Railroaders' Nostalgia > The people of the Willamette & Pacific, v4: The Dream Team

Alternately, The Oldheads.  

Many of us newbie hires, from the start of the railroad to about 1998, were taught the fine art of car handling and railroading by Gary Dallman, conductor on WPRR's Corvallis Local.  He insisted on proper use of hand signals and was always thinking days ahead in his moves.  One day, switching cars in Corvallis's small yard, he threw a switch I was sure we didn't need.  Asked why, he said that he would need it tomorrow.  Gary retired in 1999 and passed too soon. The last time I saw him was at Scott's retirement party in 2002.

Gary's regular engineer and fellow former SP employee was Scott Pirie. Scott was Number 1 on WPRR's engineer seniority roster due to his 1962 original SP hire date.  There were other 'older' SP guys on the railroad but none were engineers.  I always admired his job bids as he only had one job listed. I first met Scott chasing the local to Hull-Oakes.  I was taking some photos while they were standing, Gary having gone to the office to deal with paperwork.  Scott walked up and introduced himself, which was the beginning of a thirty year friendship and the genesis of the idea of my working there.  When I remarried in 2001, Scott was my best man and engineer for the ceremony, which is another story.

#1: Scott at thecotrols and Gary on the radio inside the 1801.

#2 Gary signing the Train Register at Corvallis Junction

#3 At the west (south) end of Corvallis Junction, Gary has lined the switch into the straight leg of the wye, the former Westside line while Scott waits patiently.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/24 16:32 by roustabout.

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My favorite photo of Gary, with the local departing Alpine Junction after switching Hull-Oakes.  Their habit was to stop a few miles north of here and to saw Gary to the head end so he could run and give Scott a break.  That was about the only time Gary ever took the throttle on that job.

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Thanks,Lou.

Good times and great people!

Great post and nice tribute. Thanks for posting. Bill Webb

Very good info Lou, thanks for taking the time to show how things started!

Mike Root
Madras, OR

Great slice of "history," Lou.

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