Railroaders' Nostalgia > Santa Fe #199: The Trip!

Although this thread is written in the 1st person, it will bounce back & forth between present tense and past tense. I will be relating from some old notes taken during a delightful road trip I made in September 1980, in anticipation of a possible photo-story for Trains magazine that never reached fruition. But the trip described below was probably the catalyst most responsible for cementing Chicago ~ Richmond (CA) train 199 as my favorite train to work during my 9 year tenure in Santa Fe train service. And later “santafe199” was a no-brainer pick as my TO screen name. I really did keep a trip log as events unfolded, as I did numerous times. And this particular trip ended up having some special karma, as you will read. But I had to write fast! My total time on duty wasn’t much over 2 hours…

It's 2:45 AM, on September 25, 1980 and I am sleeping like a log. My bedside telephone stirs me into a state of semi-consciousness. I find the receiver and mumble a groggy hello. The gruff & distinct voice of Santa Fe crew clerk Mark Taylor comes barking: “Garrels… 199 – 4:10 AM”. In those few seconds I am transformed into a sleepy brakeman headed for a date with one of Santa Fe’s HOTTEST trains.

I worked in train & yard service as a brakeman/switchman/conductor for the Santa Fe from 1978 ~ 1987. Growing up I was always a train nut. And like any other enraptured adolescent male of the species I fantasized about ‘workin’ on the railroad’. But I never seriously thought I would actually do so. I graduated from high school in 1973 and had taken the Civil Service entrance exam(s) in the spring of 1974, scoring pretty high. I thought I was honor bound follow my father’s footsteps into a career with the United States Postal Service. Yes Virginia, a real live mailman. Even after getting hired into Santa Fe M.O.W. service in the early summer of 1974 I just thought it was something I would do until my so-called real vocation came calling. That call came in the fall of ‘74. I resigned my Santa Fe seniority and went to work for Uncle Sam.

I lasted at the Post Office until early 1978. That’s when a growing personal conflict finally grew into an intolerable situation, complete with migraine headaches. Shortly after I became a full-time carrier my father was promoted to the position of Carrier Foreman, a management position. More to the point, my Dad became my boss. I inescapably became ‘daddy’s boy’, and could do nothing right in the eyes of a select few of the carriers. They now had a foil on which they could dump all of their anti-management frustration and vitriol. To be sure, I had the majority of the guys as friendly allies, or at least neutral “non-combatants”. But it was clear I had to make a change. In the middle of January ’78 I served up my 2 weeks notice…

199… My mind starts to clear up a bit. I answer: “4:10, thanks” and replace the receiver. 199… what a sleek sounding train number. I finish waking up. The prospect of working train 199 helps a lot. So far I’ve caught this train 3 times in my 2 short years, and it’s always been a barn-burning hotshot. On the average it will be assigned 4, sometimes 5 big jacks with hardly ever over 2500 tons. With a little smile on my face I zip through the shower. I get dressed and do a quick routine check of my grip. Everything is in place so I kiss my sleeping wife on the cheek and head for the door. This early in the morning I’m not yet hungry, but I think I’ll stop at the S&S Café for some hot coffee. I’m pretty sure I’ll have breakfast later on in Wellington with my crew.

When I quit my job as a mailman for US Postal Service I hadn’t really considered what I would be doing for permanent employment. My good buddy Dave Franz was an Eastern Division switchman for the Santa Fe down in Emporia who ‘knew the RR ropes’ pretty well. He talked me into coming down and putting in an application. Dave told me my previous good record as a trackman was like an “ace-in-the-hole”. But he also told me not to expect anything until spring was well under way, when the need for extra brakemen would arise. He & Jeanne (Mrs Franz) even offered me a spare bedroom so I could be in Emporia, closer to the situation. I found an interim job flipping hamburgers for Hardees. As February 1978 tuned into March turned into April it began to sink in that Santa Fe train service was going to be my life’s vocation. I was completely confident that I would get hired, but every day the growing excitement just made the anticipation more excruciating…

At 3:55 AM I drain the last few drops of coffee, drop a generous tip and head out the door for work. At straight up 4:00 I walk into the wire office at the west end of the Santa Fe/Amtrak passenger station. The entire second floor of this beautiful building houses offices for the Eastern Division HQ personnel, but they’re all still home in bed. As I’m checking over our train orders my Conductor Bill Stiner walks into the wire office followed closely by my braking partner Tim Pestinger. He & I are both extra-board brakies. But I’ve got seniority over him so I choose to ride the head end. Tim’s (late) father Marion was a career engineman for the Union Pacific up in Salina. He will soon emulate his father by entering Santa Fe engine service. Tim always likes riding the head end, but so do I. So the frown on his face at the news he was on the rear end was understandable. Our senior engineer B. A. “Red” Hamilton walks in last. I give him my usual “…always on a hot one, eh Red?”. It seems like whenever we work together it’s on some hotshot. This morning is certainly no exception.

