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Re: Gary McClain, former SP enginer and RFE, retires
Author: conductorbill
Date: 09-03-2013 - 00:00
Congrats Gary!
Great story: I was working for the Naval Weapons Station as an engineer during the 80's when the Navy sent me for some "refresher training" with SP's simulator in Cerritos. Now the operations at NWSSB are indeed a cake walk with low speeds and light trains ... pretty boring stuff. When I got to the SP facility, I had the pleasure of meeting Gary for the first time (a true gentleman). After some introductions, he apologized that he didn't really have a simulation that would be appropriate for our operations at the station ... he further explained that SP just had a terrible accident involving a run-a-way train down Cajon Pass and was running refresher simulations for their own engineers ... he asked, "How would you like to take a train down Cajon Pass?" Obviously, being a rail enthusiast and "stuck" on a tiny hooterville railroad, I said, "HECK YA!!". Needless to say, it was one of the highlights of my navy career. And as icing on the cake, Gary also casually mentioned that (being stuck as a civil service engineer) I had truly missed my calling as a mainline engineer.
I've since had the pleasure of riding trains with Gary as he organized several PV trips with the Pony Express and the Overland Trail. Wonderful guy ... have a great retirement, Gary!
Great story: I was working for the Naval Weapons Station as an engineer during the 80's when the Navy sent me for some "refresher training" with SP's simulator in Cerritos. Now the operations at NWSSB are indeed a cake walk with low speeds and light trains ... pretty boring stuff. When I got to the SP facility, I had the pleasure of meeting Gary for the first time (a true gentleman). After some introductions, he apologized that he didn't really have a simulation that would be appropriate for our operations at the station ... he further explained that SP just had a terrible accident involving a run-a-way train down Cajon Pass and was running refresher simulations for their own engineers ... he asked, "How would you like to take a train down Cajon Pass?" Obviously, being a rail enthusiast and "stuck" on a tiny hooterville railroad, I said, "HECK YA!!". Needless to say, it was one of the highlights of my navy career. And as icing on the cake, Gary also casually mentioned that (being stuck as a civil service engineer) I had truly missed my calling as a mainline engineer.
I've since had the pleasure of riding trains with Gary as he organized several PV trips with the Pony Express and the Overland Trail. Wonderful guy ... have a great retirement, Gary!
