John Kostur Locomotive Engineer Santa Fe Railway in Tales of the Jointed Track

I have a few tales about John . Overall, he was a good person and liked to railroad. John was old school, he loved steam power, and the new guys had no clue on what to think. I liked John, but he was on the ” Bubble” so to speak so when he got a turn to run, John was gonna run ‘em ..period . I never had a problem working with him either. John was like 5 X 5 always wore the ” Pinstripe overalls’‘ and pinstripe hat. A scant few people, old and new, railroaders could pull off the pinstripe. Nah never was my deal. Always a blue or red shirt on trip to compliment the “uniform”. His feet, due to being short, would dangle , over the cab seat.

I was always a Goddamned Scissor Bill, whether I did good or bad. I never took offense. I was just that, a Scissor Bill. Okay yer thinking WTF is a Scissor bill ??? Well it was an old connotation used for a tool used in the late 1800’s. The true definition was brakeman working with the old style coupling devices in the late stages where link and pin was used. The brakeman literally pulled or inserted a pin to couple cars or uncouple them. The scissor bill was a device that saved your hands and /or fingers. The other was for a “student brakeman or fireman or, a person not suited for the capacity for which they were employed”. I was the latter, but I knew it was meant for a job well done. Although he has been dead for 20 plus years, I can still hear him calling me that. :)

The Caboose Fire Larkspur Colorado.

I wasn’t involved with this crew or this trip, but it spread like the caboose fire.
The crew involved on the caboose, was Verl Jenkins the Conductor. Now Verl was an odd duck, and I can’t remember the brakeman on the rear end .

It is a late cool fall day and early winter was showing on the Joint-Line . The Cabooses had diesel fueled stoves . The tank was gravity fed, and there was a fire pit that held a pool of fuel and it would ignite and heat up. This in turn, radiated out and the caboose was warm. Like all things on the railroad, neglect, get it out of town, can ya get it to light?, hence, this was an accident looking for a place to happen. Well sometimes the cut off valve didn’t work, and the diesel overflowed. A Fusee, was used to help ignite the mixture, or it soaked the floor around it . Okay see where I am going with this? The auto-ignite didn’t fire off, due to, too much fuel.

Well its cold and the train is climbing in elevation, and time to light the stove. So around Castle Rock, Santa Fe MP 706 (now MP 32), the stove was lit, and it didn’t fire off. So, being fouled, the old FUSEE trick was used. It did start, and all was well, ah heat. A cloudy, ready to storm day, and the caboose is a nice place to occupy, Until, around MP 695, nearing the north switch at Larkspur, the stove got hotter than normal, plus the fact, the floor was soaked with fuel. The floor caught fire, and that caboose was hotter than they wanted . They big-holed the train from the emergency brake valve in the caboose cupola, and luckily were able to get outside.

John was behind them about an hour, and around MP 696 , the KOA Campground, the signal there was red. Stop and proceed per rule 320, which is a RED signal displaying a number plate on the mast.

The Crew that flagged in ( on a red block signal) and found the Hack ablaze was John.. Dick Mock was the conductor … Al Davenport was the rear man, when cognizant and not three sheets. The head brakeman was Bob Reichert ( this goof ball was a story in himself ).

John flags up and now at MP 695 its a sharp right hand curve, blocked by the cut, and yes I have found cabooses, rail cars with an ETD, flashing or not , or a set of DP remotes occupying. So you better be ready to stop.

John comes around the corner, ( those that know the I-25 Larkspur exit have an idea), and about a quarter of a mile up, here is this blazing caboose. Now to preface this , the flagging rule, even though it was block signal protected, was in effect. There should have been a flag out to protect the rear of the train. Now think about it, and Radios, these were the new toys on the block. BN trains had the BN frequency 161.100, Santa Fe, the Santa Fe 160.650, and Rio Grande the Rio Grande 160.920, and later as we evolved we had multichannel radios where you would dial in the frequency, per the time table. So a C&S/BN freight ( we operated those and this crew was Santa Fe ), and a Santa Fe crew on a Santa Fe freight, flagging in, and hey can’t talk to each other. The Joint-Line or Pike Peak Sub is now 36-36 The Brush is 66-66

John brakes to a halt and says. “Hey this train ahead is stopped, and the Caboose is on fire..!!!” Dick Mock the conductor says, “Did they have a flagman out ??” John says “God damn it Dick I TOLD YOU THE CABOOSE WAS ON FIRE !!!”
Ah if railroading continued to be like that, but it’s not, it has changed while they were ( the old heads) phasing out. It still changed during my stint of 40 years. It will continue to do so.

Pipe Tobacco and Skoal ( chew )

I was called with John. We made our trip south and got our rest. We were called out on a night run and it was a freight. So what I remember is, we changed “out front” of the yard office on the main line. I am guessing this was the 151 or a late running 77. Train 151 was sorta the C&S flagship and 98% of the time, and it would be powered up. There were lots of Coors dedicated boxcars, returning back to the brewery for reloading. You were expected to make track speed. This was a usual no problem type of run. The night was black. I mean really black, no moon. We are making track speed and having a good run.

Bill Maulin was the head brakeman. Around Rio Grande Buttes ( there were two stations called Buttes on our time table Santa Fe Buttes on the southbound and Rio Grande Buttes on the northbound) Bill says “damn, I should have gotten a can of Skoal, this is really dry”..

I reached into my grip and pulled out an unopened can. I said to Bill..”Open this up and help yourself”. “Nah I can’t do that”. “Why Bill, it’s a fresh n full can”. “Well you may need it later.” Yeah right. Now Bill was proud, arrogant at times, and a stubborn person. I said “Bill if we use this up I can buy more. AND there may be a time I may need a chew and yer the only guy on the trip that has it”. Well that made sense to Bill. Bill was gonna toss that can and John pipes up. “Hey I am kinda short on tobacco too with my pipe,lemme have what you have left”. So John makes sure, he has just one more bowl left, and mixes the Skoal with the pipe tobacco. He packs the pipe, and lights it up. Well that fire lit the whole cab, as John ignited the mixture. He takes a big ol drag and states ..” Ya know that’s not bad, but it has a hell of a bite “!! Us dumb ol rails …lol