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27

During this whole period, Electro-Motive, which was to become the largest locomotive builder in the world after being acquired by General Motors, was merely a relatively small engineering-sales-service organization in Cleveland promoting and selling gasoline-electric cars. They had the cars built for them, usually by St. Louis Car Co., used Winton Engines, and GE or Westinghouse electrical. I failed to mention in my remarks about my control engineering experiences, that I handled several control jobs for E-M gas cars, which were pretty well standardized so it wasn't any great shakes to do.  But I did make a couple of trips to their offices in Cleveland to settle details and got acquainted slightly with Dick Dilworth, who was to have a long and distinguished career later as EMD's chief engineer at La Grange. Doc Gillilan was the TED man who handled E-M and Bill Leggett in our Cleveland Office contacted them over there. The only specific incident I recall in this connection was an amusing one. I'd been working on some change they wanted in the connections of a certain car and it was a little involved, taking more time than I'd anticipated. One day I got an urgent wire from Bill Leggett wanting to know when I'd have the job complated. I wired Bill immediately:

Will be your office 9 a.m. tomorrow
stop will bring print with me

The next morning I walked into Bill's office on the button only to have Bill, quite unsmilingly, accost me with the telegram I'd sent him. "Read that," he said. I did and this was it:

Will be your office 9 a.m. tomorrow
stop will bring pint with me

Bill said, "Pint, hell! It takes at least a quart to do any good with this bunch!"

Dilworth was a former GE man, having worked in Erie on the original engine and locomotive program with Hermann Lemp and Henri Chatain, and occasionally would visit Erie on business. My one clear recollection of Dilworth is one that distressed me and disappointed me in him.  He, of course, knew many GE people and evidently he had no great affection for Bill Hamilton (W.S.H. Hamilton) whom I liked very much from working with him on the New York Central jobs when Bill was handling them out of our New York Office. One day in 1930, Dilworth walked into our office on 4-14, perhaps to see Doc Gillilan, and said in a very loud and sneering tone, "Well, I understand W.S.H.I.T. Hamilton is here today." And I thought, "Well, you may be a good engineer but you sure haven't any taste." I guess it doesn't prove anything because Bill went to the New York Central where he had a disappointing career, while Dilworth wound up in General Motors where he had a very brilliant one. But it griped me!