Though very interesting (I have listened to many over the years) they really should be written down otherwise they are ‘lost in time’ (and they should not).
Too bad that the earlier generations didn’t write them down.
Rich
Like the “Weary Erie.”
I understand the security from being lost aspect of being written, but it would also be invaluable to have the stories recorded in audible form as well. I would Love to be able to Hear my Grandfather’s voice again, that would mean as much to me as the story itself
To Grandpa’s stories in written form, especially his own hand, would be Treasured, to have his stories in recorded audible form, Priceless, in both forms, too much to ask
Doug
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The Grand Trunk Western Railroad was affectionally referred to as “The Good Track Road”.
Rich
I was referring to oral histories that get recorded, either written or in audio or video form. When I was an undergrad history major, I found the transcribed oral Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier (Table Talks) extremely useful as have historians with that and other such oral histories.
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Minneapolis, Saint Paul & Sault Saint Marie - “Soo Line”.
Rich
Indiana Harbor Belt, often referred to by railroaders as “The Harbor”.
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When my father passed away in 2014 I found a diary from his father a WW2 veteran. I read it inside was a written history of his time in the service overseas in Europe including his recapping all his missions as a ball turret gunner in a B24. It was donated to Wright Patterson AFB for their archives. They literally celebrated getting such a well preserved piece of crew member stories.
Now my grandfather my dad’s stepfather never wrote his time in the service down. We all knew he’d been in the navy during WW2 in the Pacific on transports. What we didn’t know was he was at every major amphibious landing from Guadacanal through Okinawa.
One night he was drunk it was September and during the night he started talking about his service in the war. I literally couldn’t believe what he’d been through. Then I remembered that he’s here it happened. He told of during the Guadacanal campaign his captain would literally strip the galley all foodstuffs and sickbay of all medical supplies to leave them for the Marines on the beach. His men on ship would eat the lifeboat rations to get back to the rear area.
That’s the kind of men that fought in WW2.
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I get goosebumps reading this account.
Rich
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Ah, but you could write your experiences down for people in the future.
You could record stories for your family and the future.
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With the excellent voice recognition software on several apps, it’s easy to transcribe oral accounts to the written page.
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The importance of a trained interviewer is often critical, not just in providing subjects for memories, but in making them ‘remembered’ at all. Many things will only be remember if prompted, but will then lead to more details. Encouraging that is in fact its own ‘field of study’ in history.
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Sure you could, but I was commenting on “earlier generations” and their failure to do so.
Rich
Just my 2 cents worth, but the Slovaks don’t seem to have fared worse than the Poles. In my own extended family, one was taken away by the Gestapo and never seen again, one was allowed to retain his job as a locomotive engineer (care to guess what kind of trains, maybe?), and two were snatched from home as adolescents and deported as slave laborers; I later knew them very well. Others just carried on (no word if they kept calm). So I am acquainted with this topic.
But I agree with charlie_hebdo2, a few other specific groups were marked people. Most Poles & Slovaks (and similar people) survived the war. For some other groups, not so much.
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Back to the topic at hand, Railroad Nicknames and Abbreviations.
C&EI - Chicago & Eastern Illinois
C&WI - Chicago & Western Indiana
Two of my favorite railroads.
Rich
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C&EI had two nicknames, The Boulevard of Steel and The Chicago Line.
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It’s colors were orange and blue, same as the Fighting Illini, yet the line didn’t go through Champaign-Urbana. A story there?
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