Railroaders' Nostalgia > 10/7/88 West Colton Line-Up

From back in the day,

How many of these guys still working?

 

Robert Pierce
Sugar Land, TX
SWRails.com

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Page 4 of the print out...

Robert Pierce
Sugar Land, TX
SWRails.com

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Absolutely none!

I worked with all of the crews listed, and just like me, they are all at best retired, or worse.
Virlon, do you agree?
G

ExSPCondr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Absolutely none!
>
> I worked with all of the crews listed, and just
> like me, they are all at best retired, or worse.
> Virlon, do you agree?
> G

I met many of the hoggers over the years but not as many of the conductors:

J.L. Ross is the late John Ross, killed by a wrong way drunk driver on Interstate 10.  His name is in Signor's "Beaumont Hill" book.

P.A. Ricchiazzi (pronounced "Ricky Ozzie").  First name Phil.  I think he retired fairly recently (?)

R.L. Bottenfield is Bob Bottenfield.  Met him years ago.

C.S. Rivera is the infamous Craig Rivera.  Probably has more stories told about him than just about anybody else on the LA Division, other than maybe D.D. Burke.  Never will forget the time, in late 1984, he tried to call the caboose on a cabooseless eb train going through Banning, while the conductor was sitting on the firemans side.  This went on for miles.  Talk about loss of situational awareness!  His first name is no longer Craig from what I was told...

D. Porche.  Was his first name Dan??  Odd duck.  Didn't seem to be cut out for railroading.  Heard later he was fired for some kind of very serious offense but I have no proof if that is true of not.

R.M. Zitzman, went by "Barney" from what I remember.  Seemed like a good guy and friendly to railfans.

J.A. Escalante is Jim Escalante, long time LA Division engineer and member of the SP Historical Society.  Good guy.

J. Morris is probably Jesse Morris.

J.D. Edwards is the late John Edwards, nicknamed "Shamu" (among others) and TO member "Steamjocky".

Forgot how many Bunting brothers there were that worked for SP - 3 or 4?

Thank for posting this Bob.  You ever going to make it back out to So Cal for a visit?  I hear 'ol "Red" is still looking for you...


Allen





 



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/16 20:04 by bradleymckay.

Some interesting people on these. To wit: on the EPWCM is F.D. "The Mummy" Roberts. Got that nickname while hostling at the service track, (Cape Canaveral), at Taylor RH. He would stretch
​out on the table-top and be fast asleep. Foreman would come in with a move to be made and Frank would arise Ala the Mummy and stumble out the door. Never did live that down as long as I
​worked around him.
Bob Futrell, conductor and Jerry Simpson, engineer. Bob began his career as a carman on the Harbor Belt Line. Later made a trainmans date on the SP. Worked many years as a FRA operating
​practices inspector. Tried to get me to apply for a FRA job. I did but another long tale for another time. Top-notch rail. Apparently went back to his seniority as evidenced by this line-up. Jerry Simpson
​was a barber prior to his railroad days. He would cut hair out of his "Sub" at Indio. Story is that he and Bob Baker, (not the RFE Bob but the R.S. Baker) met some young ladies on a night out in Palm Springs.
​Smooth talked the girls to visiting their digs in Indio. The girls took one look at the inside of their tar-paper mansion and jumped back into their wheels for a hasty retreat to P.S..
​
K.A. Craig, conductor on PXLAQ; Kenny Craig had a 5-27-1955 date, was either the son or nephew of Earl Craig, Pacific Electric Trainmaster in Los Angeles when I hired out in 1962. Here he is working
​a Sprint train, PXLAQ-07. How many of the Phoenix jobs did SP have at their zenith? Did the Arizona men have mileage allocation west of Yuma? When did these jobs go away? I see there is another
PXWCM train on the lineup. WAF are you here?

​I see 'Snuffy' Smith rated his own title among the locals. His hogger is John B. Freeman Jr. on this date. Worked with both Sr. and Jr.

​A couple more are Charlie Ribbe on the 1-ANWCL-07; I bought my one and only RV, a Starcraft tent trailer from Charlie's dad who had a dealership. Took that rig up into B.C. and Banff.
​Kyle Ellis was one of two Ellis brothers. Forget the other one's name. They came from W. Virginia where the had railroaded before their Espee days. Good rails.

​Thanks for posting these. Many memories among this group.

Charlie

Shucks, Snuffy has his own railroad at Kaiser!

As local business on the Colton-area branches deceased [or was run off] in the early 80sd the Riverside and San Dimas jobs were combines as the "All City" local - and the name stuck!


Looks like this was printed in Houston.

Putting in my three cents.. 

Phil Richi.. is still working.. works the day switcher at Gemco.. 

Dave Bunting followed me in seniority is now retired.  Believe they had one other brother that worked in the signal department. 

Craig Rivera has adopted the name of Jeanie. 

