Railroaders' Nostalgia > Sleep in a sauna..

One trip i got to the away from home terminal and it was one of those 12+ hour trips, where you're so tired your eyes burn, all you want to do is go to bed, and oh good here comes the sunrise.

So i decide i'm going to take a hot shower and then knock out for some much needed rest.  It was February in Chicago, so first thing i did was turn the shower on straight hot 
to get it good and warmed up.  Then i sat on the bed to take off my boots, and that was the last thing i remember before waking up to a hotel room that had it's own atmosphere.
I dont remember how long i was out, but lets just say it's impossible to run a hotel water heater out of hot water.  I remember everything in the room was wet, but fortunately being 
the middle of winter, the rooms were usually as dry as tinder from the community heat being circulated, so it dissipated quickly, and i gave up on the shower and went back to bed.

God, does that bring back memories. Being an SP guy and working the engineers extra board on  the Tucson Division 1984-1989 we had two away from home terminals that had SP Modules...Lordsburg, New Mexico and Yuma, Arizona. These modules, and most others I have stayed in were exactly the same on the SP. After the usual 12 hour grueling trip I registered in and walked to the mods, kicked my boots off and collapsed in the bed. After a reasonable sleep I got up, showered, thrrew my tennis shoes on and opened the door to go to the El Charro which was a 3 minute walk from the mods in Lordsburg. One problem, I was over 400 miles west of Lordsburg, New Mexico in Yuma, Arizona (on the California border). Damn, I must have been really out of it. All those mods looked exactly the same in the room. Well now I have a 15 minute walk up to 4th Avenue to get some decent Mexican food. I am sure there are other SP guys that had that same experience, maybe some on this website!

Well before the Modules, SP had you sleeping just about anywhere and everywhere. At some places the SP had an unofficial place to sleep close
to the tracks. I think this might have been for the guys that didn't want to spend any money at the L.A .Rooms!!
But now in Salinas you could sack out upstairs in an old Bldg adjacent to the Depot. There was one job on the Lark where you got off and returned on the inbound Lark.
Now to access this very dark hole of a place, I forget what was on the bottom floor, (Yard Office?) you had to climg a vertical ladder bolted to the wall!! Not the easiest thing to do
with your Grip. Paid 150 miles!

The rooms in Bakersfield were horrendous. The choices included the Rankin and the Bakersfield hotel. I think the going rate was 5 dollars. Indio was the Indio hotel or the Potter. Santa Barbara was the Southern or the Californian. Yuma was the Del Sol. All of these hotels didnt even warrant a one star rating.
Luckily the SP started paying for our lodging .

Posted from Android

Okay, one more for me. In Oakland you had the infamous "Jack London Inn" that was on a list as the second worst hotel in the US. I never did find that list but couldn't argue with it. I got a room facing east away from the double track mainline and felt lucky! Running a train passed that place in the street running I would have the bell on and barely touch the horn thinking of the Brothers. But I must say the Amtrak boys especially on the Sacramento commute jobs would light it up...thank you! Anyway back to my room this one trip. It was really cold in the room on the second floor and the curtain was closed so I figured the window was open. I opened up the curtain to find the window was missing! I call down to the front desk and tell the clerk that the window is gone, he says they are short on rooms and doesnt know if they have any others. Grabbing my grip I go down to the front desk and lets just say we have a meeting of the minds. He magically came up with a room that actually had a window! I am guessing that wasn't the first he had done that to a Rail.

The Jack London Inn was rated the 2nd dirtiest hotel in America in 2011...

Trip Advisor Dirtiest Hotels

Having spent many a day and night there, I shudder at the thought of worse, but apparently it exists. Rooms with random holes in the walls, stains of god knows what, nothing working, lights all burned out, break ins to guest rooms, room doors opening at all hours of day and night on seemingly hourly intervals... The only redeeming quality about the place is there were places to eat around it.

SanJoaquinEngr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The rooms in Bakersfield were horrendous. The
> choices included the Rankin and the Bakersfield
> hotel. I think the going rate was 5 dollars. Indio
> was the Indio hotel or the Potter. Santa Barbara
> was the Southern or the Californian. Yuma was the
> Del Sol. All of these hotels didnt even warrant a
> one star rating.
> Luckily the SP started paying for our lodging .
>
>
> Posted from Android

At the Hotel Indio, it was said that on the second floor, there was a crossing for cockroaches that was protected by crossing gates.  One time, I went to take a shower and didn't notice the drain cover was missing.  When I turned the water on, about fifty roaches came pouring out of that drain!

Brian Black
Castle Rock, CO.

