What was your first byline in Trains?
Doug Riddell: My first byline in Trains appeared in the February 2000 issue: “A dose of perspective” (Readers Platform).
I’d just run into a retired Chesapeake & Ohio conductor, Gilly Parker, who shared a story with me. He’d worked passenger service between Richmond and Newport News in the early 1960s. An efficiency expert from headquarters was aboard his train one day, documenting the railroad’s plans to file for discontinuance of two others. The trains were eventually cut off, and the bean counter ironically lost his own job, because without them, he was no longer needed. My good friend, retired head of passenger service for Chessie, the late William E. Howes, read the story and later told me that he knew the details very well. It was Howes who let the man go. Talk about irony.
What’s your favorite locomotive and why?
Doug Riddell: Nothing rode like an E8 or E9, but I got to run them only briefly before they were all retired. Freight-wise, there was no comparison to EMD’s SD45. On SCL, we referred to them as Clydesdales, because you could couple them up to a brick building and they’d have it running track speed in no time. Those 20 cylinders played a symphony in three-quarter time. What a sound! My favorite though? Amtrak GE P42 No. 156. It’s my engine. When asked what locomotive I wished to have for my last run (as if I really had anything to do with the decision), I blurted out “Heritage unit 156 (with the red nose).” Having assisted my dear friend, Amtrak President Joe Boardman, as company photographer, people assumed I’d be accorded special treatment.
On Dec. 17, 2012, to my complete surprise, No. 156 was waiting for me to power the Silver Star at Washington Union Station to Richmond. Unknown to me, it had been held for two days at Ivy City, washed and waxed. I was floored and very moved. A week later, my son Ryan had it on the Capitol Limited, and was sideswiped by a CSX freight with a loose load of lumber, putting a big dent in her nose. A couple of years later, the 156 was damaged beyond repair in a crossing accident. She’s still my engine. Always will be. I keep a model of her on my desk.
Describe your love of railroading in six words or less.
Doug Riddell: Everything I’d dreamed of, and more.
What’s your fondest memory as a Trains contributor?
Doug Riddell: Discovering I was in the same issue as Richard Steinheimer. When I visited Stein and his wife Shirley Berman in Sacramento, not long before his passing, I told him how awed I was by his body of work and how proud I was to be featured in the same issue of the same magazine. As we signed and exchanged copies of our books, he looked up from the bed at me and said, “It’s been my honor to enjoy your work as well.”
What article received the biggest reader reaction?
Doug Riddell: I wrote a piece that appeared in Trains in early 2019, recalling how an irate passenger — seated in the Quiet Car of the 9 a.m. Acela from Washington to Boston — angrily threatened to have us thrown off the train because our conversation was disturbing him (we were prepping for a press conference in Philly). “And I can have the conductor do it, too. I’m a personal friend of Amtrak President Joe Boardman.”
Strangely, he didn’t realize it was Joe Boardman he was addressing. Joe, not realizing he had boarded the Quiet Car, sent me forward to find an open space in another coach. “I wouldn’t want to get thrown off my own train,” Joe added.
What didn’t appear in the article was that I ran into journalist Katie Couric, and in conversation, she said, “I’d love to meet Amtrak’s big kahuna. Can you introduce us?” I assured her I would. A few minutes later Joe and I returned. Before I could say a word, Joe stuck out his hand, grinned, and said, “Hi, Katie. I’m Joe Boardman — Amtrak’s big kahuna!” I thought I’d die as Katie, Joe, and her staffers roared. Amtrak’s Quiet Car had become fodder for the late-night talk show host. Also for a lot of Trains‘ readers. The responses were hilarious.
What advice would you give a new contributor?
Doug Riddell: Decide what you are, then give it your very best. Most importantly, determine who comprises your readership and direct your thoughts to them. Not to offend the mechanically inclined among you, but if I had to address an assemblage primarily made up of rivet counters, I’d be speechless (as hard as that may be to believe). I can tell you from personal experience why and how much I hated running a GE BQ-23-7 on the SCL for example. But when it comes to piston sizes, drawbar pull, or continuous traction ratings, I alert the dispatcher/editor to call out the helper engines to give me a shove because I can’t make the grade without them. I’m a teller of tales.
