Nostalgia & History > SP commute 146

Once the blue flag is down and there is a highball, another trip will begin on the 46-mile run to San Jose.

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Nice picture, I remember that old Hoghead his name was Dewitt Sterling. First engineer who let operate my first commute train.

Hogtrainer

What a character! He either liked you or you were on his s--- list for life! I always got along very well with him. It helped if you stayed right on schedule. He would let you know if you were even 20 seconds late at any station! It was best not to look at the speedometer when he was at the throttle! You better call every green (or any other color) signal too. He was especially fond of the first women firemen (firepersons?) hired on the Coast subdivision. The last of a breed, he wore overalls up until the day he retired. His final runs were on Amtrak #12 and #13 between Oakland and San Luis Obispo (before it was called "The Starlate"). He retired to Oklahoma where he had grown up and passed away a few years ago. Rest in peace Engineer Dewitt Sterling. I'll bet he's up there checking one of his many railroad watches right now!

SP 3208 had the distinction of bringing the last Lark into Los Angeles in 1967 or 68. As I recall, it was MU'd with F-unit 6458 for the occasion. One of the old SP hands told me that when the SDP45's were reassigned to commute service (upon the retirement of the Fairbanks-Morse H24-66's) the generator excitation was cranked up so high (for the fast acceleration required in suburban service) that the hoggers nearly got "whiplash".

I always liked Dewitt, and fortunately, he liked me. When I ran for him, he always told me to "keep it on the sunny side", lest we be even a few seconds late at any one station.

When he retired around 1985, I had just brought the southbound Starlight into SLO as he was getting ready to leave on the northbound train for his final trip. They had a little ceremony for him that was very emotional. I'm glad I was able to be there.

I meet Dewitt a couple of times in SLO. he was on the Med Fly 15 and 16.. He brought 16 into the depot many minutes early before i was even on duty around 316 am as i rememeber. He looked at me and said are you the outbound engineer? I said yes.. aren't you a little young to be running a passenger train? I said no.. been qualified for passenger for about 6 years now.. He had a befuddled look on his face and said.. Ok. the speedometer is 2 mph fast and walked away!

I wonder what he would think of some the current crop of young Amtrak engineers, probably wouldn't think much of them.

SanJoaquinEngr Wrote:
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> I meet Dewitt a couple of times in SLO. he was on
> the Med Fly 15 and 16.. He brought 16 into the
> depot many minutes early before i was even on duty
> around 316 am as i rememeber. He looked at me and
> said are you the outbound engineer? I said yes..
> aren't you a little young to be running a
> passenger train? I said no.. been qualified for
> passenger for about 6 years now.. He had a
> befuddled look on his face and said.. Ok. the
> speedometer is 2 mph fast and walked away!

fjc, he would probably not think much since a few are out of touch with what a real hoghead should be and the responsibilities that come with the job.

hogtrainer

I think that back in the day, to be a passenger engineer, you really had to pay your dues (and wait your time). Sounds a lot like the business I worked in for several years - radio. It was a big deal to get put on the air. Now they will put anyone on the air. Not to say that some people don't deserve it, but it sucks for those that really worked for it and had to wait.

danf Wrote:
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> I think that back in the day, to be a passenger
> engineer, you really had to pay your dues (and
> wait your time). Sounds a lot like the business I
> worked in for several years - radio. It was a big
> deal to get put on the air. Now they will put
> anyone on the air. Not to say that some people
> don't deserve it, but it sucks for those that
> really worked for it and had to wait.

Back when the freight railroads handled passenger trains as well, an engineer needed something like 600 freight road trips to be qualified for passenger service. Most guys worked freight for years before getting enough "whiskers" to hold passenger. Now, with Amtrak hiring their own operating people, an engineer is working passenger from day one.

I am trying to remember how many days it was.. 600 sounds correct.. i was out running for 6 years before i was qualified for passenger service.. had to have an interview with the RFE.. answer questions about graduated release, full service, blended braking, etc..

I also remember that when I hired out on the coast division in 74, before you could fire on the commutes you had to be qualified on the steam generators and explain the proper procedure to light one to the RFE otherwise you were not allow to work any commute as a fireman.

JG,

The agreement between the SP and the BofLE called for 610 days on the road before you could be qualified for passenger service.


steamjocky

It was 610 ROAD timeslips as an engineer. Yard jobs didn't count. I got my number early because I worked out of SLO. But the RFE would not qualify me because there were engineers ahead of me on the list that didn't have the time in. That didn't matter but he didn't want to do the paper work. I told him I was going to time slip him everytime I was run around. I started with 50 mile run arounds then started claiming the full round trip earnings. That woke someone up in the City.

Long story short, the RFE was told to qualify me SAP. I think it was in 74.


Nudge