All the others are now deceased or retired...
-------------------------------------------------------
> ExSPCondr Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Absolutely none!
> >
> > I worked with all of the crews listed, and just
> > like me, they are all at best retired, or
> worse.
> > Virlon, do you agree?
> > G
>
> I met many of the hoggers over the years but not
> as many of the conductors:
>
> J.L. Ross is the late John Ross, killed by a wrong
> way drunk driver on Interstate 10.  His name is
> in Signor's "Beaumont Hill" book.
>
> P.A. Ricchiazzi (pronounced "Ricky Ozzie"). 
> First name Phil.  I think he retired fairly
> recently (?)
>
> R.L. Bottenfield is Bob Bottenfield.  Met him
> years ago.
>
> C.S. Rivera is the infamous Craig Rivera. 
> Probably has more stories told about him than just
> about anybody else on the LA Division, other than
> maybe D.D. Burke.  Never will forget the time, in
> late 1984, he tried to call the caboose on a
> cabooseless eb train going through Banning, while
> the conductor was sitting on the firemans side. 
> This went on for miles.  Talk about loss of
> situational awareness!  His first name is no
> longer Craig from what I was told...
>
> D. Porche.  Was his first name Dan??  Odd
> duck.  Didn't seem to be cut out for
> railroading.  Heard later he was fired for some
> kind of very serious offense but I have no proof
> if that is true of not.
>
> R.M. Zitzman, went by "Barney" from what I
> remember.  Seemed like a good guy and friendly to
> railfans.
>
> J.A. Escalante is Jim Escalante, long time LA
> Division engineer and member of the SP Historical
> Society.  Good guy.
>
> J. Morris is probably Jesse Morris.
>
> J.D. Edwards is the late John Edwards, nicknamed
> "Shamu" (among others) and TO member
> "Steamjocky".
>
> Forgot how many Bunting brothers there were that
> worked for SP - 3 or 4?
>
> Thank for posting this Bob.  You ever going to
> make it back out to So Cal for a visit?  I hear
> 'ol "Red" is still looking for you...
>
>
> Allen
>
>
>
>
>
>  

cewherry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Some interesting people on these. To wit: on the
> EPWCM is F.D. "The Mummy" Roberts. Got that
> nickname while hostling at the service track,
> (Cape Canaveral), at Taylor RH. He would stretch
> ​out on the table-top and be fast asleep.
> Foreman would come in with a move to be made and
> Frank would arise Ala the Mummy and stumble out
> the door. Never did live that down as long as I
> ​worked around him.
> Bob Futrell, conductor and Jerry Simpson,
> engineer. Bob began his career as a carman on the
> Harbor Belt Line. Later made a trainmans date on
> the SP. Worked many years as a FRA operating
> ​practices inspector. Tried to get me to apply
> for a FRA job. I did but another long tale for
> another time. Top-notch rail. Apparently went back
> to his seniority as evidenced by this line-up.
> Jerry Simpson
> ​was a barber prior to his railroad days. He
> would cut hair out of his "Sub" at Indio. Story is
> that he and Bob Baker, (not the RFE Bob but the
> R.S. Baker) met some young ladies on a night out
> in Palm Springs.
> ​Smooth talked the girls to visiting their digs
> in Indio. The girls took one look at the inside of
> their tar-paper mansion and jumped back into their
> wheels for a hasty retreat to P.S..
> ​
> K.A. Craig, conductor on PXLAQ; Kenny Craig had a
> 5-27-1955 date, was either the son or nephew of
> Earl Craig, Pacific Electric Trainmaster in Los
> Angeles when I hired out in 1962. Here he is
> working
> ​a Sprint train, PXLAQ-07. How many of the
> Phoenix jobs did SP have at their zenith? Did the
> Arizona men have mileage allocation west of Yuma?
> When did these jobs go away? I see there is
> another
> PXWCM train on the lineup. WAF are you here?
>
> ​I see 'Snuffy' Smith rated his own title among
> the locals. His hogger is John B. Freeman Jr. on
> this date. Worked with both Sr. and Jr.
>
> ​A couple more are Charlie Ribbe on the
> 1-ANWCL-07; I bought my one and only RV, a
> Starcraft tent trailer from Charlie's dad who had
> a dealership. Took that rig up into B.C. and
> Banff.
> ​Kyle Ellis was one of two Ellis brothers.
> Forget the other one's name. They came from W.
> Virginia where the had railroaded before their
> Espee days. Good rails.
>
> ​Thanks for posting these. Many memories among
> this group.
>
> Charlie

Charlie, surprised by the amount of West Phoenix traffic in 1988. Phoenix in the seventies didn't have that much going west, two trains and Amtrak, way more east along with the perishable traffic and all the mine traffic. BSM had a set out for Phoenix that ran by itself. Quite busy between Phoenix and Tucson. Many locals. Spreckles Sugar at Chandler was still running in the late fall and early winter so beets came from the San Joaquin Valley

Seeing stuff like this makes me a bit sad.

