Railroaders' Nostalgia > Mad Dog Chronicles # 48: Working for Krebs on the SSW

Working for Krebs got tougher and tougher.

Between 1971 and 1972, Krebs got much more difficult to work for, as he became much more demanding. I call this the Kirk/Ramsey effect. Both D R Kirk, the General Manager of the T&L Lines and J D Ramsey the operating AGM believed that the more pressure that you applied, the greater the result. Rob Krebs seemed to buy in to this philosophy. As a result, he became much more difficult to work for. In the beginning, it was actually fun to be working on the Cotton Belt. By the middle of 1972, I was ready to leave at the first opportunity.

In the middle of 1972, DJ Russell retired. I was one of only four Cotton Belt Officers who were invited to his retirement party at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. While I was in San Francisco, I had an opportunity to have a private talk with R L King, then the General Manager of the Pacific Lines. I told him in that interview that, whenever an opportunity arose, I would really like to be transferred back to the Pacific lines.

To make a long story short, Percy Dornfeld retired in 1972 and I was transferred back to Colton as the Trainmaster on September 1 of 1972. I had been assigned to the Cotton Belt for 14 months. I had enjoyed my assignment to the Cotton Belt, and I had learned a lot.

West Colton was now under construction, and both Bob McClanahan and Jerry Jansen were already there, on the West Colton Staff. However, the Colton Trainmasters District was mine. Lee Eyler was still the Trainmasters clerk. I had an assistant trainmaster working for me, at night, of course, and I was going to have some fun.

Al Huston was by now a District Road Foreman of Engines. The new Road Foreman was Don Green.

The best part of all of this was, that all of the effort that I had put into learning this particular Trainmasters district, as an assistant trainmaster, two years before was still all relevant. I could hit the ground running, and I did, too.

(To be continued)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/10 09:46 by mdo.

Al & Don were great to work for. I think Don finished up on Corp and Al just retired. Is he still living?

Nudge

Are the stories about Mr. Krebs having screaming tantrums true? I heard he was famous for those.

I have a good one when Krebs & Lacy's raiders stopped me at Elwood on night. I had the last laugh.

Nudge

Soooo, what's the story, Nudge??

spnudge Wrote:
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> I have a good one when Krebs & Lacy's raiders
> stopped me at Elwood on night. I had the last
> laugh.
>
> Nudge

OK Nudge, you opened the door, so let's hear it!

Butch,,,,,,,here we go

BNSFhogger Wrote:
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> Are the stories about Mr. Krebs having screaming
> tantrums true? I heard he was famous for those.

This is something that I never experienced with Krebs. He was known for his steely eyed gaze, with which he fixed upon you as he asked why you had not done something that he had requested. He never talked to me in a loud voice during my entire working relationship. 1970 to 1984.

I never talked with him after 1984.

mdo

Love to but both answers were dumped. Don't know what I did to the boss of TOs. I will try once more tommrow.

Nudge

Then clean the story up so it matches the "G" rating this site has...

I will try & send this again and hope it makes it.

I was called one night out of SLO to LA and we were told "Lacy's Raiders" were out making a System Audit. I had just pulled up over the hump at Naples and was heading for the sump west of Elwood. I was going to West Santa Barb for the Med-Fly. I set the air to keep em in check at 60 when I came around the first curve and there was a "Tiny" yellow flag & 2 guns at the crossing. There was a white car parked out by the freeway. They were there to see that the flag was up and the guns went off. Also to walk up to the caboose when we stopped and give the rearend crew a once over. That put the 2 miles at about the East switch at Elwood. Sure enough, I can see 2 Carryalls and 3 cars sitting there with a red fusee burning.

I pulled up and stopped a bit short so we (Fireman & Head Brakeman) would have time to get ready for the "20 Questions". I stood up & opened up the number board hatches so we would have plenty of light. I put my TT, rule book, watch & watch card and orders up on the control stand and they started to pour into the cab. Lacy, Krebs, District & LA RFE, and 3 Trainmasters. It was so tight, that 2 of the Trainmasters went back out side to lay in wait for the rear man to walk up.

You see, Lacy would start questioning you and keep it up until you missed a question. The only way around this was to use the book. He would ask a question, and I would say just a minute while I look it up. That would piss him off no end but I just mentioned the other rule about commiting things to memory and and that "I don't want to get anything incorrect." Meanwhile, the other officers were grilling the Fireman and Brakeman. Krebs was just watching and not saying much. I kept asking questions and trying to make this last as long as possible.

Finally, looking at my watch, I asked, "Mr. Krebs, do you have a car here?" Lacy and the rest of the officers looked at me like I had commited a sin talking to the boss without permission. (You could see the 5 vehicles in the headlight) Krebs said, yes he did and why did I want to know. I told him, "I wonder if you could drive my head man to the west switch at Goleta to flag the Med-Fly. We are 3 minutes on a first class trains time and he is out of West Santa Barb".
Suddenly you could hear a pin drop. Then Lacy blew up. All the officers looked at each other and without another word headed for the door. Lacy and Krebs were 2 mad officers and if looks could kill, I was long dead. The RFE grabbed my headman and everybody was gone in a cloud of dust. I kicked off the air and called the Conductor and told him that I was going to pull and let me know when the rear man is on. I then said, " Lacy & his Raiders are going to take our head man to Goleta to flag for the Med-Fly." for all to hear. About 10 minutes later the signal at Coromar went yellow and the headman called on his pakset and said we were all lined in. When I got there, the Med-Fly was waiting on the main and no white cars were anywhere in site.