While on the delivery of new GP30 units the the KCS, for EMD, I generally rode with the crews from Pittsburg, KS to Watts, OK. The "hotel" in Watts was obviously NOT air conditioned, and the rooms were generally about .75$ to 1.00$ per night. The beds were steel frame, with mattress & sheets, however the "fire escape" was a very large diameter rope, tied to the end of the big steel bed (it had knots about every 2 feet. Apparently the idea was, in case of fire, throw the rope out the window and climb down to the ground. Since the "hotel" was a wooden structure, I figured that if there ever was a fire, the whole damned thing would go up like a box of match heads. It was the summer of 1963, and hotter than hell. Still don't know how in the hell I ever slept the many nights I stayed there.

Nobody has mentioned the Resetar Hotel in Watsonville.  On of these old dumps with a bathroom at the end of the hall.   Watsonville was a temperate climate, so it didn't have to have air conditioning. If Nudge was still with us, he would have plenty to say.

One trip West out of SLO, we arrived there about 2 in the afternoon, and knew we would be going back about three or four in the morning, so we got to bed fairly quickly.  An old drunk couple ended in the next room, and was making a lot of noise, keeping us awake, but I got my revenge.  When we were called, I turned their "do not disturb" sign around to show "maid service requested."
G

When we were full at the normal hotel in Chicago, they would send us down the street to an even shadier place that i cannot for the life of me remember the name of, but it was about 3 blocks from Midway Airport.  
One night i woke up in the middle of the night and the room was absolutely freezing, and i rolled over to find my room door was wide open, at about 3am.  It was locked when i went to sleep.  

A quick check found that nothing was missing, and there was nobody in the room but myself, but that didnt exactly give me the warm and fuzzies. 

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/23 19:09 by TheIndianaConnection.

We used to stay at a Super-8 that wasn’t very super. It was clean, and no bugs so it didn’t bother me too bad.
One winter night when it was -20 we tried up and after about 10 minutes I figured out my room had no heat.

I was so tired I just turned the shower on full hot and passed out. Same thing as the OP. I awoke to a tropical rain forest for a room, laughed like hell at the life I was living and turned off the water. 3 hours later the room was cold and we were getting close to called. Got showered, dressed, food and called.

Wonder if they ever fixed the heat?

Regards

Posted from iPhone

Not just at the AFHT hotel. I did this at home one day. I have an en suite bathroom off the master bedroom. I got home, dog-tired from a particularly brutal trip, came in, dropped my grip on the floor, turned on the shower, and sat down on the corner of the bed to ponder my life's choices. I didn't get up until 4 hours later, waking up in a sticky hot sauna. Took hours to air the room out and get it back to normal.

tehachcond Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SanJoaquinEngr Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The rooms in Bakersfield were horrendous. The
> > choices included the Rankin and the Bakersfield
> > hotel. I think the going rate was 5 dollars.
> Indio
> > was the Indio hotel or the Potter. Santa
> Barbara
> > was the Southern or the Californian. Yuma was
> the
> > Del Sol. All of these hotels didnt even warrant
> a
> > one star rating.
> > Luckily the SP started paying for our lodging .
> >
> >
> > Posted from Android
>
> At the Hotel Indio, it was said that on the second
> floor, there was a crossing for cockroaches that
> was protected by crossing gates.  One time, I
> went to take a shower and didn't notice the drain
> cover was missing.  When I turned the water on,
> about fifty roaches came pouring out of that
> drain!
>
> Brian Black
> Castle Rock, CO.


Another running joke at the Indio hotel was the main event was to watch the cockroaches and bed bugs would fight to the death. Crickets were also abundant.

Drknow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We used to stay at a Super-8 that wasn’t very
> super. It was clean, and no bugs so it didn’t
> bother me too bad.
> One winter night when it was -20 we tried up and
> after about 10 minutes I figured out my room had
> no heat.
>
> I was so tired I just turned the shower on full
> hot and passed out. Same thing as the OP. I awoke
> to a tropical rain forest for a room, laughed like
> hell at the life I was living and turned off the
> water. 3 hours later the room was cold and we were
> getting close to called. Got showered, dressed,
> food and called.
>
> Wonder if they ever fixed the heat?
>
> Regards
>
> Posted from iPhone

You couldn't do that at the old Oak Tree/Baymont. They tend to run out of hot water during peak usage times, usually when the commercial guests are getting ready for their day. It wouldn't happen if they fixed or replaced one of the water heaters, but you can't have everything.

I remember one overflow motel. Incoming calls, like from the caller, had to go through the front desk. Which wasn't manned over nights. I half expected to see a chalk outline of a dead body in the bathroom it was that good of a motel.

Posted from Android

"If Nudge was still with us" He passed last year.....

