Lackawanna Cut Off - Part 37: Mike Wikman's Full Interview
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 26 авг 2024
- [NOTE - Mike Wikman passed away on Feb 23, 2024. He was 89 years old. This interview took place in San Antonio, Texas in July 2023.]
Join us for an interview with Mike Wikman, a long-time railroader, who will regale us with stories about his life before and after the November 13, 1979 running of the Hoboken-Scranton Amtrak Special over the Lackawanna Cut-Off, a trip that Mike road the engine on and who will talk about that trip during the interview.
Mike will reminisce about growing up in Clarks Summit (near Scranton), PA; East Aurora, NY; Maplewood, NJ; and Rumson, NJ. As a young kid, he'll get cab rides in steam locomotives going over the Cut-Off at over 100 mph. We'll hear about his stint as a locomotive engineer, amazingly as an 18-year-old, in the army in Korea, and how he came to work for the Lackawanna (DL&W) Railroad, the Erie-Lackawanna (EL) Railroad, the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ), New York's MTA, the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and, of course, Amtrak.
During his career Mike will deal with derailments, one of which caused a fatality and would have been prevented had he been listened to. He'll also talk about the danger involved in being able to run trains in spite in spite of a hanging 3,000 volt trolley wire. [Spoiler alert: Mike and a conductor moved the wire.]
In addition to talking about the November 13, 1979 Amtrak Special--which we included in Part 35, but now with additional information learned since the interview--Mike will fill us in about his consulting career after he left Amtrak, starting railroads from scratch, and how he ended up in San Antonio, Texas, where this interview was conducted in person. (Note - About 75% of this interview was NOT included in Part 35.)
Finally, Mike will rell us about the novel way in which he convinced a judge that his controversial training philosophy, which his own lawyers vehemently disagreed with, was right. And, we'll get some thoughts about an invention that he thinks could revolutionize the railroad industry, as well as some final thoughts on his life and career as well as the Cut-Off.
![Oasis - Oasis Live '25 [Official Trailer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/gol_JnuEtKM/mqdefault.jpg)
Mike was my instructor. He was the best, he knew everything and he was a wonderful person, everything that I know as an engineer, I learned it from him.
RIP
I suspect that he was a great teacher.
Awesome interview with Mike - so glad you travelled to do it. He mentioned "EF Drew" in Boonton - I lived in Boonton Twp, and wow Drew was one large toxic chemical dump. When we drove past it, there were pipes dripping liquid onto the ground along the road. I walked the Old Road, and the route to the mines in Oxford - boy, Mike had some great experiences. Going through the Oxford and Manunka Chunk tunnels must have been a blast. The fact that Mike warned of the Point of Gap rail misalignment, was ignored, and someone died as a result - that is so sad. The "Cementer" on the Bangor and Portland - part of this line, from Stockertown to Wind Gap/Pen Argyl PA is our local rail trail today. The branch from Nazareth eastward now terminates at Rt 33.
Wow! That's quite a life. Thanks for sharing.
Great interview. Part when he talks about the Oxford mines . The mines were owned by Alan wood steel in conshohocken pa. My grandfather worked at Alan wood . Wish there was more info on the mines in general to research . But hearing this was great
It was great hearing from Mike Wickman, it was terrific, I loved it. His memory is so sharp and his passion is so strong. I was born 1948 in New Jersey rode the Lackawana, the Pennsylvania, the Jersey Central and all those other railroads and I have always been a avid rail fan and was delighted and spellbound by this interview.
Yes, he had quite a repertoire of stories. I miss him.
Awesome stories
Glad you like them!
28:14 Wow, that's great. So he went through the Oxford and Manunka Chunk tunnels? I mean, I did, too, but I was walking, not on a train.
Yes he did - and I am impressed as well, having walked them.
Very interesting interview! Thank You Mike
Glad you enjoyed it!
Wow just finished this and saw he passed away! RIP Mike
I'm shocked. I talked to him just after the video was posted on Feb 17th and he sounded fine.
Thank you Chuck for another very Interesting episode. Thanks to your dedication and enthusiasm we can all look forward to seeing the cut off being used again very soon.
Mike, I grew in Millington alongside the Gladstone branch, and fondly remember the MUs. They had a well earned reputation for being very reliable, running in the worst of weather. I always assumed it was because they were built like tanks. (They certainly looked like something from WWII), but now I know that it was your enthusiastic encouragement and leadership of an extremely dedicated crew that assured that they always continued to run on the worst of days. Thank you so much for your service. Great interview!
Thank you!
I love these. They are great to have on in the background. I'm so glad I have so many more to listen to.
I try to get a variety of viewpoints from folks who were there.
Chuck - this was another awesome informative video. Thanks for your on going efforts. You will hopefully get recognized for all your hard work. I am disappointed they didn't recognize you in the PA press conference, perhaps there was a reason for that ? PA vs NJ thing or politics etc ... whatever. We followers won't let it slide on this side of the river. Again- Appreciated !
