Railroaders' Nostalgia > Have you ever known a Bona-fide BS'er on your seniority District?

Well I doubt if you can come up with a bigger one than the one we had.(engine service, SP, Los Angeles.
I wish I had heard more of his BS. But this guy was convincing although you knew in the back of your head that
what he was saying was pure BS.
Cases in Point:
He was overheard at the Simulator on a pay phone talking to the manager of his famous Race Horses. According to my source, he stayed on the phone for quite a while in the most convincing manner.
Ok, now the next one was regarding his yacht that caught fire at the fuel dock in Newport Beach, Ca. Well I was living down there and I hot-footed over to the dock, (STD OIL) shortly after his tall tale.
Nothing of the sort which I knew beforehand but I went anyhow. He had stated the yahct had burned to the waterline!
OK, now the most fantastic tale of all, at least the one he told me was having a private cave on one of the channel Islands. Not only that, but it was furnished with all the comforts of home. And, Oh Yes,
there were available young hippie women there that took care of you and your every "Whim"!!
This guy turned up at Amtrak in L.A. on a roster but I never saw him. Amtrak had a problem with non-promoted firemen coming over and claiming to be promoted hoggers. They would last a few weeks and
then disappear. I don't know what happened to him, maybe he took the 3rd buyout about the time Amtrak took over. This guy was Glib!
Thanx

There is a story of a Conductor on the EL who was working out of Utica in the mid-70's just before Conrail. A younger guy, early 30's and on a job making some pretty good bucks for the time. The layover was at the Holiday Inn in downtown Binghamton, a rather upscale place at the time, and a place to see and be seen. The off duty crew is sitting around the bar and this guy gets up and goes out and calls the bar phone to page himself. Comes back in the bar and takes the page and picks up the bar phone. So he paged himself as Captain (insert name) like he is an airline pilot. He's talking on the phone like he's a big deal pilot taking a call from the airline, talking loud so everyone can hear who he is and how important he is. The rest of the crew just stared incredulosly and then broke out laughing. Thing is he wasn't noted for doing that kind of thing. Not sure what happened that night.

I remember a guy on the LA Division back in the early 1980's. TS Berry. He had some real whoppers. His nick name was Tall Story (TS) . He ended up taking one of the early SP bye-out.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/23 07:20 by HardYellow.

The Roseville engineer who always had one better than you.  His initials were WSW,  and he was known as Bullshit Bill from Cow Shit hill!
He went to Sparks when the UP took over, and got himself fired for stealing time.
G

ExSPCondr Wrote:
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> The Roseville engineer who always had one better
> than you.  His initials were WSW,  and he was
> known as Bullshit Bill from Cow Shit hill!
> He went to Sparks when the UP took over, and got
> himself fired for stealing time.
> G

I remember seeing him in Sparks when I was working 5-6 in the 90s and recall the nickname.  Those types are on every railroad, every place.

RD Bush, (Golden Arm) a world famous engineer and authority on everything, worked out of Emporia, KS. If you didn't believe, just ask him.

I guess everybody had them.I called them toppers.What anyone  said or did they had one better.We had one that got named Pinnochio .lot of guys called him that to his face .It never seemed to bother him..Actually not a bad guy .One thing I found that occasionally working with them or just seeing one of them in the crew lobby was one thing,but on the same job for any length of time the routine of lies bcame tiresome.Bill Webb

Had a yardmaster who said he was a Navy Seal on Seal Team 6.
Was living overseas and was "kidnapped" by the U.S. government and
shipped back to the U.S. because he knew so many secrets it was imperative
that he not fall into "enemy" hands.
 

HardYellow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I remember a guy on the LA Division back in the
> early 1980's. TS Berry. He had some real whoppers.
> His nick name was Tall Story (TS) . He ended up
> taking one of the early SP bye-out.

   Wasn't he the guy that claimed to be an O.B.G.Y.N. on the side, and the reason he was late for work one time, was that he'd been abducted by space aleins of some kind?

Brian Black
Castle Rock, CO.
 

The L A division guys you are talking about would be McQueen or Booger Blanchard.

Posted from Android

We would see WSW in the Tracy triangle once in a while. Gary (Hungry) Hyman would say you could tell  when he was telling a whopper by the way his eyebrows lifted up and down.

Railroads aren't the only place these guys exist.

I’ll revisit this thread when I retire in a few years. The truth is out there! Lol.

Regards

Posted from iPhone

tehachcond Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> HardYellow Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I remember a guy on the LA Division back in the
> > early 1980's. TS Berry. He had some real
> whoppers.
> > His nick name was Tall Story (TS) . He ended up
> > taking one of the early SP bye-out.
>
>    Wasn't he the guy that claimed to be an
> O.B.G.Y.N. on the side, and the reason he was late
> for work one time, was that he'd been abducted by
> space aleins of some kind?
>
> Brian Black
> Castle Rock, CO.
>  

Yes....that TS Berry. After taking the buy out, he ended up in jail for impersonating an Air Force Captain.

HardYellow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tehachcond Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > HardYellow Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > I remember a guy on the LA Division back in
> the
> > > early 1980's. TS Berry. He had some real
> > whoppers.
> > > His nick name was Tall Story (TS) . He ended
> up
> > > taking one of the early SP bye-out.
> >
> >    Wasn't he the guy that claimed to be an
> > O.B.G.Y.N. on the side, and the reason he was
> late
> > for work one time, was that he'd been abducted
> by
> > space aleins of some kind?
> >
> > Brian Black
> > Castle Rock, CO.
> >  
>
> Yes....that TS Berry. After taking the buy out, he
> ended up in jail for impersonating an Air Force
> Captain.


Never knew him. Don't forget Rock Padgett and McAlpine. Plus AA Swanson

Posted from Android

On the WP our BS artist said he stopped robberies, made citizens arrests, and flew a Lear jet.  Those are a few of the stories I remember him telling.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/23 10:00 by Beowawe.

I had almost forgotten Sid's (the SP Surf Operator's) Gun Shop in Salinas. "He had a manager run it for him!"
G

We had a conductor that was a Navy seal, (actually a cook) that was shot out of a submarine torpedo tube.

Posted from Android

LocoPilot750 Wrote:
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> We had a conductor that was a Navy seal, (actually
> a cook) that was shot out of a submarine torpedo
> tube.
>
> Posted from Android

Was it because of his food?   ;-)