Railroaders' Nostalgia > The People of The Willamette & Pacifc, V5: Dispatch and Cust Svc

 
This one may take some explaining but, again, many of the photos came from my original project to record the folks of the railroad at work. At the start of WPRR, our dispatch staff consisted of two gentlemen who came over from the SP, Dennis Bousquet and Bill Wilson. Dennis (photo 1) was the chief but Bill was the favorite of many of us (photos 2 & 3). RIP, both of these gentlemen.
 Well down the road, after PNWR became the operating name of the railroad and before dispatch was moved first to Salem and then to St. Albans, came Dan Lewis (photo 4), Mike Haywood (photo 5), and Scott Lemmon. Scott is the source of many stories. I first met him when he was a kid from Toledo, hanging out at our yard office there. He was hired as a conductor but always wanted to go places. He eventually became a dispatcher and moved to St Albans (along with Dan Lewis - photo 6). Scotty has since moved back to Oregon and returned to the operating department. There were many other dipatchers, including a couple female refugees from SP (notably Diane Parrot, whose husband was known on SP as Big Bird). My apologies for not remembering more or getting more photos.
 Lastly, customer service began in Albany under the command of Tom Creswell (#7), another SP refugee, and Joe Lane (photo https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t22/2/16/1f60e.png. There were several more but I missed getting photos of them, darn it. Don and Todd Vincent...well, Todd's Uncle Don may have been cusotmer service but he was also a dispatcher at some point, a trainmaster (I think) and other roles in management - and a truly good guy. Todd, on the left, started in operating, rose to Road Foreman/MOP and moved on to another railroad's mangement. Todd's dad Ron (and Don's twin brother) also worked there as marketing and sales but I somehow missed getting his photo - but he is another one of the folks I enjoyed working with.

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Part 2

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Part 3

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More nostalgia, thanks Lou.

All fine folks to work with! Thanks for sharing, Lou.
Like you, I regret not taking the time to get more photos of these people!

Where is St. Albans and what was located there?  Google just mentions a church in Oregon but other cities back east.

spladiv Wrote:
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> Where is St. Albans and what was located there? 
> Google just mentions a church in Oregon but other
> cities back east.

St. Albans, VERMONT. Dispatch Center for all G&W railroads.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/24 20:25 by PHall.

A very nice post with a taste of compassion and respect. Thank you. Bill Webb

PHall Wrote:
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> spladiv Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Where is St. Albans and what was located
> there? 
> > Google just mentions a church in Oregon but
> other
> > cities back east.
>
> St. Albans, VERMONT. Dispatch Center for all G&W
> railroads….
…in the United States. G&W railroads in Canada are contracted out to RailTerm, who also provides dispatching services to other short lines and entities like VIA Rail.

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