For train 199 Santa Fe has established a running schedule of 51 hrs 45 mins to cover the 2495 miles. This 199 is actually called in for 4:20, some 30 minutes ahead of that schedule. No wonder there. Our call slip indicates we have 26 loads, 0 empties, 1805 tons. And our power line-up would be the envy of any train crew, anywhere. A total of 13,200 HP resides in four units: 5700, 8027, 8049 & 5948. After seeing our consist I decide to take notes for a trip log. It might make an interesting side bar story some day for an ambitious Trains magazine article I hope to write. The 5700 was of course one of the 5 celebrated Bicentennial units that were used almost exclusively on the world’s fastest freight train, Santa Fe’s legendary 79 MPH Super C. And the 5948 came from even faster company. It was delivered for service in the Chicago ~ West Coast passenger pool where 90 MPH running was the rule rather than the exception. My railfan blood is pumping.

I finally got that call from Uncle John Santa Fe in mid-May of '78. I was hired! All I had to do was get past a probationary period. Throughout my entire RR career I felt blessed & very lucky to be able to have a vocation that was so deeply intertwined with my love of railroadning in hobby form. In the days just before I reported for switchman/brakeman class I received advice from a couple of insiders. I was already determined to never let railfanning infringe on my job, but these 2 guys’ sage advice reinforced that deal. My thanks 40 years later to a couple of current TO characters, namely Jim Wilson (jtwlunch) and the one & only Art Gibson (wag216)…

I’ve done some quick math and have deduced we have a HP/Ton ratio of 7.3~1. Inside I’m screaming: “Hey Uncle Pete! Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it!!!” I am also thinking to myself (as I would do many more times in my career): "I'm getting PAID to do this!" A muffled horn/crossing sequence brought me out of my private railfan reverie. That would be our Blue & Yellow chariot coming over Constitution St at the extreme east end of the passenger platform area limits. Time to go to work. Red & I get our grips and head out the wire office door. At 4:15 train 199 X-1, eng 5700 comes to a graceful stop right on the walkway. We exchange greetings with the inbound Eastern Division head end crew and Red learns that the power is working normally. Red & I are onboard now and he releases the independent brake while easing out on the throttle. We’re pretty short, and the radio immediately crackles to life: “Moving, 199”. Red picks up the radio receiver, and echoes the transmission from the rear end. Up ahead an intermediate signal next to the sprawling IBP plant is showing Yellow over Green, which sets us up for a Red over Green at Merrick nearly 3 miles from the station. We will be crossing over from the Westbound Main to the South Main. Next comes: “Constitution St, 199”. And finally “East end of the platform, 199”, with Red answering each. The rear end boys are giving Red the spotting he needs to slow the waycar down for a safe rolling crew change. He has made a minimum brake-pipe reduction while still in throttle. We are down at between 3 & 4 MPH when Red kicks off his air. His timing is spot-on as my braking partner Tim gets on the radio with: “Highball Red, everybody’s on!”. Red answers with: “Roger” and throttles up. Our speed shoots up to just over 60 MPH. But that shimmering Red over Green reminds us that a couple of 50 MPH crossovers still have to be dealt with. Red throttles down and sets a minimum, then goes right to a 10-pound reduction. I’m standing over the console and am burning with admiration as our 5700 noses into the first crossover exactly at the prescribed speed. In a few seconds Tim radios: “All across, Red”. Red answers with an omen: “OK, hang on”. He has the throttle quickly in the company notch (That’s run-8 to you civilians), and we’re at 70 MPH in no time. We sail straight-track through the plant at Ellinor at 70 right on into the 4th District main. This was the reason the DS crossed us over at 50 MPH Merrick instead of the 40 MPH crossovers at Ellinor. As we leave the 1st District the operator at Emporia is telling some hapless train out of our radio range: “You’ll be there for 199”. We’ll see that guy probably at Cassoday or Aikman.

We’ve had all clear signals since Ellinor, and Red has to ease the throttle back a bit to meander upgrade through the Flint Hills’ 55 MPH curves. By rough calculation at Matfield Green I note that from a dead stop we have covered 32 miles in about 34 minutes. At the east end of Cassoday we meet the train from the earlier radio conversation, coal empty 4344 X-1 with its headlight off. Red dims his headlight creating an eerie scene. He turns his headlight back up with perfect timing as 6 SFe & BN C-boats explode out of the inky blackness. There is a rhythmic, hypnotic visual staccato as 109 empty black & orange hoppers flicker by followed by the green flash of a BN caboose. As we round the gentle, non-restricted curve west of Cassoday at full track speed (70) a sinking full moon is painting the countryside in that familiar, yes, even romantic silver. It’s a moderate 60 degrees out so I have my window open a few inches. Rolling through Aikman we overtake a solo motorist on parallel K-177 highway. Actually, I’m being kind here because in reality we blew his friggin' doors off! Red shuts the throttle off in preparation for some easy dynamic braking. A new sound arises: the singing of 70 MPH flanged wheels on welded steel rails. There is an uncharacteristic lack of traffic on the 4th District this morning.