57A26 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Drknow Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > We used to stay at a Super-8 that wasn’t very
> > super. It was clean, and no bugs so it didn’t
> > bother me too bad.
> > One winter night when it was -20 we tried up
> and
> > after about 10 minutes I figured out my room
> had
> > no heat.
> >
> > I was so tired I just turned the shower on full
> > hot and passed out. Same thing as the OP. I
> awoke
> > to a tropical rain forest for a room, laughed
> like
> > hell at the life I was living and turned off
> the
> > water. 3 hours later the room was cold and we
> were
> > getting close to called. Got showered, dressed,
> > food and called.
> >
> > Wonder if they ever fixed the heat?
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > Posted from iPhone
>
> You couldn't do that at the old Oak Tree/Baymont.
> They tend to run out of hot water during peak
> usage times, usually when the commercial guests
> are getting ready for their day. It wouldn't
> happen if they fixed or replaced one of the water
> heaters, but you can't have everything.
>
> I remember one overflow motel. Incoming calls,
> like from the caller, had to go through the front
> desk. Which wasn't manned over nights. I half
> expected to see a chalk outline of a dead body in
> the bathroom it was that good of a motel.
>
> Posted from Android

One time they tied us up in Forrest City at the “Shan-Gra-La”.

Slept on top of the sheets in my work clothes.

Regards

Hell, you guys apparently never got experience the best hotels SP trainmen used.   1961, At Barersfield, there was the Metropole Hotel which featured no doors on the rooms, just curtains.  Bath was down the hall.  Rent was $9.00 a week, and only rails stayed there.  In Fresno, I got a room at the Crest Hotel above the Crest Theater downtown.  I was only 18, a brand new brakeman, and quite proud of having found a good well-paying job.  I called my mother in Phoenix to tell her how I was doing.  I told her of my lodging, and she asked how I knew when to go to work.  I told her "the call girts tell you when". (SP actually had crew clerks riding daylight orange bicycles in downtown Fresno call crews in both directions.)  Maybe Mom misunderstood, but about 30 minutes later, a policeman was knocking on my door asking, in a very Southern accent, "Where are all them whores you told your mama about?"  And then, there was the "club", upstairs above the massive wooden station building at Indio.  Three cots to a room, renting for 50 cents a night, and only a swamp cooler to stifle the terrific heat.

TIOGA PASS

Norman Orfall
Helendale, CA
TIOGA PASS, a private railcar

The old barracks. Share a Sh!tter/shower and a room the size of a semi bunk.

Always get called in the middle of the night when the Old Head in the next room was “Setting one out” in the can.
Pound on the door and plead your case about getting called and wanting a shower…

Them good old days. But in many ways was way better than now.

Regards

Posted from iPhone

During and after the Tehachapi floods of 1982-83 the Signal Dept put us up in the Rosey (Royal) Palms Hotel across the street from a Black Angus  on Union Ave in Bakersfield. They gave us enough of an allowance to eat there every night and we provided money for our own liquid resfreshment. That hotel was more than a dump, and the clientel walking around the place used it by the hour. One night when we got back off the mountain we noticed the "g" was burned out on the Black An*us Sign. Got a good laugh out of that, it stayed that way for a couple of months. 

SanJoaquinEngr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The rooms in Bakersfield were horrendous. The
> choices included the Rankin and the Bakersfield
> hotel. I think the going rate was 5 dollars. Indio
> was the Indio hotel or the Potter. Santa Barbara
> was the Southern or the Californian. Yuma was the
> Del Sol. All of these hotels didnt even warrant a
> one star rating.
> Luckily the SP started paying for our lodging .
>
>
> Posted from Android

SP4360 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> During and after the Tehachapi floods of 1982-83
> the Signal Dept put us up in the Rosey (Royal)
> Palms Hotel across the street from a Black Angus 
> on Union Ave in Bakersfield. They gave us enough
> of an allowance to eat there every night and we
> provided money for our own liquid resfreshment.
> That hotel was more than a dump, and the clientel
> walking around the place used it by the hour. One
> night when we got back off the mountain we noticed
> the "g" was burned out on the Black An*us Sign.
> Got a good laugh out of that, it stayed that way
> for a couple of months. 
>
> SanJoaquinEngr Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The rooms in Bakersfield were horrendous. The
> > choices included the Rankin and the Bakersfield
> > hotel. I think the going rate was 5 dollars.
> Indio
> > was the Indio hotel or the Potter. Santa
> Barbara
> > was the Southern or the Californian. Yuma was
> the
> > Del Sol. All of these hotels didnt even warrant
> a
> > one star rating.
> > Luckily the SP started paying for our lodging .
> >
> >
> > Posted from Android

But remember:

The Carrier instructs you to “Get the right rest” while putting you up in the roach motel, and having a lineup that is only good for comedy relief.

Regards

Posted from iPhone