Nostalgia & History > WWII - A Messy Night On The Illinois Central

Back in 1991, one of my father's coworkers lived next door to the retired chief dispatcher of the Illinois Central's St. Louis Division. Dr. Brandon passed this on to my father, who in turn passed it on to me as I remember. I approached Mr. Joseph, who at age 90 agreed to sit down with a 19 year old kid with a tape recorder.

R.C. Joseph needed to have his parents sign a waiver allowing him to take a job on the I.C. as an operator in 1918, having yet to reach age 18. He worked the extra board and also worked regular jobs at a number of small stations in southern Illinois, including such hamlets as Hallidayboro on the mainline and McClure on the "Mud Line" parallel to the Missouri Pacific in the Mississippi River Valley. In the 1940s, he came to the dispatcher's office in Carbondale, where he would retire as Chief on December 31, 1968, after 50 years with the railroad. He passed away in 1994.

I have had the tape of this interview filed away ever since, and it has hardly been heard. Now that I am working on a film for the museum in the old I.C. passenger station in Carbondale, I've dusted off this old recording as I'm bringing material together. Here is a piece of that tape, as Mr. Joseph related a night working during the second world war.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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Love the old first person stories like this. Good for you to capture this on tape and share it with us here. Thank you.

Great Story... God Bless Mr.Joesph...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/17 07:51 by bluesboyst.

This is a highlight. It is always fun to sit back and listen to an oldhead tell first-account stories of how a particular event took place. Thanks for sharing this.
Brian Stevens

Wonder how "Otto" the computer dispatching system used by NS would have handled that situation ?

Love these oral history recordings. Thanks for taking the time to record and post them. Perhaps the Railroader's Nostalgia forum would be a better place for them so they can be located easier in the future?

"If I didn't have me a lot of fun with all of those trains on that Bluford District....." Priceless, Mary. As others have said, stories like this from the railroaders that have been the ones that got it done (if I may borrow a phrase from a radio ad) are so memorable and enjoyable.

Anyone who knows the IC and the Edgewood Cutoff (Bluford District, long single track tangents, not too many passing sidings), can only imagine the kind of night and "fun" that Mr. Joseph had on a railroad probably stuffed with wartime freight traffic.

Thanks for your efforts to record this, and thanks for posting it and sharing it with us.

MC
Muskegon, Michigan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/17 10:45 by ironmtn.

Thank you very much, Mary for this fascinating and
priceless recording. They really had their hands
full with detoured trains. And they even had to
double a hill with an occupied passenger train? Wow!

I'd love to be able to hear all of the recordings.you
made, when that is possible. I know that is a lot of
work --- digitizing and everything, but when you do
get these priceless recordings done, please let us all
know, so we can have a chance to hear every minute of
all of your interviews.

THANK you VERY much for recording these priceless memories!