Day: July 11, 2014

My father was a MoPac Superintendent so I became a second generation MoPac employee. After high school graduation, I started as a summer employee on the Section gang in Atchison, Kansas in 1964. In those days of “Grain Rush” in the summer, the company hired lots of short term summer help in train service and track gangs, but we had to resign at the end of the summer and go back to college. Also on the same gang was Mike Haverty(later in life President of Santa Fe Railway and then Kansas City Southern.) He hired me later on. During the following summers I worked on signal gangs, bridge gangs, welder helper, telegrapher, brakeman, in many places in Kansas, returning to college in winter. In 1966 I transferred to Little Rock, Arkansas as brakeman and took promotion to Conductor. I graduated from college and accepted a position as Transportation Trainee with Missouri Pacific Railroad. Because of my work experience I graduated from the training program in less than a year. Jim Love, Henry Arms, Art Shoener were there at the same time. I was sent to Lake Charles as Assistant Trainmaster for a year, then to Osawatomie as Trainmaster, then the Operation Control Center in St. Louis was formed and Art Shoener and I were brought in to start “OpCon”. After a year, I was promoted to Superintendent OpCon. Another year passed and I was promoted to Division Superintendent at Coffeyville, seven months later, transferred to Chester, Ill as Superintendent. To get my terminal experience, I was moved to the hump yard at North Little Rock for 2 years as Superintendent, then promoted to General Superintendent-Transportation at NLR. After 2 years, promoted to Asst. General Manager and soon departed for Harvard Business School for the 13 week Program for Management Program “PMD”. After returning from Harvard another year passed and on November 15, 1982(just days before approval of UP-MP-WP merger) I was appointed General Manager of the Texas District. In June of 1985 I was transferred to Salt Lake City, Utah on the UP as General Manager of the South Central District. Two years later we merged the NorthWest district and the South Central District into one and I became the Asst General Manager. In 1988, we restructured again and did away with districts and General Managers and I moved to Omaha to form Service Measurement and later to Service Design. January 1, 1989 I was recruited by Mike Haverty to become General Manager at Topeka, KS on the Santa Fe Railway, five months later I was promoted to Vice President-Operations. 6 years later in 1995, when Haverty became President of KCS, he recruited me again to become Senior Vice President- International Operations. In 2002 I was recruited to become Chairman and CEO of Railworks Inc, a railroad construction and services company, finally retiring in 2005. I always laughed when I told my Dad…..I was the last C&EI Supt, last Missouri and Illinois Supt, last General manager on T&P, last General Manager on the Western Pacific RR. As we merged them all out of existence.

The best job on the MoPac for me was General Manager-Texas District. I was given freedom to make significant cost reductions by Dick Davidson and was far away from the politics of St. Louis and Omaha. I enjoyed this job , living in Texas, my management team, our accomplishments etc more than anytime in my career.

The best part of being on the Mopac during this period was the management team of D.B. Jenks and J. H. Lloyd, they formed the training program that became famous in the railroad industry. It allowed for us young guys with a college education to enter into management at a young age(23 for me) work hard, be aggressive in an aggressive management, be in prominent positions at the time of merger at still a young age and succeed in the post merger culture. It was a great career in a changing time and they allowed it to happen by recruiting us.

MP was a very young, aggressive, success oriented culture that was very well situated because of the emerging Gulf Coast Chemical complex. Managing every nickel and dime allowed management to invest in the infrastructure over the years and improve the property to where when the mergers started, we were the darling of the industry.

TCS was the most important and biggest change factor in my career, it took us from paper and #2 pencil lists to car scheduling and other great computer programs that led the Railroad industry for decades.

Working in MoPac management was stressful on families, I have moved my household forty times in my life, it created difficulties but also reaped benefits, the balancing and the management of the hours, moving, different states, changing of schools, loss of friends, were difficult to handle but yet the success, promotions, more money etc helped overcome.

Mopac was tough, aggressive in their relations with the unions, we were very discipline oriented, didn’t put up with any nonsense, if you violated the rules, then we disciplined you. We credited the improving safety and injury prevention success to this behavior.

During the UP-MP-WP merger, egos reined, my way or the highway attitudes, blue and yellow teams, butting heads, decisions were made many times because of the color of your shirt(blue or yellow) not because it was the best for the company. Careers were ruined, turmoil was prevalent. You had to dodge the bullets but sometimes you took a hit. Took a lot of years with many good people leaving before UP forgot about blue and yellow. That’s why I left for the Santa Fe.

What were my accomplishments? I made it from the beginning to the end, I made some good decisions but also some bad decisions, I rose from the bottom to the top, I developed good friendships still going today, I kept myself in control and hopefully didn’t make a fool of myself and now looking back, I enjoyed my life and career on Missouri Pacific, lived the history and participated in making it a success that it is today, if only for a brief time in history. While all that is not remembered by anyone, I feel good about my life on MoPac.

Originally posted by Charlie Duckworth, 11 July, 2014

Wade Clutton’s write up made on January 11,2011. Wade passed away March 8, 2015.

