Nostalgia & History > A Kinder Gentler Santa Fe

   Back in the early 1960's friends and I could be frequently be found at Summit, on Cajon Pass.  Since I was a Pacific Railroad Society member, we would stay overnight on the old LA Rwy funeral car Descanso which was owned by the society and parked nearby.  Over time, I had become good friends with all the train order operators at Summit, including Chard Walker.  Others were Roy Higginson, Fred Zickler, and Sue Warren.  A special treat of the weekend, was if the Kaiser coal train went west through the pass.  It would usually go through there in the nid- late afternoon.  An additional bonus was if it had an all Alco RSD-15 (Alligators) power consist.
   It was the usual practice to cut the rear helpers out at Cajon, and they would return eastward toward Victorville.  On the day in question, the coal train went through Summit, and it wasn't realized until the helper went by the Summit depot that no train order authority had been issued to the helpers to return eastward!  Fred Zickler and the DS didn't tumble until it was too late.
   For obvious reasons, the crew didn't want to stop with the train hanging down that nasty 3% grade, so they continued toward Cajon.
   Now what do we do? At the time, there was no rule book provision for transmitting train orders via radio, so Plan A was to send the orders down via the next westbound, However, the next westbound was the very heavy UP Blue Diamond Special, who wasn't even past Victorville, plus he had work there, and at Oro Grande.
   We volunteered to drive the orders down to Cajon, if the DS would go for it.  The DS was very doubtful about this, but Fred assured him that he knew us, and we would get them down to the helper crew.
   The DS agreed, and issued the necessary running orders, and by the time we got down to Cajon, the crew was just rolling the caboose back down to the train.
   The helper crew thanked us.  They didn't want to sit there at Cajon for hours.  The helper engineer said, "Well, one of you boys just earned yourself a cab ride back to Summit."  Since I'd ridden cabs in the past and my friend had never had a cab ride, he rode while I drove the car back to Summit.
   Can you imagine doing something like that in this day and age?  How many rules were violated that day?  Back then, it was "Ya gotta do what ya gotta do" to get the work done.


1.  Five of those Alco brutes down in the collar with the Kaiser coal train on the hard pull between Lugo and Summit.  On a hard pull, those RSD-15's had an unusually loud snarl to them.  You knew some serious transportation was being conducted!

2.  The same train rounding the compound 10 degree curves at the west end of Summit.  You can imagine that hoghead is on the edge of his seat getting ready to balance everything to descend that treacherous 3% grade to Cajon.

3.  On a different day, the helpers are pictured going past the Summit depot.  The man on the ground is Fred Zickler, agent-operator.

   Sorry about the image quality, but these were scans off some old prints.  Thanks for looking, and as always, comments welcome.

Brian Black
Castle Rock, CO.

   

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This post made my day!  Really wish I could have seen and heard this experience!

ALCO and AT&SF glory!!

And, yes--a nicer Santa Fe than today!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/16 12:06 by coach.

Thanks Brian! A good story and the photos brought back some good memories...

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

I don't see anything wrong with the quality, anything with RSD-15's or any Alco's  for that  matter is OK. Got more?

mopacrr Wrote:
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> I don't see anything wrong with the quality,
> anything with RSD-15's or any Alco's  for that
>  matter is OK. Got more?

Ditto that for me

Good story and great pictures. Oh the sound that made!

My favorite locos!  Thanks for posting.
- Eric Blasko

Excellent shots, Brian. I'll bet that was a neat time to be on Cajon. Must have been something to hear those ALCos do battle on coal with those coal loads tied to the drawbar!

Thanks for sharing,
~Ryan

Were these trains interchanged in Pueblo?

Thanks for posting these, brings back some good memories of listening to the gators grinding along Actually, any Alco wide open has a great sound. When runing the S-6's at night on the Ventura County Railway years ago, after being in run 8 for a while I'd back it off to run 6 and then back to 8 and go down the middle of Wooley Rd with a 5 ft flame out the stack-great afterburner effect!

I only met Fred Zickler once, but he seemed to have uncanny ability to nod off in his chair, then wake up as soon as the block light went out to say "Summit, coming east."

D F W

Wildebeest Wrote:
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> I only met Fred Zickler once, but he seemed to
> have uncanny ability to nod off in his chair, then
> wake up as soon as the block light went out to say
> "Summit, coming east."
>
> D F W

Fred was a great guy, but he definitely marched to the beat of a different drum.  I think he took an agents job at Blyth when Summit closed.

Brian

That first shot took my breath away.

EricSP Wrote:
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> Were these trains interchanged in Pueblo?

As I recall, that coal originated at the York Camyon Mine in New Mexico.

Brian

Great trio!
JB