Railroaders' Nostalgia > SP Coast engineers - the source of the collection

Thanks to all who are assisting with my crew identification effort. I will continue to post in the future. On the back of this photograph is written:

"Thanksgiving Dinner prepared by enginemen for pensioned engineers at San Francisco engine terminal."

I chose this image because on the wall in the background is the same collection of images which we are now processing. (Image 2 provides a closer view). The displayed images include various crew shots and group gathering images. Our collection includes many more images than those represented in the wall display.

Some in TO land may remember this display and have stories to share.

Ken Middlebrook
Curator of Collections
History San José

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It looks as if its at Mission Bay. Never saw the change room, it and the RH was gone by the mid 60s.

The change room at 7th St. was a lot smaller. The walls didn't have all the pictures on it like the one one at Mission Bay. At Mission Bay there was a garden and a bell off a steam engine. The guys on the commutes kept it up and they were called the "Garden Club". That was when the SP cared about their enginemen. When everything went over to 7th St., a lot of stuff never made the trip. It would be great if it was found stored somewhere and it could be displayed.

Nudge

I don't argue with you very often, Nudge, but I'm going to one this one. That picture is most defiantly the change room at 7th street. The pictures were all there in 1964, when I worked there, and I worked hostling jobs, yard jobs, and the commutes from 1968, until I moved to San Luis in 1972.

There were long benches below the pictures and the men are eating on the long wooden bench moved in from the hall where the "board" was. On the far wall is two coffee urns that were kept in the wooden cabnet pictured with the door slid up. The crew that worked the last afternoon train cleaned both urns and put them in that cabinet and lowered the door and locked it.

The door that is to the right of the coffee goes into the locker room and on to the rest rooms.

To the right of the photographer leads into the "Blue room" lined with cots and dark shades.

Some time after 1972 I has reason to again visit 7th street and the pictures were all gone. No one seemed to know where they went. Jim McEntire, Engine service, coast division 1964 to 2006.

Jim,
You are correct but I just don't remember all those pictures. I spent my time in the "Blue Room" when I couldn't hold SLO in the winter and those old heads thought they owned the change room.

I, too, wish those old pictures would surface.

Nudge

I spent a lot of time in the change room at Mission Bay and nothing in the photo resembles anything from MB.

The fellow to the right with the white hair looks like Joe Lafrance, aka "chug chug".

>I chose this image because on the wall in the background is the same collection of images which we are now processing.

Ken, it's wonderful that you have landed this priceless collection! Have you considered hosting a get-together at History San Jose for retired Coast engineers and trainmen to peruse your photos? The sum total recall of a group of rails is greater than the sum recall of the individuals. If you bugged the place, you would acquire some juicy stories, as well.



The Garden Club may still be around, for all that I know. About 20 years ago, mindful of the Mission Bay Garden, I got the brilliant idea of constructing a new one somewhere in the depot-to-coach-yard area, but could not find one square inch of suitable space. There are a couple of photos of the Mission Bay Garden pasted on the virtual wall of my website, if anyone is interested.

http://wx4.org/to/foam/sp/san_fran/mission/1garden.html

- E.O.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/25/14 10:54 by hogheaded.

hogheaded Wrote:
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> >I chose this image because on the wall in the
> background is the same collection of images which
> we are now processing.
>
> Ken, it's wonderful that you have landed this
> priceless collection! Have you considered hosting
> a get-together at History San Jose for retired
> Coast engineers and trainmen to peruse your
> photos? The sum total recall of a group of rails
> is greater than the sum recall of the individuals.
> If you bugged the place, you would acquire some
> juicy stories, as well.
>
>
>
> The Garden Club may still be around, for all that
> I know. About 20 years ago, mindful of the Mission
> Bay Garden, I got the brilliant idea of
> constructing a new one somewhere in the
> depot-to-coach-yard area, but could not find one
> square inch of suitable space. There are a couple
> of photos of the Mission Bay Garden pasted on the
> virtual wall of my website, if anyone is
> interested.
>
> http://wx4.org/to/foam/sp/san_fran/mission/1garden
> .html
>
> - E.O.

