Dec 26, 2003 By Joyce Koballa 5 min read

CONNELLSVILLE – George Pratt may have retired from the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad 28 years ago, but at 90 years old, his interest in the area’s railroad industry has continued to operate full steam ahead. Pratt, who became an engineer for the B&O 53 years ago today, said he never imagined he would write a book about his experiences, let alone collect more than 500 copies of various steam engine paintings from a number of artists. He recently decided to donate the paintings to a West Virginia railroad museum.

“Being an engineer working on the railroad became a very big part of my life,” said Pratt, who was born and raised in Vanderbilt with his four brothers and four sisters.

Included in Pratt’s collection are pictures of every railroad in the United States, with the exception of the Mississippi and Pacific.

Pratt published his book, “Short Tales of the Rails,” shortly after he retired in 1975, and it sold 1,000 copies. The book was published by Laurel Group of the Scottdale Publishing Co. and contains anecdotes, poems and recollections of Pratt’s experiences, some of them tragic.

Pratt said his idea to write a book was inspired by the notes he would keep on the back of a daily report he was required to submit after each trip.

“I kept a log, and when I had a stack, everyone said if they had one too, they would write a book, so I did,” said Pratt.

“He never stops,” said his wife, Rose Pratt.

A graduate of Dunbar Township High School, Pratt initially worked for Pennsylvania Wire Glass, Sanderson and Porter Construction Co., the Automatic Sprinkler Co. and Overholt, where the most he ever earned was $27.50 per week.

However, after learning that his wages could triple, he immediately applied to the B&O, which was not hiring at the time but informed him that he was next on the list.

One week later, Pratt said, he received a telephone call to start as a fireman loading coal to fuel the engine, but in order to become hired he was required to make three trips to Cumberland, Md., Fairmont, W.Va., and Johnstown in just three days.

“I’ll never forget my first trip up the mountain,” Pratt said, chuckling.

And that’s when Pratt’s railroad career got fired up.

Pratt said most of his 34 years with the B&O, from 1941 to 1975, consisted of operating steam and diesel engines from Connellsville to New Castle, 106 miles one way.

Because he was on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Pratt ended up having worked the equivalent of 404 work days one year, meaning that he worked 16 or more hours some days, depending on his shift.

After serving as a fireman for nine years, Pratt passed a series of three tests that officially made him an engineer on Dec. 26, 1950.

Shortly afterward, Pratt’s brother, Emory, was hired as a fireman, and the two worked together at times. Emory Pratt retired from the B&O in 1989 and died two years later from fibermyrosis.

Although Pratt operated steam engines, he said no two are alike: “Every one (engine) had its own personality. You knew when you crawled out of the engine how it would act.”

Unlike a passenger engine, steam engines did not have speedometers, leaving the engineer to “judge” how fast they were going.

At speeds of up to 112 mph, the steam engines Pratt operated took about 20 to 25 car lengths of about 45 feet each to stop once the brakes were applied.

“Even though you saw things coming, you could only blow the horn to alert someone,” said Pratt.

In the 25 years that Pratt was an engineer, his most memorable tragic experience was when his train hit 24 automobiles, claiming the lives of seven people.

As thoughts of the accident continued to haunt Pratt, he raised the question in a 1998 article published in the Locomotive Engineers Journal of possibly having the railroad industry install a loud alarm at crossings.

In the article, Pratt asked if fellow engineers could persuade Congress to pass a national law that would require railroads to disconnect a bell and instead connect a loud device in order to save lives at railroad crossings.

While the idea was never recognized, Pratt said, “Whenever you experience the real thing, the Lionel train is only a toy.”

As for his other writing venture, Pratt said his book was a one-time affair.

“At that time, I had all the information and all I had to do was read it and rewrite it. Now it’s all a memory,” he said.

And, as Pratt continues to provide those memories through his collection of paintings to the West Virginia Museum of Art, he has clearly stated that although he is proud of the pictures he has collected, he won’t be missing them, since it’s time for “someone else to enjoy them.”