Railroaders' Nostalgia > My Own Christmas Surprise

Brian's "A Christmas Surprise" story really resonated with me, but I do not want to hijack his thread. It brought up long-suppressed memories of my own experiences of being cast into the wind as a relative rookie.

This may have been the same Christmas that I got called to be conductor on #12 to SLO from Oakland. I had an SP uniform, a punch and gold buttons, but I was recently promoted and did not know dingle dong about the Amtrak conductor job particulars. On the three previous occasions that I had worked the train as a nearly new hire brakeman, the elderly conductors (Vic Swain, Tommy Meader and Charley Schafer) had worried over me like a favored grandchild, but had nevertheless confined me to the sleepers to call the draggers. Murph, the Bayshore crew caller, must have taken my protestations to heart after I hung up the phone, because when I arrived at 16th St. I found that I had been bumped down to brakeman. The newly appointed conductor, whose name escapes me at the moment, was a surly sort in the best of times. When I walked in I could see his countenance stiffen when he recognized me. By way of coincidence to your story, the only other  time that I had braked for him was on an evening Commute Fleet train out of San Francisco. As we left The City I highballed the running test using the button in the rear Gallery car, meaning that I could not tell if air was blowing out of the communication line, or not, in the noisy, crowded vestibule. Unfortunately, said device turned out to be be bad order. Worse, the engineer was a real a-hole named Stevens who, rather than attempting another running test, stopped the train flat in the middle of the 4th St. interlocking plant, thus tying up the following Fleet. After that, the situation worsened... Backing up a bit, my claim for conductor's rate on #12 was paid.

Merry Christmas, Brian and all!

EO
Wx4.org




 

Good story Ed. Hope you had a nice Christmas.

Posted from iPhone

Many thanks for sharing. I rode the pre-Amtrak Coast Daylight and my railfan friend joining me forwarned me "Guess what?, we are on Swain's train. Watch out!" 

My own surprise came on a quiet Christmas Eve. Southern Pacific owned a now nearly forgotten trucking company named Pacific Motor Trucking. One of their tractor trailer transports had just delivered a load of new cars in California's San Joaquin Valley. On its return to Oakland, it passed through an extremely foggy Altamont Pass where it was being driven much too fast for safety on the freeway in late afternooni. A major collision had occurred in the number three lane and people involved in the accident and others who were blocked by it were milling about and blocking the number four lane as well. They could not see, but could hear the PMT transport coming down the grade. One pedestrian was struck by the transport and another next to the outside guard rail, simply jumped over the guard rail, thinking she would land on earth, but instead found herself airborne, landing on a steep slope, some distance down and away with two broken hips and legs. The PMT driver kept on going, put his rig away in the yard, and then went home for Christmas.

I learned about it an hour or so later as a result of the California Highway Patrol's search for the driver whom they soon identified and arrived at his home to arrest him for hit and run driving with injury. The cost of this accident was just another nail in PMT's coffin due to their financial condition.

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/25 12:06 by Westbound.

EO Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Brian's "A Christmas Surprise" story really
> resonated with me, but I do not want to hijack his
> thread. It brought up long-suppressed memories of
> my own experiences of being cast into the wind as
> a relative rookie.
>
> This may have been the same Christmas that I got
> called to be conductor on #12 to SLO from Oakland.
> I had an SP uniform, a punch and gold buttons, but
> I was recently promoted and did not know dingle
> dong about the Amtrak conductor job particulars.
> On the three previous occasions that I had worked
> the train as a nearly new hire brakeman, the
> elderly conductors (Vic Swain, Tommy Meader and
> Charley Schafer) had worried over me like a
> favored grandchild, but had nevertheless confined
> me to the sleepers to call the draggers. Murph,
> the Bayshore crew caller, must have taken my
> protestations to heart after I hung up the phone,
> because when I arrived at 16th St. I found that I
> had been bumped down to brakeman. The newly
> appointed conductor, whose name escapes me at the
> moment, was a surly sort in the best of times.
> When I walked in I could see his countenance
> stiffen when he recognized me. By way of
> coincidence to your story, the only other  time
> that I had braked for him was on an evening
> Commute Fleet train out of San Francisco. As we
> left The City I highballed the running test using
> the button in the rear Gallery car, meaning that I
> could not tell if air was blowing out of the
> communication line, or not, in the noisy, crowded
> vestibule. Unfortunately, said device turned out
> to be be bad order. Worse, the engineer was a real
> a-hole named Stevens who, rather than attempting
> another running test, stopped the train flat in
> the middle of the 4th St. interlocking plant, thus
> tying up the following Fleet. After that, the
> situation worsened... Backing up a bit, my claim
> for conductor's rate on #12 was paid.
>
> Merry Christmas, Brian and all!
>
> EO
> Wx4.org

Thanks EO.  Since I'd been demoted to brakeman on that passenger job, and was an assigned freight conductor, I was working for freight conductor's rate on the passenger train.  Plus, my regular crew got out before I was rested off the passenger job.  Got paid their earnings also.  It was a total "Ka-ching" trip.

