40avery
05-05-2007, 07:52 AM
When I inquired about volunteering on the hill I was interested in steam. Particularly the Railroad. Dad and I had visited and really liked the way the Loco pulled the big grade. To my surprise there was room for volunteers on the railroad. I was informed about the weekend that they would be doing work and I trekked to the hill to see how it would go.
I found Hartley Ellingson and he told me that “yes there was an opportunity on the railroad” Then he asked what I expected to do. I told him I would do whatever needed to be done.
Hartley smiled and replied, “you start at the bottom and work your way up, Any problems with that”? “Not at all’, I replied.
Well I started at the bottom as promised. The bottom of the 353. We blew out the mud legs and cleaned grease away from the wheels. Then Hartley told me that the engine needed to be painted. He had another volunteer that was going to help but could only do the easier upper parts and he wanted me to scrape and paint the underside of the engine. I told him I would do my best and crawled in under the locomotive and started to work.
A short time later I noticed another person moving around in the locomotive building and Hartley helping get supplies ready. I could not see out from between the wheels and was wondering who this person might be.
A short time later I heard this beautiful voice sing out a song, and then another. The tone was perfect but I could not understand the words very well.
Some of the tunes I knew as my father was an “old time” musician and they were familiar to me, others were not familiar but sung in perfect pitch all the same.
Break time came and I crawled out from under the locomotive to meet Bill Bishop. Bill turned out to be one of the strongest sources of inspiration to me.
Bill Bishop was a retired conductor from, I think, the CNW. It makes no difference what line. He was a conductor and had retired form the railroad service. The inspiration came from hearing about his trials and seeing him NEVER give up. Bill had cancer in his mouth and had much of his jaw and tissue in his mouth removed. He could only eat soft foods and his breaks were taken up getting a peanut butter sandwich down. He was full of stories of the people he had met while conducting on the rails. Bill was very hard to understand but I took my time and hopefully did not frustrate him too much by asking sometimes a couple of times to repeat himself.
When I mentioned the singing to Hartley he told me that Bill had been in a barbershop quartet. That made sense. Bill continued to come and help as he could even though he did not always feel the best.
He worked through his difficulties and continued to be associated with a trade that he truly loved and continued to sing whenever he could.
May God bless his memory.:praying:
I found Hartley Ellingson and he told me that “yes there was an opportunity on the railroad” Then he asked what I expected to do. I told him I would do whatever needed to be done.
Hartley smiled and replied, “you start at the bottom and work your way up, Any problems with that”? “Not at all’, I replied.
Well I started at the bottom as promised. The bottom of the 353. We blew out the mud legs and cleaned grease away from the wheels. Then Hartley told me that the engine needed to be painted. He had another volunteer that was going to help but could only do the easier upper parts and he wanted me to scrape and paint the underside of the engine. I told him I would do my best and crawled in under the locomotive and started to work.
A short time later I noticed another person moving around in the locomotive building and Hartley helping get supplies ready. I could not see out from between the wheels and was wondering who this person might be.
A short time later I heard this beautiful voice sing out a song, and then another. The tone was perfect but I could not understand the words very well.
Some of the tunes I knew as my father was an “old time” musician and they were familiar to me, others were not familiar but sung in perfect pitch all the same.
Break time came and I crawled out from under the locomotive to meet Bill Bishop. Bill turned out to be one of the strongest sources of inspiration to me.
Bill Bishop was a retired conductor from, I think, the CNW. It makes no difference what line. He was a conductor and had retired form the railroad service. The inspiration came from hearing about his trials and seeing him NEVER give up. Bill had cancer in his mouth and had much of his jaw and tissue in his mouth removed. He could only eat soft foods and his breaks were taken up getting a peanut butter sandwich down. He was full of stories of the people he had met while conducting on the rails. Bill was very hard to understand but I took my time and hopefully did not frustrate him too much by asking sometimes a couple of times to repeat himself.
When I mentioned the singing to Hartley he told me that Bill had been in a barbershop quartet. That made sense. Bill continued to come and help as he could even though he did not always feel the best.
He worked through his difficulties and continued to be associated with a trade that he truly loved and continued to sing whenever he could.
May God bless his memory.:praying: