Greg Stras's Page

Thanks Greg for returning my E-mail. Well, I guess it was not Floyd,...but I remember that most of the crew members were really good men. Wish they still could run to Eureka, but that canyon was just too much. That Island Mountain tunnel and bridge certainly was a special place. I remember doing between 30 and 35 mph along parts of the canyon in better times with a 100 plus car train. Well,...time marches on. Passed by the Petaluma swingspan tonight and noted that the approach signals are all lit. Track looks good.....my only question right now is where in the heck is any traffic going to originate? Guess FRA will inspect right of way soon to get things rolling for future operations. We'll see what happens. Thanks again for your postings!

Hey Greg,...ended my railroading in Willits in 1997 as a conductor north. The line was really nothing more than scrap at that time. We put 2,000 tons of rip-rap down one sliding shelf without effect one Sunday afternoon. The line was basically gone in hundreds of spots. I think I met Floyd, when my sis and I were hopping a boxcar in Schellville to ride up to Eureka. I believe he was smoking a pipe when we passed him in the yard, and he held the highball until we had climbed aboard. Really nice guy. Great trip north to Willits, then backtracked to Healdsburg to catch the next one north. We met Darrell in the depot and he showed us the cut to be picked up. Those were the days back in 1983 I believe it was, ....and you guys came in right on time, with 4 SD9's and 3 SD-40's, and 2 of em were UP's. We had a pretty long list of empties leaving Healdsburg at about 10:30 pm. Met the southbound just north of the winery on the siding.
Enjoyed the work, ...but knew only too well what was going to happen. Randy Peterson, the hogger from Ft. Bragg got his foot pinched between coupler and drawbar, and two other guys got slammed by those runaway units in Willits. That was long after I pulled the pin for good. Guess I just got lucky.

Greg, I would really like to hear stories and see photos of your time on the NWP, and I'm sure most of the other members on this network would, as well. A number of our other members also worked on the NWP and/or the Eureka Southern, so perhaps I or someone should create a group for "Former NWP Employees" or what have you. Again, very glad to have you on the network! Regards,

Mark D.

P.S. What's the story with the cabooses? Did you work on the NWP or a related line? Sounds interesting, in any case.

Mark