Show sr'Htt nh O WN'i k I People ' Newsfeatures Lofian Utah Sunday March 26 1976 Hie Herald Journal— 21 A railroading have no other - CACHE JUNCTION The baggy coveralls and heavy jacket can't hide the lean wiry frame The face is tanned creased expressionless It has railroad written all over it Howard McGee steps from the moving freight car and heads for the nearby switch The job done he grabs the ladder as the car passes and effortlessly goes up the side That routine will be repeated dozens of times during the day as McGee a rear brakesman for Union Pacific Railroad shuttles back and forth across Cache Calley from one end to the other with his four-ma- n crew picking up and dropping off freight cars at local factories McGee has been with UP for 36 years and he can't imagine anything he'd rather have done with his life Although a man of few words what he docs say makes it plain he loves the railroading life One thing he will say is how railroading has changed “The diesels took the fun outa railroadin’’’ claims the Lewiston native He’s lived through the transtition from steam to diesel power and although he’ll admit diesel engines are cleaner their style just doesn't match that of steam power he says At 58 McGee now is looking ahead to an early retirement But there's little doubt that when that comes McGee will still show up occassionally at the Beanery in Cache Junction for a cup of coffee with railroading friends A FACE tanned and creased by the sun and weather speaks for 36 years working outside of the regardless weather HOWARD McGEE to the task of operating a switch so freight cars can be moved from one track to another It's one of the things he does dozens of times each day as a rear brakeman for Union bends Pacific WITH THE AGILITY of a much younger man McGee climbs on a car while the train moves to pick up mm cars in the Cache Junction yards Although he's seen lots of accidents he's never himself been injured ALTHOUGH he spends a lot of his day hanging onto the sides of freight cars McGee walks a too In his years he’s seen every railroad tie in Cache Valley photographed by Paul Carter TIME FOR a smoke and a short break from the day’s routine Later McGee will take his lunch at the Beanery in Cache Junction His day may not end until 7 o’clock or later It all on the rail depends traffic coming through the valley And back on the Job (right photo) he waves a signal to the engineer to bring a string of boxcars up to couple on a train that will stop at several factories in the valley rial XaftSf— s V ' '- - K: ' r - ri : r'W w4 fete? |