I doubt that, many years from no, no one will be around to post stuff like this from my generation. Most the people I work with aren't railroaders...they're just people who work on the railroad.

It's not so much a lifestyle and art anymore, just a job that pays somewhat good money.

Posted from Android

On one of the Sprint trains out of Phoenix, the 1PXLAQ2 07, the engineer is Tucson Division engineer Howard Houlette.

sp3204 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> On one of the Sprint trains out of Phoenix, the
> 1PXLAQ2 07, the engineer is Tucson Division
> engineer Howard Houlette.

Then that makes me wonder about my comment about LA Div conductor Kenny Craig. Not likely the Sprint agreements allowed mixing of crews unless they were handled as true pool assignments. My experience with these expediter agreements is the engineers and conductors stayed with each other for the round trip. Maybe SP's differed. Seem to recall the Phoenix sprints were home terminaled at C of I.
Maybe Houlette's con was a Tucson seniority person.

Charlie

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/16 19:09 by cewherry.

Maybe the Tuson man was running off the miles that maybe the LA Div owed the Tucson Div.  At the end of the sprint service the crews were only running to Yuma because of hardly ever making it to Phoenix under the 12 hour hours of service limit.  Like most inaugural trains the schedule was scruntinized and after a month and things went downhill from there...cewherry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> sp3204 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > On one of the Sprint trains out of Phoenix, the
> > 1PXLAQ2 07, the engineer is Tucson Division
> > engineer Howard Houlette.
>
> Then that makes me wonder about my comment about
> LA Div conductor Kenny Craig. Not likely the
> Sprint agreements allowed mixing of crews unless
> they were handled as true pool assignments. My
> experience with these expediter agreements is the
> engineers and conductors stayed with each other
> for the round trip. Maybe SP's differed. Seem to
> recall the Phoenix sprints were home terminaled at
> C of I.
> Maybe Houlette's con was a Tucson seniority
> person.
>
> Charlie
>
> Posted from iPhone



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/16 19:56 by SanJoaquinEngr.

In other words, adding 50 cars of fill...

WAF Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In other words, adding 50 cars of fill...  yes and usually the old speed restricted beet gons with the friction bearings

 FYI... Phil "Ricky Ozzie" (I really like that!) is still working!
He is the engineer on the Saugus Local on duty in the AM at GEMCO Yard...
Phil hired out before I did...and I retired after 35 years in 2012...and he is still working!
I'm thinking he might be one of those engineers (and there is another Ex-SP engineer here on TO) who will never collect their first pension check...
Why anyone in their right mind, would want to work beyond retirement age...especially for UP, is beyond me!
 

spengr80 Wrote: haha  Phil said working is his retirement !!!  Phil hired ouut in 1964 or 1965 as a conductor.  Charlie you have the list can you verify ???

-------------------------------------------------------
>  FYI... Phil "Ricky Ozzie" (I really like that!)
> is still working!
> He is the engineer on the Saugus Local on duty in
> the AM at GEMCO Yard...
> Phil hired out before I did...and I retired after
> 35 years in 2012...and he is still working!
> I'm thinking he might be one of those engineers
> (and there is another Ex-SP engineer here on
> TO) who will never collect their first pension
> check...
> Why anyone in their right mind, would want to work
> beyond retirement age...especially for UP, is
> beyond me!
>  

SanJoaquinEngr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> spengr80 Wrote: haha  Phil said working is his
> retirement !!!  Phil hired ouut in 1964 or 1965
> as a conductor.  Charlie you have the list can
> you verify ???

​If Phil started out as a trainman it might have been as a yardman. He does not appear on the Trainman's Consolidated Seniority Roster effective January 1970 which does
​not include yardmen but did include San Joaquin, Los Angeles Division and Pacific Electric trainmen. I don't think the snakes were added until after 1975ish? Virlon-George-Brian can you verify?
​Phil's fireman seniority date was/is  6-8-73; engineer 6-24-75; this from my January 1977 L.A. Div. seniority roster.

Charlie
>

SanJoaquinEngr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> spengr80 Wrote: haha  Phil said working is his
> retirement !!!  Phil hired ouut in 1964 or 1965
> as a conductor.  Charlie you have the list can
> you verify ???
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >  FYI... Phil "Ricky Ozzie" (I really like
> that!)
> > is still working!
> > He is the engineer on the Saugus Local on duty
> in
> > the AM at GEMCO Yard...
> > Phil hired out before I did...and I retired
> after
> > 35 years in 2012...and he is still working!
> > I'm thinking he might be one of those engineers
> > (and there is another Ex-SP engineer here on
> > TO) who will never collect their first
> pension
> > check...
> > Why anyone in their right mind, would want to
> work
> > beyond retirement age...especially for UP, is
> > beyond me!
> >  

Phil hired out around 1970 Jim.

Digging for this one turned up a small world scenario!  Phil and I were born on the same day in 1947!

His original company date is 6/02/70.
G