Brian
>
>
>
>
>  

Was "Murph" the same Murphy that transferred down to San Luis and had inherited a nice Packard?  Very nice guy.

Great story Ed! That hogger on the communte must have been Ray Stevens and he indeed was an a-hole! Weird guy!

As for Charlie Schaefer and Tommy Meader, conductors on the Starlight, they were two class acts! I fired the Starlight for a couple of years, mostly for Danny Wolf and always enjoyed working with that whole crew! 

Happy New Year dude!

JWR, still kicking at 85 but these 80's aren't what they're cracked up to be!

EO Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Brian's "A Christmas Surprise" story really
> resonated with me, but I do not want to hijack his
> thread. It brought up long-suppressed memories of
> my own experiences of being cast into the wind as
> a relative rookie.
>
> This may have been the same Christmas that I got
> called to be conductor on #12 to SLO from Oakland.
> I had an SP uniform, a punch and gold buttons, but
> I was recently promoted and did not know dingle
> dong about the Amtrak conductor job particulars.ommy Meader and
> Charley Schafe
> On the three previous occasions that I had worked
> the train as a nearly new hire brakeman, the
> elderly conductors (Vic Swain, Tommy Meader and
> Charley Schafer) had worried over me like a
> favored grandchild, but had nevertheless confined
> me to the sleepers to call the draggers. Murph,
> the Bayshore crew caller, must have taken my
> protestations to heart after I hung up the phone,
> because when I arrived at 16th St. I found that I
> had been bumped down to brakeman. The newly
> appointed conductor, whose name escapes me at the
> moment, was a surly sort in the best of times.
> When I walked in I could see his countenance
> stiffen when he recognized me. By way of
> coincidence to your story, the only other  time
> that I had braked for him was on an evening
> Commute Fleet train out of San Francisco. As we
> left The City I highballed the running test using
> the button in the rear Gallery car, meaning that I
> could not tell if air was blowing out of the
> communication line, or not, in the noisy, crowded
> vestibule. Unfortunately, said device turned out
> to be be bad order. Worse, the engineer was a real
> a-hole named Stevens who, rather than attempting
> another running test, stopped the train flat in
> the middle of the 4th St. interlocking plant, thus
> tying up the following Fleet. After that, the
> situation worsened... Backing up a bit, my claim
> for conductor's rate on #12 was paid.
>
> Merry Christmas, Brian and all!
>
> EO
> Wx4.org
>
>
>
>
>  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/25 16:55 by johnw.

tehachcond Wrote:
>
> Thanks EO.  Since I'd been demoted to brakeman on
> that passenger job, and was an assigned freight
> conductor, I was working for freight conductor's
> rate on the passenger train.  Plus, my regular
> crew got out before I was rested off the passenger
> job.  Got paid their earnings also.  It was a
> total "Ka-ching" trip.
>
> Brian

I never had enough trainmen seniority to part SP from its money via the Black Market. Good on ya!

Unfortunately, when I went to Amtrak as an engineer there was no such thing, so I conteneted myself in avoiding as much work as possible. 
Having a good life requires some measure of personal flexibility, I've found.

EO

Westbound Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The PMT driver kept on going, put his rig away in the yard, and
> then went home for Christmas.

So, am I wrong here? Wasn't the poor driver just embracing SP's mission statement about making the customer #1. Was he promoted after the jail time?

EO
Sorry, I could not resist.

spladiv Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Was "Murph" the same Murphy that transferred down
> to San Luis and had inherited a nice Packard? 
> Very nice guy.

Yep, that's him. I can't recall anyone not liking him.

EO

johnw Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great story Ed! That hogger on the communte must
> have been Ray Stevens and he indeed was an a-hole!
> Weird guy!

Yeah. The late great Engineer Mike Mendoza had a host of stories about Stevens' involvement in the "film" industry, amongst other things, that I dare not relate here. My lingering question about him is whether it is true that he really had a leftover inventory 155mm howitzer stashed away on his retirement estate in Maui.

My only involvement with him came when, as a Morning Fleet brakeman, I failed to fulfill his standing demand that the rear man deliver a newspaper from the cars to him. Instead of confronting me directly, he tried to chew out my conductor, Benny Kutz. If you knew Benny, you'll understand that the subsequent conversation took a turn for the worst for Stevens.

Like Benny, most of those elderly Depression era Commute and Amtrak Conductors were decent sorts, in my experience. Post-War, seniority, maybe not so much.

>JWR, still kicking at 85 but these 80's aren't what they're cracked up to be!

Jeez John, you're not giving me much to look forward to in the next decade.

EO