I went from Chief Clerk (local traffic office) at Joplin, Missouri (September 1962 through December 1962). Then I went into Traffic Analysis working for Ronnie Crossman. When he became head of the Rate Department (about 1964), he brought me up to the 18^th floor to head a little “study/analysis” group and teach guys in the rate department on costing moves. The weirdest thing I ever did was to have to fly to Washington DC on my way home from work….I had to take a document to the ICC for filing. I was able to get a flight into Baltimore where Bill Higginbotham met me. We went to the ICC to deliver it and then he drove me to what is now Reagan Airport (it was National then) and I caught a plane home. No fax in those days.

In January 1966 I, along with about 5 ot 6 others, was assigned to the “Management Information Study” Group. We finished our study and presentation in 1968. We got the go ahead and so the decision was made to start down the implementation road. Marvin Ummel and I started down the road of putting together the first field CSC….our first efforts was at North Little Rock. Our “tracing system” was the state-of-art EAGLE using some of the finest technology in existance: a Western Union teletype at 66 words per minute vs 60 for a standard railroad teletype. Most of the clerical functions were pretty much the same but soon we expanded to around N Little Rock.

The car reporting system of Yard Mech only reported departures and interchanges. Marv and I, through Art Mennell who was installing the yard inventory system and J. B. McCormack (Superintendent), we boot-legged an inbound reporting system and an industry department/placement system. This went along for a year or more before the St. Louis Traffic Department discovered it. Fritz Dowling went crazy because “we were going to fill up the computer and have car records all over the floor of the computer room”. We did not back down nor did the car records over flow to the floor.

Guerdon Sines came along in 1969 and soon realized he badly needed Fritz Dowling’s political support. I became the pawn to deliver Guerdon’s side. Guerdon told me “to take care of the traffic department’s needs”. He gave me a nice, but completely inexperienced staff. My traffic interface was Neal Spaeth so all of this worked fine and Dowling was happy.

The MIS report invisioned a strong car distribution world and a significant St. Louis presence in Locomotive management. Jim Gessner was given the job of creating “The Transportation Control Center” which we came to know as the 16^th floor. Dowling was a political buddy of Jim Gessner’s from the day Jim arrived on the property.

The “job slot” which was created was to improve “customer service”…through Dowling’s help, I got the job. Gessner wanted the Service Bureau modernized, he wanted to know where our service weaknesses were and he wanted to know what the terminal detention numbers were. So in January 1972 I became Director of Service Control.

Jenks told us in 1966 “to give him a plan to organize and operate the railroad with all the computer and communications power required, but don’t bankrupt me”. He indicated out first job was to design the system to be followed up by implementing the system and finally to cause the railroad to learn how to use the system. Incredible guideance and equally incredible vision of what the path forward should be.

During the late 1960s the railroad was only marginally in the black. By the time the MoPac was sold our profit was very substantial, we had money in the bank, we had a vastly improved physical railroad and a state-of-the-art computer system. The magic of what TCS was and could pruduce was evident very early on.

My supervision from the 15^th and 16^th floors during my Director of Service Control tenure was very loose and very supportive. One of the basic concepts of the MIS proposal was a creature we came to know as “auto bill” – essentially the creation of “perfect waybills” for the basic repetitive movements. I started working with Bob Kilgore when I came to Traffic Analysis in 1963 and we always had a close personal relationship. Somehow Kilgore got involved with the auto bills. I gave the printed bills to Dick Mathews (who was operating GM telegraph for me) and told him to review the bills in his spare time to see what we could do to long haul the MoPac. We changed a huge amount of billing to Chicago vs St. Louis. Soon the C&EI was loaded with traffic and the cash was rolling in.

With the auto bill capability, the Service Bureau, including the diversion desk could change waybills. The revolution began to take place. Somewhere along that time period I discovered we had been getting diversion wires on private empties and generally we just put them in a desk drawer. I went crazy and we immediately began functioning in a similar way to Car Control. Complaints went away and everything was going great.

That’s when Neal (?) was a traffic clerk at Continental Grain trying to move grain from C&EI elevator to their elevator at Avondale, LA. By this time Kilgore and I had teamed up to bootleg in the ability for a clerk in St. Louis to see a track in Villa Grove (or anywhere else). Thats when we started “electronic switching of empties at Villa Grove”. We had it so the local would take the empties to the elevator. Either the local would bring the loads back to Villa Grove or the CH (Chicago-Houston train) would pick up at the elevator.

The CH was essentially an empty chemical train going to Houston…it had more power than nexessary so the northbound would have enough. Bright idea clicks on: We have the power to move the loads south without additional train miles. As chance would have it the CH ran a little ahead of the DN (Dupo-New Orleans). The DN was essentially a southbound empty train. The CH would set the hoppers out for the DN. We moved the loads without train miles. Northbound, a few empties on the rear of a chemical train could always be accomplished. The money was rolling in, the costs were minimal.

One day I was telling John Toler about what we had not been doing (Continental as well as folks like Dow), what we were doing and how our customers were really happy. He said something about “why don’t you set up a car control world for private cars?”…..when given a chance, Toler was always a man of big visions. Within a week John Neikirk and John Constanti had a new world. To say the least, this was an exciting world.

