Railroaders' Nostalgia > Bring your Sand Wedge to work day

SP Hogger Myron Hechter practices golf with his Sand Wedge at Gemco Van Nuys, California in 1974.


Myron Hechter Collection.

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I fired for Myron during those years. He would bring a few clubs with him to practice his strokes. We worked the Chatsworth hauler. Los Angeles to Gemco ,Van Nuys, California. The hauler would haul out the dead freight and bring back the loaded tri levels. Fun times.
A side note Myron made homemade salsa. He made hot and mild. One of the best salsa s that have ever tasted.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/24 19:13 by SanJoaquinEngr.

Always kept a set of clubs for long layovers.

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Yeah, Myron H. was a pretty good golfer, but if you were on the caboose with him, you better stay seated.  I was just a kid off the extra board, so it was my place to be seen, and not heard.  One time, I was on a caboose braking for Warren Butler, a nice laid back guy, and Myron knocked him on his butt.  If they weren't 100 cars apart, Warren would have strangled him with his own golf club.

Brian Black
Castle Rock, CO.

We kept a few clubs and a bucket of balls in the S6's at the Ventura County Railway.  Since the Seabees saw fit to put their golf course at the north end of Port Huneme and the track cut through one of the fairways, it was a natural spot to "club a few" while waiting for the gate to be opened. the guys trying to play through had to wait and when we did leave, they had plenty of balls to choose from on the fairway. Ron Baker was famous for launching balls back towards the tee. 

I've mentioned it before:
One day in the mid-'60's, I rode the caboose out of Oxnard, CA, to Ojai with my late brakeman uncle, T.J. (Tom) Gill.  Ojai was on an unsignalled SP branch with only a six days a week local.  As we passed the golf course, the engineer would spot the caboose so the conductor could step off to collect stray golf balls.

mapboy

One of the regional oddities that 'had it's time' was the B&O Mt. Jewett Branch, from Mt. Jewett, to Kane, Marienville, and originally known as the Pittsburg & Western.

Northwest of Kane, a golf course emerged around the track - on both side.   When B&O/CSX sold the line, Sloan Cornell purchased it and ran it as the Knox & Kane, relaid the Mt. Jewett branch of the Erie up to the Kinzua Viaduct, and started running Marienville-Bridge with the Chinese 2-8-2 (now at the Valley RR) and all those ex-LIRR old coaches.

And it went RIGHT THROUGH THE MIDDLE of the golf course, 50-60 feet off the greens, check Google Earth at 6654 Rt. 6 Kane PA.   I remember riding the train through there when all play had to be suspended when excursion trains came through twice a day.  The grade is still very visible, now it's a trail.

Is there another common-carrier/excursion railroad someplace that ran through the MIDDLE of a golf course??  I found B&M at Montague, MA in 1977 with a similar situation.

And the same railroad, just to be more unique, ran RIGHT THROUGH a shooting range in Russell City, PA between the shooting benches and the targets.

In Savannah going into International Paper, there is a golf course right by the track. We would pick up balls, sometimes while still in play, I would blow the horn on the downstroke and get cussed at. One day I put a torpedo on the track by a tee box when the golfer started his downstroke I ran over it. I was cussed at that day too.

Sam

A couple miles from our place. Moundsville Country Club in Washington Lands, WV. The former B&O river line to New Martinsville runs through. Were there more trains per day, it would be a beautiful place to railfan. (It's actually open to the public. Members' biggest perk is getting first call on tee times before noon.)

Rebecca Morgan
Jacobsburg, OH

Love it. I had nice loud 3 chime Leslie airhorn under the bed of my truck. one Saturady I was in Lone Pine, the golf course was right next to the highway. Well these guys were waiting for their buddy to tee off and on his downstroke I laid into that that. It was the most beautiful stroke I'd ever seen, nice and smooth on the way down followed by a bent club followed by a nice bi bird. The guy never skipped a beat. Wonder if his buddies gave him a Mulligan?

Trainhand Wrote:
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> In Savannah going into International Paper, there
> is a golf course right by the track. We would pick
> up balls, sometimes while still in play, I would
> blow the horn on the downstroke and get cussed at.
> One day I put a torpedo on the track by a tee box
> when the golfer started his downstroke I ran over
> it. I was cussed at that day too.
>
> Sam