Railroaders' Nostalgia > 21 days in October + that Western Auto sign

As I just recently mentioned: It was “sweet” for a railfan (pick me!) to don a suit & tie and get paid to ride the varnish. All those Amtrak qualification trips I took with fellow KS Gang pal & fellow SFe Brakeman D A (Dave) Franz in January of 1979 paid off! During the following October of 1979 I caught a flurry of Amtrak passenger work off the SFe Middle Division brakeman’s extra board at Emporia, KS. Between the 2nd & the 22nd I worked or deadheaded on Amtrak trains 13 times. And that’s while cramming 2 freight round trips and a week’s vacation into the mix between the 7th & the 17th. Here’s the run-down straight out of my time book:

2nd : Work frt train 395 B-1, engs 4664 & 7517 on duty Emporia 0555 off duty Arkansas City 1020.
2nd: DH on Amtrak train X-??? east*, (eng unk) on duty Arkansas City 2330, arrive Newton 0200 (3rd).
3rd: (continuous time, at Sand Creek) Work frt train 403 A-1, eng 8507 to Emporia off duty 0715.
Conductor F D Sheets, Engineer D B Pritchard.

4th: DH on Amtrak train #3, (eng unk) on duty Emporia 0200, arrive Newton 0400.
4th: (continuous time) Work Amtrak stub service* train, X-Amtrak 506 west to Arkansas City off duty 0845.
(Seniority dist #2 condr E C Mull worked in place of condr J D Strunk laid off sick AFTER taking call)
4th: Work Amtrak stub service* train, X-Amtrak (???) east on duty Arkansas City 2340 off duty Newton 0235.
5th: Work Amtrak stub service* train, X-Amtrak 521 west on duty Newton 0635 off duty Arkansas City 0950.
6th: Work Amtrak stub service* train, X-Amtrak 506 east on duty Arkansas City 0001 off duty Newton 0235.
6th: (continuous time) DH on Amtrak train #4, (eng unk) off duty Emporia 0600.
Conductor J D Strunk for 3 trips above, Engineer J S Haggard for all 4 trips above.
*Here’s a look at the stub-service trains: ( https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?18,3609303,3609303#msg-3609303 ).

6th: Work frt train 194 E-1, engs 8769 & 5525 on duty Emporia 1525 off duty Sand Creek (Newton) 1840.
7th: Work frt train 883 E-1, engs 8737 & 8500 on duty Sand Creek (Newton) 0520 off duty Emporia 0755.
Conductor L Hudson, Engineer R A Armagost.

7th: (4-hour release) Work frt train 188 G-1, engs 8014, 8072 & 5907 on duty Emporia 1300 off duty Wellington 1520.
7th: (continuous time) Work frt train 913 D-1, engs 8799 & 5673 on duty Wellington 1835 off duty Emporia 2245.
Conductor T W Jackson, Engineer M D Matile.

8th ~ 14th : Personal vacation time granted

15th : Returned from vacation time, slow extra board…
17th : Called to protect Eastern Division Flagman job (laid off sick en route acct emergency appendectomy).
          (on board at Empo) Amtrak train #3, engs 516, 517 & 527 on duty Emporia 0245 off duty Newton 0430
17th: Work Amtrak train #4, engs 525, 530 & 507 on duty Newton 0225 arrive KCUS 0720.
17th: (continuous time) DH on frt train 308 R-1, engs 8795, 5013 & 5086 on train Turner yard office 1300 off duty Emporia 1030.
(Argentine held the 308 @ Turner for crew van to transport me there from KCUS). Eastern Division head end crew not recorded.