Joe Pijut took care of autos and when he needed serious help he, came to me

The Service Bureau clerks were 99% blindly supportive. The came to understand that if they undertook the jobs I wanted done that they would have jobs. Job cuts were rampant all over the railroad’s clerical staff.

One day I was talking with Bob Kilgore complaining about the high wide function and having to retype messages and all the clerical crap…by the end of the conversation, we had invented “Repetitive Messages”. Today, of course, we call it email but it was a new invention in the late 1970’s. I never told anyone what I was doing or how we were doing to do it and certainly I did not have the “authority” or direction. We know the results. Repetitive messages revolutionized the railroad’s communication and management. It damn near implemented itself.

When we began to implement car scheduling, we had to come up with names/codes for yard blocks. First plan was to implement what was in place. There was no uniformity. As far as I was concerned it was total chaos. Without discussion or authority, I changed the system. A North Little Rock block would be the Yard Mech symbol of NLRK regardless of where it was being built. Suddenly anyone could look at any consist or any inventory and understand where the cars were going. Voila another big step in easing the officer’s transition from point A to point B. We were able to look at train consist in a way never dreamed of, well until I got another idea: I wanted to see how well a yard had done its switching and blocking so we got the ability to look at the prior block.

Once people understaood how easy it was to see poor switching via train consists or YATS inquiries, we saw incredible levels of improvement without major discussion.

All of these things, and many others, had major impact on the quality of railroad service. We never dreamed of them in MIS and we never dreamed of them later….instead we exploited every opportunity. As the old quote goes: It was the worse of times (major derailments, severe power shortages, unprecedented winter weather for 2 years) and it was the best of times (TCS, run through trains, electronic switching, private car control, reduced terminal detention, managerial pride/excitement). Yes, my friend, it was the tale of two railroads.

Originally posted by Charlie Duckworth, 11 July, 2014

What was your first job on the Mopac and what were the daily duties?
Hired 12/27/72 Wichita,KS

What was the most interesting job on the railroad you had?

Durand TSE

What were your duties, what were the most interesting or challenging areas?

Learning the TCS 4.1 Procedures and work order procedures

What was best part of working of the Mopac?
I tried getting hired on the Santa Fe at my hometown of Newton, KS, but I failed the eye exam. Looking back, I am glad it turned out how it did .

What did the railroad focus on as your daily responsibilities?
Doing setting out and picking up of cars and train inspection.

How did the MP differ from other railroads.
I worked for the Santa Fe during the summers of 69-71 in the Store Department. It seemed like the Santa Fe had a more layed back relaxed working environment. The Mopac seemed to have a formal working environment.

What changes did you see in your career that you felt were significant.
Going from four men to two men on a crew.

Any stories you can tell now you couldn’t when you were working? How did working for the railroad affect your personal or family life.

Way to many stories to tell . Since I never got married ; it was never an issue.

What will be regarded as accomplishments you made in your Mopac career.
J.C.Love Jr. and hired me and me promise him I wouldn’t get hurt if he let me mark up. I kept that promise and worked 40 years without a reportable injury.

What was Mopac’s relationship like with the unions? Other railroads, customers.
I managed to get along with just about every manager I worked for .

What was it like working for the Mopac during the UP merger?
Constant change after the UP took over . The Mopac years was relatively stable operations wise and rules changes were minimal. The UP years were years were ones constant change, some good;some not.

Originally posted by Charlie Duckworth, 11July, 2014

First train order copied May 25, 1969 at 6:19 am

January 1, 1973 Telegrapher Seniority Roster showing 6 McVeys working on the White River.

Steve is the fourth from the bottom, Agent at Reeds Springs.

Originally posted by Charlie Duckworth, 11 July, 2014

When I was two years old, my parents moved into a house next to the Missouri Pacific yard in Carthage, MO. The first time that I saw a train go by, I was hooked. I attended Hawthorne Elementary school, a block away, and I watched trains from the playground. I don’t recommend it, now, but, when I was old enough to roam the neighborhood, I visited the railroad yard a lot. I stayed my distance when things were active, but I could be found just about anywhere when it was quiet. Eventually, I got to know some of the men working on the traveling switch engine and got some “authorized” time on the engine and caboose.

I have fond childhood memories of seeing the flashing train order signal at the depot. It was four or five blocks away, but when there were no cars on the old siding, I could easily see the signal for trains coming from Webb City. It seemed to beckon me to the railroad as it flashed in the darkness. I listened to the local leaving town headed for Joplin as the engineer blew the old single note horn on his lead GP7 for crossing after crossing. I watched them switch cars and enjoyed the loud bang when the cars coupled. For many, many years, the engine assigned to the Carthage TSE was left idling day and night, seven days a week. I can still hear the chant of an EMD 567 prime mover idling the hours away waiting for the crew to come back to work. As I walked in the yard, I inspected the locomotives up close and checked out all of the cars sitting there waiting for their next movement. I lived and breathed railroading and couldn’t wait for the day. So, when high school graduation and my 18th birthday came along, I headed to the MP trainmaster’s office to start my career.

