Railroaders' Nostalgia > How many of these guys do you remember?

This photo is from a  luncheon for retired SP Coast Division engineers in Sunnyvale in March 1982.

Back row l to r: Sturni, Sieverson, Walint, Johansen, Barker, Hamman, Corbin, Prunk, Clarke and Aven.
Front: Swanson, Maddux, Jett, Kiesel, Rossi and Kennedy.

Boy oh boy, this brings back memories as I fired for most of these men at one time or another in yard, freight or passenger.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/16 12:54 by Exespee.

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Charlie Sturni - good guy.  I remember working Easter Sunday with him on the Redwood Local.  Good guy.

Glen Barker - he was well into his 70's when I worked with him on 12 -13.  A class act.

sphogger

Charlie Sturni once told me he started out on the New York City subway system, and he still had faint traces of a NYC accent. Worked with him many times when I was a switchman in SF and he was on the SF X-bd.

I believe most of these guys were gone when I went into engine service in 1973 but I remember Charlie Sturni, Glen Barker, Rudy Hamman and John Aven well. All good guys. Some of the old heads could be pretty cranky back then but these guys were gentlemen as well as good engineers, always a pleasure to work with.

Among the four mentioned above I worked most with Glen Barker, firing 12 & 13 between Oakland and San Luis Obispo for him. He was an iron man who never laid off and did 100 per cent of the running too. SP treated him pretty shabbily towards the end, wanted him off the mainline because of his age (mid 70's by then) although he was a fully competent and extremely conscientious engineer. I was with him when a couple of yahoo SP officials from Watsonville played some "dirty tricks" tests on him, once even accusing him on the radio of not blowing the whistle for a grade crossing when we both knew that he did. I complained to San Francisco RFE Forrest Brown (another great guy!) who confirmed SP wanted him gone and there was not much that he could do about it. A couple of years after Glen retired I drove down to Salinas with him for a deposition regarding a grade crossing accident we were involved in on #13 and he was still somewhat bitter about SP's treatment of him in those final days. I don't blame him.

Here's Glen at the controls of #12. He's not as mad as he looks, think I just caught him by surprise with the camera.
 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/16 20:49 by johnw.

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Is the "Swanson" first in the front left,  Robert Proctor Swanson?

If so, I knew him from SLO.
G

Thanks for posting.  I remember most of these guys and fired for some of them.  John, I agree that's not the most flattering picture of Glen.  He was a good guy and one of the last of the iron men.  Back around '71, when the 14 hour law was in effect, I fired for him on an overnight run from Tracy to Bayshore.  Of course, he did all the running.  We were a cinch to tie up at the full 14 hours, but Glen tied up at 13:59 so he could get out again in eight hours.   I'd like to say he was one of a kind, but he wasn't.  There were many more like him back in the day, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. 

ExSPCondr Wrote:
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> Is the "Swanson" first in the front left,  Robert
> Proctor Swanson?
>
> If so, I knew him from SLO.
> G
Wilmer Swanson was a yard engr in San Jose all the years I knew him.

EtoinShrdlu Wrote:
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> Charlie Sturni once told me he started out on the
> New York City subway system, and he still had
> faint traces of a NYC accent. Worked with him many
> times when I was a switchman in SF and he was on
> the SF X-bd.

Whwn auto smog testing first started Charlie talked about going back to NY and opening a repair/test shop with a friend of his.  Of course it never went any further than talk.

Exespee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ExSPCondr Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Is the "Swanson" first in the front left,
>  Robert
> > Proctor Swanson?
> >
> > If so, I knew him from SLO.
> > G
> Wilmer Swanson was a yard engr in San Jose all the
> years I knew him.

"Wilmer" that's a good old head name right there.  I wonder how many of these guys had aluminum grips or aluminum time slip covers.

rantoul Wrote:
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> What is meant by the term 'iron men'?...steam?

Not necesarily steam although all of the guys we are talking about in this thread obviously started in the steam era and finished in the diesel era. I associate the term "iron men" with those guys who could and would work as much as 16 hours a day (before the Hours of Sevice was reduced to 14 and then 12 hours), 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year and rarely if ever take a day off. There certainly were some iron men in the solely diesel era too. They may even exist today where I suppose in certain locations there is still all the work you want, subject to the Hours of Service of course. The iron men rarely seemed to develop many interests outside of the railroad and from what I've heard had the most difficult time adjusting to retirement. It was never an attractive lifestyle to me but it was their life so who am I to judge?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/16 14:20 by johnw.

rantoul Wrote:
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> What is meant by the term 'iron men'?...steam?

We had many "iron men" most of which couldn't get enough miles.  One of which was George Chappelone. 
One time after George had passed away Neil Vodden saw a hearse driving by followed by a Brinks truck
and said, "and there goes Chappie and his money is right behind him".

Another one was A.B. Santos.  Tony liked to show his paycheck to anyone that would look.  One payday he
cornered me, pulled out his check and said, "See what they pay chain gang hogheads".   I had just had a
pretty good half myself  so I pulled out my check and said, "See what they pay extra board firemen".  My
numbers were within a few of his and all he could say was, "yeah but you worked more than I did", and I
told him that was impossible, nobody could work that much.

Many of those Iron Men were a product of the Depression.   Worked every trip and saved every penny they made.  Some of them carried the same peanut butter sandwich several trips while disciplining themselves not to eat it.   No Hostess products or junk food.   Latte's weren't even thought of in those days.

Sphogger  

I should note that I haven't been able to work on Ernie Kiesel's photo collection much for several months, frankly due to a lingering gift of the craft: sore ass. Things are looking up, so to speak, so I hope to get back on the horse before too long, horse willing. It should all be online before most of you go senile.

EO