One day in 1949, I wormed my way into the nerve center of the locomotive—THE CAB—where the engineer controls the movement of the engine and train. After 1905, when Santa Fe took Death Valley Scotty on his chartered train from LA to Chicago in about forty-four hours at speeds that sometimes exceeded 100 MPH, they were always considered a high speed railroad. However, the El Segundo Turn, “the Elsie,” the little local freight train where I had been invited into the cab, moved a bit slower—in the10 to 25MPH range— as it picked up and delivered cars to the various industries between Inglewood and El Segundo. But, it was still exciting to be in the noisy cab; the roaring fire in the firebox, the vibration of the pounding cross compound air pump, the dripping hot water and wisps of steam from the throttle packing. Engine 3133 was alive, even if it wasn’t one of Santa Fe’s speedsters.
Elsie Engineer and Brakeman talking, 1949
Two days later, I was back at the depot and again I was invited into the cab. The fireman, Clyde Pace, after conferring with engineer Dan, decided that I was not going to freeload anymore and he motioned for me to put my little butt on his seat; I was in it almost before he could get out of the way. This started my unofficial training as a locomotive fireman. Later, when I seemed to be doing pretty well, Clyde went into the depot to fetch a cup of coffee while Dan, the brakemen and I, took several cars to the house track behind the depot. Of course, my being on the engine at all was against the railroad rules but the crew members watched over me and kept everything safe.
Now, since you’ve watched movies with railroads, especially The Polar Express with it’s wonderful scenes in the engine cab, you probably have visions of me covered head to toe with coal dust, heaving shovels of coal into the blazing firebox. No. NO!! Not in the far west. When was the last time you saw a coal mine in California? Right! BUT, we had a hell of a lot of lot of oil wells in California. So, Union Oil Company, Santa Fe and Southern Pacific put their heads together and perfected a way to burn oil in a steam locomotive. After about 1900, almost all railroads out west burned oil in their steam engines, not coal. Compared to a coal burner, the fireman’s job became a much cleaner and less strenuous job. It also required a lot of finesse with the blower, atomizer and firing valves to properly control the flow of oil to the firebox and a great deal more coordination with the engineer every time he readjusted the throttle and reverse gear.
Elsie Brakeman coupling cars, 1949
One day on the “Elsie”, while we were spotting a car of beer and a car of lumber on the team track, the Trainmaster drove up. His Name was L. B. Freborg—kind of a Spencer Tracy like man. He was in charge of making sure things ran smoothly and he also kept an eye out for any rules violations on this part of the railroad. His first stop was to go into the depot to talk with the Agent about how things were going that day.
However, a little bit later, when he came out of the depot, he yelled up to the engineer, “Hey Dan, You don’t have that kid up there in the cab, do you?” I started to sneak down the ladder on the opposite side.
“No Lou, I wouldn’t let him up in the cab.”
“You know, Dan, the rules forbid him being in the cab.”
“Oh, sure Lou but I haven’t even seen him today.”
Lou scratched his chin and shook his head, “Funny thing Dan; his bicycle’s been leanin’ against the depot ever since I got here.” Cracking a little smile, he got in his car and drove off. I climbed back up the ladder of Engine 3154 and resumed firing.
Engine with cars on Inglewood team track, 1949