Railroaders' Nostalgia > Carl Ragosa was a good hoghead SP LA area

A fun guy to work with and always had the latest on everything
Of Course his knowledge of air horns was famous and every now and then you would find him atop of an engine doing this or that.
And he seemed to like switching cars which he was quite accomp;ished. 
He didn't mind working  Acey, Ducey (Mill Run) either.
Gave you some good relief from th seat-box.

Carl was a kick to work with as long as you didn't have any work to do. He once knocked off the handbrake s off some loaded grain cars at Moorpark which slammed into my engine. I had to bail off the engine because the cars hit the engine at 15 mph. The engine slid about 3 engine lengths. Luckily nothing derailed. Joe Rivera was the conductor and he had some choice words for Carl.
Another time Carl had a setout for Leesdale , on the Coast line near Oxnard, forgot to line the derail and shoved over it causing a few cars to derail. He bumped his head and had to be taken to the local hospital for stitches. The doctor used staples instead because the joke was his head was too thick.
Carl had to line up 17 tri levels one night at Gemco. Took him 4 hours and lined them up backwards!
Too bad Carl passed away on the job at the siding bearing his name today. RIP Carl.
Carls Dad was an engineer on the PE. He originally hired out on the Delaware and Hudson or the New Haven . The family moved westward in the early 1950s.

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Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/23 21:53 by SanJoaquinEngr.

Never had the pleasure but know those who did. The siding where he passed with his name at each end in MAY '03.
JB

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Thanks JB for posting the great photos.

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I met him once when he brought a train into East Los Angeles. Me being UP and Carl was SP, it took a while to get to know each side after the merger. He was well known for his horn swaps on locomotives. What you see in the  picture is the siding bearing his name and a small memorial. The original siding name was Frink, possibly named for Frink Springs a bit closer to the Chocolate Mountain range seen in the right background. The Salton Sea is to the left. Near the photographer out of view is the Border Patrol station. The Lunar Module thingy rises up so agents can see down and in the Westbound passing train cars looking for riders. For a while the agents would board the power and walk back through the units. We were moving about 5 mph for the inspections. 

Evidently Mr. Rogoza died 20 years ago and was a trainman.

Gary McClain who was running the SP Simulator at the time in Lenexa, Kansas was the person who was behind most of this. I worked for him there for two years (temporararily assigned), and I believe this was the time frame Carl passed on a west bound freight train out of Yuma. All of us who knew Carl threw in money and John Signor did the sign.

I always thought the sign was done by Bill Roberts?
JB

ApproachCircuit Wrote:
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> A fun guy to work with and always had the latest
> on everything
> Of Course his knowledge of air horns was famous
> and every now and then you would find him atop of
> an engine doing this or that.




> Gave you some good relief from the seat-box.

Carl was unable to qualify as an engineer when he transferred over to Engine service, and the SP made a one time special arrangement to let him return to train service instead of being dismissed.  He owed GGM a bunch of thanks for that, and the company knew that none of us would object.
G

My two operating brain cells remember that John Signor did the sign...it was a long time ago! I believe a second sign was done after the first sign sort of died  in the desert sun, possibly that person did the second sign?

sp3204 Wrote:
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> My two operating brain cells remember that John
> Signor did the sign...it was a long time ago! I
> believe a second sign was done after the first
> sign sort of died  in the desert sun, possibly
> that person did the second sign?

I think the sign was erected before the actual formal renaming of Frink to Rogoza.

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