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All of us repaired to the Commodore Perry Room at the Lawrence for a couple of drinks and had dinner in the Cafeteria - a good crowd: "Wee Willie" Hamilton, Ken Wolf, "Honey Ball" Beyerl, Frank Hill, Burgess, and Bill Switzer and Jay Waller and I. We tried to find a bowling alley unsuccessfully and wound up playing pill pool in a very hilarious session until train time. It turned out to be a much better day than I had anticipated.

Erie, Pa.,
Tuesday, Nov. 21, 1939.
Today, Banell, Mark Hanna and Gouldy painted a gloomy picture of the Cummins critical speed situation. Only in a few things Dick Lamborn said, did I see a faint ray of hope in the darkness. The whole business made me feel pretty blue and I warned jay we might have to prepare for the worst. Banell wrote an ultimatum to Whitey Wilson recommending either we "cancel" the orders or substitute the Cummins L engine at a cost of $12,000 to $16,000 more per locomotive. None of the schemes proposed to use the HBIS-600 engine were "acceptable". Banell was rather high handed about the whole thing - uncompromising and cocky, I thought, which rather riled me up. tomorrow I want to have a talk wtih Dick Lamborn, whom I would rather talk to than anyone else on the 3rd floor. He is smart, honest, resourceful and with me at least, very friendly and helpful. I have a lot of faith in Dick.

I had drinks and dinner with Rudy and John Davidson as I wanted to discuss the situation with Rudy before he leaves town for the Thanksgiving weekend, leaving tomorrow to go to "the farm." Also