Railroaders' Nostalgia > Misplaced Depot Friday: Meeting Mr Loads & Empties!

During my first-ever extended railfan excursion with my good friend, the late John Arbuckle we took a little side trip. We had just finished chasing the Katy Fs out of Oklahoma City and were generally headed north, back home to Kansas. With John driving we angled over to include Enid, OK in our path. We drove around town taking all of the obligatory shots, which included a Frisco consist with a Santa Fe FP-45 (5943) that had suffered a cab fire. When we got the Santa Fe depot shots John locked his car and started walking toward the depot. I asked where he was going and he just said “come on, I want you to meet somebody”. When I asked who he replied “Lloyd Stagner”…

You know the kind of adrenalin rush where every single nerve ending in your body suddenly catches fire and you are almost doubled over from the electric shock? Your legs turn into spaghetti mush and you can’t breathe? BINGO! That was me. I really, REALLY did stop dead in my tracks. I don’t remember how much sputtering gibberish slobbered out of my mouth. But it was meant to sound something like: “Oh no... I can’t do that! I’m not worthy!!!”

In the railfan world Mr Lloyd Stagner was SOMEBODY! This man was a super-well known Santa Fe authority, especially about Santa Fe steam. (And I don’t believe that was even his favorite railroad). This man had already authored several books. This man had been the only railfan author to date to have Trains Magazine devote an entire issue to his detailed dissertation on Santa Fe steam. This man worked & moved with ease in virtually the same circles as railroad Superintendents & Vice Presidents. In short, this man was like a railfan god! I didn’t know how John could possibly have lost his mind so bad as to think the Lloyd Stagner could possibly want to meet yours truly, this little ol’ nobody peon railfan wannabe! Somehow John got me in the door, but I’ll bet I didn’t squeak out more than 3 or 4 sentences. I was so nervous my head was spinning.

I eventually did get to know Lloyd and I was able to get over being scared to death of him. In March of 1979 I was working as a Santa Fe roundhouse laborer in Dodge City while awaiting a recall to train service back in Emporia. Just so happens John was working the Amtrak ticket office in Dodge and Lloyd was filling in at Dodge in some semi-official capacity. One Saturday found all 3 of us with a free day so we did what railfans do everywhere. We took off in search of railfan photographic opportunities (image #2). We dropped straight south and hoped to find some Rock Island action on the GSR. In the inevitable & ongoing conversation I was able to shed most of my nervousness at being around such a highly respected railfan. It was also during this Rock Island chase where I began to understand how deeply knowledgeable he was. Lloyd was incredible. He as a virtual walking encyclopedia about all sorts of railroading facts & figures. He was especially interested in general lading. He had a working knowledge of what most of the Class 1 carriers were hauling: where it was going & who was shipping it. Lloyd’s initials were “L. E.”, so we KS Gangsters playfully tagged him with the nick name “Loads & Empties”. But NEVER to his face, you understand. Lloyd had a quick sense of humor and would probably have loved us calling him Loads & Empties. But none of us were brave enough to use the nickname. It would been be too disrespectful…

During a 5-man, 2-vehicle railfan chase in December of 1980 (image #3) I got to know Lloyd even better, but it would taken an incident during another chase in November of 1981 for the last traces of my shyness to melt away. I was in on a 4-man chase which included Lloyd. We were checking out the recently created OKKT south of Herington. I believe Dave Franz & Mike Provine were the other 2 characters on this excursion. We had explored & shot all the way down to the old Rock Island crew change point of Caldwell, KS on the main line south through Wichita on its route down to Oklahoma & Texas. On our way back north we all decided to grab a bite to eat in a café in downtown Mulvane, KS. I was 26, freshly separated and well on the way to a divorce. Just so happens I was riding in the back seat left and Lloyd was in the back seat right with the other 2 up front. When we got parked I got out and was immediately presented with the sight of a pair of Levi’s 501s walking up the sidewalk. This pair of well worn & faded jeans contained some of the most perfect late-teen ~ early 20s curves I’d ever encountered. And the perfectly sculpted legs of those jeans reached all the way down to the ground! I was a true gentleman and only gave those faded jeans the once-over 4 or 5 times. I thought I was being sneaky, but I turned and discovered Lloyd had witnessed the entire escapade. I thought Oh Gawd, am I ever busted!!!

