RAILROAD MEMORIES
STEAM LOCOMOTIVE FIREMAN
In
thirty years I have not yet met a co-worker who was not proud to be a
railroader. This also applies to
the retirees I have known. The
active and retired railroaders' pride ranges from being a little proud to
moderately proud to very proud.
Retiree Glen Pepmeyer, who hired on as a steam locomotive fireman in
1941, fits into the upper echelons of the very proud. What accounts for railroaders' pride in their
profession? In Glen's case being a
fireman and later an engineer gave him the opportunity to do a job well that he
enjoyed with co-workers who enjoyed their jobs and did them well. He also had railroading in his blood.
Glen
was born on December 20, 1920 in Burlington, Iowa. For his first Christmas, when he was five days old, he was
given a toy cast iron steam locomotive which he still has. His dad Harry Pepmeyer was a CB&Q
engineer with a fireman seniority date of 1905 and an engineer date of 1912. By the time Glen was born his dad was
working Way Freights out of Burlington to Mt. Pleasant, Quincy, and
Washington. Glen said that his dad
liked working the Way Freights, because they started at a regular time, worked
days, and he could be home at night.
He remembers his dad driving a Model T Ford to the old Burlington
Roundhouse to report to work in the 1920's. It made Glen feel secure as a boy that his dad was never
laid off from his railroad job during The Depression.
The
Pepmeyer family lived in northwest Burlington across the street from the Aspen
Grove Cemetery where the Perkins Monument is located. Charles E. Perkins was a driving force in the early
formative days of the Q and was president of the railroad from 1881 to
1901. As a boy Glen and his
friends rode their bikes to the Main Street crossing in Burlington to see and
hear the steam locomotives pass.
The thunderous chugging sound of the powerful behemoths reverberated off
the nearby buildings. There was
nothing like seeing and hearing a steam locomotive, he said. Many people in those days stopped their
cars along country roads to watch a passing steam locomotive.
Glen
was a good athlete at Burlington High School (Class of 1938). He was named to the Iowa Honorable
Mention All-State basketball team as a guard his senior year, and his team
advanced to the state tournament quarterfinals. But his first love was baseball, and he had dreams of
playing in the Major Leagues. A
fine center fielder in high school, he attended the Jersey Joe Stripp's
Baseball School in Orlando, Florida in the summer after he graduated. Joe Stripp, who began his career with
the Cincinnatti Reds as an infielder in 1928, opened his school to develop
young Depression-era men into Major League prospects . They played on Tinker Field in Orlando
which was named after Hall of Famer Joe Tinker, an adviser at the school. Tinker of "Tinker to Evers to
Chance" fame played for the Chicago Cubs from 1902 to 1916. Despite his best efforts Glen realized
that he would not become a professional baseball player, so he returned to
Burlington.
A
friend's dad encouraged him to attend the University of Iowa. He enrolled and made the freshman
basketball team. In his sophomore
year he made the Hawkeye varsity squad but not the traveling team. Disappointedly he left the
university. His luck changed in
the summer of 1941 when his dad told him that the Q had decided to hire fireman
in the Ottumwa Division for the first time since the onset of The Depression in
1929. Here was the opportunity
that he had dreamed of. In a state
of excitement he talked his dad into driving him in the family's 1936 Chevy to
Galesburg to see Master Mechanic Ed Fritts who hired firemen. They arrived at Mr. Fritts' residence
in the evening, and Mr. Fritts told the young man to come back the next
day. He did, and he and R.J.
"Bob" Coe were hired on June 21, 1941. In looking back over his railroad career Glen said that he
wouldn't have traded it to be a Major Leaguer or President of the United
States.
After
several student trips Glen worked the East Ottumwa Fireman's extra list. Sometimes he caught the second shift
Burlington switch engine with a crew that consisted of an engineer and fireman
and three switchmen (foreman, pin-puller, and field man). They switched cars at local industries
like C&E Furniture, Murray Iron Works, Burlington Basket, and J.I.
