Railroaders Reunion

[Wayne Laepple]

John --

Where are you? I'm in Lancaster.

Cheers -- Wayne

[john d Stone]

Wayne,

I'm actually in Richmond, VA. I work for CSX as an engineer on far less appealing big trains. Philly is my away-from-home terminal.

Beautiful country in the Lancaster area. My wife hales from the Reading area and we've made countless trips through Lancaster County. Even managed a few Strasburg visits over the years!

John

[Keith Taylor]

Wayne,

I'm actually in Richmond, VA. I work for CSX as an engineer on far less appealing big trains. Philly is my away-from-home terminal.

Beautiful country in the Lancaster area. My wife hales from the Reading area and we've made countless trips through Lancaster County. Even managed a few Strasburg visits over the years!

John

Hi John;
I used to have Philly as my away from home terminal too! Only I was an engineer on Conrail and my home terminal was The North Jersey Consolidated Terminal. (Basically Oak Island and South Kearny, NJ)
Keith Taylor

[john d Stone]

Hello  Keith,

I wonder if I ever handed a train off to you, or vice versa! I'm an RF&P guy, we've been running through on the B&O to RG since late '92.
Did you ever work into Potomac Yard? It's a shopping center/townhome development now.

Another question, I grew up in south Jersey and became friends with a bunch of Penn-Central (PRR) guys. Does Bob Potts ring a bell?

John

[Keith Taylor]

Hello  Keith,

I wonder if I ever handed a train off to you, or vice versa! I'm an RF&P guy, we've been running through on the B&O to RG since late '92.
Did you ever work into Potomac Yard? It's a shopping center/townhome development now.

Another question, I grew up in south Jersey and became friends with a bunch of Penn-Central (PRR) guys. Does Bob Potts ring a bell?

John

I mostly worked trains down the Reading'sTrenton Branch and New York Branch to Nicetown where we handed off to Pot Yard crews that ran the Northeast Corridor. I also ran TV trains from South Kearny to Trenton via the Northeast Corridor. That would have been about 25 years ago.
Keith

[john d Stone]

Perhaps a Reading guy?
It's always great to talk with a fellow railroader, strangely enough, we haven't started complaining about anything yet!
By the way, the jobs between Philly and north Jersey are now all home terminaled out of Philly (RG tower on the former B&O). They work only one way, either taking a train up and deadheading back or deadheading up to bring a train back. Not bad! I work an assigned run out of Richmond. Trailers both ways. I work up one day and back the next, off the third day. It's the best work we have out of Richmond and since I'm number two on the roster (others would interpret that differently) I can hold a slot in this three sided job.   

I'm fairly new to this forum stuff. I must admit it's pretty fun, and with spell check I don't seem as stupid as I look!


John

[Keith Taylor]

Hi John,
I am prior right Leigh Valley Railroad. I've been retired on a disability pension for the last 22 years.
I had a disagreement with an SD-50....and I lost.
Keith

[Wayne Laepple]

And I'm a short-lne guy. I worked for shortlines in North Carolina, Maryland and Pennsylvania for 20-odd years. While I was general manager or superintendent at all of them, all that meant was I was the guy who did whatever no one else could or would do. I used to say I was the javelin catcher. I've been messing around with trains in one form or another since I was 13 or 14. I had two other careers, before and after my railroad years, and I've been retired since the end of 2009. In addition to my bi-annual trips to the WW&F, I volunteer two days a week in the restoration shop at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania at Strasburg.

[john d Stone]

Keith,

Sorry to here about tour SD50 altercation. Never spar with a GM product. Thousands of steam locomotives and trolley lines will attest to the negative outcome!
At least they didn't scrap you!

Best to stick with two footers, though B&H did have that Chevy railbus......

John

[john d Stone]

Hello Wayne,

The shortline career route always sounded fascinating to me. One can learn such a variety of skills and attain a much better knowledge of the whole picture.
I almost went with the Maryland Midland in the late '80s, just when CSX was about to swallow up the RF&P. They were super friendly folks and it looked like a solid operation, but with a young family depending on me, I couldn't take the initial pay-cut. So here I am!

I bet working with the Strasburg is fascinating. Lots of neat stuff going on there, always.

John