Railroaders' Nostalgia > A Movie Train

Back in the late 1990's/2000's, I was working a pool turn on the UP Los Angeles-Yuma Long Pool. While at home one afternoon, the phone rings.
"Hey Brian, this is Stan Lewis, do you want to work a movie train tomorrow?"
"Sure," I replied. "Where and when?"
"They are making a grade crossing safety film for Operation Lifesaver, be at J Yard at 6:00AM. I'm going to try to get Jim Guerin for engineer. I'll show you in OS status (other company service) so you can get paid for your turn."
Stan Lewis was one of the terminal officers at East Los Angeles Yard. He was a former SP engineer, and we'd been friends for many years. Regretfully, he has since passed on. Jim Guerin, otherwise known as "Dagwood," was a former SP San Joaquin Division hoghead, and he and I had been partners in crime many times on the old LA-Bakersfield Pool. Also, he was active with Operation Lifesaver, so he was a good fit for this job.
We all showed up at J-Yard, and guess what! No locomotive! Stan gets on the phone, and after a time, here comes our engine. It was an SD-70M that looked like someone rolled it in the dirt! Not a suitable situation for an engine to be used in a movie.
Stan went ballistic! He gets on the phone, hollers at someone, and after some time, here comes a roundhouse truck with a power washer. They get right to work, and after awhile, the unit is starting to look somewhat presentable. As they were winding up the job, an evil plan begins to take shape in my brain. Like I said, Stan and I were good friends.
I walked over to him and said, "Hey Stan, we've got another problem."
"What now?"
"That unit only has about a hundred gallons of fuel in it." (Nowhere near enough for our purposes).
We were standing about 100 feet from the engine, and I don't think his boots hit the ground as he made a run to look at the dial gauge on the fuel tank. When he saw the unit actually had about 2500 gallons of go-juice, he said, "G------t,Brian, don't do that to me! You about gave me a heart attack!" We all had a good laugh.
The camera crew mounted their gear, we coupled into about 6 cars we were going to use as a train, made an air test, and we were ready for come what may. The plan was to simulate a near miss with a truck on a crossing by J-Yard. The truck was ready and waiting, and had been instructed to pass in front of the moving train close as possible consistent with safety. My job was to ride the rear car so I would be in position to protect the reverse moves between movie takes.
Back and forth we went, until the camera crew was satisfied with what they'd shot. The next move was to film the train going over several crossings west of where we'd been previously shooting at a place called Nadeau. They were going to use a camera mounted on the front of the engine. This would have meant I would have had to ride that rear car again over all those crossings in one of the worst neighborhoods in Los Angeles. I flat refused.
"What are we going to do," the Director asked. "We need these shots."
"Let's cut the cars off at the top end of Nadeau. Leave them there, and we can make your scenes with the light engine. That way, no one has to ride the point when we back up, I said."
So done, and after about 6 passes, the camera dudes were happy. We picked up the cars, went back to J-Yard, and by then, our 12 hours was about up. Stan informed us that a yard crew was going to come over and get the engine. While we were still there, the yard crew showed up, and you should have heard that yard engineer whine about how their quit was getting screwed up.
Another word about Stan Lewis. Sometime after this movie job, Stan and some UP higher official got on my westbound train around Cabazon to ride with us. He introduced this UP guy, but he wouldn't even shake our hands. He just nodded curtly. Obviously, he was way above talking to us minor peons. Pure Missouri Pacific attitude.
He looked at my conductors logbook and could only see three lines, which wasn't very many, considering we'd come all the way from Yuma. He just pointed at it and raised his eyebrows.
By now, I was on to his game, and I just folded the pages over revealing that my log was on its third page. I just pointed to it and raised my eyebrows, never saying a word. He didn't appear to like this at all.
While stopped at Hinda to meet eastbounds, I raised a question about action to be taken during a flash flood warning. As I was getting off the train to roll an eastbound, Mr. Personality got off with me. When we got back in the cab, Stan asked him if he answered my question. He told Stan, "No," as in how he couldn't be bothered discussing anything with a mere conductor.
A few days later, I ran into Stan, and he apologized for this clowns attitude.

Brian Black
Retired SP/UP Conductor

Good story - thanks. Railroading abounds in clowns, it seems.

Mr. Congeniality sounds like one of those RICHARDS that either came from another non railroad industry or he was hired right from a snobby higher education institution ...

Posted from Android

roustabout Wrote:
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> Good story - thanks. Railroading abounds in
> clowns, it seems.

Before 1980, not so much out west. The Frisco and MoP-UP mergers gave us a dose of Southern culture we have not been able to completely shake yet.

Best regards,

Rob L.

Stan was a outstanding manager

Stan saved my job when head hunters from Omaha were looking to fire me for posting here on TO. back when all the UP heritage units were new, there were many post here as to their where abouts. I had posted several schedules here on TO as to what trains they were on and their locations. Someone in Omaha got wind of it and called Stan (at the time he was the DRO (director of Road Operations) in West Colton and wanted him to pull me out of service for giving out company secrets (like they were top secret units). I had worked very closely with Stan through the trials and tribulations of the SP/UP merger with keeping track of engineer qualifications on all the various routes we had into and out of the L.A. Basin. Stan went to bat for me and was able to fend off their attack. I was sure glad to have had Stan in my corner otherwise I probably would have lost my job due to some over zealous manager in Omaha. Since then I'm very careful about what I post.-BMT

I did not begin posting here until after I retired from UP. Even so, I am surprised at this.

Can you quote the rule you allegedly violated?

UPNW2-1083 Wrote:
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Stan saved my job when head hunters from Omaha were looking to fire me for posting here on TO....

