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Posted by Mick
on 1/5/2009, 9:08 pm, in reply to "1951 Runaway on L'Anse Hill"
97.84.169.176
A 'fixture' at the Presque Isle Depot on the M&HM in the early 1980's was Wally "Bubbles" Wirkula. Wally was a retired DSS&A/Soo Line engineer who religiously rode his Mo-ped through Marquette out to Presque Isle to hang out at the depot. Whether it was 'supervising' mechanical work, or shooting the schlitz with fellow retired crew members between runs, it was a rare day when Bubbles didn't stop by. To have tape-recorded the stories those guys told...
Anyway, Wally was on that South Shore diesel that bad day in '51. He didn't talk about it often, but one day when he was "substitute" engineer and I was firing for him, he opened up about it out of the blue. Since he brought it up, I asked him what happened. "I don't know...I don't know exactly how it happened. They said the double-heading cock was closed, but there was no air. We knew we were running away, and we just hit the cab floor...and all we could do was wait for it...then we really got tossed around. A couple of good men were killed that day." He shook his head, and even this 19-year-old kid could recognize the look of a man who was still haunted by the past.
But that was full prose for Wally. He had the driest sense of humor and the most understated manner. One other time when he was filling in, we derailed on the way back from Harlow Lake. I had just trimmed up the fire, hit the seat, and the engine started bouncing on (Or through) the ties, and we came to rest with a significant list. Wally quickly closed the throttle, and I fumbled with the blower valve to keep the smoke out of the cab. I looked over---and down---at him and he said quietly, "Oh, I've done it now" just as the pop valves opened up.
RIP, Bubbles!
Mick Enright
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