Railroaders' Nostalgia > El Presidente Passes

Many former SP and Amtrak people are mourning the loss of a great engineer and union man - Ruben Negrete - today. Ruben will always be El Presidente in my mind. Highball.

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Can you attach a larger image, I can't see his face.

It was always a good trip with Ruben! On one stormy trip to Bakersfield, from Los Angeles, we had very heavy rain and wind between Oban and Rosamond, CA. As I was looking across the cab at Ruben, we were talking about the storm, and then I noticed something strange out toward Edwards Air Force Base. It sure looked like a tornado to me! I told Ruben to take a look, but he said that it wasn't one "because we don't have tornados in California". I said you want to make a bet? We bet dinner. That thing was really tearing up the desert... I was sure it was a tornado! We got to Bakersfield, and over to the hotel, in time for the 6 PM news. It was the top story on all 3 local stations, and a few seconds after the story, my phone was ringing. Ruben was on the line, and said "I'll meet you in the coffee shop in 1 hour". Dinner was on him, and he still didn't think it was actually a "real" tornado! Turned out to be an F-1!

Just one of many, many trips with Ruben... he'll be missed, he was a super-good guy!

Take Care, Stay Safe, Have Fun!

Larry