Westbound Wrote:
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> I did not begin posting here until after I retired
> from UP. Even so, I am surprised at this.
>
> Can you quote the rule you allegedly violated?

Maybe Rule 1.27, Divulging Information? Its a stupid charge, but some people love to "make a name for themselves" on the innocent acts of others. Glad someone had the integrity and guts to go to bat for you.

Stan and I were in the same SP Engineer’s class back in 1979.

I knew Stan before hiring on with the SP but never had a lot of contact with him at work. The last time I saw him was when he was over seeing the erection of a station sign at the former Frink siding on the Yuma Sub to honor our recently departed (then) friend Carl Ragoza who was taken off his train at that location and later pronounced dead at Brawley, California not far away. Stan got somebody out there to drill a hole in the ground for the sign. The sign was put up by volunteers who were all Carl's friends.

Ray



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/15 10:01 by CR3.

Here is a photo of Stan as engineer on the Riverside Local on 10-18-86

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Nice story Brian.. brings back memories.. Don't forget the part about when I tried the ditchlights one was burned out and we told Stan and he was in orbit ! Along with the other issues...

BNSF6400 Wrote:
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> Westbound Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I did not begin posting here until after I
> retired
> > from UP. Even so, I am surprised at this.
> >
> > Can you quote the rule you allegedly violated?
>
> Maybe Rule 1.27, Divulging Information? Its a
> stupid charge, but some people love to "make a
> name for themselves" on the innocent acts of
> others. Glad someone had the integrity and guts
> to go to bat for you.

it's the ole don't talk to the media rule ... every railroad had a media rule ... was basically meant for news people at derailment sites

Posted from Android

Stan spent his share of time working the Beaumont Hill helpers too. One late afternoon a bunch of us were standing on the bridge at Pepper Ave. (at the east end of West Colton yard). Stan was bringing the set of helpers he was on back to West Colton for servicing. The west facing locomotive was a Kodachrome SP SD45 still in excellent paint. Stan saw us up on the bridge and stopped the locomotive consist for about 5 minutes in a perfect spot so that we could get all the photo's we wanted. He wasn't supposed to stop. That was something I never forgot about him.


Allen

Stan... a fine gentleman. I always got a laugh when I thought about the fact that 'young' Stan had more seniority than his father, Stan senior! Many a good time with Stan, and I was so shocked at his passing (Cancer) at such a young age. In my opinion, I considered him a 'natural' rail, and an all-around great person. He's been gone, what, 13, 14 years?

Take Care, Stay Safe, Have Fun!

Larry

SPLoopConductor Wrote:
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> Stan... a fine gentleman. I always got a laugh
> when I thought about the fact that 'young' Stan
> had more seniority than his father, Stan senior!
> Many a good time with Stan, and I was so shocked
> at his passing (Cancer) at such a young age. In
> my opinion, I considered him a 'natural' rail, and
> an all-around great person. He's been gone, what,
> 13, 14 years?
>
> Take Care, Stay Safe, Have Fun!
>
> Larry


As I remember it was around 2003 .. If my feeble mind remembers correctly. I was doing O/L 15 days a month..

That picture looks like he really likes his job / enjoys what he's doing. A person like that usually makes life a little bit better for those they work with, and these stories bear that out. God Bless him, may he rest in peace.

Greg

SWChief Wrote:
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> That picture looks like he really likes his job /
> enjoys what he's doing. A person like that
> usually makes life a little bit better for those
> they work with, and these stories bear that out.
> God Bless him, may he rest in peace.
>
> Greg


You have hit the nail on the head, SWChief. Stan was a man among men. A fine gentleman and a great person to work with and for.


VSLOCONDR

The rail fan side of Stan Lewis, Jr.:

Working an eastbound on the cut-off, we went into the hole at Canyon. I usually got off and walked around, during daylight hours, and would walk up on top of the bluff right above the east switch, as many of you have. I liked to "roll" trains when I could, from a slightly higher point of view. I hi-ball one west train, and wait up there for another. A Jeep comes driving up on top. Two guys get out... Stan Lewis is one of them, the other I don't know. Now, at this time, Stan was the Assistant L.A. Superintendent, the number '2' boss! So, I figured I was being tested. Stan and the 'other' guy were both camera bound, a couple apiece! So, I asked him what was up. So, he says... "Larry, today's a day off, and my friend, Norm, is visiting from Texas, so we're out rail-fanning!" So, here's the Asst. "Service Unit" Super... out fanning! They took a few shots of me, our train, and then the next west guy. I hadn't really had a chance to talk to Stan in a couple of years, so we caught up, all the while, Norm seemed to enjoy our RR talk. After the train passed, we said 'good bye'. They drove off, headed up the pass to see more trains... and I got back on mine ... headed down to West Colton.

That was the last time I spoke to Stan in person. We talked a couple more times, while on duty. Stan was just a down to earth, decent guy. To me, he was always the same 'Stan' when in a suit... or out rail-fanning! That was a total surprise to see him, with camera, at Canyon!

Take Care, Stay Safe, Have Fun!

Larry

Stanley and I were in the same SP Engineer's class, January 1979. He once told me a really funny story. While working as a brakeman out of Bakersfield, they hit a car in one of those little towns, going up to Fresno. I don't remember if any one was killed, but months later he was in court, on the witness stand, being cross examined by a very young lawyer for the people in the car, that was hit. The lawyer looked at Stanley and asked,” Mr. Lewis, at the time your train hit my clients auto....was their car on the tracks?” Stanley, looked at the judge, then the lawyer, and said, “No, we made a quick left turn and nailed him.” Naturally, all in the court room, including the judge, broke out in laughter. The young attorney withdrew the question. That was Stan's humor.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/15 06:12 by HardYellow.