Alas, the world can be a fickle place and it took me two years to get that railroad job. In the process, I learned that you can’t expect the railroad to call you. I finally decided to pester them until they told me I was hired or to never come back. It didn’t go down quite as planned, but I was hired as a trainman at Coffeyville, KS in August 1978. After working there for six months, I was able to transfer to Carthage. I spent many happy years there and even survived the merger with UP. But, nothing lasts forever and I accepted an invitation I couldn’t pass up to move to Kansas City.

Fast forward to 2013. I retired in August, completing a 35 year career. I moved to the farm in rural Dade County Missouri. But, that was not the end of my railroad experiences. Like they say, you can take the boy out of the railroad, but you can’t take the railroad out of the boy. In March 2015, with the blessings of my wife, I ended my search and purchased a Missouri Pacific caboose. MP 13569, an International Car Co. Extended Vision caboose, was tired of residing in Atchison, KS and it began its somewhat slow journey to my farm. It’s pretty cool to have a caboose out behind the shop.

As I look back on my career, I am most fond of my days on the Missouri Pacific. I have no animosity towards the Union Pacific. I was proud to work there and the paycheck never bounced. But, my ties to the MP run very deep. Added to that is the style of railroading that ruled the day back then. I truly miss the days when the SD40-2 reigned supreme as motive power, every train had a caboose and there were people instead of machines to do many of the daily chores.

Originally posted by Charlie Duckworth, 11 July, 2014

Dennis W Faircloth

Hired July 20, 1970

Retired March 1, 2013

What was your first job on the Missouri-Illinois Railroad and what were the daily duties?

My first job was while I was in high school working for the M&I station agent in my home town of Bonne Terre I worked part-time for about 3 years. What I did not know at the time was instead of being a part-time job that I enjoyed, it was a 3 year apprenticeship. During this time I learned how to do demurrage, waybill cars, deliver telegrams and Railway Express. The telegrams still where being received on telegraph. I also learned some about crew boards, there was only two regular jobs and an extra board, so wasn’t too hard. My first job, where my pay check came from Missouri-Illinois was in July of 1970, I hired out on the Missouri-Illinois Railroad as a telegrapher-clerk, my seniority date was the 20^th, but that was after breaking in on my own time for about a week or more at Ste Genevieve. I worked 3rd trick the first night, and the regular man laid off so I could get my seniority date, but he spent most of the night with me just to make sure I did everything right.

The Missouri Illinois was different than working on the Mo Pac, in the since that your duties would have been several jobs on the Mo Pac. Also the jobs where all 6 days a week.

On the M&I was was responsible for:

Calling crews
Waybilling cars
Handling demurrage
Walk and check the yard and make list of all cars
Weigh cars (you had to be WWIB certified weigh master)
Copying train orders
OS trains (report trains leaving your station to teh dispatcher)
Clean depot

The carmen were also the round house force, and as anywhere were understaffed. They would allow me to help them out when time allowed. Hostling the motive power around the roundhouse and turn locomotives on the wye. As a telegraph-clerk, you was also qualified as an Agent operator. This allowed me to work at several stations.

In Missouri

Herculaneum
Crystal City-Festus
Bonne Terre
Rivermines
Ste Genevieve

In Illinois

Centralia
Nashville Hoyleton
Sparta depot downtown and yards were the MI Shops
Salem was still open (however I never worked there)

What were your duties, what were the most interesting or challenging areas?

The duties where all about the same as mentioned above at all stations, of those calling crews was often both interesting and challenging. On more than one occasion I went to a tavern and got someone off a bar stool to go to work. On other occasions go the hotel and wake people up. On at least one occasion when there was no rooms at the hotel a conductor sleep on his caboose and I would wake him up there.

What was best part of working of the Mo Ill

Working with men who had worked on the railroads in Germany during WWII and they would take the time to teach you the correct way of doing things and look out for you as if you where their son. Getting to work at the different stations, and being able to the different duties which would have been prohibited on the Mopac

What did the railroad focus on as your daily responsibilities?

Move the traffic safely and complete all required paper work

How did the M-I differ from other railroads.

I was lucky I spent my entire career with one railroad, even though the name changed, I only hired out once.

What changes did you see in your career that you felt were significant?

When I hired out on the Missouri Illinois there was not any computers on the M&I, and there was only one station with a radio, which was the MI Shops yard office. This was the yard office at Sparta, Illinois in 197? Computers came to the M-I in 1975. Learning to be a Train Dispatcher, in the MoPac Chester Ill office of which dispatched Southern Illinois including the M-I Sparta Sub. The changes in train dispatching going from trains orders to track warrants and all the steps in between. Changing from using a 1940’s GRS CTC machine in Chester, Illinois to using a CAD system at the HDC Centralized Dispatching office in Omaha. One of the biggest and perhaps one of the most unacknowledged velocity hindering action in the modern railroad industry was the change in hiring and educating. New Train Dispatchers without a railroad back ground, versus promoting within the company.

Any stories you can tell now you couldn’t when you were working?

After breaking in for the week or so, I was required to take Book of rules test with the Assistant Trainmaster at Ste Genevieve. I was told to report to his office at 10:00 am. When I showed up, he shut the door behind me, pulled the shades on the windows, asked me a couple of questions then had me step outside on the platform, ask me if I knew what a railroad track was and corrected the answer I gave him. Then turn towards the parking lot, and asked which car was mine. When I told him, he instructed me to get in it and leave and not to return until 11:00 am and then enter the depot through his door.

