After taking a quick look at the Forums this morning, I saw Laidoffsick's nice photos of his O gauge ATSF 3751 sitting atop the connecting rod of the prototype engine at San Bernardino, and it started me thinking about old days, as I started my railroad career there. One memory that occurred right where the 3751 is standing in the photos always reminds me of the fun we used to have.
On a warm summer night in 1970, I was the midnight Outside Hostler at San Bernardino. We were making up freight locomotive consists, when Len Perkins, the Roundhouse Foreman came striding out at a quick pace and told us to tie everything down and get into his car. As we got seated, he explained that No. 24 (the 5-car remnant of the Grand Canyon) had departed Los Angeles late with a cab and two boosters, and the steam generators in both boosters had failed (which caused the late departure). One steam generator was actually working, but only intermittently, and was not doing much good for the Santa Fe steam ejector air conditioning in the passenger cars. We were headed to the backshop to get a just-released rednose F7B and add it to No. 24's units at the depot. We found the unit idling and the Herder used the phone to get West Yard Tower to line us out onto the Main Track, while I started the steam generator. I cut in the control stand in the engine room adjacent to the center porthole and swung the porthole window open, the Herder twirled his lantern, and we were moving. After getting out onto the Main, I used the anemic little air horn to sound the route signal for the Towerman to line us down the Eastward Main and we headed off to the depot with my head outside the porthole and Herder Howard Shearer standing in the leading engine room side door. (The Hostler Helper was having fun, standing in the end door on the leading end, and wagging his flashlight in a figure 8, like a Mars light.) As we approached the depot at about 20 MPH, I turned on the bell. Passengers, seeing Howard's lantern and hearing the bell, began picking up their luggage and moving toward the track. Words can't describe the total bewilderment on their faces as we muttered past them in Run-2. I waved and smiled, of course. After all, friendly service was a trademark of Santa Fe passenger trains.
We passed the depot and lined ourselves into the business car spur at the east end, where I blew the steam generator down, and soon the headlight of the passenger train appeared to our west. When No. 24 arrived, the road crew cut the engine away and moved east; we came out of the spur and tacked the booster onto the rear; and they went back to the train. While 24's crew made an air brake test, we watched as movie films and color Sunday comic sections were loaded aboard the baggage car, and observed 24's marker glide around the curve and start the climb up to the Summit of Cajon Pass. Then we headed back to the roundhouse to get busy and finish building some consists for freight.
