Retired PC/CR dispatcher Rich Heichel passes

Those with scanners in PC and CR days may recall hearing dispatcher Rich Heichel. He has passed away.

I had the pleasure of interacting with Rich for several years. He was caustic, sarcastic, sometimes outright miserable - and the best damn dispatcher I ever worked with. Once you learned that his gruffness was just his mannerism and nothing personal, it seldom bothered you. The guy was good at getting trains over the road and uncorking jams. While another dispatcher would hold a job in the yard waiting for a train still far away, if Richie trusted you he'd give you a chance. "Well, is he READY?" "Sure Rich, he's on the lead at the tower ready to go" "OK, let him come". The "Let him come" was in a warning, doubtful tone of voice that implied "you'd better not mess this up" but he would have the signal for the train to move pronto.

Years ago a westbound train crew fell asleep somewhere east of Rochester. Despite radio calls and other attempts to contact them, they rolled on. Rich lined switches to keep them out of harm's way. Somewhere near Batavia, one woke up, and radioed the dispatcher "Train xx to the West End dispatcher, we have a yellow coming into Batavia". Now about anybody else would have been in a panic - "Where have you been? What's wrong!!!" Not Richie. In a dry, very calm and slightly sarcastic voice, he said "I don't know what you're so worried about a yellow for, the last three you went through were red. Stop your train, and wait for the Trainmaster to get there."

RIP Rich Heichel.

Thanks for sharing- it's good to learn about the many people who made up the railroad we enjoy watching!

I liked Richie, once in a while he would forget to pull the signal off for us in time but he was good at moving trains and did
his best. He was also stubborn at times, I heard him get into an argument with a Road Foreman at Rochester and it went on for a period. Finally the Road Foreman told Richie he was getting off at Rochester and to stop the next westbound to pick
him up. From that point on Richie ran all of the westbounds over the West Shore for hours. This particular Road Foreman
had an attitude problem toward his co-workers and we all got a chuckle over that one.
Richie worked the Buffalo Main Line (his regular job) days and on my last trip west, I had some guest riders and called him
west of Syracuse and asked him if there were any possibility of running the West Shore. Sure enuff, had a limited clear at
CP-359 and made the left turn there.
Noel Weaver

Noel - can you confirm or correct the spelling of his name? For years I had it as "Heichel" but the e-mail informing me of his passing said "Heikel" so that's how I posted it.

LOL at the road foreman incident. We've heard the "don't get mad, get even" saying. Richie often did both. When he was having "one of those days" he was a terror to work with, but he sure stuck to it and did the job.

He used to work second trick on the West End, back when there were two dispatchers handling Syracuse to Buffalo. It was not unusual to have several trains converge on Rochester at once, and even though he called the shots, Richie would often call the yard and see whether I wanted a particular one before another. Not to be nice, of course, but if we were able to get one out and gone quicker than another, he'd try to set it up that way. Some of the other dispatchers would just keep them coming in whatever order, then wonder why everything came to a halt. (Which was not unusual at Rochester back then! )

Noel Weaver wrote:I heard him get into an argument with a Road Foreman at Rochester and it went on for a period. Finally the Road Foreman told Richie he was getting off at Rochester and to stop the next westbound to pick him up. From that point on Richie ran all of the westbounds over the West Shore for hours.

Excellent use of the West Shore Branch!

I am not sure about this but if you contact one of the former dispatchers, now engineers, in Buffalo I suspect they would
know.
Noel Weaver

From what I've gathered via listening to the radio, I do believe his son is now dispatching on the NF desk (the old Buffalo Mainline territory). A lot of guys have been apologizing to the guy for the loss of his father (I can't even imagine how tough that's got to be). And before anyone says something to this extent, I apologize if anyone feels this is too "personal" in nature to be posted on these forums - just posting what I've heard.

BR&P

Thanks for sharing the info about a great railroader. You confirmed what I had heard from most operating people that he was an example of the classic dispatcher that would take good care of crews he could trust to keep things moving but woe unto those that caused problems!

Did he start with PC after the dispatchers were moved from Rochester to Buffalo? I don't recall him from the days when guys like Milo Hudson dispached the East and West End and Falls Road from the rathole in the basement of what remained of the Rochester depot.

