>>1234570Interesting, thanks for sharing. Milwaukee Road's criminal, corrupt, and incompetent management cannot be understated, but unlike FEC most of the people on the ground were true believers in electrification and fought their hardest to keep it running smoothly and turning a profit, despite all the setbacks and attempts to undermine it that management through at it. They knew their livelihoods were at stake and so fought as though their lives depended on it. They gave a valiant effort and deserve to be remembered for their sacrifices and struggles.
>On the Rock Mountain Division, the Freight Motors (boxcabs) did not go down without a fight, but keeping them running was difficult. In 1972, the mood of Deer Lodge Shop foreman Ralph Hagemo was optimistic, but worried:>"They told me that they are going to have some new motors for me, if I can just keep these things running a few more years," he said. "If the electrics go, this shop will be closed, and we'll all be out of work. As long as I have anything to do with it, these things are going to run until they can't turn another wheel."Pic related, these things were built in 1916 and when the last ones stopped operating with the end of electrification in 1974, they had served continuously for 58 years.
Even the diesel proponents had to admit they were superior runners, as one pro-diesel Tacoma shop foreman noted in 1970:
>"They're worn out and they're slow, but I'll give them one thing, they can pull anything you can put behind them. You can't overload them, they just run slower. If you overload a diesel, you'll burn up the traction motors." 