Railroaders' Nostalgia > Conductor J. B. "Broadway" Brown

A recent nostalgia post referred to some notable employees in train and engine service on the SP and UP in California.  I must share with you tales of a conductor J. B. "Broadway" Brown, who worked on the SP for many years between Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo.  I first encountered him in about 1962 when I was a young punk brakeman working for SP in Los Angeles.  To say that Broadway was curt to passengers is an understatement.  By the mid-60's, the Daylight, due out of LA at 915am every day, was shrinking, especially in the off-season (non-summer).  The head car on the train was a streamlined coach-baggage car.  Brown always kept that car empty of passengers, boarding everyone in the one or two coaches ahead of the diner or automat car.  He wanted the half coach unoccupied because he liked to "rest" during the hour or so run between Glendale and Oxnard.  As soon as the train started to move out of LA, Brown would tell the brakeman to accompany him, and he would sweep thru the 5 to 8 car train lifting all the tickets in the 20 minute run to Glendale.  One did not have time for chit-chat or questions from the passengers if you were going to collect all the tickets of up to 125 passengers before Glendale!  One morning, a woman asked Brown, as he grabbed her ticket, "What time do we get to Palo Alto?"  Brown, without even looking up grunted "Tonight!", and continued grabbing tickets furiously. 
Broadway would always be the first man off the train as we stopped at Glendale.  With his steely glance, he would survey the platform quickly, and if nothing drew his attention, he would board the train and tell the head brakeman "Get the Glendale tickets.  I'll see you in Oxnard."  He would remove his conductor's hat, uniform jacket, tie, and shoes, and seat himself in the double-seat arrangement marked "FOR CONDUCTOR's USE ONLY", and might actually be asleep before the train left Glendale.  The head brakeman (sometimes that was me!), would collect a few tickets at Glendale, and then just patrol the train while watching to be sure no passengers strayed into the head car, lest they see the conductor suffering from "impaired alertness".
By 1968, I could see the end of the passenger train was near, and I had finished my college education, so I accepted a position with Santa Fe in their management training program.  One of the last trips I worked before leaving SP was the bagageman's run from LA to Santa Barbara on the Daylight.  SP had already prohibited the checking of baggage interstate, but the California PUC forced SP to continue checked baggage service within California.  You can well imagine there wasn't much baggage to be handled.
On this trip, I took my future wife with me since we had a four hour layover in Santa Barbara before returning home on the Southbound Daylight.  As the Northbound train approached Santa Barbara, my fiance was standing next to me enjoying the scenery from the open door of the baggage car.  As we passed the freight yard office, the train master, Mr. George C. Townsend, saw me and my companion, and leaped into his car and roared up to the passenger station.  I was climbing down from the baggage car door after latching it when George launched into a tirade.  "You can't have anyone in that baggage car!  There is U.S. Mail in there (not true!).  Don't you ever do that again."
What could I say but to accept the A-- chewing and promise never again?  Then Townsend turned to Broadway and really chewed on him too!  "don't you ever let any unauthorized persons in that baggage car, Brown.  You know better that that!  You've been around here a long time!"
Perhaps a month or so later, I left SP and went to join Santa Fe.  As luck would turn out, a few years later, I'm back in Southern California with Santa Fe, and I rode the Amtrak Coast Starlight from LA to Oakland for old times sake.  And who was the rear brakeman?  Yup!  Old Broadway Brown.  He had been demoted to rear brakeman on passenger only because of his issues with passenger relations.  He was thrilled to see me, though, and he told me the score was even between me, Townsend and him.  
Several months after I left, Brown was conductor on the Daylight, and he had a message with his orders reading:

                                  San Fran Apr 23
                                  C & E Train 99 from LosAngs Apr 25th
                                  Train 99 from Los Angs Apr 25th will have in parlor car Ms. Phoebe Stewart, personal friend
                                  of Mr. Russell, President of SP.  Please extend every courtesy to Ms. Stewart while riding 
                                  this train.  

                                  W. G. Peoples, VP, Traffic, SPT

Five minutes after leaving LA, Ms. Stewart asked Brown if she could go up to the baggage car and check on her dear french poodle "Penelope" who had to ride in a cage in the baggage car!   With a sly grin, Brown told her that he had strict instructions that there could be NO unauthorized persons allowed in the baggage car.  He told her that he was very sorry but he had recent strict instructions to that effect.  Needless to say, Ms. Stewart was nearly frantic by the time the train reached San Francisco some 9 hours later.    Brown sure had a sly grin on his face as he told me that story!

TIOGA PASS

 

Norman Orfall
Helendale, CA
TIOGA PASS, a private railcar

---

Great story Norm. As discussed previously on this board, in older times the combine was held as sort of a "Jim Crow" type of car. The number of times I've ridden the Rio Grande Zephyr as a passenger I could never make it into the combine, I guess this same type of thing occured.

Sounds as if the combine was a desirable car in which to ride. I rode SP's Sacramento Daylight just once, riding from Lathrop to Sacramento (boarded the connecting San Joaquin Daylight in Modesto). Wife and I had seats in the combine. The view was not as good as in a coach due to too few windows and I decided to forever avoid a combine car if possible. If I could have ridden in the baggage compartment - and with the door open - I would have preferred that car every time!

wharfrat Wrote:
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> Great story Norm. As discussed previously on this
> board, in older times the combine was held as sort
> of a "Jim Crow" type of car. The number of times
> I've ridden the Rio Grande Zephyr as a passenger I
> could never make it into the combine, I guess this
> same type of thing occured.

Wasn't the combine on the RGZ a Baggage-Dorm?

