Retired Engine Dispatcher Frank Landis has quite a collection of old photographs he is going to let us publish.
Retired Engine Dispatcher Frank Landis has quite a collection of old photographs he is going to let us publish.
He told us that when the MP took over the TP they threw away a treasure trove of old maps and photo. "A friend told me they had thrown the stuff in a dumpster at the depot. I went down there and crawled in and rescued them," Frank says.
In the picture at the above, Frank has unrolled a map ot the Thurber Branch. It started as a Wye at Strawn. There was a yard there. It continued for about 17 miles, serving all the coal mines, brick yrads and other industries at Thurber.
Frank says that at one time when he was a boy, they lived along the west leg of the Wye. He said "One time the spilled coal in the yard caught on fire. When it first started, they ran steam engines up and down the tracks trying to blow it out with steam from the cylinder cocks. It didn't work and they had to quit. By the time the fire burned itself out, there was nnthing but twisted metal."
He is the son of Locomotive Engineer Frank M. Landis and Telegraph Operator Grace Bond Landis.
His father started working as a fireman for the T & P in 1912. His nickname was "Rip". He was promoted to Engineer in 1916 and retired in 1960.
Engineer Frank M.Landis oils the wedges of a 600. Telegrapher Grace Landis at Strawn Depot.
Mrs. Landis had trained to be a school teacher, but was hired by Agent Frank Ford at Tioga to learn telegraphy in 1917. She retired in 1975.
Frank tells us, "Mother always worked a third trick job. At one time, she work in an office at the West End of Lancaster Yard near where Bryan-Irving Road is today. It was in a boxcar set off to the side of the track.
"She carried a pistol in her purse. It came in handy when she was working at a place called "Wilds", about 4 miles west of Strawn at Mile Post 333.72. The employees there lived and ate in a company commissary. Wilds was a good name for the place; you could hear wolves howling at night. Sometimes she would be at Wilds for three month at a time.
"When I was small, Mother would take me with her. I carried my blanket and a pillow. She work at one desk, while I slept on the next one, with my blanket and pillow.
"The operator that she relieved, "Cat" Underwood, was deathly afraid of the wolves. She would walk over to work early carrying a coal-oil lantern and since she had a pistol she'd walk Mr. Underwood back to the Commissary and return alone to the telegraph office.
"One evening the Sheriff and his deputy dropped in the office for a cup of coffee. She mentioned that she was going to Fort Worth when she got off the next morning.
"The sheriff said were on their way up to arrest a bootlegger, and that when they came back, they would give her a ride to Strawn where she could catch the passenger train.
"When the men returned, she got into the back seat of the open touring car. She noticed there was a big bundle of tarpaulins in the floor board and put her feet on top of them. Then she motioned for her dog "Fifty-fifty" to get in the car too.
"The dog got in, but jumped right back out. She got out and put the dog back in the car. He jumped back out again. She decided she'd have to leave him and went into the telegraph office and asked the other operator to watch out for him while she was gone.
"After they started out, the Sheriff told her they needed to stop at the undertaker's place for a minute or two, if it wouldn't make her late for her train.
"When they stopped, the undertaker came out with his little wagon and he and the sheriff and the deputy loaded the bundle of tarpaulins on to it. It was then she realized the lawmen had killed the bootlegger. She had been riding with her feet resting on his corpse all the way from Wilds, and that was the reason her dog didn't want in the car."
(Above) Early 1930s. Two older Tower 55s can be seen from atop T&P No. 905 in Fort Worth's new Texas and Pacific Passenger Depot, as she waits for the 494 to switch out Train No 2. (Below) Side view of engines 905 and 494 with new Texas and Pacific Passenger Depot in background. Photos from Frank Landis Collection.
Frank went to work for the Texas and Pacific Railway in October 1943 as a caller. He retired December 18, 1987 as engine dispatcher at the Fort Worth Diesel Shop. Frank is still active as secretary to the T & P Federal Credit Union in Fort Worth.
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