Nostalgia & History > Locomotives Walking Off

In 2000 I was still working in the radio business when I came up with the idea of doing a radio documentary on the men who worked on the railroad during the steam era. I put out a little note on our station's "swap shop" sort of segment, which resulted in my visiting Mr. Robert Presley in Hurst, Illinois.

Robert Presley went to work on the Illinois Central in 1941 at age 15, working for his father who was the foreman on a track gang. He later went in the service at the tail end of World War II, and returned to the railroad when he left the military in 1946. His career eventually took him into the roundhouse at Carbondale, Illinois, and into the signal department during slack periods at the roundhouse. Mr. Presley was 84 years old when he passed away in 2011.

The documentary never happened, as I had only conducted a couple of interviews when Amtrak called and I changed professions. However, it seems a shame to let these stories go untold.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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Mary you are a very valuable member pf this web site.

Mary you are a very valuable member of this web site.

Thank you for recording this living history.

Chris Donhost
Vacaville, CA

I, too, thank you for recording these priceless
stories from the steam era. I never get tired of
hearing stories told by people who actually lived
back then about what they experienced on their jobs,
especially stories told by the "old heads".

Please post more stories.

And, when you can, please post links to where we can
hear the entire interview with each man. I would lvoe
that!

Thanks, again, for posrting these priceless stories.