The Pittsburgh Office and "Colonel" Gainey By Mark Craven

I became an employee of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company in February, 1951, as a Mail Clerk in the Freight Traffic Department in Pittsburgh. The offices were on the ninth floor of the Oliver Building located on Smithfield Street between Oliver and Sixth Avenues. The ninth floor also housed the Industrial Development and Coal Departments.

My duties started with the pickup of the mail each morning at the passenger station located at the corner of Water and Smithfield Streets and bring it to the Oliver Building where I opened, time–stamped and distributed it. At that time, I was single and living with my parents and rode the streetcar trolley to work, leaving me a good walk to the station and then to the office. It was great in the summer but not so good when it rained or during the winter months. In those days, a good bit of the mail was railroad mail, (Does anyone remember the “1000 milers”?) so the station did get a good bit of it. Most of my day was opening, delivering, picking up and sending mail and anything else the Chief Clerk, Frank Yeager, Sr., wanted me to do.

I might add, at this particular time all employees in the Freight Traffic Department were non-union; but, just a couple of years later, the clerks were taken into the union with few exceptions. This broke a lot of hearts, for some of the people had worked as a so-called “Company Employee” for most of their lives.

It wasn’t long before I started hearing about Charles Gainey and the nicknames he had given most of the people in the office. Since he was generous in giving out nicknames, he called himself “Colonel” Gainey. He had retired before I started; but after hearing and then associating the name with the person, I regretted I never had the honor of meeting that man. From my understanding, Charles Gainey, an Afro-American, had worked in the Passenger Department and, for some reason, could no longer perform his duties. It may have been a physical impairment or another reason but he came to the Freight Traffic Department assigned to Arnold H. Farrar, Freight Traffic Manager.

When I read Keith Rader’s article in News & Notes about Chester Williams, General Manager, it took my memory back to that time and, of course, the nicknames came through with a burst of old brain cells. I started by remembering someone had made a list of the nicknames, so I started calling.

Frank Yeager, Jr., was first one called and he remembered “Colonel” Gainey and some of the nicknames but did not remember any list. He did remember his dad’s nickname was “Feet”. I never revealed to Frank that his nickname was, guess—ah, “Little Feet”. Next, I called Bill Lewis, who began his employment in September of 1950. Bill remembered a few nicknames but no list. I was beginning to think this was going to be a lost cause but I happened to mention it to Ray Valdini while talking with him and he said he didn’t think he could help me but he would get out his old papers and look through them. Ray started in the Pittsburgh office in 1956. A few days later, Ray called me and said he had found the list but it was not a very good copy. He sent me a copy and I cannot tell you how many times I looked at it trying to put some of the names together. I tried scanning the list into the computer and enlarging but it was not helpful. A magnifying glass seemed to work best, with some guessing. So, I finished it and I suspect no one will really know if there is a mistake.

I won’t bore you with a full roster of the Pittsburgh office but will mention some names some of you may remember.

Well, enough is enough!

George Dove was Division Freight Agent in 1951 and, like me, came to the Pittsburgh office too late for a nickname; but I imagine “Colonel” Gainey would have given him a nickname like “Napoleon”, and me, “Hey You”. Of course, George Dove became “Mr. Piggyback” for the B&O.

Thinking back and then looking at today, I was surprised how the B&O offices were scattered around in Pittsburgh. Operating was housed in the Grant Building, Accounting in the House Building, Passenger in the William Penn Hotel and, of course, ticketing there as well as the passenger station. I believe there may have been some in the Chamber of Commerce Building. As those familiar with Pittsburgh know, eventually one of the freight houses was torn down and an office building was constructed on the property, then housing all remaining departments.

My thanks to Ray, Bill and Frank for their efforts and help in putting this article together..

We also had a great softball team in Pittsburgh but that’s another story.