Railroaders' Nostalgia > UP Los Angeles Sub clerk Frank Martinez

Retired clerk Frank Martinez,FXM, passed away earlier this week. He was 90 years old. I believe the last position he worked before retiring was as an opperator at Hobart Tower. The first San Pedro Branch track warrant I was issued was by Frank. The warrant was issued to Fred,no engine number, as I was piloting a Burro Crane. Frank once told me he was one of the last clerks to go to the telegraph school. He said on the last day the telegraph was used some managers from the UP office on Ferguson Ave in East LA came in and cleaned out all the telegraph equipment and took it home with them. Rest in peace Frank.

Fred,
  For some reason that name doesn't ring a bell for me. When did he retire? I'm sure Shafty will chime in with more details.

BTW- Richard Fillius just retired a couple months ago.

Doesn't ring a bell with me either, but that doesn't mean anything as UP had hundreds of clerks when I hired out and only knew a few of them.-BMT
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/11/16 20:29 by UPNW2-1083.

I was just talking with Kenny Eaton and he told me how the UP made Frank the"Mobil Clerk" on the LA Sub. They got a Dodge van painted white and yellow with UP decals on it and put him in it. It was a mobil office, closing the old offices. It had a desk with a typewriter.and a railroad radio. Frank would drive the van to all the customers to find out what they wanted done and he would write up the way bills.track lists, switching instructions etc in the van and get it to the crews.At that time O.H. Kruse Grain in Ontario was the largest coustomer and the Day Local, that ran from East Yard to Mira Loma and back did most of the work.

Hi Fred ,

Thanks I grew up in Hacienda Heights and I met frank Martinez many times along the old LA&SL he was always at the UP City of Industry depot in the van and would see him at the UP Azusa yard . Later when he worked at Hobart Tower he would let us come up into the Tower . RIP Frank Prayers to his family and friends.

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Dave Dodds
San Dimas, CA

Dave, Frank's service will be at Queen of Heaven Cemetery 2161 South Fullerton Road Rowland Heights,Ca 10:30 AM Friday April 15. About 2 miles or so south of the UP LA Sub.

Fredo, I remember Frank. He was a real gentleman. A Soft spoken man, never got excited up there. Rest in peace Frank....

When I hired out in the yard office in 1955, Frank Martinez was the telegrapher there on the midnite shift. 

Back then most business was done on the teletype, dispatcher's phone, and the telephone.  The telegraph was seldom used.  To stay in practice one or two of the old telegraphers on the daylite shift used the telegraph when compiling one of the daily reports.  When receiving a message it was actually handy to use the telegraph as it left both hands free, and no headset cord to get tangled up in the very large paper form they used for that report. 

Frank hired out as a telegrapher, and remained a telegrapher until the Telegrapher's union and the Clerk's union were merged. 

After the telegraph office in the yard office was abolished, I did not run into Frank until I went to Hobart Tower, not too long before he retired.   

Frank must have been the last telegrapher out here. 

Eugene Crowner

I am sorry to hear of Frank Martinez passing. I was a new hire trainman and must have been on my first student trips from East Los Angeles down to Long Beach, passing by Hobart Tower. I was wide eyed as we began our journey south approaching the tower when I look up and see the tower operator standing in the doorway with a smile and a wave as we pulled by. I asked the conductor, "Who was that guy?  He said "That is Frank up there." I thought, "How nice these Railroad Tower Operators must be, waving a good morning to our crew." Every time I would pass Hobart in trips to follow I would look out for him and think, "Thanks Frank for the pleasant start of our day."
Blessings,
Brian Smatko

I never met Frank but I talked to him on the radio now and then and, as Brian said, I saw him often standing at the top of the steps at Hobart Tower rolling us by with a wave. Sorry to hear of his passing.