Railroaders' Nostalgia > Conversations with the boss 5 - a different kind

Just to put some balance into the view of the boss, here are three more for now with the opposite kind of guy.

Barr yard on second trick was an especially busy place, making the connections from the west to the east trains in a matter of hours. Like everywhere else on B&OCT, the pressure was always on and sometimes people could be a little uh..mmm...exasperated.

I worked closely with the Chief Clerk all evening, keeping running count of cars and tons as the connections arrived. One night he called to tell me about an experience he just had. He heard the Eastbound clerk answer the phone, say "Call the Chief Clerk!" and slam the phone down. His phone rang, he answered, and the voice on the other end said "This is Hays Watkins. I apologize for calling the wrong guy. I know you guys are busy. Can you help me with this car? I need to find out if it will make the New Yorker"

At that time, Pete Carpenter was the Assistant Superintendent. He would usually stop by, just in the doorway, and say he was going home; how's the railroad? If I wasn't busy, he'd stay a few minutes and ask about how to make things run better. This night something or other was the last straw...and it was still early. I slammed the phone, said quite loudly "Shht, I don't need this too!" and threw a pencil across the room. Just then Pete Carpenter came through the door, just in time for the pencil to go whizzing by in front of him. He wasn't bothered by that at all. He said "I came to see how my railroad is doing and now I know. I know you can take care of it and don't need me here messing with it. I'll read about it in the morning. See you tomorrow."

And in a few years before:

One 2d trick at 75th Street, there was traffic backed up from a derailment and I was buried trying to break up the mess. A car pulled into the driveway and a guy got out and came up. It was the Asst. Supt., Charlie Rosenbach. It was the first time I saw him and didn't know who he was. He told me it looked like a real mess, walked over to the desk and looked at the train record. There were a half a dozen dispatcher and block phones ringing off the wall. He walked to the machine and told me to deal with the phone traffic and call out lineups. He pulled iron for me for about an hour.

Ah, the good old days.

TAW

It's interesting to me how there are good managers and bad managers in
any industry. My experience was in the media, but the same kinds of
people existed there too.

Fascinating stories, TAW, thanks so much for posting.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA