Garden Club Banquet Photos, 1980-1982:
BLE Division 161 (Southern Pacific Coast District, Western Division)
These photos depicting Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Division 161's Garden Club banquets come courtesy of retired SP/Amtrak Engineer Greg Welker, who supplied scans of his originals, copies of which appeared in various issues of the BLE newsletter in 1980-82. Over the years, Greg misplaced the caption information, but the good offices of the BLE in Cleveland recently researched their newsletter back issues and supplied Greg with the missing info. Many of these gentlemen also appear in History San Jose's Ernie Kiesel Collection of Southern Pacific Photographs. Greg has had these photos posted on Flickr for some time, but for some reason, I could never get links to work, Greg has kindly assented to their duplication here. In addition, you will find an index giving the service dates of the engineers in the photos.
The Garden Club
Dating to at least the early 1930's, but probably earlier, Southern Pacific Coast Division (later: Coast District, Western Division) engineers who worked jobs out of San Francisco and San Jose had a club formed, is assumed, to maintain the Mission Bay Gardens, which filled a small space sandwiched between San Francisco's Mission Bay Roundhouse whisker tracks and Mariposa Street. Many photos of the Garden appear in the aforementioned Kiesel Collection. The loosely organized association also charged itself with raising funds for mutually beneficial and charitable projects. In 1980-82, it hosted banquets in Sunnyvale (exact location, forgotten) which honored pensioners and likewise recognized working engineers with a formal distribution of BLE years-of-membership pins, a job of long time secretary-treasurer Welker (a familiar engineers' springtime refrain was, "Hey Welker, where are the BLE pins?").
Fundamentally, the Garden Club was composed of senior engineers, fellows who had known and worked with each other for three or four decades. They ran the show at Division 161, as Garden Club "members" also largely comprised the officers of Division 161.
Although Mission Bay Roundhouse and its Garden were two decades in the past by the times of the photos, the Garden Club remained, and continued on with new BLE Division 65, which was carved out of Division 161 after Amtrak succeeded SP in operating the Peninsula Commute Service in 1992. It finally began to fade away with the wave of ex-SP engineer retirements that began in earnest after 2000. I am not sure of its status in the Caltrain / Herzog era of the present.
In the first photo, you will note an exception to the old-man-rule at dead center in the top row: a comparative kid with a mustache and shaggy hair. That's Greg Welker, who at the time of the 1980 photo had less than ten years with SP. His status exceeded his seniority simply because he had taken that aforementioned secretary-treasurer job, a thankless one that nobody with whiskers wanted. Greg's relentless attention to detail in all things made him a natural for the position, a job that he held until the turn of the century, first for Division 161, then for Division 65. Thanks for the photos and all of those years keeping the division's business properly sorted, Greg! - E.O.
Index of people in photos
(photos further below)
Updated: 8-22
Have further info; related photos? Contact us at: wx4org@yahoo.com
> All individuals are engineers unless otherwise noted <
Service (seniority) date acronyms
Note that these represent the date of entry into a craft, not necessarily an original hire date with the company.
ESD: engineer; FSD: fireman; YFSD: yard fireman; RFSD: road fireman; CSD: conductor; YSD: yardman (switchman); CLSD: clerk
|
Adams, Pete
|
Roundhouse foreman (San Jose? |
Aven, J. W.
|
FSD: 8-21-36
ESD: 10-4-45- restricted to yard firman by 1956
Retired after 1960 |
Bailey, S. J.
|
FSD: 9-8-29
ESD: 9-3-44
Retired after 1960 |
Barker, G. E.
|
FSD: 8-3-26
ESD: 11-26-41
Retired before 1982 |
Bingham, E. L.
|
FSD: 7-9-27
ESD: 11-14-42
Retired before 1980 |
Blasdel, A. N..
|
FSD: 9-27-37
ESD: 12-25-46
Retired after 1980 |
Brown, Forest
- image #12, 13,
23 (with wife?)
|
FSD: 10-27-17
ESD: 9-2-26
Road Foreman of Engines, San Francisco
Retired about 1980? |
Buck, C. W.
|
FSD: 12-7-42
ESD: 11-22-51
Retired by 1981 |
Buckley, R. E.
|
YFSD: 8-14-17
RFSD: 4-1-18
ESD: 9-23-26
Retired after 1960 |
Chamberlain, C. B.
|
FSD: 8-31-23
ESD: 6-26-41
Retired before 1955 |
Clark, J. J.
|
FSD: 10-12-27
ESD: 8-4-43
Retired 1980-82 |
Corbin, E. J.
|
FSD: 7-17-42
ESD: 9-29-51 |
DiSalvo, J. V.
|
FSD: 8-7-41
ESD: 5-7-51
Retired by 1981 |
Gilkey, J. H.