I was told later by the RFE that Lacy & Krebs both unloaded on the officers for not catching the oversight.

Nudge

spnudge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I will try & send this again and hope it makes
> it.
>
> I was called one night out of SLO to LA and we
> were told "Lacy's Raiders" were out making a
> System Audit. I had just pulled up over the hump
> at Naples and was heading for the sump west of
> Elwood. I was going to West Santa Barb for the
> Med-Fly. I set the air to keep em in check at 60
> when I came around the first curve and there was a
> "Tiny" yellow flag & 2 guns at the crossing.
> There was a white car parked out by the freeway.
> They were there to see that the flag was up and
> the guns went off. Also to walk up to the caboose
> when we stopped and give the rearend crew a once
> over. That put the 2 miles at about the East
> switch at Elwood. Sure enough, I can see 2
> Carryalls and 3 cars sitting there with a red
> fusee burning.
>
> I pulled up and stopped a bit short so we (Fireman
> & Head Brakeman) would have time to get ready
> for the "20 Questions". I stood up & opened up
> the number board hatches so we would have plenty
> of light. I put my TT, rule book, watch &
> watch card and orders up on the control stand and
> they started to pour into the cab. Lacy, Krebs,
> District & LA RFE, and 3 Trainmasters. It was
> so tight, that 2 of the Trainmasters went back out
> side to lay in wait for the rear man to walk up.
>
> You see, Lacy would start questioning you and keep
> it up until you missed a question. The only way
> around this was to use the book. He would ask a
> question, and I would say just a minute while I
> look it up. That would piss him off no end but I
> just mentioned the other rule about commiting
> things to memory and and that "I don't want to get
> anything incorrect." Meanwhile, the other officers
> were grilling the Fireman and Brakeman. Krebs was
> just watching and not saying much. I kept asking
> questions and trying to make this last as long as
> possible.
>
> Finally, looking at my watch, I asked, "Mr. Krebs,
> do you have a car here?" Lacy and the rest of the
> officers looked at me like I had commited a sin
> talking to the boss without permission. (You could
> see the 5 vehicles in the headlight) Krebs said,
> yes he did and why did I want to know. I told him,
> "I wonder if you could drive my head man to the
> west switch at Goleta to flag the Med-Fly. We are
> 3 minutes on a first class trains time and he is
> out of West Santa Barb".
> Suddenly you could hear a pin drop. Then Lacy blew
> up. All the officers looked at each other and
> without another word headed for the door. Lacy and
> Krebs were 2 mad officers and if looks could kill,
> I was long dead. The RFE grabbed my headman and
> everybody was gone in a cloud of dust. I kicked
> off the air and called the Conductor and told him
> that I was going to pull and let me know when the
> rear man is on. I then said, " Lacy & his
> Raiders are going to take our head man to Goleta
> to flag for the Med-Fly." for all to hear. About
> 10 minutes later the signal at Coromar went yellow
> and the headman called on his pakset and said we
> were all lined in. When I got there, the Med-Fly
> was waiting on the main and no white cars were
> anywhere in site.
>
> I was told later by the RFE that Lacy & Krebs
> both unloaded on the officers for not catching the
> oversight.
>
> Nudge

Interesting story, thanks for taking the time to post it.
"Somebody" has been deleting threads on another TO Discussion board as well. Whassup with that?

They don't like it when you make fun of others... anyway, great story, Nudge. That always seems to be the case, isn't it. Overlooking the really important issues while presuding another agenda.

WAF Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They don't like it when you make fun of others...

-"Somebody" has been deleting threads on another TO Discussion board as well. Whassup with that?

I was e-mailed that the threads I had questioned were 'of no useful purpose'. My post asking what happened was deleted, don't know what to think about that. Hopefully it's not an issue.

"Not useful"?? Give me a break. Nudge's story gives a different prespective to Mike's story of Krebs. Sure, it made SP officers look aloof conducting the test, but hey, life happens. Goes to show what a good engineer Nudge is and has a good understanding of the rulebook. They just picked on the wrong guy and lost. Get over it.

So Nudge, where was Thurston ( LA Div Super) while this little party was going on in the cab? Was he back grilling the conductor?

Questions to spnudge:

Is a "gun" a torpedo?

What train was the "Med-Fly?"

1)Yes, a "gun" is a torpedo (it sounds like a gun going off) and 2) the Med-Fly was the short-lived overnight, state-sponsored Amtrak train between Los Angeles and Sacramento via Oakland. Gov Jerry Brown's administration had approved it, and it was during the med-fly scare, hence the name. When the Repubos (Dukmajian) took over again, they axed it. I can't recall the real name... something really dorky as I recall, like "The Spirit of California?"

Bob wasn't there. I think this was about the time some moves were being made on the LA Division. And I think Jim Martin was gone by then too.

Jim and and an RFE tested me late one morning leaving Camerillo going west on the SF in the early 70s. They put down a shunt in the curve so I couldn't get a clear signal after the east man went by. We flagged on towards Oxnard and there they were in the big curve, sitting in the lemon orchards on the land side. They called me on the radio and told me to stop. I had stopped at the signal but didn't whistle off before I started to move, thus they didn't hear me coming. Jim was in "Good" shape that morning, but that is another story left unsaid for now.

Hey.....you can speak your mind without the chance of censorship and no fee to join over at

http://www.therailforum.com

Don Green is alive and well living in Medford Oregon. We converse fairly regularly. I think Al Houston passed but could be wrong on this.