Re: Bob Keller

Richard,

I hired on the C&TS in 1975. I remember the night you put on an exclusive showing of "Rails Across the Summit" for the C&TS employees. When it was over, you asked what we thought of the film, and the answer was a more-or-less unamimous "Let's see it again!", and we watched it a second time.

Fritz Bauer was acting manager when I hired on, but Bob Keller soon took over as manager. I always enjoyed working with Bob. It was good to have an engineering type in charge, as opposed to a bean counter, as engineers better understand the challenges and the expense of keeping all that scrap iron moving.

In 1976, with encouragement from Bob, we undertook a running gear overhaul on 484. That being the first locomotive overhaul since D&RGW ownership, we learned quite a bit, including the fact that all the driver crankpins, especially the mains, were out of round. On 484, since we had no drop-pit, let alone a quartering machine, there was little we could do about it except allow sufficient clearance on the new bushings. However, in 1977, when we commenced a running gear overhaul on 487, Bob designed a very clever in-place crankpin grinder for the main pins. I built it to his design and it did a very serviceable job for a prototype. I wouldn't be surprised if the parts of that grinder are still laying in some obscure corner of the oil house tool room gathering dust, arousing the curiousity of today's post-drop pit/quartering machine roundhouse crews.

Rest in peace, Bob.