Case. They also switched inbound
trains and made up outbound trains in the Burlington Yard. Sometimes he worked the Helper Engine
that helped pull heavy through freights up the West Burlington Hill. Yard firemen made $6.98 per day in
1941. He occasionally worked way
freights. He recalls with fondness
working the Washington Way Freight with his dad. Sometimes he worked the Ottumwa Way Freight which spotted
and pulled cars at Danville, New London, Mt. Pleasant, Lockridge, Fairfield,
Batavia, and Ottumwa. He talked
about the "Shop Train", a switch engine and six coach cars, that made
several stops in Burlington to pick up and deliver employees to the huge West
Burlington Shops.
When
Glen was ordered for a way freight, he reported to the old roundhouse near the
Burlington depot. A hostler would
have already parked his power (locomotive) with plenty of coal and water on the
Ready Track. As fireman it was
Glen's responsibility to check that there were oil and lube oil available on
the locomotive as well as tools (monkey wrench, alligator wrench, hammer, and
packing hook), one white oil lantern, one red oil lantern, a red flag, and and
a green flag. He said that the
fireman was supposed to provide a can of water for the head end crew. When all was ready, a tower operator
let the locomotive off the Ready Track for the Main Line and then to a
departure track where their train with fifteen to twenty cars (mostly loads)
was made up. Because radios were
not available on way freights at that time, the conductor might have to stop at
a telephone box along the train's route to talk to the dispatcher. Enroute the head brakeman watched the
train on curves, and the rear brakeman did the same from the waycar. If a problem was spotted, such as a
smoking journal, they used hand signals or fusees to alert the other. In an emergency the conductor could
apply the air brakes from the waycar.
Way freights had to give clearance to passenger trains and through
freights which had priority.
Glen's
detailed description of hand firing the locomotive conveyed the pride he took
in doing his job. The fireman
stepped on a pedal to open the locomotive's firebox door. When he removed his foot, the door
closed. You had to develop a
rythym in opening the door and tapping the coal-laden shovel against the bottom
of the open door frame to spray the coal evenly into the box. Coal was in the tender directly behind
the locomotive. The fireman wanted
to keep the grates in the firebox covered with a level dose of coal to prevent
air updrafts. The fire should be
kept bright and white to create a light haze of smoke out the stack. Iowa "hardtack" coal was
notorious for creating clinkers which had to be removed. When the train stopped enroute, the
fireman, sometimes with the help of the head brakeman, shook the grates of the
firebox to cause the ash to fall into an ash pan below the box.
It
had to have been tough working next to the firebox on a hot summer day. On a winter's day it could be cold and
drafty if the wind was just right.
Cinders were in the air.
The engineers and firemen wore caps. They tied red and blue-patterned kerchiefs around their
necks to keep cinders from going down their shirts. It wasn't easy being on the extra list. You could get called for a job at any
hour of the day. You had to adjust
your off-duty life, so that you would be rested and alert when you were called
to work. Sometimes the crew was on
duty up to sixteen hours. There
were dangers. On rare occasions
boilers blew up. Also rare were
fatal head-on collisions when switches were lined wrong. Glen didn't dwell on the
hardships and dangers. He was
young and enthusiastic. He didn't
complain about getting tired.
Doing his job with a team of men who did their jobs, like the center
fielder on a baseball team or the guard on a basketball team, was something he
liked.
The
powerful and fast 5600 series Class O-5 Northerns used in passenger and through
freight service were impressive steam locomotives, Glen said. They had a 4-8-4 wheel
arrangement. The first eight
locomotives of this class were built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works and put
into service in 1930, according to Steam Locomotives of the Burlington
Route. The next thirteen Northerns (Nos. 5608-5620) were
built at the West Burlington Shops in 1937. Nos. 5621-5635 were built there in 1938 and 1940. Glen said that some of the Northerns
had enclosed cab vestibules and augers which delivered coal directly from the
tender into the firebox.