I did just that and when I returned he gave me a signed rules card. It only took me until later that night to learn the disadvantages of not having a proper test, when repeating the first train order I copied to the dispatcher at Poplar Bluff I got chewed out not spelling the numbers correct (I spelled zero instead of naught) then I got chewed out the second time when I said It was my first day. The dispatcher told me I had taken a book of rules just like everyone else.

Another story…one winter evening in the 70’s while working second shift at Ste Genevieve when I boarded the caboose of outbound “Long Barrel” to deliver the Frisco train orders the conductor told me the stove would not stay lit. The carman were walking the air on the train and were not close (and we had no radios). The conductor and I took the fuel line off the carburetor and by passed it and went straight in the stove, now we had a good fire. About two hours later the conductor phoned from Herculaneum and told me he was setting out his caboose and taking the Herky switchers, when I questioned why, he told the stove worked a little too good and had caught the whole caboose on fire. It was a center cupola MP Magor caboose.

How did working for the railroad affect your personal or family life.

Because the M-I jobs where six day a week jobs, my regular job was 3^rd trick with Sunday off. I order to be off the night of our wedding, I had to pay the 3^rd trick operator at Sparta to drive to Ste Genevieve and work his night off I paid he $25 cash. I was off Sunday and returned to work on Monday.

When our first child was born in March of 72, I worked first trick, went to hospital where my wife was in labor and had been for hours, the baby finally arrived around 2:00 am, I went and took a nap and returned to work on first trick. I thought nothing of either one of these being unusual, however by the time I retired this would have been very unacceptable. On the flip side it keep me, from having to go to several in-law activates.

What will be regarded as accomplishments you made in your Mo-Ill & Mo Pac career.

Learning to railroad on the M-I and learning to Dispatch from the men at the Chester office, these two things which was over several years gave me a sound foundation for a successful career.

What was Mo Pac’s relationship like with the unions? Other railroads, customers.

While working on the M-I being represented by the clerks union was very non-eventful. However working as a Dispatcher working on the Mo Pac being represented by the ATDA (American Train Dispatchers Association) was a very different story, it seemed as if you were hated by the other crafts and the officers alike. An often found yourself charged in an investigation. Working a lot of days with deferred days hanging over your head. I believe a lot this was brought on by the bad relationship between the company and ATDA, who at the time seem to have some very difficult leadership and did not work well with the company even to a point of causing problems after the merger when the company tried to bring the Mop Dispatchers up to the same pay and benefits standards as the UP, ending in a Federal court trial.

What was it like working for the Mopac during the UP merger?

Once the union issues were resolved, it was very good, the company did everything they could to increase pay and benefits we went from travelers insurance at 80/20 to full coverage overnight. Pay increases with an end of year bonus.

What was the most interesting job on the railroad you had?

Manager of Train Dispatching 1998 to 2004. This job gave me the opportunity to coach dispatchers on application of rules and practices, on every territory on the Union Pacific system controlled from the HDC. In addition to this I was allowed to travel and worked in the Dispatching offices or control operator offices in Spring (Texas), San Bernardino, Ft Worth, North Platte, South Morrill (Nebraska), North Little Rock, Kansas City (Kansas), as well as, the CSX Jacksonville office.

My career was just a few months short of 43 years, during this time I never missed a pay check, and enjoyed most every day. There was a lot of very hard days especially during the flood of 1993.

Originally posted by Charlie Duckworth, 11 July, 2014

Daniel M Schroeder

Locomotive Engineer

St. Louis, MO

August 23, 1974-still working

What was your first job on the Mopac and what were the daily duties?

$1A. August 1974, Started as a switchman at MoPac’s 23^rd/12^th Street Yard in Downtown St. Louis. Four man crews then, Engineer, Forman, and two switchmen. You learned the job from those you worked with, OJT. There were so many different jobs, lead jobs at 23^rd Street and 12^th Street, industry jobs and transfers.

The job at 12^th Street was called the Breakup. It usually had a pair of SW12’s for power. The 12^th Street yard lead dead ended at 7^th Street, (Busch Stadium). The cars were kicked uphill into the yard. The switchman had to ride the cut, hold the pin-lever up on the car ahead with his foot. The cars were kicked and those two SW’s really got them rolling, then the foreman gave the stop sign and you really had to hang on while the slack jerked out.

Other jobs worked were transfers to Dupo or Ivory, (the Heavy Hauler) and the Louisville & Nashville in E. St. Louis, I think we also went into the ICG yard at Valley, Jct. A ton of industry jobs, almost all started at Ewing Ave. There was a lot to learn about track configurations to do efficient switching.

What was the most interesting job on the railroad you had?

I did like switching, so much to learn. Being cutoff a few times that first year gave me the opportunity to get emergency work when the crew callers were out of men. I would get called for road jobs to Jefferson City or Poplar Bluff or the iron trains to Pilot Knob or Pea Ridge. (It seemed it was always late at night!) I also would get called to work at Lesperance St or Dupo yard as a switchman.

