In the 1940’s, a rookie Southern Pacific locomotive fireman was always glad to see on the board that he had drawn duty on a 5000-series 4-10-2. In the years to come, the same fire-boy would probably fire all types of engines. He would be accepting engine assignments as they came, without a flicker of apprehension […]
Section: Railroad Stories
That’s Railroading
In the winter of 1943, I was assigned to the firemen’s extra board at Des Moines Iowa, on the Rock Island’s Iowa Division. Because of a shortage of firemen I was called for a trip west to Council Bluffs with engineer Earl Beach. We had a good trip west to Council Bluffs. On the return […]
A Little Nervous Calculating
On the Norfolk & Western, when you qualified for passenger service as a fireman or engineer, the Road Forman of Engines’ office put a “p” by your name on the seniority roster. This told the world that you had the right to warm the appropriate seatbox on a locomotive on any passenger train on your […]
Rough Handling
My father, Richard Henderson, was employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad as a shop clerk in the motive-power department at Toledo, Ohio, from 1901 through 1955. He told me the following story, and I will never forget it. During World War II, troop trains were given rights over virtually every other train on the road. Such […]
