Whenever I hear the Cincinnati Railroad Club mentioned, I think of the time back in the late 1960's when they came to Lafayette for a tour of the Monon shops. I was the safety man who was asked to accompany them, and they were an amazing group.
On several occasions earlier in my career when I felt the need to preserve a builders plate for future generations, using all the tools I had with me, it was still a major task to get them off a locomotive, and usually took 10 or 15 minutes. That gang from Cincinnati could take two spikes and have one off in 30 seconds. Like I said, amazing........
I just followed them around, and whenever they got one off, I would chastize them for their wicked ways, and confiscate the plates so the Monon shop forces could later put them back on.
I still have three or four of those plates around the house here someplace. / Ron