But the distinguished Lloyd Stagner, the man who had authored many railfan books, the man who authored an entire issue of Trains, the man who had forgotten more about Santa Fe steam than I’ll ever know in 3 lifetimes walked right up to me with a knowing grin on his face. Mr Lloyd Stagner nudged my elbow and nodded toward the receding pair of perfectly shaped 501s and said: “Now THERE goes a tall drink of water”…

Postscript: I thought to myself: “So this is the well-known & distinguished Lloyd Stagner. All-rightie then! My kinda railfan!” (true story)

1. AT&SF Enid depot in Enid, OK. Mr Lloyd Stagner is inside working as a relief agent. I would meet him for the first time just minutes after taking this shot. I would almost need oxygen…
Photo date: December 1, 1978.

2. Lloyd Stagner after recording a couple of images at the Rock Island engine facility in Liberal, KS on March 24, 1979.

3. Lloyd Stagner at the right, waving in Falls City, NE. Left to right are John Arbuckle & Stormin’ Norman Walters who is sorta eclipsing Tony Fey. All 4 fans in this photo dated December 29, 1980 have now passed on.

Thanks for listening!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/18 07:59 by santafe199.

---

---

---

With all that build up, I thought we may get a shot of the 'fashion show" you were lucky enough to witness. That being said, great story!

Joe

Lance,

I am disappointed. I would have thought that you would have captured those 501's on a slide? What were you thinking. Shutter finger frizzed up!!!!!

Gary

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------


> When we got parked I got out and was immediately
> presented with the sight of a pair of Levi’s
> 501s walking up the sidewalk. This pair of well
> worn & faded jeans contained some of the most
> perfect late-teen ~ early 20s curves I’d ever
> encountered. And the perfectly sculpted legs of
> those jeans reached all the way down to the
> ground! I was a true gentleman and only gave those
> faded jeans the once-over 4 or 5 times. I thought
> I was being sneaky, but I turned and discovered
> Lloyd had witnessed the entire escapade. I thought
> Oh Gawd, am I ever busted!!!

Lance,
I am 82 and I want you to know,I NEVER miss a miss!

Uncle Joe
Seffner,Fl.

Funny, the people part of this hobby is the most fun part so often. I enjoyed the remembrance.

RickL

I knew Lloyd the last 20 or so years of his life and considered him a friend. I got to visit him in Newton several times. He was always willing to share his vast paper collection with me. When I first began videotaping Lloyd was retired from the Santa Fe but would "loan out" his son to help his friends (and I was not the only one) in getting train IDS. He would badger his son to copy consists which he again would then loan out or give to his friends. His son was a corridor manager for the Santa Fe at the time and I never learned if he was a railfan or not. BTW I believe "Mr. Santa Fe" authored or co-authored 34 books.
Dick Eisfeller
Big "E" Productions
Greenland, NH

Dick Wrote: > ... His son was a corridor manager ... I never learned if he was a railfan ...

The last 3 or 4 of my 9 years with Santa Fe overlapped his career. Murray was a Train Dispatcher on the Middle Division when I knew him. I found him to have many of the same appealing mannerisms that Lloyd had, especially the quick sense of humor. In those days I knew him as a railfan, to be sure. But I'm equally sure the railfan bug didn't bite Murray nearly as deeply as it did his father. Being a 'corridor manager' it sounds like he moved up the ladder a few rungs. Kudos for him...

Lance/199  

Great memories and very well told!

I was at a train / memorabilia show in New Jersey some years back. I stopped by a table that had boxes of 8x10 black and white photos on it and was looking thru them.
A fellow comes up next to me and also starts looking at the photos.
Without looking at each other, we struck up a conversation about the photos. Finally we faced each other and he introduces himself.
He was none other than Don Wood, the well known photographer of PRR steam. After stammering out a few sentences, I got my act together.
What a nice guy!
He chatted with me about his career at Bell Labs and his photography. And of course, the PRR.
Sadly, Don is no longer with us..........

Made me thirsty......