BUT, working as a young engineer, that was truly a learning experience! Being scared pulling those heavy trains. Being forced to protect the turns out of Jefferson City to Kansas City and running across those hills on the Sedalia Sub was a real test. Working the Fyler Job out on Oak Hill in south St. Louis, I was always afraid I would not get the cars stopped when spotting some of the industries on those short steep grades. The can company was always a bit nerve racking for this young engineer as we usually shoved a short cut of box cars down into the plant, the doors were usually closed in the fall and winter and there was a ramp across the track behind the door that they had to raise up. I always worried that the cars would slide right through the doors. (Never did!) There was a furniture warehouse on the other side of the main that was really a steep grade. The tracks would get covered with gravel and vines or leaves. You’d have to shove down into that place with a full service brake application and use the independent brake to creep down to spot the car.

What were the typical duties?

$1A. Pretty much as already covered. Pulling pins on lead jobs. Pulling or spotting industries. There was a job at 23^rd Street yard worth mentioning, The Bullring Man. He worked with lead job which kicked cars into the yard. If there was a clear track, the Bullring Man would catch that first car and ride it down into the track a ways and stop it with the hand brake. If there were multiple cars, he could tie enough hand brake to hold the cut and the others that would be kicked into the track. If only one car, he may have catch another and ride down into the track to the coupling and apply the hand brake. He had to make sure there were enough hand brakes to hold all the cars that were to be switched into the track so they did not roll down to the12^th Street end of the yard. Well, more than once, either the car was rolling to fast to get on or no one told the Bullring Man that they were kicking into a clear track, that car rolled through the yard down to 12^th Street out the lead and off the end of the track and on to 7^th Street.

Another of my jobs, once I transferred into engine service, was to work as a “Hostler” at the Ewing Ave Diesel Shop in St. Louis. Our chores were to fuel and sand the locomotives when they came in off the road and all the yard engines. There were hostlers at Lesperance St and Dupo as well. Usually those hostlers brought the power to Ewing Ave that needed to be shopped and took good locomotives back. Every once in a while, the Ewing Ave hostlers would take the power over to Dupo. There were two hostler jobs each shift at Ewing Ave, Inside and Outside. The Inside hostler worked with a laborer and could only work at Ewing Ave. The Outside hostlers were a pair of firemen/engine men who could take power wherever instructed. Both jobs fueled and sanded locomotives and spotted the shop as well as making up consists for road trains.

What were the most interesting or challenging areas?

Learning to be an engineer was a long process. But I did have a head start, some of the engineers I worked with as a switchman would let me run. This was especially true when I borrowed out at the C&EI yard in Mitchell, IL. The engineers taught me how to get the trains from Mitchell to St. Louis and back across the Merchants or Mac Arthur Bridges over the Mississippi River.

What was best part of working of the Mopac?

$1A. I had a career doing what wanted! The people were usually great. There were a few really grouchy conductors and engineers.

What did the railroad focus on as your responsibilities?

$1A. Safety has always been stressed, from the very beginning. Coming to work was another, weekends, holidays, they are a 24/7 operation and needed the manpower.

How did the MP differ from other railroads?

Not really able to answer that. Locomotive wise, the MP did not pick up dynamic brake units till late. Now it is the preferred way to slow and stop trains.

What changes did you see in your career that you felt were significant?

$1A. Bigger, more powerful locomotives. Used to get coal trains from Colorado/Utah with 6 or more SD40/U30C type locomotives, now just 3 locomotives power trains with almost twice the tonnage. Air conditioned cabs, I remember we used to get Santa Fe units from time to time and their GP30’s had A/C. The cab environment is much nicer today. Loss of most car load industries in big cities. (Not many industry jobs in the St. Louis area!) Mergers, both the Katy and the Cotton Belt/SP. The merging of the engineer rosters always brought complaints, and a few always complained how they got screwed.

Any stories you can tell now you couldn’t when you were working?

$1A. I don’t remember stories well. But I always liked the time, working as a hostler at Ewing Ave in winter, when one of the hostlers was shoving a set of power into the shop on Track 1. Included was a UP SD40 which had the horn mounted above the radiator fan to keep it from freezing. Well, they knocked the horn off going in. (Luckily the door still worked.) So, why put the horn back on outside in the cold when you can put a new horn on inside the shop. That is what they did. With the power ready, another set of hostlers were called and out they went through the door and bam, there goes the horn again knocked off by the door. More than once, the hostlers slid engines into the closed shop doors. Also, the late 1970’s was a time of long hair. The long time Superintendent, Mr. Crimm, did not like long hair and told employees to get haircuts.

How did working for the railroad affect your personal or family life?

$1A. Not knowing when you are going to work is a hardship on a family. I was very fortunate to marry a great woman. Not many would put up with a railroad man who works in thru freight service. Divorce is not uncommon for train service employees. To this day I cannot tell someone where I will be tomorrow or on the weekend!

What will be regarded as accomplishments you made in your Mopac career?

$1A. I was a representative for the BLE at safety meetings. Also a Division Secretary/Treasurer for 15 years. I also had a number of engineer trainees who I helped learned the craft locomotive engineer.

What was Mopac’s relationship like with the unions? Other railroads, customers.

