Viewing page 3 of 291

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

3

Particularly because these were passenger locomotives and hence more exposed to the public eye, the railroad was very fussy about their appearance. Cab side-sheets were therefore a touchy item and their smoothness a matter of frequent argument between the inspectors and "that Sunnabitch Crisco" as Ed had christened him. The paint job also was extremely sensitive. Finally the first locomotive went to test and that was a long and involved series of checks and data gathering that had us all on the go almost day and night. However, we did get some pretty good locomotives out of it finally. The first locomotives to be shipped was 0361 which left Erie around May 1st. Following is a snapshot Ed Kelly sent me of 0361 after arrival at Van Nest Shop:

[[image - black & white photograph of a locomotive]]

[[caption]] Loco 0361. New May 1938. [[/caption]]

The last locomotive to be delivered was 0366 and I'm including immediately following this, two pictures of her taken at Erie. I'm especially pleased to have the one showing the gang who built her, or rather supervised her building, plus a few of the engineers and testing personnel. Also there are a few New Haven men in the line-up including Dutch Law. I could write a wheeze about almost every man in the line if I wanted to take the time to do it but I'm not going to because my diaries already have items about most of them. The photo was taken on May 27th at Bldg. 60 and I was already in New York and New Haven, active in getting the locomotives into service as I shall relate presently. This photo also was given me by Ed Kelly. One New Haven man not in this picture is Bob Brugger, who was a truck foreman at Van Nest and usually acted as messenger who rode the locomotives from Erie to Van Nest. Bob would have a nice little nest fixed up in one of the operating cabs complete with a place to sleep as well as a heater if in cold weather, and an alcohol stove for his cooking when necessary. His job was to insure the locomotive had a safe trip, bearings okay, no vandalism, etc.