D&RGW 223 Wrote:
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> This account by Gilbert Gould, who ran on the Utah
> lines between Ogden and Helper and everywhere in
> between, may be of interest. It takes place in
> 1907 in Salt Lake City:
>
Quote
Gilbert Gould
> One day a newly promoted engineer came to the
> supply house where
> I was supposed to keep all the surplus (that did
> not exist). He had been
> promoted off the Bingham Branch and was going back
> to run an engine
> out of Welby. He had a brand new tool box with his
> name painted on it.
> He came in the door and laid that newly painted
> tool box on the floor. It
> was completely empty. He wiped his hand on a piece
> of waste and extended
> it toward me.
> "Mr. Gould?" he inquired. I acknowledged the
> identity with some
> apprehension. He told me his name, and we politely
> and solemnly shook
> hands. Then he told me what he wanted. He was
> going back to the Bingham
> Branch to work, but while he was here in Salt Lake
> he thought he would
> get a full set of tools.
> He had made out a complete list of what he needed.
> Mr. Roberts,
> that fearless, white-bearded roundhouse foreman,
> had signed it in approval
> and sent him to me. He laid that authoritative
> document on the counter
> and started to read what the list specified.
> One ball-peen hammer and cold chisel.
> One twelve-inch stilson wrench.
> One twelve-inch monkey wrench.
> I was inclined to interrupt and break the bad
> news, but I didn't have
> the heart. He seemed so confidently sure of
> getting what he wanted. The
> list went on:
> One fifteen-inch monkey wrench.
> One eighteen-inch monkey wrench.
> I wondered what old man Roberts had been thinking
> when he signed
> that list in approval and sent him to me. Still
> the list went on:
> One dope cup wrench.
> One engineman's torch.
> And so on and on he went until he had named a
> dozen tools that I
> hadn't seen since I had been on the job. When he
> got through he looked
> at me, expecting that I would start handing out
> those items.
> I just looked at him helplessly. "Did Mr. Roberts
> tell you that you
> could get those tools here?" I asked.
> He didn't know how to answer for a moment. "Why,
> yes. He told
> me that you would fix me up. Here, he signed this
> request."
> "Do you see any of those items hanging around
> here?" I asked.
> "Well, where are they?" he inquired in a puzzled
> manner. "Isn't this
> the supply house?"
> I assured him that it was the supply house all
> right, but there were
> no supplies. For a while he couldn't believe that
> I was serious. After a short
> time he picked up his newly-painted tool box and
> reluctantly left the
> supply house.
>
This is awesome, really appreciate the post with this info. Thanks!
William
aka drgwk37