My favorite incident that I heard was in the days of the CT401 form, before the NORAC Form D days. A Track Foreman had the West Shore out of service all morning. Around noon, with obvious apprehension about the fireworks likely to ensue, he called Rich to timidly inquire if he could get an additional 401 to take one of the main tracks at Chili out of service without giving up his form for the West Shore. Rich responded with "I got a better idea. Why don't I just give you a form for the the whole damn railroad. Then it is your problem and I can go home. You can worry about how we are supposed to run any trains out here." After a long silence from the Foreman, Rich came back with a curt "Copy a 401". The Foreman, probably wondering what Rich was going to do, said he was ready to copy. Rich gave him a normal 401 for the track he had requested. Rich continued to pester him about every half hour for the rest of his shift with "When do I get my railroad back?" calls.

RIP and sympathy to the family.

That was him, to a "T". He apparently knew the foreman was reliable and there was a valid reason for the additional 401, but since it cramped Rich's end of things he didn't have to LIKE it. He couldn't let it go without taking a bite out of the guy, but saw the big picture and worked with it.

Similar exchanges would happen at the yard. Me: "How's it look to get the Second Belt out at CP31 for Kodak?" Rich: "When are you going to get some of these trains into the yard? You've got the First Belt outlawed on 4 west of CP31, the salt on track 3, the Fairport on 4 east of the yard.....maybe we should just park a few more." Me: "Just trying to do what I can, Rich". Long pause... Rich (in a disgusted voice) "Signal's for the Belt at CP31, get him moving, I've got VNF7 coming at Lyons."

sorry to hear about his passing.

he sounds much like a national sports talk show host i've listened to for many years. if he knew you were good at your job, etc...you got along fine, etc. but if you stepped outta line he would be all over you for that action. that running all the westbounds down the west shore line story was funny. i bet any railfans sitting at the pittsford pub must have loved that night.

i remember rich in the 90s "giving them hell" on the radio. i think he enjoyed it. i know the way he worded things always made me laugh. ive got his voice to VHS chasing after TV 11 and SEBU in the days of conrail. he will be severly missed. my condolences to the Heikel family

Donna Heichel contacted me and asked that I post this note on her behalf. She thanks everyone for sharing great stories about her husband and thanks you all for remembering him so fondly.

-otto-

Thank you for sharing the stories about Rich's dispatching years. He started working for the NYC in 1961 as an Operator. Yes he did work in the old Rochester Depot. He worked with Matt Mathews, Milo Hudson. He worked on the Falls Road, Beech Creek, West End. He truly loved his career and for our family to read these stories only confirms what we already knew, He was a great dispatcher, Dad, husband and Grandpa. He had a hard shell but a soft center. He had much fun listening to his son Josh talk about dispatching on the Mainline. Quite often Josh would call his Dad from work to say "Hey Dad I've got someone here who wants to say hi," it would be someone from his past and he so enjoyed chatting and it was usually one of the road crews. He enjoyed talking to his son Rich who is a Rochester Yard Master he too would call and say "Hey Dad one of guys wants to say Hi" He was always willing to stop what he was doing to Railroad with guys he worked with. He was so proud of his sons to know that Railroading was in their blood. His sons were proud to follow in their Dad's footsteps but they are Mighty Big shoes to fill.

I remember going to railroad picnics and parties and Rich would introduce me to someone as his wife, they say you have our deepest sympathy or you must be a saint for putting up with him all these years. I want your railroaders to know, it was my honor to be Rich's wife for 42 years. God I miss him.

Donna Heichel

Thanks for passing that along Otto. He will indeed be missed and also remembered.

Sad to hear of this news. Anyone know what he was suffering from, or how this came about ? I distinctly remember Rich from back in the '80's. I actually have an audio cassette somewhere around here on which I recorded alot of the radio traffic back in those days. Lotsa 401's (or Form D's) and track permission requests.

Anyone recall the others such as Young, Barver, and others just before Rodney Cantorski came aboard ? I'll have to go look for that tape this weekend.

Not to stray off-topic, but what do you mean by West End and East End?