Walter
> F. Johnson? I copied his time books...his last
> date on steam was July 21, 1954 on engine 1298,
> job 738 @ College Park.
> When did you hire out as a fireman?
> Any of these names familiar? Lamphier, Shannon,
> Mohr, Watson, Karman, Van Zandt, Goessi, Spence,
> Maddux, LaFrance, Altmeyer? All guys that he
> worked on steam with.
Yes, I fired for Walter Johnson many times. He considered himself to be a singer and many nites on a midnight yard job the fireman would be serenaded by Walter. The last I heard of him was that he had moved to Watsonville. All of those other names are very familiar. Heinie Altmeyer was one of the few yard engineers that was a "real old timer". He was most unhappy when the forced retirement pushed him out at age 65. Henry Van Zandt was the engineer on #75 when they ran into (sideswiped) #76 at the west end of Chorro. I fired for most of these men either in passenger or freight at one time or another. I was with Dinty Moore on #99 one trip and whwn we came around Carnadero curve a farm truck came up on my side and crossed right in front of us. I let out a yell and I guess we missed him by inches. Dinty said, "Never big hole a passenger train unless you hit someone; very embarassing otherwise".
I hired out in 1945 and stayed in engine service until 1968 when I took a position in the General Office and began to live a normal life where I could sleep in my own bed every night and not be in Watsonville or San Luis Obispo on weekends or holidays!
Many of those engine numbers you supplied are probably entered somewhere in my old timebooks. The 2479 rings a bell. That engine barely fit on the San Jose turntable and if you moved too far with it you had better back up and start over as it wouldn't let you make a short move. Anyway, one night there was a hostler in San Jose by the name of Riley Lambert, a.k.a. "The Man from Mars", and the 2479 arrived. It had to go into the house and Riley stopped just a little bit short of the spot and when he attempted to make a short forward move the 2479 had other ideas and punched the coupler through the roundhouse wall. Of course this wasn't the first time this had happened because most of the walls at every stall had evidence of brickwork repair where they had been punched out.
Funny how you can remember stuff like this.
Ken
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ken, I just looked it up...2721 was still on the
> roster as a Coast Division locomotive on December
> 31, 1956. You still have your time books? Ever
> on an engine with a guy named Walter
> F. Johnson? I copied his time books...his last
> date on steam was July 21, 1954 on engine 1298,
> job 738 @ College Park.
> When did you hire out as a fireman?
> Any of these names familiar? Lamphier, Shannon,
> Mohr, Watson, Karman, Van Zandt, Goessi, Spence,
> Maddux, LaFrance, Altmeyer? All guys that he
> worked on steam with.
Yes, I fired for Walter Johnson many times. He considered himself to be a singer and many nites on a midnight yard job the fireman would be serenaded by Walter. The last I heard of him was that he had moved to Watsonville. All of those other names are very familiar. Heinie Altmeyer was one of the few yard engineers that was a "real old timer". He was most unhappy when the forced retirement pushed him out at age 65. Henry Van Zandt was the engineer on #75 when they ran into (sideswiped) #76 at the west end of Chorro. I fired for most of these men either in passenger or freight at one time or another. I was with Dinty Moore on #99 one trip and whwn we came around Carnadero curve a farm truck came up on my side and crossed right in front of us. I let out a yell and I guess we missed him by inches. Dinty said, "Never big hole a passenger train unless you hit someone; very embarassing otherwise".
I hired out in 1945 and stayed in engine service until 1968 when I took a position in the General Office and began to live a normal life where I could sleep in my own bed every night and not be in Watsonville or San Luis Obispo on weekends or holidays!
Many of those engine numbers you supplied are probably entered somewhere in my old timebooks. The 2479 rings a bell. That engine barely fit on the San Jose turntable and if you moved too far with it you had better back up and start over as it wouldn't let you make a short move. Anyway, one night there was a hostler in San Jose by the name of Riley Lambert, a.k.a. "The Man from Mars", and the 2479 arrived. It had to go into the house and Riley stopped just a little bit short of the spot and when he attempted to make a short forward move the 2479 had other ideas and punched the coupler through the roundhouse wall. Of course this wasn't the first time this had happened because most of the walls at every stall had evidence of brickwork repair where they had been punched out.
Funny how you can remember stuff like this.
Ken