Agreed.  That WAS a great story, Norm!  Over the years I've heard similar stories of crew members wanting to do a "visual inspection of their inner eye-lids," especially on night trains where one's circadian rhythm is telling them that they should be asleep at that point in time  --- just like "normal" people.

There's the story on one guy, now retired, who used to catch a few winks up in the car right behind the baggage car.  He used to snore very loudly.  One time, he was the only guy in the sparsely-occupied car trying to get some sleep and a couple of people at the opposite end of the car were engaging in conversation that was so loud that it was keeping him awake.  He yelled, "Hey, can you people keep the noise down?  There's people in this car trying to get some sleep!"  --- those "people" being HIM.

Another time he was spawled out across a four-seater on # 3, snoring loudly, and a passenger actually had to shake him awake to have him answer one of her questions.  The train was late and she asked him whether she would be able to make her connection to train # 14, the "Coast Starlight," at Los Angeles.  Never sitting up and giving her any eye-contact, he simply glanced at his watch and tersely said, "You're not going to make it."  He then resumed his nap.  This story was told to me by another conductor, also recently retired, who witnessed it from several rows away and shook his head in disbelief.            

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wharfrat Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Great story Norm. As discussed previously on
> this
> > board, in older times the combine was held as
> sort
> > of a "Jim Crow" type of car. The number of
> times
> > I've ridden the Rio Grande Zephyr as a passenger
> I
> > could never make it into the combine, I guess
> this
> > same type of thing occured.
>
> Wasn't the combine on the RGZ a Baggage-Dorm?

When I rode the RGZ in 1973 is was a baggage coach, a true combine.  

Great story, thanks for posting.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

Back in the 70's an Asst. Trainmaster told me a passenger crew story.  He was assigned to ride #3 Needles to Barstow with John Reed and biz car 50 on the reared.  As it was the middle of the night his presence was not required in the biz car, he was just along for the ride in case something happened.

After the train departed Needles he decided to walk through the cars and meet the crew members.  When he got to the last sleeper ahead of the biz car he couldn't locate the rear flagman.  The porter told him which bedroom the flagman was in and he knocked on the door.  The flagman had gotten undressed and gone to bed. He said his uniform jacket and pants were carefully hung on a hanger.  Apparently he was expecting a good run with the Chairman of the Board on his train.

The ATM said he pointed out the errors in the flagman' thinking, noting a porter or secretary from the biz car might wonder where the flagman was and Mr. Reed certainly would if he was to leave his car.  He said something about how that would look bad for local management.  I don't remember any mention of discipline, but that was a time when things like that usually didn't slip by unpunished.

Once I was hanging around the Oxnard depot with my late brakie uncle when the Daylight paused.  My uncle said, "See that old bird?  That's Broadway Brown."  If I'd heard this story, I'd have checked to see if he was fresh from his beauty rest.

mapboy

I only met the gentleman once, in 1979 or 80 at SLO. I'd already heard the stories about his ornriness, but we had a very pleasant exchange. Wasn't he a 1928 man? He was remarkably youthful looking for such an old coot.

Nice tale, Norm.

EO

Yes he Broadway hired out in 1928...  He told me that he was a boomer before he even hired out with the SP !!           hogheaded Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I only met the gentleman once, in 1979 or 80 at
> SLO. I'd already heard the stories about his
> ornriness, but we had a very pleasant exchange.
> Wasn't he a 1928 man? He was remarkably youthful
> looking for such an old coot.
>
> Nice tale, Norm.
>
> EO

SanJoaquinEngr Wrote:
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> Yes he Broadway hired out in 1928...  He told me
> that he was a boomer before he even hired out with
> the SP !!  

It seems to me that he was in his early 80's when I met him. Doing the math leads one to believe that he must have been in his late 20's or early 30's when he came to SP.

EO

Oh my, what a GREAT story! I rode with "Broadway" Brown on the "Starlight" a number of times in the late 1970's. He was pretty quiet by then and he was always friendly to me as well, but did I hear stories about him from earlier years! One of Broadway's contemporaries was Vern Swain, who had a real "attitude," particularly toward Amtrak staff and officials. (Although some of them had earned that attitude...) However, Vern was very nice to children, and after one particularly pointed exchange with me in a former Santa Fe Pleasure Dome running on number 14 south of Santa Barbara in late 1978, he and I got along fine. Vern always looked at me differently when he learned I was a fifth generation railroader...Those old SP curmudgeons were often ornery, but I would take them any day over many of the current crop of "amateurs" who are sometimes found on Amtrak trains today...

Riding on the SP, or Amtrak in its early days on the SP, was rarely dull!

Thanks for sharing!

ShastaDaylight

Vern hired out experienced off an Eastern railroad, and had slightly less seniority than his younger brother "Dink."  Although Dink had the seniority, he let his older brother bid in the conductors job, and he worked as his head brakeman.  This was the Coast crew that worked opposite Broadway Brown, John Coates, etc.
G 

it was Don Coates  not John Coates...                                                  ExSPCondr Wrote:
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> Vern hired out experienced off an Eastern
> railroad, and had slightly less seniority than his
> younger brother "Dink."  Although Dink had the
> seniority, he let his older brother bid in the
> conductors job, and he worked as his head
> brakeman.  This was the Coast crew that worked
> opposite Broadway Brown, John Coates, etc.
> G 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/16 19:25 by SanJoaquinEngr.

Ed and the others are right!  I got to digging, and Broadway was born in June of 1900, which made him 28 when he was hired.

I wonder if he was able to work much between 1929 and the late 30s?
G

George  John  told me that he was a boomer efore he hired out on the SP... would make him 116 years old....ExSPCondr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ed and the others are right!  I got to digging,
> and Broadway was born in June of 1900, which made
> him 28 when he was hired.
>
> I wonder if he was able to work much between 1929
> and the late 30s?
> G