Hi Ed,

I like your idea of a gathering at History San Jose and have shared a PM with you.

Within the collection are several images of Mission Bay Garden activities. In this particular image dated Sept 26, 1938, what is more interesting...the garden or what's on the garden tracks?

Ken Middlebrook
Curator of Collections
History San Jose.

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Steinheimer had a shot of Pop Matthews garden at Mission Bay in Beebe's CP&SP book

Ken --
Man, that last photo is STUNNING!! wow....
Look at those four gorgeous "Daylight" locomotives!!!
Thank you very much for preserving those
incredibly valuable old photos. Please let the rest
of us know how the gathering of SP old heads went,
after it happens, and please share as many of their
stories as you can with us here.

Man, so I ever miss some of the "good ol' days"!

I agree that the picture is at 7th Street, but must have been taken before I started working there. Don't recognize any of those guys.
The Garden Club is long gone. It existed in name only for a while after everything was moved to 5th Street back in the late 80s. I heard that one of the retiring engineers back then got all the pictures, but I have no proof. I always figured someone would torch the 7th Street change room, which also housed the radio shop, but it never happened. Eventually the place was demolished, but I don't remember the year. Maybe someone else remembers better than I do.

7th Street:

All that history. All the wood blocks painted by hand with job numbers, locations and Engineers & Firemans name. I got mine in the 70s. Thelma gave it to me, knowing I wouldn't be back on account I had the wiskers to hold SLO year around. She was the boss with the "Mother" board and really nice to the "new" guys coming on board as fireman. She knew I hailed from the Santa Barb area and didn't mind being sent to SLO to augument the board. She would run me around a lot of guys on the rotating board, knowing they would rather stay home with their families in the Bay Area rather than sit in a hotel in SLO (The Winman) for weeks at a time.

A lot of guys, some still working, have those memories but our ranks are getting thinner by the day.


Nudge

Ahh the rotator board. Got stuck on that only once (the one at WO). Wasn't it Chug Chug la Farge? At least that's what I always heard.

Upon closer scrutiny, I believe the fourth gentleman down, on the bench, with glasses, is Ernie Kiesel. There was "cook shack" just outside the change room, and we had a couple engineers who were of Italian descent and could really cook. They used to put on some great feeds.

>I like your idea of a gathering at History San Jose...

Ken and I are now hashing over the possibility.

- E.O.

The gent on the far right looks to me like the spitting image of President Eisenhower. AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

This one slightly off topic, but I have a question for the bay area SP guys: Anyone know Mr Arthur West? He was a lowly ticket clerk at San Mateo, in the mid-'60s and probably way before that. No big deal, but he did look very much like the great Herb Caen, which IS a big deal in the bay area. I suspect there may be a host of stories out there about him, as he was quite capable of noteriety. He boasted that he was the only "unfireable" employee on the SP, because he had PROTECTION. Turns out Lucius Beebee had designated Mr West as his personal transportation arranger....be it for a private car move, or "in the Pullmans". West was quite the drinker, guess it can be told now, 50 years after the fact, he could be soused before lunch, and he just loved to rub all his misbehavior in the face of "the bosses". Also a great story teller, and did I say hilareous? Hope someone can fill in the blanks from here....AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

CPCoyote Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Upon closer scrutiny, I believe the fourth
> gentleman down, on the bench, with glasses, is
> Ernie Kiesel. There was "cook shack" just outside
> the change room, and we had a couple engineers who
> were of Italian descent and could really cook.
> They used to put on some great feeds.


After some research, it was Ernie Kiesel who, in 1979, donated the photo collection to the museum. In addition to the images, he donated the Daylight painting seen in the background of the image leading this thread. Attached is a cropped image of that background and a image taken this afternoon of the actual painting.
Do anyone recall the story on the painting?

Ken Middlebrook
Curator of Collections
History San José

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