We're Not Running the Broadway Limited

Robert B. "Bob" Davis, master mechanic George Davis's younger brother, came to the RV as a brakeman in 1944 and was promoted to conductor in 1946. Unlike his elder brother, Davis consistently gave George Clark grief, was impossible to work with, fought with everyone, and would always pester the train crew about their love lives. The rest of the crew called him a "pain in the ass" and a "lazy son of a gun." At a stop, Davis would be in the customer offices - either flirting with the secretaries or shooting the breeze with the consignees - instead of helping the train crew. On a ten or twelve car train, Davis would only connect a few cars worth of air hoses, declaring "that's enough." Then, on the downgrade, Frank Froat, the engineer, would have trouble controlling the train with only a few brakes. Sometimes, the fireman would have to climb over teh train to set a few retainers to help out.

One day, the RV picked up about a half dozen cars in Summit. Davis only connected three or four cars worth of air hoses to save on time and waved the train off down the hill. When trying to stop for Mountain Ave. in Springfield, to flag the crossing, Froat had trouble controlling the train and it slid through the crossing with the engine brakes locked.

Afterward, the crew switched some cars in Springfield. The train picked up some cars left on the passing track which had been shoved in from the east, adding cars from the west end to go to Aldene. Davis never walked back to check if all the cars were coupled and, of course, did not connect the air hoses. After departing, they inadvertently left most of the train on the passing track.

The last hitch he made did not make. When Davis left, he had left part of his train behind him at Springfield. They didn't have the whole train. When they got to Aldene, and went to set out for the CNJ, the conductor discovered the fact that the was missing a lot of his cars. The crew figured the only place they could be would be at Springfield. It was already getting dark, so they ran fast to make up time. They went a flying. They raced through Kenilworth and went back to Springfield. George Clark had gone back to do some work in the office that night. So Clark was in the office and saw the train fly by. So the next day, the notice was on the wall from George Clark saying that "we are not running the Broadway Limited."