Mr. Richard E. Scholz

Interviewed By Russell Crump

July 10, 2000

Russell: Richard how did you come to get a job with the Santa Fe Railway? Long standing interest? What was involved?

Richard: Well lot of my ancestors' work for one railroad, particularly the Milwaukee Railroad some worked on the section gang. My great Grandfather was a section Forman at Hilbert, Wisconsin. A couple of my fathers uncles which would by my great uncles were worked for the Milwaukee one was a fireman another one worked at Portage Wisconsin as a baggage man. The fireman was actually fired wood burners back in the 1870. Until he dislocated his shoulder and could not fire any more and then he worked for different lumber companies. Some others worked as RPO clerks in the early days around the tern of the century. My fathers father my grand father worked as a telegraph operator at Babcock Wisconsin on the Milwaukee then he worked over at Saint Cloud Minnesota on the Great Northern as telegraph operator until he retired in 1941, With almost 50 years of service. My other Grandfather on my mothers father worked as scrap dock foreman Tomah, Wis. reclamation of rail there. So as a result, When I was born we would go up to Saint Cloud or Tomah, Wis. both worked for the railroad at the time and I used to hang around the depot at Saint Cloud. And see them hang up train orders and My Grand Father would take use down the pass to the rail mill at Tomah, Wis. hung around the railroad tracks their as will as at Saint Cloud. Of course we rode the trains back and forth in those years. So my interest actually dated from the date I was born. My first Christmas present by the way was a electric train set from American Flyer second hand standard Gauge one which I still have.

Russell: So you were a classic railroader in your blood.

Richard: That right!

Russell: born into it and raised into it

Richard: That right! Then I decided at a very early age before I went to grade school that I would be a locomotive engineer. We made friends with an Engineer whose home was in my mothers home town of Tomah, Wis. . And he was the engineer on the Olympian Hawatha. He told me stories about steam engines and passenger trains and so forth. But I did find out one thing that eye site was the main requirement and my eye site was not very good in those years you were required to have good eye site with out glasses. So after I heard about that I decided may be I will not work as an Engineer but I still wanted to work for the railroad so I went to Valparaiso University and study to be a mechanical Engineer with the idea that I am going into the mechanical end of it and perhaps design steam locomotives or locomotives of some sort or maintain them or what ever.

Russell: did you graduate from that program?

Richard:Yes I did I graduated as a mechanical Engineer in 1959. So everybody else went to the high paying job interviews like Argonne National Laboratory, General Motors, Pratt & Whitney and so forth in the Engineering Department in fact every body else got good high paying engineering jobs. I decided even then that I was going to work for the Railroad. So I put an application in four different railroads that I recall at that time just for starters. One was the Pennsylvania, One was the Grand Trunk Western, and the third one was the Milwaukee road and the fourth one was the Santa Fe. The Pennsylvania Railroad did not have any openings at that time but we got in to a good discussion on what their favorite steam locomotive was which was a J1 2-10-4. This came from a mechanical engineer so I figured he knew what he was talking about. The Burlington folks didn't have, I did interview CB&Q but they did not have any openings. But the Chicago Milwaukee and St Paul said they did have at that point in time an opening in the test department as analyzing chemical analysis of Lube oils and fuel oils. They had one of the early spectrographic machines. Like the Santa Fe did. The interview with the Santa Fe was with E. B. Fields who was the head of the test department and also on staff in Chicago at that point in time with Blickle. Well, as it turned out I had an operation, a cyst removed and so could not start with working for the railroad for a few months while the job opining with the Milwaukee road fell through because the lumber traffic dropped due to the decline in housing construction fell and the Milwaukee road was once again short of money which was a periodic thing with them. So I went back to the Santa Fe and they still had a job openings in the mechanical department as a special Apprentice. But at that point when I came back Mr. Fields had died of cancer in 1959 and Harold Lanning, H. K. Lanning took his place. Harold Lanning by the way was the son of the famous Howard H. Lanning who designed the modern Steam locomotives. Harold Lanning I found out over a period of years also designed the Santa Fe gas turbine locomotive when he was at the test plant at Baldwin. Which I did not realize at the time but I did latter going through the material that I rescued. Any way Harold Lanning interviewed me again and said well we still have this job as special apprentice, a three year special apprentice, are you interested. I said yes! So I signed my name December 14, 1959 in the Railroad Exchange building in Chicago and took my physical with the horse doctor there at the time I forget his name was since retired may be even passed on. Then I came back down to Harold's office. And he said well Richard here is a trip pass you report for work tomorrow morning at Topeka Kansas. So I took the over night passenger train I forget which one it was may be number 9. Went to Topeka Kansas.

Section 2 - Starting at Topeka as Special Apprentice