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Memories Of A MonsterBy Paul J. Templeton Locomotive Engineer Burlington Northern, Inc.Sterling, COMy fondness for railroads and the huge machines that trod them has deep roots. When just a boy in California, I knew that my grandfather. Johnathan Morningstar, worked on a line back east called the Lehigh Valley. My mother would show me photographs of him in his uniform, standing next to a gleaming coach of a Lehigh Valley passenger train. A brief vacation to the northeast shortly after the end of World War II merely heightened my interest in railroading in general and the Lehigh Valley in particular. I longed to see my grandfather and the Lehigh again.Early in the summer of 1949 my longings were realized My father. Joseph Templeton, a native of Ulster, obtained a position with rapidly growing IBM in Endicott during the year of 1935. Shortly thereafter he married Marian Morningstar of Sayre and together they moved to then beautiful Los Angeles. California, where I was born in 1937. After the war. my folks grew weary of the increasing Los Angeles smog and the burgeoning freeway traffic and my father transferred back to IBM in Endicott.For a short time, while waiting the building of our new' home just east of Owego. we rented an apartment in Sayre. At last I was able to view, at my leisure, the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Almost every day I stood, hour after hour, on the pedestrian bridge overlooking the yards. I remember seeing an occasional “Doodlebug'’ car. numerous but rapidly fading steam locomotives and the new-fangled diesels. One day I took along my Kodak Baby Brownie Special camera and shot a whole roll of film At night, laying in bed, I could hear the rumble of freight trains being put together.One warm day my grandfather, who after much pleading had promised me a cab ridein a steam locomotive, took me over to the Sayre yards. After checking in with the yardmaster, we picked our way through what seemed to be an endless array of freight cars. We finally came to a panting, hissing monster of a steam engine, a 300-series, as I recall. Icy fingers of fear mounting inside me clashed with the piercing heat emanating from the awesome machine. Up the ladder and into the cab I went, trembling ever so slight ly.Gauges, levers and valves were everywhere. Crushed coal and cinders covered the cab floor. Steam sifted from various places and dripping water sizzling profusely The open maw of the firebox gave view to a shimmering red inferno from which I shrank. The engine crew, sensing my fear, set about making me at home. The fireman sat me down on his seat by the left window. From this new vantage point I began to observe the cab interior more cooly. I had barely calmed down when the safety valve popped with a deafening roar, sending me up off my new found seat. This crisis passed quickly, and I settled down to observe the wonders of the cab interior once again. I recall my grandfather and the fireman throwing some huge lumps of coal into the firebox for my benefit.The engine bucked and heaved as it snorted about the yard, accomplishing its duties. Cars that had been “kicked” crashed into others, raising small clouds of dust and cinders. This was railroading as I had never before known it. All too soon it was time to leave.I have many memories of Sayre during that hot and humid summer of 1949 -- memories of the old Lehigh Valley powerhouse in full operation, memories of the noon and curfew whistle, memories of the Black Diamond and memories of both steam and diesel locomotives sitting within the huge halls of the main Sayre shop building. Most of all. however. I have memories of a monster
Newspaper Details
The Daily Review
Towanda, Pennsylvania, US
Wed, Feb 02, 1983
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Indiana U.
PA, USA 29 Aug 2021
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