Railroaders' Nostalgia > Important Guest not what he seemed.

This event took place on a large railroad in Canada in the late 1970's.

The export coal business was ramping up, and the railroad was experiencing capacity problems and labor issues as they attempted to move many trains over a mountain railroad with not enough sidings , trains or crews.

The export coal was destined for steel mills in Japan, and Kaiser Resources from California had the contract to mine the coal and get it to the ships on the Pacific Coast.

The Japanese mills were noting delays in delivery, and requested an investigation.

So it was that a well dressed Japanese gentleman and his interpreter were aboard the lead locomotive of a coal train operating through the mountains. It was crowded in the cab of that locomotive, and the interpreter went back to the cab of a trailing locomotive along with the head end trainman.

The locomotive engineer, the Japanese gentleman and a road foreman (company officer) were in the cab of the lead engine.

The Japanese gentleman gave no indication that he understood a word of English.

The road foreman was noted for his loyalty to the railroad and loved to talk. While stopped for a lengthy meet, a lively conversation between the road foreman and the locomotive engineer took place. Many of the ills of the operation were discussed, as well as politics, religion and other sensitive subjects. Let's just say the "State of the World" according to two diverse opinions was expressed. The Japanese gentleman smiled .

Years later, it was revealed that in fact the Japanese gentleman was actually a Californian, an officer of the Kaiser Corporation well versed in human resources and transportation logistics. He was sent to observe the problems being encountered by the shipper. At the time, neither he or his interpreter revealed their true identities. Later, Kaiser Resources said they found the visit by their managers very informative and suggestions were made to improve the operation of the coal trains.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/17 09:39 by eminence_grise.

Nice one. I did business with a number of Japanese companies over many years and yes, many of them never let on that they could understand and/or speak English, which they frequently used to their advantage.

Any idea of the changes?

tomstp Wrote:
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> Any idea of the changes?

Shortly thereafter, the regional vice-president of the railroad, who was from the transportation department (train dispatching, business solicitation) was replaced by a regional vice-president from the civil engineering side, resulting in a decade of track capacity improvements.

In time, the civil engineering vice-president was replaced with a VP with a transportation background but more human resources skill. Or in other terms, Vancouver VP, Toronto VP, Calgary VP. All now long retired and the Vancouver VP passed away.

That story reminds me of a scene in The Taking of Pelham 123 (original version), in which Walter Matthau finds out to his dismay that the Japanese guest spoke perfect English -- after Matthau had made some unflattering remarks.

I also recall a friend of mine who was taking the train from Rome's Fiumicino Airport to downtown Rome. He had forgotten to validate his ticket at the airport, and the conductor was trying to tell him that he could be fined. My friend just pretended not to understand Italian, and the conductor finally gave up in frustration. Perhaps not entirely ethical, but a funny story nonetheless.

colehour Wrote:
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>
>...My friend just pretended not to understand Italian, and the
> conductor finally gave up in frustration. Perhaps
> not entirely ethical, but a funny story nonetheless.

That doesn't always work out. On an Italian train our coach kept getting emptier and emptier as folks got off and nobody else got on it. Conductor tried to get us to move to a (crowded) coach, and we played dumb. Then at one stop a whole bunch of schoolkids got on our coach. They'd been emptying it out for them. Noisy!!

In the summer of 1962 I was a 19 year old on an SNCF train between Paris and Charleroi, Belgium. In my ignorance of the French language and how SNCF passenger trains worked I inadvertently got on a First Class car with a Third Class ticket. The conductor soon arrived and said something in French that I didn't understand. I nodded my head, as he left and remained in my seat. He came by two more times with the same message I still didn't understand. And he was getting a little huffy about my seeming insistence in staying in a First Class compartment. Finally one of my compartment mates, a woman, had pity on me and said in perfect English, "He says you have a Third Class ticket and must move to a Third class car". Duh!! I gathered my gear and a very heavy suitcase and made my way to the Third Class section. It seemed like it took forever to get there.! By that time I was nearing Charleroi. I soon learned French and never made that mistake again.

Steve
Henderson NV

LittleDoc Wrote:
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> In the summer of 1962 I was a 19 year old on an
> SNCF train between Paris and Charleroi, Belgium.
> In my ignorance of the French language and how
> SNCF passenger trains worked I inadvertently got
> on a First Class car with a Third Class ticket.
> The conductor soon arrived and said something in
> French that I didn't understand. I nodded my head,
> as he left and remained in my seat. He came by two
> more times with the same message I still didn't
> understand. And he was getting a little huffy
> about my seeming insistence in staying in a First
> Class compartment. Finally one of my compartment
> mates, a woman, had pity on me and said in perfect
> English, "He says you have a Third Class ticket
> and must move to a Third class car". Duh!! I
> gathered my gear and a very heavy suitcase and
> made my way to the Third Class section. It seemed
> like it took forever to get there.! By that time
> I was nearing Charleroi. I soon learned French and
> never made that mistake again.
>

I did the same thing in Netherlands.

TAW