Off the Beaten Track, Railroad Buffs Get Stoked by Riding Obscure Routes
“I want to ride every track before I check out,” says Bill Crawford, 68, a retired engineering manager for General Electric Co. in Nahant, Mass. He was one of several dozen collectors who paid $8,000 each to go on a 2,500-mile, weeklong train trip last April from St. Louis to Tulsa, Fort Worth, El Paso and Kansas City. The train covered freight routes that hadn’t seen regular passenger train service in decades. “I have lusted after that track for 35 years,” Mr. Crawford says.
Read more at Wall Street Journal.
TO WHOMEVER READS THIS, SPREAD THE WORD, “COAL”. BEFORE MY 35 YEARS WITH GE, I WORKED FOR THE NORTHERN-SOUTHERN AND SENDING “COAL” ALL OVER THE U.S. AND CANADA, I REALIZE IT’S A GREAT “ENERGY” SOURCE, JUST LIKE A PROPOSED PIPELINE OUTWEST THAT WE SHOULD HAVE ENGAGED IN. I RETURNED TO VIRGINIA FOR A VISIT AND WAS TALKING TO A PAST “COAL” MAN WHO BOUGHT UP FIELDS OF IT WHEN WORKING FOR NS. PHYL KLIMPEL
Bill was a co worker and also my boss during the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s at The GE Lynn, MA Thompson Engineeing Lab and I believe also a graduate of
Drexel! Glad to know that he’s retired and had a wonderul experience riding the rails. I hope thaqt his retirement continues to be healthy and happy one.
Harry Green
The Bill Crawford I knew was T700 project manager, then VP of military engine projects in Lynn, and must be in his 80s now.
Bob Garvin – the Bill Crawford discussed in this posting was the manager of Thompson Lab at GE-Lynn, not the Bill Crawford in Projects.