Beech Grove pride with a ‘Bear’ hug
By Jim RePass
NCI CEO
The other day, Amtrak put on display in Washington the first fruits of Amtrak President Dave Gunn’s decision to repair, in-house, some of the 120 wrecked and damaged passenger cars that had accumulated over a period of literally years. They cost Amtrak millions lost in revenues. They had remained unrepaired because Amtrak either lacked the money to do the job, or spent what little they had on other priorities. Gunn, who is at core a railroader, has changed all that.
The Beech Grove shops structurally repaired Superliners (both a “I” and a “II”) and one unrebuilt (“before,” so to speak) Superliner I double-decker passenger cars. In this case, sleepers 39044, 32019, and 32007, respectively, were on display. They are used in long-distance trains originating or terminating in the Midwest and West, and parts of the South.
Beech Grove general foreman Dennis Watson and welder Butch Vick, inside Superliner 32019, repaired by the Beech Grove team under CEO David Gunn’s new in-house program. Amtrak displayed some repaired cars at Washington’s Union Station May 15.
Also on display were unrebuilt single-level Amfleet café car 20007 and a Bear Car Shops rebuilt Amfleet all-table dinette (28351, formerly 20044) completely remodeled, which will become standard for use on the Northeast Corridor Metroliners. Those shops are located in Bear, Del.
Equally displayed at Washington Union Station last week was something not often seen at Amtrak in recent years – pride.
Along with the equipment, Amtrak’s Gunn, who observed his one-year anniversary on May 15, made sure that some of the people who actually did the work were on hand, to explain to the electronic media and print press what had been done, and to share in the credit for the program. Gunn is famous for hating puffery and hype, but is a big fan of substance and real achievement – and it showed.
General foreman and estimator Dennis Watson, estimator Mike Milburn, electrician Paul French, and welders Jeff Bocock and Butch Vick, all of the Beech Grove shops in Indiana, made it clear that craftsmanship and skill, along with cost-effectiveness, are alive and well in America, and they put in a 12-hour day on May 15 to prove it. They also made it clear how they felt about their new (one-year) boss.
“Thank God for David Gunn,” one man said, slowly and directly, while another nodded. “Thank God.”
Gunn is bringing Bear and Beech Grove shop crews back to work, after years of layoffs and delays. The repair program and Amtrak’s ability to fund it stems from Gunn’s tough decision-making and his willingness to tell Congress like it is.
The men and women of Amtrak, who for so long have taken the brunt of the underfunding that has been Amtrak’s plight all its life, are the iron and steel who stand behind Gunn, and he knows it.
Congratulations to Dave Gunn on his one-year anniversary in what has to be one of the toughest jobs in America – and congratulations to the men and women, the craftsmen and craftswomen of Amtrak, like those we met last week, who are bound and determined to prove that they are back, and here to stay. I believe that they would say, as did Winston Churchill in WWII, “Give us the tools and we will finish the job.”
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