He
spoke with reverence of the old engineers that he worked with in his early
years on the railroad. To prove
their longevity and experience he showed me a 1946 East Ottumwa
Engineer/Fireman seniority list.
At the top of the list was H.C. "Harry" Turner with a
fireman's date of 1895 and an engineer's date of 1903. Next on the list was G.H. Hunger with a
fireman's date of 1899 and an engineer's date of 1907. Harry Pepmeyer was tenth on the
list. Glen said that most of the
old engineers treated the new firemen like sons. They were gentlemen, patient, kind, and willing to teach
"like good coaches". An
older engineer or fireman was called "slick", because he did his job
well. Glen didn't want to be a
"know-it-all". He
listened to the older men and asked questions.
Harry
Pepmeyer took pride in being an engineer, and he did his job well for fifty
years. Glen considered it a great
compliment when the older men challenged him to be as good as his dad. He had long been proud of his dad. When he was thirteen years old, his dad
was chosen to be the pilot on the Pioneer Zephyr on a run from Burlington to
Monmouth to show off to the public this first of the famous Q Zephyr passenger
trains. Glen got to ride in the
locomotive cab with his dad on the run.
Author
Patrick C. Dorin in Everywhere West, The Burlinton Route wrote that "The largest fleet of 'named'
streamliners in the United States was the Burlington Routes' famed Zephyrs. . .
.The trains can lay claim to being world famous and people from other parts of
the USA often traveled to 'Zephyr' land just to ride the shovel nose
speedsters. No where else in the
world could one find and/or ride such a fine fleet." The Pioneer Zephyr made quite a name
for itself on May 26, 1934 when it raced non-stop from Denver to Chicago in
thirteen hours and five minutes.
To take advantage of the public's fascination with the Pioneer Zephyr's
feat RKO Studios made and released the movie Silver Streak later that year.
The movie, starring Charles Starrett as the man who developed a high
speed passenger train, featured the Pioneer Zephyr, renamed and remarked Silver
Streak, which rushed iron lungs on a 2,000 mile whirlwind trip to the Boulder
Dam region where a polio epidemic had broken out. The Pioneer Zephyr, which made a public run through
Galesburg in April, 1934 and the movie Silver Streak made a big impression on Galesburg. The name Silver Streaks was first
applied to the GHS basketball team during the 1934-35 school year, according to
the Galesburg High School website,
".
. . [b]ecause the locomotive was speedy, an attribute identified with the
1934-35 [GHS] players. . . .To
compliment the Silver Streak name, the GHS basketball team had a small wooden
locomotive constructed. It was a
replica patterned after the well-known Silver Zephyr. This device was used for years by team managers and held
medical supplies and towels."
Glen
continued to work the firemen's extra list until he was drafted in late
1942. He was inducted into the
U.S. Army in December as he neared his twenty-second birthday. Thus began an interesting chapter in
his life. While he was in basic
training at Camp Claiborne in Louisiana, he was told that he would be assigned
to a desk job in England, since he had some college. The idea didn't sit well with him. He much preferred to be assigned to an army railroad battalion,
so he wrote the Secretary of the Army making that request. His request was granted. He was assigned to the 725th Operating
Battalion of the U.S. Army's Military Railway Service (MRS). The C,B&Q sponsored another MRS
Operating Battalion--the 745th.
After his training he was shipped from Los Angeles to India on an
unescorted troop ship. He landed
at Bombay and took a troop train to Calcutta.
The
725th, the 745th, and three other MRS battalions operated the Bengal &
Assam Railway in northeast India, including the vital 658-mile stretch of
meter-guaged track between Katihar Junction east to Ledo. From Ledo the military equipment that
the MRS transported was airlifted over the "Hump" into China and
trucked into Burma. It was hard
duty for the American railroaders moving freight cars called "wagons"
in that tropical northeast Indian climate. It was hot.