The approach signal to the east end of El Dorado gives us our first non-clear aspect since crossing over at Ellinor nearly 50 miles astern. But it clears up just before we clip it. Exactly 60 minutes after proceeding from a dead stop at Emporia we roll by the crossovers at old Tower B in El Dorado 60.2 miles to the southwest. (We'll be on Double Track ABS for the next 13 miles to old AG Tower at Augusta.) A short distance later we’ll be down to 30 MPH for the sharp double track curve at OD Jct, where the old branch from Florence once came down through 2 small dots on the Kansas map called Burns & De Graf. This branch, originally planned as a main line, was a casualty of a 1942 war effort scrap drive. We meet eastbound train 563 W-1, eng 3042 nose-to-nose right on that 30 MPH curve. Just after slipping past the Getty Refinery complex at El Dorado a huge owl flutters right in front of us, missing my corner of the cab by mere inches. When his giant wings caught our bright headlight it startled the crap out of both Red & me! It was a near-fatal mistake on the part of Mr Wise Owl.

Rounding a gentle curve just east of Augusta some waycar lights come into view up ahead in the westward siding. This is a heavy dog of a 138 train that we will clip with no regrets. A 30 MPH Augusta city crossing ordinance is observed. Then after we're through west Augusta we’re back on single main and right back to running ‘on the go, at seven-oh!’ Still nothing but clear signals. Approaching Rose Hill the first pale fingers of sunlight are tickling the eastern horizon. We blow through this little pseudo-suburb of Wichita leaving dust & leaves flying. At the Main St crossing the neon sign on the bank reads 16 degrees Celsius. It’s not in sight long enough to show Fahrenheit, much less the time. At Mulvane the DS has us lined down the south main, commonly called the ‘high line’. At the southeast rim of town we sail right over Sand Creek ~ Ark City local train 1411 departing Mulvane on the 3rd District main. At ALL of 70 MPH we rip tiny Belle Plaine apart. Red has the horn an a continual blare for 3 close-together crossings. I pick up the radio and call into Wellington for an arrival track. We’re instructed: “Santa Fe 199, bring ‘er down the main to the Yard Office. Taxi the rear end and head end stay on until the roundhouse checks your fuel”. I confirm the instructions.

One minute before 6:00 AM we zip by MP 228. We’re exactly 10 miles out. We’re still galloping, passing under the Kansas Turnpike and veering gently to the right at through the 70 MPH equilateral turnout at Cicero where our single main becomes 2 main track TCS. A 45 MPH curve at old SK Jct and 2 successive yellow signals allow us to strut on in to the Yard Office, stopping at 6:08 AM. The roundhouse boys are already in position to check our fuel. (This IS hot stuff, dontcha know… ;^) They give us a highball so Red & I climb down from the 5700 to make way for the Plains Division crew right as Bill & Tim show up in the crew van. We duplicate the exchange of greetings we had with the Eastern Division boys 114 miles back & 111 minutes ago. “Whatcha think, Red… ready for a little breakfast?” “Sounds good to me, kid!”. The 3 of them go inside to get tied up, while I wait outside to watch my sleek chariot depart. The body of the train is gliding by at 30 MPH(?). Seems faster! At 6:17 AM the waycar whooshes by the yard office. White step lights & a red rear end marker quickly recede, then vanish. My 199 is now a pleasant memory…

1. AT&SF 5070 below is not the train from my trip notes above. It is train 199 K-1 which I rode 11 months later. The lead unit's mix of the same 4 digits (5700) would have made Bill Gibson smile. He LOVED numerical coincidences!
(Photo taken August 12, 1981 on the main line at the Yard Office in Wellington, KS)

Thanks for riding along!
Lance Garrels
Santa Fe (All the Way) on train 199



Edited 9 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/18 09:32 by santafe199.

---

That was some good writing! Thank you for the story.

John

Cool Lance. I love all of the first person stories on the RR'ers Nostalgia. This is among the best! Thanks!

Mark

Excellent narrative. What a rush!

~RGDave

Great writing Lance. I remember every spot you mentioned, but I don't think anything went through that route at 70 mph back in my day. Or if they did, nobody said a lot about it. You should resubmit that story to Trains.
Joe

Wow, I feel like I need to turn in a time slip after reading that. Nicely written Lance. I feel like I was there.

Fantastic story,Lance.
At one time I traveled all over
the US.I know where all those
locations are and they bring
back good memories.
In those days,I called all ATSF
trains 199.Still today I, as well
as you are on the same page.

