Locomotive Engineers – Class of April, 1945 (1941 Hires)

Conductors Class #53 - August 3, 1979. 06/17/08

This class, made up of 19 men, included: Roger Ahreni, Gary Craig, Dave Espey, Wayne Evans, Bob Fisher, Carl Gibbs, Tom Gliem, Paul Hellenschmidt, Mike Hermet, Brain Hess, Mike Kumkoski, Bob LaBorde, Wayne Messler, Derrick Pagan, Randy Plutchak, Mike Richards, Len Schutz, Mike Vincent and Loa Webwe. Identified are:

Front Row: Carl Gibbs (far left), Dave Espey (2^nd from the left), Brain Hess (4^th from the left).

Middle Row: Mike Richards (3^rd from the left), Bob LaBorde (3^rd from the right), Bob Fisher (far right).

Back Row: Mike Vincent (far left), Gary Craig (4^th from the left), Mike Kumkoski (5^th from the left), Wayne Evans (6^th from the left), Wayne Messler (on the far right). Wayne, also known as “Stretch” for obvious reasons, took a buy-out in the early ‘90’s.

Wayne Evans, Bob Fisher, Brian Hess and Mike Richards are from the Illinois Division. Dave Espey and Gary Craig are from the Iowa Division. At the time of the photo, Mike Vincent was from the Ore Division at Escanaba. Later, he worked on the Western Division and today he’s with the BNSF at Omaha, NE. Carl Gibbs is from the Wisconsin Division. The Central and Iowa Divisions were also represented.

Who are the others? Let us know by clicking here. Our thanks to Dave Hawley for this fine picture and to Bob Fisher, Jerry Drager, Jon Emery and Karl Pachmayer for helping with the identifications.

Conductors Class - August 31, 1979.

From Randy Johnson we have another Conductors Class photo, this one from August 31, 1979. Randy identified 3 in the middle row and Bob Fisher got the other two.

Front Row: David Waitr (3^rd from the left)

Middle Row: Randy Johnson (far left), Roger L. Dornacker (5^th from the left) & Douglas H. Renner (6^th from the left).

Back Row: David Conn (3^rd from the right)

These three men are from Local 312, Adams, Wisconsin. Do you recognize any of the others? Please let us know by clicking here. Our thanks to Randy for this fine picture

Updated: 06/17/08