Nostalgia & History > Uncle Erritt, Frisco hoghead

My Uncle Erritt was my dad's older brother, he was nearly 16 years older than my dad. Uncle Erritt went to work for the Frisco in 1904 as a hostler at the Sherman Texas roundhouse and stayed in engine service on the Frisco until about 1954. That's 50 years working for the same company at the same location! Recently, my 1st cousin once removed emailed to me a couple of images of his Grandfather Erritt. Here's a couple of those pictures of my Uncle Erritt at work probably in Sherman Texas. His normal run was south to Ft Worth, and this engine, 2-8-0 #1261 almost seems to me to have been "his engine" because I have seen other pictures of him in this engine.

Erritt's son, Otis Sweet followed his dad into Frisco engine service out of Sherman right after WW2. Cousin Otis was a lot older than I am, I recall that once in the early 1950's when Otis and his family were visiting my family when we were living at Tennessee Pass on the Rio Grande where my dad was the agent, Otis got to telling my dad about how much he enjoyed working on diesel locomotives, he said that "they were much cooler and much cleaner to be work with or be on than were those old steam kettles". At the time I was standing beside the two of them while they stood up on the hill across from where the little yard at TP was and had been watching a westbound freight train approach that had a 4 unit FT set as the trains engines. They were still in the black with yellow stripes livery. For some reason this experience has always stuck in my mind and has always been real clear to me. I was about 10 or 11 years old at the time. I didn't make any comments of my own either, back in those days, when men were talking, boys kept their mouths shut.

Con

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Classic. Thanks.

JAC

These are the reasons I've tried to get a few photos of me and my career over the years. Now that it's about over, I wish I had taken more. My kids & grandkids will enjoy looking at them down the road.

Thanks Con, lotta good memories there. My Dad was just the opposite. He didn't like the diesels and preferred working on steam I've talked to a couple of old guys who fired for him in steam some years back and they said he was great to fire for. Like him, they are all gone now.

Great history, both family and railroad, Con.