oldtimer

Born and raised on the PRR. My mother was hired at 15 years old in WWII. She would water and move steam locomotives, until the end of the war and she was told what she was doing was a man's job. She had finished high school at night and took a test and was allowed to take a clerks job. She retired as a clerk with 44 years 8 months service. I came along in the mean time and lived on Stewart St on the South Side of Chicago, facing the PRR mainline, right at the switches for the ECL.

I guess that I was a black sheep when in 1968 I became a certified Airframe and Powerplant mechanic and worked on airplanes until until my third layoff on Dec 24th 1971. I was a victim of "Nixonomics".

In April my mom told me that the PennCentral was hiring at 12th St. I went down and talked with the General Foreman and he told me to walk around the yard and see what each craft was doing as he thought that I could qualify for any of the craft jobs available. I asked if I could be hired as an electrician as it seemed to be the cleanest job.

In May of '73 Amtrak had a help wanted ad in the paper so I invested in an 8 cent stamp and sent a resume. I went to the interview and was offered a management position and then walked out when the subject of salary was raised and wished them well in their new project. The manager that interviewed me chased me and grabbed me by the arm. I then thought I was in control and asked them to double the salary offered and the said they would get back to me. Three days later the letter of a formal offer of a position came in the mail with the salary that I wanted. I wished PennCentral well even though they refused to offer a leave of absence and off to Amtrak I went. Thirty five years later I was forced out with a disability.

I married a woman that was working in the Chicago reservation office which was closed in 2004. She went to passenger services in CUS and now has retired with over 33 years service for Amtrak. She was raised in Iowa and her father was a section foreman on the CB&Q who retired after 35+ years.

I have done may things in my railroad career and met may people. The most important trip I made was in 1996 when I had the pleasure of working President Clinton's campaign train. That is a story by itself as I met the President and he was impressed.



If it rolls, flies, or floats I can fix it, certified A&P mechanic, builder and crew chief for late model stock car, I ride a 1977 GoldWing and have worked a lot on vintage aircraft.