Nostalgia & History > Back Then

“I was older then…I’m younger then that now.”  You may remember the song by the Byrds.
 
That’s me in that photo. Actually, I was younger then and skinnier too. But there’s a story behind this picture. One Sunday afternoon in late summer 1977 I was out surveying the railroad scene in Lawrence (Ks.). I came upon this westbound UP train that was stopped out east of town. Behind him was a WB RI train. Apparently an eastbound manifest had one set of wheels off the rail right on the curve at the depot. This was before the days of dragging equipment detectors. I would surmise that another train saw the problem and radioed this train to stop. Well, anyway, no trains were moving and wouldn’t be, on either track, until this problem was fixed. I stopped to photograph the WB train and a crew member on the train asked if I could drive one of the them to a grocery store. Apparently they sensed a long delay. I said I gladly would and off went in my 2 door yellow 1968 Buick Skylark with a white vinyl top. I drove the crew member to Rusty’s IGA in north Lawrence where he procured some vittles and then back to the train we went. As an expression of their gratitude, I got a tour of the 2822 and the engineer took a photo of me leaning out the engineer’s window. I’ve always assumed the head-end crew did not share with the guys back in the caboose. 
 

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 Nice story...thanks for sharing it.....

Great story and photo.  Thanks for sharing and reminding some of us who provided "wheels" to crewmen of trains that could use a little help.  One thing for sure, one small ride in a private vehicle could reap tons of good will!  Been there, done that....even in a rental car on the Rathole just south of the Kentucky-Tennesse state line.  That is a story for another time.

I remember numerous times providing transportation to crews on stranded trains. Most of these rides were for conductors or brakemen after repairing a broken knuckle or air hose. Recently I wanted to give a ride to a UP conductor after checking out an issue on the rear of his train. He told me he was no longer allowed to ride in non company vehicles on company time due to liability issues. I guess if I had an accident that would have spelled doom for him if was injured. Oh the good old days.

Valleyman