[RITSlist] Brass Switchkey railnews, V.14, #52, Sep 30, 07-6 (fwd)

[Gerald Berwald]

Forwarded from the Brass Switchkey Railnews for your info.

Jerry Berwald


>               Remembering the RI's Peoria Rocket ~ Jim Johnson
>
>     Referring to the article re the leaking rail tank car at 
> Oskaloosa, guess I should have forwarded the article to you from 
> the Oskaloosa Daily Herald where I worked some while a student at 
> William Penn Univ. (it was College then).  This is, of course, 
> former M&StL trackage, and would have included the Oskaloosa Shops 
> where my grandfather toiled for three decades as an M&StL 
> machinist.  Had this occurred while I was at Penn from 1959 to 
> 1963, they probably wouldn't have even bothered to evacuate a 
> campus of 250 students (it has 10 times that today).
>     I HAVE forwarded you an article from the Peoria Journal Star in 
> regard to Rock Island #886, a Hudson with a storied past AFTER it 
> was retired and donated to the city.  The locomotive was placed 
> below the hill in Glen Oak Park, where the only visitors it 
> attracted were vandals.  Eager to rid themselves of an aging 
> derelict, the Peoria Parks Supt. asked the infamous James G. Pate, 
> head of public relations for the Rock Island, if they could get a 
> scrap dealer to cut it up.  The mostly idiotic Pate told them they 
> had his blessing as long as they first painted over the Rock Island 
> logo and identification.  So, the parks director took the request 
> to the Peoria Parks Board, among his members was the astute Louis 
> B. Neumiller, CEO of Peoria-based Caterpillar Tractor Co., and who 
> recognized the value of the railroad (any Cat executive, among whom 
> included both my father and my future father-in-law, who dared take 
> Ozark Airlines instead of The Peoria Rocket to Chicago could go fi!
>nd a job at John Deere.  Thus, Cat employees on Cat business were 
>frequent riders of The Rocket (and HATED it when the conventional 
>streamlined Rocket was replaced by the Spanish-built Talgo "Jet 
>Rocket," which was like riding a rattlesnake).  Fortunately, when 
>the Jet Rocket, during a Board of Directors special, caused a cup of 
>coffee to be dumped in the lap of a CRI&P board member, the lurching 
>import was relegated to suburban service and conventional equipment 
>returned to The Peoria Rocket's two daily Peoria-Chicago round 
>trips, much to the delight of my dad.
>     But getting back to Mr. Nuemiller, he was ALSO on the Rock 
> Island's board, and was in serious disagreement with Pate's OK of 
> the parks director's dumb request.  Both escaped with their jobs 
> and little else.  Meanwhile, the 886 was moved to Detwiler Park, 
> which borders Illinois 29 between Peoria and Chillicothe as well as 
> the CRI&P right-of-way, where it stayed until some idiot allowed 
> the private museum to buy it, move it, and force folks who used to 
> view it for free to pay a fee to get in and see it.  Too bad 
> Neumiller didn't live forever -- but I do not doubt that he rolled 
> over in his grave!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>See what's new at AOL.com and Make AOL Your Homepage.
>
>
>--
>No virus found in this incoming message.
>Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 
>269.13.39/1044 - Release Date: 10/2/2007 11:10 AM


-- 
BEGIN-ANTISPAM-VOTING-LINKS
------------------------------------------------------

Teach CanIt if this mail (ID 12015927) is spam:
Spam:        https://storm.simpson.edu/canit/b.php?i=12015927&m=dd81c10bd88c&c=s
Not spam:    https://storm.simpson.edu/canit/b.php?i=12015927&m=dd81c10bd88c&c=n
Forget vote: https://storm.simpson.edu/canit/b.php?i=12015927&m=dd81c10bd88c&c=f
------------------------------------------------------
END-ANTISPAM-VOTING-LINKS

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://thunder.simpson.edu/pipermail/ritslist/attachments/20071003/7597501d/attachment.html