I remember Charlie very well you couldn't ask for a nicer guy. Always pleasent, never got mad at the fireman like Roy Brefel (sp?) or Jack Spence or Floyd Cothran. Now mind you I liked them all and they taught me a hell of a lot about railroading and steam engines but they had spent a lifetime on the big roads and we were all pretty young green kids. If they didn't like the way you did something they let you know straight up and quick about it. Of course they never agreed with eachother about the best way to do the job so when you ran with Roy "ya did it the way he liked", and when "ya ran with Jack ya did it his way".
On the other hand Charlie Rumph had been promoted to the right side real early in his career (on the Milwaulkee I think) and then became an ICC inspector before very long. Anyway he hadn't spent much time as an engineer and wasn't really all that proficient at it.
One day before the high bridge was rebuilt when we used to stop at "Upper Georgetown" I was firing for Charlie after lunch (Mike you know what that means) when he started for Silver Plume with the #44 still in reverse. Whe the train started to roll back he opened the throttle even more and we really started to head for the empty bridge abutment. I jumped over to his side and big holed the brakes. We stopped before we went off the end of track and the conductor never said a word. Charlie said thank you and we headed up the hill. Neither of us got off the engine at the photo stop (the pin truss bridge) and by the time we got to Silver Plume my legs had stopped shaking enough to get down out of the cab.
By the way I never sat down on the seat on any deckless engine. I stood up or sat in the window. Even when we brought the #40 to White Pass I stood up the whole time from Skagway to Bennett, 40 miles each way. I guess I just never liked sitting next to the boiler.