Uncle Joe
Seffner,Fl.

PS all this time I never related your
handle as 199

What a riveting story, Lance! I, too, felt as though I was right there with you -- feeling the excitement of that incredible 70-mph run across the pre-dawn Kansas countryside, and feeling as though I was in that cab with you.

The 199 -- what a train! And what a master of his craft Red was. Man -- you really did get to live the dream! Those were the days.....

(Please resubmit this to Trains.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/18 15:53 by Margaret_SP_fan.

Like trainjunkie, I felt like I was there! Great story!

Terrific post.

Red was quite a guy, a ball to work with. When I was firing I got out with him quite a lot. One trip we were called late night out of Wellington. We went down town to the "Connoisseur" restaurant,("The Sewer" for short) which stayed open late, for a bite to eat. Red, being the thrifty guy that he was, ordered the cheapest thing on the menu, some kind of sandwich. He ate half, and wrapped the other half in a bunch of free napkins, and put it in his overall pocket for later. It stayed warm a little longer that way. Red was on the board at the Credit Union, partially because he had the first dollar he ever earned, and part because he was one of it's biggest depositers. He was a big hearted guy too, any time a young brakeman he liked went to the credit union to borrow money for a car, if Red liked him, he usually got the loan. The whole time I knew him, he mowed yards all over Emporia in his spare time. I think the main reason he did it was, because he just couldn't stand to see an 11 year old kid, working his way through grade school, do a job Red was perfectly capable of doing a little cheaper. I've heard it said more than once, that Red could pinch a turd out of a buffalo nickel. Oh, and Red was one of the last holdouts to carry a pocket watch on the job, a Hamilton of course.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/18 15:35 by LocoPilot750.

Lance,

Nice job of describing a little jaunt down the 4th District. I will never forget when I was in the SOC and the Engineering boys told me the FRA lowered the speed of the equilateral turnout at Cicero down to 65. Just think of the decades of trains before that change that went through there at 70mph. Now think of all the brakeshoe wear and fuel that is wasted for that speed reduction. I was glad when I first worked as a brakeman on the Santa Fe in the summer of 1973 to have worked the Super C, 5 times between Wellington and Waynoka. Working trains like these gives you a lot of pride to have done it and respect for everyone who is still out there doing it safely all the time.

jtwlunch Wrote: > ...  summer of 1973 to have worked the Super C, 5 times ...

It goes without saying you just made me insanely jealous. The Super C was gone 2 years by the time I hired out (5-78). I did, however, get to see it pass several times where my M.O.W. extra gang was working during the summer of '74. Our Burro Crane operator even managed to drop a red signal in the Super's face by dragging some waste steel banding (for cross ties) across a live rail. It was NOT pretty...

Bob-a-loo #2



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/18 20:33 by santafe199.

Awesome story Lance, even until a few years ago BNSF still called the ZWSPNBY9 the 199! Btw I bet that crane operator got hell for what he did that day to The Super C!

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/18 23:30 by ProAmtrak.

ProAmtrak Wrote: > ... I bet that crane operator got ...

I remember the incident well. Our gang foreman was a man named Salvador Vega. It was his father Luis who was dragging the steel banding. When the bands shunted the track circuit a nearby crossing gate went into action. So we all thought a train was coming. In those days communication between the train DS and gangs or section crews out on line were done via lineside telephone boxes with visible call lights. You can bet the farm that the second Luis tripped the track circuit that call light lit up. When foreman Sal came back from the one-sided tirade of a conversation we could almost see the DS's smoke pouring back out of his ears. Turns out, a train WAS coming. And it was indeed train 891, the Super C!!! As I recall, all we really suffered was a couple of dirty looks from the train crew as they passed through our area...

Lance/199

Ah, the good old days of real railroading, nothing quite like catching a "shooter". Miss hearing "everything through but the crew" from the yardmaster.
JB



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/18 07:37 by 3rdswitch.

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ProAmtrak Wrote: > ... I bet that crane operator
> got ...
>
> I remember the incident well. Our gang foreman was
> a man named Salvador Vega. It was his father Luis
> who was dragging the steel banding. When the bands
> shunted the track circuit a nearby crossing gate
> went into action. So we all thought a train was
> coming. In those days communication between the
> train DS and gangs or section crews out on line
> were done via lineside telephone boxes with
> visible call lights. You can bet the farm that
> the second Luis tripped the track circuit that
> call light lit up. When foreman Sal came back from
> the one-sided tirade of a conversation we could
> almost see the DS's smoke pouring back out of his
> ears. Turns out, a train WAS coming. And it was
> indeed train 891, the Super C!!! As I recall,
> all we really suffered was a couple of dirty
> looks from the train crew as they passed through
> our area...
>
> Lance/199

That's just as bad!

Posted from Android