Railroaders' Nostalgia > Oro Grande Shenanigans

This story was told to me by an old head that I worked with many years ago who has since passed on.

Many years ago, the U.P. and the Santa Fe each had a local that worked at Oro Grande,Ca. The Santa Fe job was a daylight job and the U.P. job worked nights. Both jobs shared an engine, which the two railroads took turns in providing. At the time of this incident, the engine was a Santa Fe steamer of an unknown class.

So one evening, at crew change, the Santa Fe crew was complaining that the engine had been giving them fits all day, because it wouldn't steam worth a darn, and sarcastically wished the U.P crew "Good luck" with it. After some inspection, the U.P. fireman discovered that a fire brick had come loose and fallen in front of the burner, inhibiting the flame. He raked the brick out of the way and they went about their business, without a hitch. At the end of the shift, however, he pushed the brick back into position, in front of the burner. The next day, the Santa Fe crew was again bellyaching about the poor steaming quality of the engine. The U.P. crew told them, "I don't know what your problem is, it worked fine for us" and then went about their business as they had the night before, again replacing the brick in front of the burner, before tying up. Apparently, this horse play went on for a week before the Santa Fe crew finally figured out what was going on.

crackerjackhoghead Wrote:
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> This story was told to me by an old head that I
> worked with many years ago who has since passed
> on.
>
> Many years ago, the U.P. and the Santa Fe each
> had a local that worked at Oro Grande,Ca. The
> Santa Fe job was a daylight job and the U.P. job
> worked nights. Both jobs shared an engine, which
> the two railroads took turns in providing. At the
> time of this incident, the engine was a Santa Fe
> steamer of an unknown class.
>
> So one evening, at crew change, the Santa Fe
> crew was complaining that the engine had been
> giving them fits all day, because it wouldn't
> steam worth a darn, and sarcastically wished the
> U.P crew "Good luck" with it. After some
> inspection, the U.P. fireman discovered that a
> fire brick had come loose and fallen in front of
> the burner, inhibiting the flame. He raked the
> brick out of the way and they went about their
> business, without a hitch. At the end of the
> shift, however, he pushed the brick back into
> position, in front of the burner. The next day,
> the Santa Fe crew was again bellyaching about the
> poor steaming quality of the engine. The U.P. crew
> told them, "I don't know what your problem is, it
> worked fine for us" and then went about their
> business as they had the night before, again
> replacing the brick in front of the burner, before
> tying up. Apparently, this horse play went on for
> a week before the Santa Fe crew finally figured
> out what was going on.


UP = 1, SaniFlush = 0 Go, Team!

Man, that's crazy!

Jeff, was that "old head", Bob Brooks by any chance?

UPNW2-1083 Wrote:
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> Jeff, was that "old head", Bob Brooks by any
> chance?

No, it was Johnny Warren. I think he had a '53 date. It's been almost 30 years since I heard the story and I can't remember if he was on the crew or just repeating the story.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I was forced to Yermo until I got in engine service so I don't think that I actually ever worked with Brooks, just saw him in the crest shanty. The only story I remember him telling me was about spinning a tire off a helper engine while working out of Caliente.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/17 23:06 by crackerjackhoghead.

I remember catching a few trips with Johnnie Warren. I seem to recall his pool crew had something like 130 years combined seniority. He was fun to work with, never seemed to be bothered by much of anything. I always learned something on trips with him.

trainjunkie Wrote:
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> I remember catching a few trips with Johnnie
> Warren. I seem to recall his pool crew had
> something like 130 years combined seniority. He
> was fun to work with, never seemed to be bothered
> by much of anything. I always learned something on
> trips with him.


Yep, he was easy going and fun to work with. His brakemen were John Madden and Bruce Jenkins. Those two were two were at the opposite end of the spectrum, Madden soft spoken and mild mannered and Jenkins was pretty hot tempered and gruff. I have a good story about Jesse Moreno and Bruce Jenkins but I can't tell it here because Jenkins hot temper and foul language makes the story.

crackerjackhoghead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yep, he was easy going and fun to work with. His
> brakemen were John Madden and Bruce Jenkins. Those
> two were two were at the opposite end of the
> spectrum, Madden soft spoken and mild mannered and
> Jenkins was pretty hot tempered and gruff. I have
> a good story about Jesse Moreno and Bruce Jenkins
> but I can't tell it here because Jenkins hot
> temper and foul language makes the story.

Yeah, I remember Madden but it was always Bruce's hole that I caught so I never worked with him. Johnny and John were pretty mellow. Would love to hear the story. FB maybe?

John Madden always answered the radio "this is John". I've got a story to tell about John when he was out on the road, but I can't remember the name of the engineer he was with at the moment. When I think of it, I'll post the story. ( I have CRS disease)-BMT

UPNW2-1083 Wrote:
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> I have CRS disease

#retiredoldheadproblems LOL

UPNW2-1083 Wrote:
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> John Madden always answered the radio "this is
> John".

The only time that I ever heard Madden get mad was when I was working with John Rath and we were going to Oro Grande (of all places) to patch Madden. Madden started calling the patch crew, on the radio, and Rath answered "This is John". Madden replied, angrily, with, "Don't get smart with me Mister!".

Jeff, I heard that over the radio also. It was great. About working with number ones, I was pulled out of service with Johnny Warren and Rod Bartels one night,but doesn't have any thing to do with this thread.

CRS,my dad (rest his soul) used to go on about having that,he was 84 when he passed.

I have it too,and will turn a spry 50 next year,but mine is medically induced from this med cocktail I'm on and delayed treatment of Addison's disease,that took me out of my dispatcher's career at the young age of 42.I can still remember some of the good stories both related to me by the old timers and some of my experiences,providing my CRS isn't acting up too bad.Other days,i wake up and put on my skivvies backwards!

I don't do FB,but would sure take to sharing some of the old stories,cussing included (most of the good ones are R rated anyway).

MGC-Mighty Good Coffee