Railroaders' Nostalgia > How I met Ralph Fanning

The recent postings on this board about Coast Division seniority rosters brought this to mind.

I don't know when Ralph Fanning was first assigned to the Los Angeles Division or in what capacity. I was in engine
service and didn't normally darken the doors of the main office at Taylor yard. That's where all the officials offices
from Terminal Superintendent on down to lowly Assistant Trainmasters, including Road Foremen of Engines had their offices,
all in a row lining the walls of the building. Pay days were about the only time I would visit. I would occasionally see
Ralph, always either in the hallways or possibly driving around the terminal in his company car. I never had occasion
to meet him. This was about to change.

Business levels in the fall of 1970 dropped to a point where I found myself among the ranks of the unemployed. Unknown to
me, efforts were afoot by either the BLE or possibly UTU to ink an agreement whereby any promoted engineer could not
be furloughed if there were yard assignments being operated without a Fireman at a given location. I had been on furlough
for something less than a month when one day the Chief Engine Crew Dispatcher, Johnny Diaz called the house. He told me that
I could choose any midnight goat in the terminal to place myself. I was quite happy that I was being called back to work but with
the proviso that I could only work midnight jobs, which seemed ridiculous. "Aw, come on Johnny, the pay is the same, daylight or night. Why make
things more difficult?" I guess the logic worked. "Oh, OK"  he said, "choose any one you want." Soon I found my self the proud owner of a
daylight relief yard job working with engineer Frank Watkins, a real sweet guy. This job worked two days on one of the hump jobs,
on duty at the 'LEA', lower end of the "A" yard. 

The normal power on the hump jobs at this time were 2 SD-7's, MU'ed in 'elephant' formation, pointed south. The north unit would be the one we operated from
which placed the engineer in a poor position to see either the track ahead or behind. We had just finished humping track 7 out of the 'A' yard
and sat on the hump awaiting our next instructions. The foreman came on radio: "Yo around...."(some track). The word 'Yo", as in YoYo was used
to denote track 7 and differentiate it from the similar sounding "11". It was a safety issue so that there would be no confusion. Smart railroading.
Since we had just come out of track 7 our switch line up would ready for our running around our next track to hump. When the foreman instructed
"Yo", I remembered, unfortunately not for long, that of all the tracks at the top or north end of the "A" yard, only track 7 had no so-called 'lead' before it
merged onto the next track, track 6. The danger here is that while approaching the fouling point on tracks 7-6 you had no margin for error. I knew that.
But, as you long suffering readers here on TO's have found out, I like to flap my jaws.
That day was no different. As we moved northward on track 7, I was deep into another long winded dissertation about the Lord knows what. Suffice it to
say I was not at work. The pin-puller, knowing we had a trusty Fireman on board that day, elected to ride the rear foot-board and was thus not in a
position to see the unfolding disaster awaiting us at the top end of the "Yo".

Previously the "TEA", Top end 'A' yard engine had added cars to north end of track 6 that fouled track 7. We found them. Wham,! we slid into the closest cars
de-nuding them of their hand grabs and ladders. The north SD-7 likewise sacrificed its rear handrails and side handrails about halfway along the Fireman's side, MY SIDE!
Thankfully, nothing derailed. We pulled south, cleared the carnage and called the foreman. (Today the railroad would not allow a lowly crew to make that kind of decision, just wait right there.)
The foreman told us to come back down 7 and put the engine in the pocket for an early 'beans'. Here comes the Fanning part.

Frank Watkins didn't seem too upset by all the goings on. In fact, Frank Watkins never got upset about anything. I, on the other hand had visions of unemployment
racing through my mind; how was I going to support my new bride? I decided to stay on the engine, awaiting my fate. Soon, I noticed a 'suit' walking around the rear of the SD-7.
I recognized Ralph Fanning. Oh, boy. Well I might as well face the music, after all,  it really was my fault. I climbed off the power and met Ralph.
He continued his walk around, but he wasn't yelling, he just had a grim, furrowed brow look on his face.
I broke the silence: "Mr Fanning, if you're looking for the guy that caused this, I'm the one. It's my fault". I was unburdening
myself, adding for good measure; "I was not paying attention".  Fanning continued his inspection, saying nothing. Finally, satisfied that he had seen enough he
started back to his car. "We cant have this" he offered. "We just can't have this crap (but he used a stronger word). "Yes sir I know that", is all I could say.

The next Friday, I was back on the job and this time Frank Watkins had me in the engineers seat. I suppose he figured I was safer if I was running the engine
instead of running my mouth. We had just put our engines in the pocket for beans when the radio came alive. It was yardmaster Smitty. "Is there a Fireman
Wherry on that engine?" he barked.  "Yes", I spoke. "You're to see the Road Foreman Of Engines, now". Oh, oh. Here it comes. I gotta take the medicine
I got in my car and drove to the yard office. Inside I found Rollin Roberts at his desk. Before I could speak he asked, "Do you know where the Simulator is located in Downey?"
What did he say? Simulator?. I said, "No, I don't", trying to figure out this line of questioning. "Well, you've got until Monday morning to find it. I want you to get your
resume together and meet with Dale Culbertson. He want's to interview you for a job there." "Resume, what resume, I've got a high school diploma, that's all."
"Just put that down and meet Dale on Monday". I'm stunned. I asked: "Didn't you want to talk to me about that sideswipe?, "No, forget about that, just find the Simulator".

I never did hear anything about the damage. Never shook Ralph Fanning's hand or had any other dealings with him. Life can be strange on the railroad.

Charlie


 


 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/16 13:12 by cewherry.

>Life can be strange on the railroad.

Boy howdy, Charlie! Go figure...

EO

Charlie: I enjoy reading your stories. Did you, by any chance, have relatives that moved from California to Pennsylvania? Doylestown, to be exact.

Thanks,
Mike PRSL

prsl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Charlie: I enjoy reading your stories. Did you, by
> any chance, have relatives that moved from
> California to Pennsylvania? Doylestown, to be
> exact.
>
>Mike: Not that I know of. In fact I don't know any Wherry's from California. With that said, there is a Pennsylvania
connection in my Wherry roots. My grandfather Eli Herbert Wherry came from Scenery Hill. He moved to Kansas City, Mo.
sometime after returning from the Spanish American war where he married and raised three sons the eldest of which, William, my father
left KC and moved to Los Angeles in 1936. In L.A. he went to work for the Pacific Electric Ry. and as they say, the rest is history.
 51+ years of any kind of employment is bound to have memories; thankfully mine are mostly good ones.
Thanks for the words of encouragement. I'm enjoying writing them.

Charlie


Charlie

 

I too enjoy the stories Charlie , please keep them going ,
Tom