Railroaders' Nostalgia > Farewell Harry…

…we railfans hardly knew ye

In July of 2013 I received an email invitation to attend the 96th birthday party of Mr Harry J. Briscoe in Topeka, KS. Mr Briscoe retired in September of 1982 as AT&SF General Manager ~ Eastern Lines at Topeka. I didn’t know what to think. I couldn’t imagine any reason why my name would be on that invitation list. In my RR career I certainly did not walk in the same social circles that top railroad executives did. For all of my 32 years I was only & always a union employee. I have had the occasion to shake hands with 3 RR presidents & 1 owner, and a small number of other executives or highly placed officials. But these times were only in the course of an otherwise typical work day when these men happened to be out in the field among their employees. To this day I don’t know who attached my name to that list, or why!

Upon receiving this invitation I had my memory awakened to 3 slides I shot back in early 1982. There were RR officials in them whose identities I didn’t know. I dug them out, and started to wonder if one of the men in my slides was Mr Briscoe himself. Some times in this wonderful railfan hobby of ours we take photographs that didn’t seem necessary or even relevant at the time they were taken. But the inevitable passage of time & a few informational discoveries tends to change our perspective. The 3 Kodachrome slides I took on a very dark & overcast April afternoon in 1982 fit that category perfectly. They were so dark I almost tossed them out in my ‘great slide purge’ of late ’82. Back on that spring day I had no idea who I was shooting. I was really only interested in shooting the business cars. I scanned & edited these very dark slides as best I could and emailed copies to Harry’s son David Briscoe, whose name & address I got from the original invitation. My old Hewlett-Packard scanner wasn’t very good at scanning dark slides, so both David & I could only come to an approximate conclusion that his father was one of the men in the images. “That sure resembles my father’s body posture” David said, referring to images #2 & #4 below. A week later I respectfully attended the celebration in Topeka.

But later (after emailing the initially image scans to David Briscoe), and with a much-better Epson V550 I had a re-scanning & re-editing session. I made a close examination of the build, hair color & angular shape of the face of the man on the far left in image #2. I am now totally convinced it is indeed Harry J Briscoe. And it would be utterly within the realm of reasonable possibility that Mr Briscoe, then GM Eastern Lines @ Topeka had been stepping down from business cars that would ultimately bypass Topeka, race straight up the Ottawa Cutoff to Argentine, thence onward to Chicago.

1. Three Santa Fe executives walk on the passenger platform in Emporia, having just stepped down from their business car coupled on behind the waycar of train 881, a high-priority Los Angeles ~ Chicago intermodal train.

2. Santa Fe’s General Manager Eastern Lines, Topeka, Harry J Briscoe waves a goodbye to his departing fellow traveling companions still aboard AT&SF 89, the theater-seating inspection car on the tail end of train 881.



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/20 08:31 by santafe199.

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In 2005 the Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society published a book with the title: ‘Watching the Trains Go By’. It is a wonderful narrative of Mr Briscoe’s entire career starting with his first employment in 1937 & ending with his retirement in 1982. It is a must read for Santa Fe fans, and other fans who find interest in stories of high railroad managers who are also railfans at heart. I had known the name ‘Harry Briscoe’ for many years. It was of course, prominently attached to the AT&SF employee timetables I worked under between 1978 & 1982. But I had no clue whatsoever the man was a bit of a railfan. And I think I can speak for quite a few Santa Fe fans within my general (loosely broad) age bracket: “We just plain didn’t know Harry Briscoe was a railfan…”

