A Railroad Man to the Bottom of His Shoes: John C. Newell, 1942-2009| A Railroad Man to the Bottom of His Shoes: John C. Newell, 1942-2009 |
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| Written by Doug Schmidt | |
| Tuesday, 01 September 2009 00:00 | |
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What are the odds that a kid growing up in the middle of a big city in the 1950s would wind up looking at the countryside through the windshield of a charging locomotive? The odds were real good if you were John Calvin (J.C.) Newell. successful author, railroad historian and retired Union Pacific locomotive engineer. His friend, Bob Griswold, said, “I first knew John when we were members of the Skyline Volunteer Fire Department. This was shortly after his graduation from East High School. He lived with a fellow graduate in the Holly Hills neighborhood. We discovered that we had a mutual interest in railroads that led to our lifelong friendship. Together we painted the D-500 diesel mechanical locomotive for the San Luis Southern railroad. We both operated this unique train.” Born June 5, 1942 and growing up in Denver, J. C. said he had a “pleasant enough” childhood. His family moved fairly often but they stayed in the same general neighborhood. After high school at Denver East, John joined the U.S. Marine Corps and was honorably discharged in 1962. He found out that there might be work with the Rock Island Railroad. By 1965, it turned out the work with the Rock was not steady and the furloughs outnumbered the work days, so he decided to move on. Positions had opened up at the Colorado Southern, so he took employment with that railroad. He worked on the Texas Zephyr for the Colorado Southern at the end of its existence. He worked as a fireman and later moved to a yard clerk job with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (CB&Q). The idea of being a yard clerk did not appeal to J.C. in any way. Word got around that there were openings for firemen at Union Pacific, with the possibility of becoming an engineer. That idea appealed to him greatly and he spent the next thirty years in the catbird seat for the Union Pacific. In response to the question of what type locomotives he had been in charge of, he rattled off a large portion of their roster through out the 1970s and 80s. He piloted GP7s, 9s, 20s, 35s and 39s, SD40s and 45s, and the UP 6900 series locomotives. Also, during this time he began research on the Colorado Eastern Railroad, which was the only narrow gauge railroad to run east from Denver. The small (2-4-0) locomotive pulled its tender and a modified caboose 17 miles east of Denver to Scranton, and back each day for over 15 years with almost no passenger or freight business. J.C. referred to this railroad as Colorado’s most obscure narrow gauge. He was the author, along with Bob Griswold, of Narrow Gauge East from Denver: The Colorado Eastern Railroad. J.C. also did research for some of Mr. Griswold’s other books. Talking with J.C. was always a great adventure. When interviewed for an article on his life, by the end of the day the interviewer had not only gained biographical facts, but had been given a lesson in the travails of the Colorado Eastern and in proudly working for a large railroad and successfully performing all the attendant duties that came with that responsiblility. More than once, he emphasized that the safe arrival of the train he was in charge of was, without doubt, his top priority. Arriving on schedule came up often, and he proudly told me recently that he never derailed. He said there might have been a couple of miscues in the railyards but not because of a miscue on his part. But, when asked his favorite part of being an engineer, he looked off in the distance, paused and then said that there was no feeling like having your hand on the throttle and all that power at your command and passengers trusting you to get them safely to their destination. J.C. passed away in his sleep on July 23, 2009. He was 67. He will be missed. He was truly one of a kind.
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