Mike was outstanding. Wish I could chat with him about the DLW Old road. Intriguing section. Also wish there were more photos of the Old road. Often wondered when I am at Hot Dog Johnny's on 46 - gazing up at the old road bed across the street, how often did they stop the train and run down for some hot dogs ?? LOL. HDJ was there in the 1940's .... Please ask Mike next time you get a chance. Or maybe HDJ's ran them up to them, special whistle signals etc .... Thanks
Freights did stop for lunch at Hot Dog Johnny's. I don't know if Mike did or not. I can ask. Regarding the PA-NJ thing, it is what it is.
OUTSTANDING VIDEO. ! 🏆🇺🇸
Thank you!
Wow!. What a presentation. Please, more stories from this great storyteller.
I'll see what I can do.
Mike passed away on Feb 23, 2024.
Chuck; I have followed this saga for several years and wonder if there is a current update on the project?
Coming soon.
Great video Mike seems like a great guy and saw and did so much
Yes he did. RIP, he sadly passed away in February.
Superb interview. Thanks for sharing. I hope Mike will be around to ride the Cut Off when they put it back in service even if its only to Andover.
I was hoping that, too. Alas, it was not to be.
Was the signal system still active when the Amtrak special over the Cut-Off in 1979. If not, when was it removed from service?
It was not. It was disabled in early 1979 and then sabotaged by Conrail.
Mike, you want to run a steam locomotive? Go visit the WW&F up in Alna Maine. Two-foot narrow gauge. Make friends with them and I'll bet they'll let you run our #9.
Stay tuned. Much more to come.
1:56:01 Nobody has traveled the cut-off in as many ways as Chuck has. I'm pretty sure that Mike Helbing has hiked the whole thing, which I don't think Chuck has done, but hey, there's still time to hike it before the rails come back!
Actually, I've hiked the Cut-Off multiple times, mostly back in the 1980s and 1990s. The reason why I did it on a bicycle this time around was to decrease the video time, although I did have to walk the bike in places nonetheless..
Based on Chuck's videos, my guess is he has absolutely hiked the whole thing.
Chuck, this was excellent. I really enjoyed it, especially near the end when the Erie-Lackawanna electric MU operation came up. I was there in Maplewood on the last day of the old MU cars in 1984. I rode the last train.
I rode the last train out of Hoboken headed to Dover. Every train horn in the yard there was blowing. I recall one person observing that it was the only westbound train they'd ridden that picked up more passengers than it dropped off.
Amazing how the engineers would let a kid ride in the engine.
That was back in the day before strict liability. Then, you had to have done something wrong in order to be liable. These days, you simply need to be involved in some way, any way. Consequently, nobody gets to do anything "because of liability". My understanding is that it was a single Supreme Court decision that set precedent.
I had that experience. I remember waving to my neighbor from way up on the locomotive and she waiting at the crossing.
"Guests" (non-company riders) in the locomotive cab have always been prohibited. It's just that over the past twenty years or so that engineers don't want to risk losing their jobs over letting someone ride, not to mention having it documented and posted on RUclips. Some countries actually encourage the documentation of their routes from the cab as a form of marketing tool. Stupidly, we can't figure out a way to do that here.
A different time
"Politics" seems to be a constant factor in this interview with Mike Wikman. What exactly is Mike referring to? He makes the point about it being "who you know" - then veers into favoritism and nepotism for the plum jobs, making the point that advancement on the rail lines is not based on any type of meritocracy, but by illicit procedures.
I would have liked to have heard exactly what this was about and got some examples, because what was true then, may still be true with NJ Transit. Were the superintendents warring with each other? Was the railroad business run by a bunch of squabbling brats all vying for power and control? Were they fighting over the deckchairs, without realizing they were actually sitting on the Titanic?
I would have also liked to have heard about the beef Mike had with Chuck - even though you guys seem to have now worked it out. It seems like Mike loves most people and has a few people he just cannot stand, and not much in between. While it may be "water under the bridge" for you Chuck, I think there is still some value in recording it somewhere - especially if it pertains the Lackawanna Cutoff and the politics that control its construction and management. What is so secret that cannot be mentioned?
On a side note, you might also consider doing the audio recording on digital audio recorder and just editing together - so much better quality and the microphone can be so much closer to the subject than the camera - remote mics are great, but the battery is often a problem.
I can't speak for Mike. He wasn't really wasn't specific about the "politics" throughout his career. I see it as water under the bridge.
Sounds like Mikes career is full of meritocracy.
Get Mike's book, "The Gloved Hand." He goes into detail about a lot of the "political" problems he ran into and does in a lot of cases name names. cml
@@carllehman8792 Great suggestion.