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45 ^[[checkmark]]

Ed Ball was superintendent of Van Nest Shop and Martin Slack was a general foreman there. The new Haven, being a traditionally Westinghouse customer, got considerable attention from the W crowd. The following took place between Ed Kelly and Jay Walker at Erie one day:

Ed: Westinghouse took Ball and Slack to the World Series yesterday.
Jay: well, I wanted to get back to take you the worst way, but I couldn't make it.
Ed: That's the way you'd take me, "the worst way," all right.
****

Ed Kelly had been having some nightlife for several days:

Jay: Well, Ed, I suppose you'll want to lie down and take a nap about 2 o'clock this afternoon.
Ed: The hell I will! I can stay up just as long as you can without sleep.
Jay: That's a bet. When do you want to start?
Ed: Last Wednesday night.
****

Ed (looking at Jay in exasperation): Walker, if you took a good crap, there wouldn't be anything left but your clothes!
****

The two following exchanges took place between Ed and Maurice Guynes:

Maurice: Think of it! A combination turbo-electric and 11,000-volt AC locomotive which would pump power back into your wire!
Ed: How many miles between overhauls?
Maurice: 300,000.
Ed: That's now. I mean when we get the engines.
****

Maurice: What's wrong with the diesels?
Ed: If you'd asked me what's right with 'em, I could answer you a whole lot quicker.
****

Now I'll shift to another GE team member, Frederick H. Brehob, of Locomotive Design, who handled the requisition in the locomotive place. Fred was maybe 36 and a Purdue graduate who had come from an Indiana farm. He was a big, shambling six-foot-plus with a round, rosy face and blonde, curly hair. He was rather low-pressure, easygoing, usually smiling, a great punster.