At Mr Briscoe’s birthday party I was deeply honored to be able to meet the man. He was turning 96 and looked a bit frail sitting in his wheel chair. But I could see in his eyes the man who started his RR career in 1937 as a clerk-stenographer in Slaton, Texas and ascended to Santa Fe’s upper management echelon. When it was opportune, I approached his son David to see if I could get Mr Briscoe to autograph my copy of his book. In a quieter moment David took me over to where his father was sitting, rightfully in the center of attention. I had brought my camera with me, but I chickened out in taking a picture of him (sigh…) David introduced me, handed his father a pen and my book, opened up to the title page. Mr Briscoe signed his name and reached up to shake my hand. I didn’t know what to say, and only blurted out: “Thank you, Mr Briscoe, I love the Santa Fe.” He looked right into my eyes and said quietly: “I do too, son. I do too”…

3. In lieu of the photograph I was too sheepish to take, here is the signature by Mr Harry J. Briscoe, AT&SF Ry General Manager Eastern Lines (retired). It was procured at his 96th birthday party celebration which was staged by his family on September 7, 2013 in Topeka, KS.

4. A symbolic farewell to Harry James Briscoe (1917 - 2016).
Images 1, 2 & 4 taken April 17(?), 1982 in Emporia, KS.

So long Harry Briscoe, we barely knew you… May all your signals be high green!
It was a great pleasure for this railfan to work for our beloved Santa Fe.
Lance Garrels (ATSF train service 1978 ~ 1987)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/16 08:17 by santafe199.

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A very nice story of a real railroader who enjoyed the railroad as a fan. I too have a retired boss who is still a railfan who was the manager of the CB&Q and BN commute trains from Chicago to Aurora, IL. until retirement in 1980. He became Superintendant of train operations at MTS, San Diego 1981-86 until retirement and is still going strong at 94. He is still a wealth of information and great stories from the late 1930's on. His name is Forester DuSell a really a great railroader. I'm glad we have stayed in touch all these years and continue to do so. Thanks for your story Lance.

Larry

Harry died last week, here is his obit from the Topeka-Capitol.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/cjonline/obituary.aspx?n=harry-briscoe&pid=177271490&fhid=18356

Was Mr. Briscoe a member of the Lexington Group?

I was working one night as flagman on Santa Fe Train #24 - the downgraded "Grand Canyon."  The rear car was Mr. Briscoe's; one of those short Sup't cars with "shadow striping."  Managers usually remained unseen in their business cars but on this long ago night at LAUPT, as I inspected the rear end marker light, Mr. Briscoe emerged, stepped down and we exchanged introductions.  I was young at the time but Mr. Briscoe obviously felt it was important to acknowledge employees working under him.  It was just a brief moment but I have never forgotten Mr. Briscoe and always regarded him as one of the good managers.

Harry Briscoe was one of the great friendly railroads in my book.  Few and far between today.

When he was division Superindent in San Bernardino,  I had several contacts with him, when I was Resident Manager of the Orange Empire Railway Museum.  Yes, he had some rail fan in him.  He had an interest in telegraph.

You never know the significance of a photo with people  in it until long after you have forgotten about the photo. I remember back in August, 1981 the Mop/UP  ran a BOD Special to Mexico . I was standing on a overpass getting ready to take some photo's when a white hy-rail pulled up and the Trainmaster rolled down his window and asked me to get some prints for him. A few weeks later, I gave him the prints, and a couple weeks later I had a request  for a dozen coming and going shots as the General Mgr saw the prints and ordered prints for everyone on the rear car which was Mop  #1. The TM told me someone on the rear car knew I worked for the railroad and knew my photo's were good.  When I got all the photo's, the TM said the GM was pleased and so were the people who received the prints.  I never did hear who it was that who knew who I was,and considering the special had a "Who's Who" of the Mop and UP, at the time,I can only speculate who the person was. Nice to know I had a friend in high place ; even I didn't know who it  was. 

Harry Briscoe sounded like an interesting fellow and certainly not the only executive that took some enthusiasm in pursuit of business. My Dad was immensely proud that PRR's president in the early 40's, Martin Clement, knew him by name and what his work background was. Face it there are lots of executives here who have done things as interesting as anyone in the operating crafts and care just as much about it as an anonymouse brakeman, conductor or engineman does.