Hi Gregg, I don't really remember Mike having an overbite, but he was a fireman and about 22 years old, I'd say, in 1971. He was a bit brash and did have a slightly salty vocabulary, but I probably had worse. I had learned from a couple of old-time railroad pros, Ben Greathouse and Sid McKinney!
My main impressions of Mike Carr were that he was fairly attractive, a little baby-faced with a wry smile, and quite the ladies' man. He had huge self-confidence, and even a little swagger, but well-deserved. He was one of the most intelligent people I have ever known, and literally could do anything. And if he didn't have experience at doing something, he was never afraid to try - and he succeeded. He brought out with him from Chicago a vast array of tools, a welder, and even a narrow-gauge speeder built back home in his garage, all for the use of the railroad.
He was the son of a well-off family in Chicago (his dad was a doctor), but had a lot of street-smarts, too. He played in a jazz/rock band in Chicago, and even brought his huge Hammond organ, complete with Leslie extension speaker, out to our little house in Chama. And he could play it amazingly! He could really rattle the windows with that thing!
One night, he wore his white silk suit down to the High Country Lounge and played cool jazz piano for a while. He told me he had bought the suit to prove that he could run diesels all day on the Milwaukee Road without getting it dirty!