19th : DH by personal auto on duty Emporia 0001 arrive Newton 0200 (allowed 2 hours DH time)
19th : (continuous time) Work Amtrak train #4, engs 524, 509 & 521 on duty Newton 0215 off duty KCUS 0835.
Conductor G W Fancher, engineer R B Kirk. (for trip above only)
19th : Work Amtrak train #3, engs 525, 530 & 507 on duty KCUS 2350 off duty Newton 0500 (20th).
21st : Work Amtrak train #4, engs 502, 516 & 573 on duty Newton 0215 off duty KCUS 0650. (pictured below)
21st : Work Amtrak train #3, engs 510, 513 & 505 on duty KCUS 2350 off duty Newton 0500 (22nd).
Conductor G W Fancher, engineer M R Zinn. (for 3 trips above)
22nd : DH by personal auto on duty Newton 1030 (4-hour release) off duty Emporia 1300 (allowed 2 hours DH time)
note: 19th ~ 21st: I was protecting the regular flagman’s 2-round trip vacancy

Little did I know I wouldn’t work that flagman job again for another 4 years. I worked 2 roundtrips in the fall of 1984. I never did work the baggageman job at all. In late summer of 1986 I was forced to take 2 student round trips to qualify as a passenger conductor. But other than 1 or 2 scattered DH trips aboard #3 I never did work any other Amtrak jobs after that…

1. Amtrak train #4, the “Southwest Limited” sits at Kansas City Union Station getting serviced while passengers are transloading. According to my timebook the engine consist was 502, 516 & 573. My conductor was George W Fancher and the engineer was Monte R Zinn. The Baggageman was unknown

2. An quick alternate look at the consist with the iconic Western Auto sign lit up and watching over the scene. Note the baggage carts: 1 load and 3 empties. Then it was fold up the tripod, grab my grip and dash upstairs to meet with the patient, but very understanding Conductor Fancher so we could our get taxi ride uptown to the Continental Hotel and check into our rooms for the layover.
(2 photos taken at Kansas City, MO on October 21, 1979)

Thanks for holding that cab!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/21 20:42 by santafe199.

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Didn't one passenger trip equal 2 freights in mileage?  Money?

Employee timebooks are documents that do not get very much attention. A booklet that holds tons of info, and one can get a feel of how a certain crew district operates. Always cool to look back at the rate of pay for trips way back when. I still fill mine out and have every book except for 2000 (don't know what happened to it)
Sam .

tomstp Wrote:
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> Didn't one passenger trip equal 2 freights in
> mileage?  Money?
Basic day was 100 miles for freight and 150 miles for passenger, but passenger per-mile rate was lower. Of course, many districts were over that and paid actual miles. Today, Amtrak pays hourly.

wpamtk Wrote:
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> tomstp Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Didn't one passenger trip equal 2 freights in
> > mileage?  Money?
> Basic day was 100 miles for freight and 150 miles
> for passenger, but passenger per-mile rate was
> lower. Of course, many districts were over that
> and paid actual miles. Today, Amtrak pays hourly.

Only in train service; engine service was still 100 mile days.

Nice photos. Stories from old time books are always so cool
Brian Stevens

Posted from iPhone

Wonderfully informative. Thank you for that and all the other images and experiences.
—Mac

Excellent shots, Lance!  Loved those big SDP in that first paint scheme.  Interesting time logs to go along wth the pictures.

RC Lundgren

That iconic building with the Western Auto sign was always my remembrance of Kansas City on our trips.
Well, that and Stroud's Chicken, haha.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Looks like on some of those days/nights you did not get much sleep.

DFWJIM Wrote: > ...  you did not get much sleep ...

You're right! Although the schduled inbound layover in KC was over 16 hours, I did do a lot of railfanning where ever a bus could take me in the metro KCMO arena. I would catch a nap in the morning and be out chasing around before noon. I would also catch a catnap before going back on duty at KCUS just before midnight. It's amazing what you can do when you're young & full of railfan adrenalin... ;^)

Lance/199

santafe199 Wrote:
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> DFWJIM Wrote: > ...  you did not get much sleep
> ...
>
> You're right! Although the schduled
> inbound layover in KC was over 16 hours, I did do
> a lot of railfanning where ever a bus could take
> me in the metro KCMO arena. I would catch a nap in
> the morning and be out chasing around before noon.
> I would also catch a catnap before going back on
> duty at KCUS just before midnight. It's amazing
> what you can do when you're young & full of
> railfan adrenalin... ;^)
>
> Lance/199

When I was younger I used to work a night shift (nonrailroading) and I often found myself going golfing, fishing, railfanning...etc when I should have been  home sleeping.