Railroaders' Nostalgia > Thinking Of A Friend

Okay, I will start this by saying this is not a "nice" picture. In fact, it would seem rather rude. It's also a personal favorite, and makes me smile (if not laugh until my eyes are wet) every time I see it.

This is perhaps my favorite photo of a co-worker. It was taken on April 4th, 2010, as Amtrak's Saluki was turning on the wye at Carbondale after making the run from Chicago. That day I was between my regular runs and had nothing much to do, so I grabbed my camera and headed out to soak up the spring air.

Since I was going to be around Carbondale, I figured I'd catch some scenes as the train went around the wye. The engineer, Steve Hafertepe, was a great guy with a great sense of humor, and decided to ham it up for the camera as the train pulled around the north leg. The assistant conductor, standing by to get the switch to get back on the main, was laughing his butt off as Steve did his thing. I can just hear him saying "hey, watch this!"

Steve didn't have a mean bone in his body, but he'd had some rough experiences over the years. At one point he was cut off from engine service and went "back in the blues." He was the assistant conductor aboard 59 the night John Stokes drove around the gates with a load of steel rebar at Bourbonais, Illinois. He was coming down the stairs with a couple of cups of coffee for himself and the conductor at the moment of impact, and the CNN video loop that aired for the next day repeatedly ran a shot of him with blood streaming from his broken nose with the wrecked train in the background.

The wreck happened a year and a half before my career began, but Steve and I knew each other at that time. In fact, he had me put together a VHS tape of the news coverage of the wreck the following day.

By the time I marked up as a greenhorn assistant conductor Steve had gone back behind the throttle, and I made some of my qualifying trips with him. Over the years I worked many trips with him at the throttle.

Occasionally, we'd meet up away from the job. I will always remember when Steve, another conductor, and I were at the theater to see the Bond film "Skyfall." When the scene came were the bomb goes off in the London underground and the subway train came to a crashing halt, I couldn't help myself.

"At'll do!" I said. Three Amtrakkers burst out laughing.

Steve passed away just over a year ago and as I was going through some unrelated images, I came across this one. As always, it made me smile. It also inspired me to share it.

This was Steve. Highball, my friend!

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/18 16:30 by MaryMcPherson.

---

He saluting you! Yeah, that's it.

trainjunkie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> He saluting you! Yeah, that's it.


"Ya wanna picture? Here's your picture! Ha ha!"

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Love it! 😀
C

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

I love it, too! < G > Thanks so much for that great story! I laughed, too!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/18 09:56 by Margaret_SP_fan.

That's a great story. And a priceless picture. Thanks for sharing.

He's just pointing out the black paint on the roof. 😂

Dave

Sorry to hear of his passing...

Thanks so much for sharing this. Steve was one of the very few engineers that would step down and roll by offending freights on the Carbondale corridor and not openly complain about the congestion. One particular case he told the freight crew that it wasn't their fault the 2nd main got ripped out. Very nice tribute to a very likable engineer.

Sounds like one of life's characters...special people and good memories, make it all worthwhile I reckon.

Wiping a booger on the rain gutter.
...Lorenzo