There were monsoons. Much
disease. Glen was hospitalized for
a time with malaria during his twenty-three month stay there. It was also dangerous work. Richard C. Overton wrote in Burlington
Route, A History of the Burlington Lines that in the spring of 1944
"the Japanese penetrated to within four and a half miles of the yards at
Mariana, where the 745th was on duty." British and American troops drove them back, but danger
posed by snipers continued. Glen
said he carried a .45 revolver for protection. Despite the hardships and dangers Overton wrote that there
were some "amusing" incidents like using elephants to switch cars in
yards when locomotives were unavailable.
Glen
said that his time in India went fast, because there was so much to do in
moving the freight. The end of the
war surprised him and his buddies and was greeted with a lot of joy and relief
and drinking "bamboo" liquor to celebrate. He said that he and his fellow soldiers were giddy
"like little kids" when they landed on a troop ship at New York City
on their return to the U.S. He was
discharged from the Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis in January, 1946.
The
young man was anxious to get back to the railroad after his discharge and was
grateful to have a job to come back to.
He resumed working way freights and sometimes caught passenger jobs out
of Galesburg. In 1949 he and his
wife Bette moved to Galesburg. He
enjoyed his increasing opportunity to work diesel passenger fireman jobs,
including the California Zephyr and Nebraska Zephyr, because they were cleaner
and quieter than the steam locomotives.
In 1952 he was promoted to engineer and worked the extra list on through
and way freights. Most railroaders
have experienced job abolishments and bumping. Glen said when the engineer's extra list was cut back, he
bumped to a passenger fireman's job.
At times he found himself back working the Burlington switch
engine. In the early 60's when
passenger service was being cut back, he still managed to work passengers
regularly. He worked #7 from
Galesburg to Ottumwa. Besides
carrying passengers #7 moved U.S. mail, Railroad Post Office (RPO) mail, and
REA freight. It made stops at
Monmouth, Kirkwood, Biggsville, Burlington, Mt. Pleasant, and Fairfield. He returned from Ottumwa to Galesburg
on #12 in the evenings. After
Amtrak took over passenger service in 1970, he worked freights part of the
month and the California Zephyr for the balance of the month. During his last six years on the
railroad he worked the Monmouth switch engine and the California Zephyr.
Glen
retired from the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1984 at sixty-four years of
age with forty-three years of service.
Since he retired, he and Bette have traveled extensively and enjoyed
time with family and friends. He
was president of the Galesburg Railroad Museum in the late 90's and is still on
the Museum's Board of Directors.
He serves on a committee which oversees the 3006 steam locomotive
displayed near the Museum.
He
has many fond memories of the good people that he worked with on the
railroad. Probably his association
with them over his long career explains his pride in being a railroader. He recalled a few of them. He said that West End conductor Dale
Foster was "knowledgable and good to work with." He liked Seminary Street Tower operator
Webb Allen although he occasionally called Webb on the radio when he brought
his train toward Galesburg to ask, "How long you gonna hold us
out?" He mentioned dispatcher
George Fleisher and his wife Mary who was a PBX operator. He called trainman Cyril Butts who he
worked with frequently a "nice human being." Fred McCarthy was an excellent
conductor, a nice guy, and a gentleman.
Some
engineers have had the haunting experience of fatal crossing accidents. Glen is no exception. He said that the California Zephyr on
which he was the engineer struck a car at a crossing in Fairfield, Iowa in the
1970's. The car had a family in it
on the way to church. The father
was killed. At the other extreme
is the happiness he felt when he told me about saving a little boy who was on a
track in Monmouth as Glen's switch engine was approaching. Glen jumped off the engine, ran ahead,
and scooped the little boy off the track.
He proudly showed me a photograph that the little boy later sent
him. On the back of it were the
words, "Thanks for saving my life."
Mike Hobbs