$1A. I was not involved in union/company relations till after the UP merger. They did hold meetings with labor asking for ideas to help lower the dwell time of cars in the St. Louis Terminal.

What were the train operations like on your territory?

$1A. When I started, seems like there may have been 5 or 6 regular trains each way between St. Louis and Jefferson City. Today there are 15 to 20. At a peak there were up to 30 each way. In the 1970’s the road trains were very predictable as to approx. on duty times. Running time to Jefferson City was maybe 4 hours, with a train or two being on duty a total of less than 3 hours. Track speed was 60MPH. Today, the UP holds most trains to 50 MPH and those that can go 60 don’t usually have the power to make that speed. Working west of Jefferson City on the Sedalia Sub or River Sub there were still a few open train order stations. Meets were by train order. Now the Sedalia Sub is all CTC and the River Sub only handles eastbound traffic, seldom a westbound.

What was it like working for the Mopac during the UP merger?

$1A. Very long hours. Business was very good with the coal traffic from the west, but the St. Louis Terminal was not able to process that amount of traffic. Trains would back up to Pacific waiting. After your 12 hours on duty, just tie the train down. Sometimes your next call on duty would be for the train you tied down the day before.

Dan Misenheimer – Texas & Pacific

So, here’s a guy fresh from the college scene and a short tenure scrubbing molasses residue from the bottom of enormous storage tanks at a transfer facility in the little town of Port Allen, La. By the way, that short tenure was the impetus (or guiding light as I like to call it) that provided the necessary desire for me to pursue a different form of career. Want a quick method to determine a career? Shovel 6-8 inches of thick sweet smelling molasses on the entire floor inside a storage tank at temperatures between 125 and 150 degrees toward a 12 inch sump drain!

Hummmm, so what should I do? I had a frank chat with my dad. He managed the molasses transfer facility which also did business with, at the time, the Texas & Pacific Railway. So dad did what dads do and made a phone call to the Agent at the local office in Addis, La. That call provided a much needed ticket into the door. I interviewed and was granted permission for further testing. And by the way, told to cut my hair. After all, it was the seventies and I was a drummer in a local rock band.

A short few days and I was given the green light. All test passed. Through the front door of the Addis, La. Yard/Freight Office I go and suddenly, I feel like I’m a star in the movie Grumpy Old Men. My gosh! To my amazement, it was jaw dropping. Air conditioning, an office, no molasses…and a room full of grandfathers or close to it. Typewriters banging away, phones ringing constantly, people talking, some yelling, smoking, tobacco spitting….I was in heaven…o.k. maybe somewhere in between heaven and hell. That was January 1972 and I am now officially a Texas & Pacific Railway Employee.

I was what was referred to as an “Extra Board Clerk.” So somewhere between fully employed and not so much. I would be called to work “vacancies” anyone’s, anytime, day or night. No guarantee on how many days I’d work. You know, that was o.k. Free to be or so I thought. My training began, not by book form of any standard, but by sitting next to a “seasoned” veteran that would direct me through the daily motions of his/her position. Mostly “his” as at this time the railroad wasn’t a place for ladies. Like many “newbies,” I would start at the bottom, the lowest of low, the dreaded yard clerk. I thought, well this is kinda like a fraternity initiation….you know a hazing thing. Addis, La., was a small (by today’s standards) switching yard. Home to handling business for several chemical companies, import export business for the Port of Baton Rouge, lumber, carbon black, etc. Ten tracks. Ten, very long, very crowded tracks full of all kinds of rail cars, commodities and hobos. Yep, we had em’. So my job was to take a long thin sheet of paper and a #2 pencil and walk the tracks at the beginning and end of my shift. These documents would be used to verify inventory accuracy against cards in a metal rack. This process had a cute name; It was the PICL System. Perpetual Inventory of Car Location. My training concluded after about two weeks. Yard checking in the daylight wasn’t bad. Yard checking at night was the worst. Dimly lit surroundings. Rail cars banging into each other as switching operations ensued. The occasional hobo going “boo” in the night. Ah and yes, the every infrequent whiff of some sort of chemical venting from a tank car. Oh yeah, did I mention, the varmint(s) that scooted across the tracks migrating from a field to a wooded area or visa versa? Let’s not forget, it was Louisiana. Humidity, rain. Try keeping your paper dry and writable in a good old downpour. Yet, I reminded myself, you’re not shoveling molasses and that made it alright.

As I progressed through a myriad of jobs, my skill set and knowledge grew exponentially along with a few dozen hand written notebooks. There were positions which I dare not learn. The dreaded train order operator was one. Who wanted to get their butt chewed by yet another old grumpy person far away barking orders out via some type of electronic device in a language that sounded like a Canadian auctioneer. All this as you translate on tiny pads of what looked like toilet paper. Then you place this stuff on a string mounted on a stick that looks like a water probe, stand by the main track and hope the engineer or fireman has good eyesight and an arm that zips the string with the train orders off the stick while the train sails by you at 30 plus miles per hour. No thank you.

Four short years later the Missouri Pacific purchased the T&P. Computer installation was in its infancy.