|
FSD: 7-14-26
ESD: 10-1-41
Retired: before 1960 |
Gotthard, Mary
|
ESD: Early 1980's? |
Grassel, A. W. (A. M. ?)
|
FSD: 9-3-27
ESD: 11-16-42
Retired before 1980 |
Hambaugh, H. T. "Herbie"
|
FSD: 10-6-43
ESD: 11-30-54
Retired circa 1980 |
Hamann, R. H.
|
FSD: 4-30-43
ESD: 12-27-52
Retired 1980-82 |
Hinman, F. L.
|
FSD: 8-15-36
ESD: 9-29-45
Retired before 1980 |
Jees, A. E. "Augie"
|
FSD: 11-25-44
ESD: 12-17-54
Road Foreman of Engines, San Luis Obispo
Retired circa 1980's
|
Jett, F. W.
|
FSD: 7-24-26
ESD: 9-3-42
Retired before 1982 |
Johanson, F.
|
FSD: 10-13-41
ESD: 11-14-42
Retired before 1982 |
Johnson, H. K.
|
FSD: 10-13-27
ESD: 8-4-43
Retired before 1980 |
Karmann, G. A.
|
YFSD: 6-30-15
RFSD: 5-13-17
ESD: 6-6-25
Retired: after 1960 |
Kennedy, R. K.
|
FSD: 7-28-27
ESD: 11-14-42
Retired before 1980 |
Kiesel E. R. Ernie
- image #2, 4
- Kiesel Collection:
- Pt. 3 pg. 2, 092, 156 (mentioned), 179
- Pt. 4 pg. 4, 181, 229
- Pt. 7 pg. 2, 137, 138 (mentioned), 139 (mentioned)
- Part 10, Ernie Kiesel
|
FSD: 10-2-23
ESD: 6-26-41
Biograhical information
The Ernie Kiesel Collection Photographs at History San Jose
|
Langworthy, M. O.
|
FSD: 12-20-44
ESD: 12-17-54 |
Lindley, Walter E., Sr.
|
FSD: 8-26-25
ESD: 8-13-41
Retired after 1960
|
Logan, Ray
|
no data |
Maddux, C. A.
|
ESD: 9-2-26
Retired after 1947 |
Meiswinkel, E. J.
|
FSD: 4-5-42
ESD: 9-22-51 |
Miller, A. M.
|
FSD: 10-3-52
ESD: post 1960 |
Miramon, E. V. "Gene"
|
FSD: 10-7-26
ESD: 9-20-42
Retired before 1980 |
Mohr, A. H.
|
YFSD: 4-29-17
RFSD: 9-9-17
ESD: 8-12-25
Retired after 1960 |
Neeley, S. P.
|
FSD: 7-31-37
ESD: 11-19-46
Retired before 1980 |
Nordgren, R. W. "Junior"
|
FSD: 7-23-53
ESD: ?
Retired early 1990's? |
Oliveri, S. P.
|
FSD: 8-26-46
ESD: 5-11-55 |
Paulson, A.
|
no data |
Porter, C.
|
no data |
Potthoff, W. J.
|
FSD: 5-21-41
ESD: 5-7-51 |
Prunk, E. P.
|
FSD:8-13-37
11-24-46
Retired before 1980 |
Roem, G. G.
|
FSD: 11-19-41
ESD: 9-22-51
Retired after 1980 |
Rossi, A. A. "Al"
|
FSD: 8-18-23
ESD: 6-18-41
Retired before 1980 |
Shannon, Arlon C. "Mickey"
|
ESD: 9-10-20
Retired 4-1-55
San Luis Obispo engineer
Image #17 also shows his wife, Seamus |
Shaylor, E. J.
|
FSD: 7-30-26
ESD: 9-4-42
Retired by 1981 |
Seiverson, E. C.
|
FSD: 10-2-37
ESD: 12-31-46
Retired before 1982 |
Skagjford, B.
|
Roundhouse foreman, San Jose? |
Sousa, M. A.
|
FSD: 11-2-25
ESD: 8-29-41
Retired before 1980 |
Starr, Leo
|
No data |
Sturken, E. C. "Smokey"
|
FSD: 10-6-43
ESD: 11-30-54
father of SP trainman / Amtrak trainman, officer Al Sturken |
Sturni, C.F.
|
FSD: 9-22-42
ESD: 9-29-51
Retired before 1982 |
Sullivan, E. J.
