I came across a picture yesterday that immediately made me think of my hometown. It flat out brought to mind growing up in a railroad town. I realize there were thousands of towns of this type all across the country but my town was railroad through and through. Boone, Iowa and Railroad were interchangeable.
There were two lines in Boone. One was the Chicago & Northwestern. Our community of 12,000 was the midway point between Chicago and Omaha therefore many of the workers lived in our little burg. At one time, when there was passenger service, a very large hotel stood next to the tracks. My grandfather started working on this railroad in 1901. My dad in 1940. As you will soon read I had my stints of service with one of them.
The other train system was the Fort Dodge, Des Moines & Southern. I don't know where the Southern part came in because Des Moines was the end of the line. I worked in the Des Moines yards between my sophomore and junior years of college. I'd drive from Boone at 11 pm and work the midnight to 8 am shift making up a train heading north. I was a naive kid. The first thing I noticed my first night were the thousands or rats scurrying about looking for grain that had fallen from the cars. Does anyone want to get attacked by a rat? Not me. So I rigged up leggings made of cardboard like a medival knight would put on his body. I might have looked stupid. The train engineer laughed but I felt like Superman and that's what counted.
In the summers jobs as 'gandy dancers' were given to we guys who played summer baseball in town. We pulled railroad ties all day long with ice picks and replaced the old ties with new ones. It was hard work but it was rewarding work and we made good money.
I worked on the FTDM&S between my junior and senior year of college as a brakeman. It was a fun job and it paid well. During the summer of 1967 I put $6,000 in my pocket. In 1968, my first year of teaching/coaching I brought home $6,800 for the year. But, I did get free lunch if I winked at the lunch room ladies.
This train would travel to a farm town, I'd switch out grain cars mostly, and we'd move on. One of my favorite stops was in Gowrie. I think it was Gowrie. There was a small cafe close to the tracks and I'd run in after I told the engineer I had to use the toilet. I lied. They sold the best cinnamon rolls. Once, I did have a slight kerfuffel. Actually, it was in Boonetown directly behind Sweat Culver's housee and I pulled the wrong switch and put a car on the ground. The president of the RR came to the scene of the crime. I thought I'd get fired but didn't. I went to confession, Mass and received Holy Communion that day.
When I look at this photo it absolutely reminds me of Boone, Iowa heading west out of town.
4 comments:
Mike : wonderful memories! You are an excellent writer. Bud Schroeder would be proud of you!!
Thanks. Bud detested me but I got back at her. She's dead. I'm not.
Just read about This Screams Boone, Iowa in Kelly's Korner.
I was born in Boone and lived there until 1957. My Grandmother owned a restaurant across the street from the Roundhouse at 5th and Delaware.
I remember the Roundhouse, the noon whistle, the railroad workers, and those enormous coal burning steam engines that would rumble into the yard. The earth would shake.
Thanks for your memories. Growing up in Boone, and living across the street from the Roundhouse until I was nine, is part of my DNA. I love AMTRAK. Until COVID, I would travel frequently by passenger train. Hope to do it again someday.
Steven Pace
Chicago, IL
Thanks Steven: I, too, lived on 5th street immediately after birth a block west of the roundhouse. I was allowed to ride in the steam engines. I forgot to write about the High Bridge and during WWII is was guarded 24/7 by members of the Army due to it's importance.
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