My job was getting easier by the day…NOT! Jamming card readers, high speed sorters and a massive “jumbo machine” all recipes for inventory disasters….and there were many. Secure a seat at the IBM Key Punch machine and produce a replacement card or in my case, CARDS! Got to keep that inventory accurate, otherwise on go the walking shoes and back to yard checker I go. I’m working a “swing” job. So appropriately named because you’re literally swinging from/to different days and hours. Days off are Friday and Saturday. Worked daylight on Sunday, afternoons on Monday and Tuesday, nights on Wednesday and Thursday. Nights were sometimes a bit slow from a work standpoint, so my buddy and I would exercise our inquisitiveness with the newly installed Cathode Ray Tubes or CRT’s as they were called. One such episode, I believe, got me promoted. Suffice to say, I was sworn never to repeat exactly what happened. Basically, I managed to, in today’s terms, breach a firewall (of course there wasn’t such a thing then), and crash the mainframe. Since there wasn’t any malicious intent, and my Superintendent at the time had the innate ability to spot “future talent,” I was promoted to “Transportation Supervisor” at the Avondale, La. Terminal. A whopping 70 miles South of Addis, La. That was January 1977. The rest is history. On to Memphis, Tn., as Assistant Terminal Manager, for 14 months. Manager Customer Service Operations in Alexandria, La. February 1978 thru 1981, Manager Customer Service Operations Shreveport, January 1981 thru December 1983 and then to the king of kings, the best of the best, the holy grail of terminals; Kansas City, Mo., as Manager Customer Service Operations. At this juncture, the train order operator job doesn’t look bad at all. Off I went. My job was to solidify the clerical and computer operations of the merger of the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific Railroads. Mmmmmmm, the sweet smell of molasses returned, so I persevere. Three years later, the sweet smell of success.

My most interesting job on the TP/MP? It’s a toss—up between the job at Kansas City or the job of (Manager Customer Service Operations) at Shreveport, La. General Motors built a new automotive assembly plant at Reisor, La., and International Paper built a paper plant at Bayou Pierre, La. I was charged with the leadership and management of the customer service, car and train movement reporting, accounting and intermodal ramp operations of a regional customer service center. Directly supervised 2 management and 28 union personnel. We had to figure out how to efficiently and effectively manage both plant operations using the TCS (Transportation Control System) the name given the computer system running the railroad. No small task as both GM and IP were demanding to say the least. Both plants had major risks and each plant manager was charged with startup and efficiency in their operations, a huge dependency on their rail carrier.

Unlike the mega carriers of today, Missouri Pacific like Texas & Pacific, were small companies relatively speaking. They were family friendly and agile in operations. As Transportation Supervisor, Asst. Terminal Manager and/or Manager Customer Service Operations my focus from the corporate level was always to maintain operation efficiency through the use of technology and process control. These corporate challenges remained with me throughout my entire career.

MoPac held a strong line with the union ranks. They wasn’t a shortage of challenges in regards to a labor strategy. Likewise MoPac held its own with other rail carriers and I think stood out as a premier transportation carrier with its pursuit of computer integration to manage rail operations. It was always customer focused from a growth standpoint, although not at today’s current customer satisfaction standards.

As noted above, my tenure at Kansas City was tough. A combined UP/MP merger generated approximately 300 clerical employees. My responsibilities included management of both the customer service center and yard office operations. Our chief challenges were the integration of computer, labor, personnel and train operations. Many came and went. In the end, the few that withstood the challenges and remained steadfast in their commitments, were the beneficiaries of many successes.

I was truly blessed and grateful to have had the chance that I did along with explicit timing to work for T&P, MoPac and ultimately Union Pacific. While the work wasn’t always easy, the hours and days long, I was challenged to excel at every level. I was monetarily rewarded and was able to provide a comfortable style of living for my family. I’ve met untold number of people that have touched my life in so many ways. Friendships I cherish to this day. I’ve worked for some of the greats and not so greats; names that resound in so many conversations about railroads. To this day, I would not change any part of my career.

Dan Misenheimer

T&P, Missouri Pacific, Union Pacific

Hired January 24, 1972, Retired April 1, 2012

40 Years Of Rail Service

Originally posted by Charlie Duckworth, 11 July, 2014

Ab Rees – Various Jobs and Locations – Employee Story

Wade Clutton – Director Service Bureau – Employee Story

Tony Fey – Conductor – Employee Story

Steve McVey – Various Positions and Locations – Employee Story

Mike Chapman – coming – Employee Story

Leo Sanez – coming – Employee Story

Kevin Love – Conductor -Employee Story

Dennis Faircloth – Missouri-Illinois – Various jobs and locations – Employee Story

Dan Schroeder – Locomotive Engineer – Employee Story

Dan Misenheimer – Texas & Pacific/Missouri Pacific Various Positions – Employee Story

Sign Up for Our Mailing List

Membership

Shop

Historic Archive

News & Events

Resources

About Us

My Account

Resources

Become a Member Today!

We are a non-profit, all volunteer group. All monies collected through dues and purchases from the Company Store go towards the effort to preserve the history of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and its predecessors. Come join us in that effort.

Regular Member

$

50

00

Sustaining Member

$

75

00

Eagle Member

$

100

00