- image #1
- Kiesel Collection:
Pt. 7 pg. 2, 137, 138 (mentioned), 139 (mentioned)
- Pt. 10, 137
|
FSD: 9-6-41
ESD: 9-22-51
Retired after 1980 |
Surdez, G. B.
|
FSD: 3-30-41
ESD: 5-7-51
Retired after 1980 |
Swanson, R. P. "Bob"
|
FSD: 10-19-36
ESD: 10-22-46
|
Swanson, W. A.
|
FSD: 7-25-26
ESD: 7-30-36 - somehow promoted to engineer with a group of 1920 firemen
Retired after 1960 |
Viscount, F. E.
|
FSD: 8-18-27
ESD: 11-14-42
Retired before 1980 |
Vodden, Neil M.
|
FSD: 11-13-44
ESD: 12-17-54
Retired 1980's |
Walint, V. W.
|
FSD: 8-17-36
ESD: 10-4-45
Retired before 1980 |
Warnick, J. A.
|
FSD: 7-20-55
ESD: post 1960 |
Welker, G. E. "Greg"
|
ESD: 1972
retired 2007
Secretary-Treasurer BofLE Divisions 151, 65 for many years
|
White, Arthur E.
|
FSD: 5-31-41
ESD: 5-7-51
Retired before 1980 |
Wilbert, Thelma
|
Crew clerk at 7th St. |
GARDEN CLUB BANQUETS, 1980-82
locomotive engineers unless otherwise identified
Image #1, May 4, 1980
Working Engineers:
Back Row L-R: A. N. Blasdel, G. B. Surdez, A. M. Miller, G. E. Welker, J. A. Warnick, E. J. Meiswinkel.
Middle Row L-R: E. J. Corbin, M. O. Langworthy, S. P. Oliveri, H. T. Hambaugh, R. H. Hamann, E. C. Sturken.
Seated L-R: S. J. Bailey, C. F. Sturni, V. Allen, E. J. Sullivan, G. G. Roehm, W. J. Potthoff
Image #2, May 4, 1980
Retired Engineers:
Back Row L-R: F. E. Viscount, R. K. Kennedy, F. L. Hinman, V. W. Walint, H. K. Johnson, E. P. Prunk.
Middle Row L-R: E. V. Miramon, S. P. Neeley, C. B. Chamberlain, E. L. Bingham, A. W. Grassel, J. J. Clark, G. B. Surdez.
Front Row Seated L-R: A. A. Rossi, Ernie Kiesel, M. A. Sousa, G. A. Karmann, J. H. Gilkey, C. A. Maddux, A. E. White.
Image #3, May 3, 1981
Retired Engineers:
Back Row L-R: C. W. Buck, J. V DiSalvo, T. Seghieri, E. J. Shaylor
Seated L-R: G. B. Surdez, A. H. Mohr, R. E. Buckley, W. L. Lindley
Image #4, May 1, 1982
Retired Engineers:
Standing L-R: C. F. Sturni, E. C. Seiverson, V. W. Walint, F. Johansen, G. E. Barker, R. H. Hamann, E. J. Corbin, E. P. Prunk, J. J. Clark, J. W. Aven
Seated L-R: W. A. Swanson, C. A. Maddux, F. W. Jett, E. R. Kiesel, A. A. Rossi, R. K. Kennedy
Image #5, May 1, 1982
L - R. A. Miller, R - M. O. Langworthy
Image #6, May 1, 1982
L - R. A. Miller, Middle - M. O. Langworthy
Image #7, May 1, 1982
A. E. Jess, RFE - dark tie, S. P. Oliveri - front
Image #8, May 1, 1982
L- E. Corbin, B. Skagjford, roundhouse foreman
Image #9, May 1, 1982
Leo Starr (occupation?)
Image #10, May 1, 1982
rrL to R: ?, Bob Swanson, N. M. Vodden
Image #11, May 1, 1982
L to R: R. W. Nordgren, A. N. Blaisdel, G. E. Barker, unknown San Jose roundhouse foreman
Image #12, May 1, 1982
L to R: J. Lyden, ?, Forest Brown-RFE, Mary Gotthard, Pete Adams-roundhouse foreman
Image #13, May 1, 1982
L to R: Forest Brown-RFE, Mary Gotthard, Pete Adams-roundhouse foreman, Thelma__-clerk
Image #14, May 1, 1982
L to R: R. A. Rossi, A. M. Miller, W. J. Potthoff, A. E. Jess, ?
Image #15, May 1, 1982
Right - Ray Logan (occupation?)
Image #16, May 1, 1982
Left: C. Porter (occupation?), drinking-A. Paulson (occupation?)
Image #17, May 1, 1982
Center: Arlon "Mickey" Shannon, with his wife, Seamus
Image #18, May 1, 1982
L to R: A. M. Miller, N.M. Vodden, R. K. Kennedy
Image #19, May 1, 1982
L to R: ?, /, C. W. Buck, C. Porter (occupation?), ?, A. Paulson (occupation?)
Image #20, May 1, 1982
L to R: R. H. Hamman, G. E. Welker
Image #21, May 1, 1982
L to R: ?, Mary Gotthard, Pete Arnold-roundhouse foreman, N. M. Vodden
Image #22, May 1, 1982
L to R: R. H. Hamann, E. J. Meiswinkel
Image #23, May 1, 1982
Forest Brown-RFE and (wife?)
|