Railroaders' Nostalgia > RIP JWL

Bill Lynch passed away yesterday.  He was 97.  When he retired from the Southern Pacific  in 1987, he was Superintendent of the Sacramento Division.
 Before that he had been Division Engineer of the Sacremento Division since the ninteen sixties.

He posted here as JLY.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/23 04:58 by mdo.

mdo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bill Lynch passed away yesterday.  He was 97.
>  When he retired from the Southern Pacific  in
> 1987, he was Superintendent of the Sacramento
> Division.
>  Before that he had been Division Engineer of the
> Sacremento Division since the ninteen sixties.
>
> He posted here as JLY.
RIP Bill

Rest in peace Bill!  May all of the improvements you made over Donner keep your spirit alive in those who knew you!

 

Mike, Bill was 94. Born in 28

Sorry to hear about that.
JLY's contributions to the forums always made for worthwhile reading and gave us non-rails a better appreciation of the profession.
--j

Sorry to hear of his passing.His insights and comments were interesting.Bill Webb

RIP JLY. He certainly had some interesting stories and details to share. Made places like Donner Pass and the Eel River all that more incredible. I never met Mr Lynch but he seemed to be quite the character, he has some memorable posts and additions on TrainOrders and also contributions to the NWP Society 2017 book about the NWP.

The descriptions of the Island Mountain bridge in the 1964 storm is just amazing. Lots of great info on the Donner Pass snow clearing efforts. Great stuff.

Sorry to hear of Mr Lynch's passing. When reading his comments here on Trainorders, you could tell they
were from a no-nonsense, old-school professional. Early on in my TO's postings, I related my experience while
at SP's locomotive engineer training facility for the need and development of a so-called Form Y train order
check list to assist engineers in safely navigating the maze of possible scenarios that could occur when using
SP's Rule-I and Form Y train orders. I was gratified to read his, always brief and to the point, approval of my
efforts; in this case "...it was great..", and later in his remarks about Sam Burton and his role in bringing the
check list 'out of the closet', into the light of official implementation. 

Another link to the past and how we 'did it' has moved on and we are collectively poorer---but enriched by his 
all too brief participation here on this forum. May his family be at peace with the knowledge that he is in a better place.

Charles Wherry 
 

Bill was "by the book"

RIP, JLY.  You gave tremendous insights into the inner workings of the SP.....invaluable to those who were interested in such things.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

The great Sctott Inman hosted a meeting  in Sacramento with Jim Mahon, Mr. Lynch, Dick Dorn and Shirley Burnham sponsored by the SPRTHS. in 2018 in Sacramento. (First Image) .Angelo Figone and I indeed interviewed Mr. Lynch for the NWP book also during 2017.  We went up to Roseville and spent a whole day.  Mr. Lynch was very generous with his knowledge about the rebuilding of the NWP in a record 177 days after the huge 1964 flood that washed out 100 miles of the railroad in the Eel River canyon from South Fork to Longvale. Also in 2017, Scott invited him and Mahon to a joint meeting with the NWPRTHS and the SPRTHS in Rhonert Park.  Sctott Inman hosted a roundtable with Michael Ongerth, Jim Mahon nd Moyers. , That afternoon, I drove them over the legacy NWP depot in Santa Rosa built in 1913. We then boarded a SMART traain for a ride down to Novato. (2nd image)  Text and Photos by Mike Pechner, "Copyright, 2018.  "All Rights Reserved."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/23 22:30 by weather.

---

---

---

He was an amazing man.  He rode with us on our last Trainorders excusion over the Sierras and he was a big influence to my son Mason, and he is one of the reasons Mason chose a career in engineering.   When we were delayed on our return out of Sparks Mason spent time with Bill listening to his experiences. We spoke on the phone after the trip and Bill he wanted to send Mason a gift and asked if that would be ok.  A few days later two bookends arrived by priority mail. These bookends were given to Bill as a gift some decades earlier and were made from original transcontinent rail that was discovered inside the Sacramento shops during some reworking.  Bill told me he was getting old and he needed to find a home for them and felt Mason would be a good caretake for them. We plan to put them on display in a locked cabinet after we build our small display building in Marina on the Monterey Branch. 

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

webmaster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> He was an amazing man.  He rode with us on our
> last Trainorders excusion over the Sierras and he
> was a big influence to my son Mason, and he is one
> of the reason's Mason chose a career in
> engineering.   When we were delayed on our
> return out of Sparks Mason spent time with Bill
> listening to his experiences. We spoke on the
> phone after the trip and Bill he wanted to send
> Mason a gift and if that would be ok.  A few days
> later two bookends arrived by priority mail. These
> bookends were given to Bill as a gift some decades
> earlier and were made from original transcontinent
> rail that was discovered inside the Sacramento
> shops during some reworking.  Bill told me he was
> getting old and he needed to find a home for them
> and felt Mason would be a good caretake for them.
> We plan to put them on display in a locked cabinet
> after we build our small display building in
> Marina on the Monterey Branch. 

Can you post a photo of the bookends?

Great man that lived a very exciting life. I purchased an entire collection of SP bulletins from ebay. On the cover was a photo of Bill. I wrote to him and asked if he was the person on the cover. He said yes . Mailed it off to him and he was really appreciated by my gesture. Asked Bill one day to put a rumor to rest about the infamous Eli Brown. Eli as the story goes went into the bowl at Roseville while the bombs were exploding to pull some LPG cars to prevent a further catastrophe. Bill said that didn't happen. Eli was a train master on Amtrak for a few years. Rumor had it that he could do no wrong and always had a get out of jail card. RIP

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/23 13:05 by SanJoaquinEngr.

weather Wrote:

> The great Sctott Inman hosted a meeting  in
> Sacramento with Jim Mahon, Mr. Lynch, Dick Dorn
> and Shirley Burnham sponsored by the SPRTHS. in
> 2018 in Sacramento. (First Image) .


Buca di Beppo restaurant? A great gathering of talent experience, and history. Thanks JLY for everything you shared here.

Here is one of the two.  We need to replace the label tape as it has been peeling off.  Sorry for the bad photo, I am in bed getting ready for the drive to Monterey tomorrow morning.

 

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

---

Keep the old label tape!  Adds to the story and its authenticity.

sphogger

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/23 15:01 by sphogger.

I just came across this posting this morning.  That's me sitting between Mr L and Shirley.  Shirley was the one person in the room I knew socially and, besides, Mr L had simply told me that's where I would be sitting- I'd never met him before this day but I guess he wanted to grill me a bit about my TO postings regarding Donner Pass. He was fun to talk to, he came on with bluster but it turned friendly fairly quickly if you didn't run or grovel.  A very old-school way of cutting to the truth. 
It was a curious luncheon.  Like Wes said-  I wish I'd met him much sooner.
SR

---

Yup, Steve. That's Bill. Comes running at the Hill in run 8, 45 MPH and creeps by you at 5 MPH.

Ha! Yeah, my kinda guy- it’s a kick to tackle these Old School guys.
Once won over you’ve got a good friend for life.
SR