FLASH

Well no one has said it ( I think ), so I figured I would, we would all like to wish Flash, the most knowledgeable BY FAR, ( yes even more than Clem to all you Clem suppoters ), a happy and long retirement.

Stay home next time you hear some stuff on the pager!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I heard a lot about this guy. He probably has a lot of stories. Maybe one day we'll hear them on here.

Care for a Flash story??

Once upon a time before there was a Westside Yard..there was an LIRR Yardmaster on 21 track in Penn Station directing Amtrak drill crews and LIRR Car Inspectors..well it seems that there was a disgruntled gentleman who was angry at the world and he decided to become a sniper. I guess the Railroad wasn't hiring at this time and a man has to have a career. This poor gent would lurk in the shadows in Penn Station and shoot people..one of whom was Flash. Apparently this gent was never a Marine and his aim was poor so he just grazed poor old Flash (luckily) and Flash survived to retirement...and that is my Flash story.

Yes, there are quite a few Flash stories...

We'll save them for when he's out of state.

But we recall well the afternoon he was shot on 21 Track, leaving the yardmasters' office. The 25c bullet entered the top of his nose and exited the bottom. Seems the shooter had climbed a ladder inside an abandoned freight elevator shaft and shot his victims from atop the shaft.

Flash was back to work in two days with a piece of cotton in his nose.

Unfortunately, several weeks later an Amtrak yard engineer from Lynbrook was not so fortunate and was killed by the snyper in the same spot.

Seems the cops really muddled that investigatation -- some paid with their jobs.

And yea, Flash did teach me a few things.


Clem

@ Clem,

Thanks for having a sense of humor. What I said was said with only the best intentions.

Around what year did that incident happen with the sniper? I don't remember ever hearing about it. Also, was the sniper ever caught and convicted?

I'm guessing around 1983.

The sniper was never caught after he shot some ten people in and around Penn Station and the Amtrak powerhouse across the street.

He used the network of tunnels under the station to get around.

Some felt he was a disgruntled former Amtrak employee and a good suspect was identified who had moved later to California. The NYPD had failed to link the various shootings and got on the case very late. It was never solved or closed.

Several NYPD supervisors were disciplined/demoted for that failure.

CLem

The shootings were around 1983. I can remember posting as the Yardmaster on 21 track with two armed cops and closed circuit TV's. I started posting like three days after the Amtrak Engr. was killed. In this day and age it is unbelivable that "Flash" would be back to work in three days.

The other posters were correct that the shooter was never caught and they thought it might have been a disgruntled Amtrak employee. And there were some leads that he may have gone to California. When the PD searched the old underground tunnels to the hotels and post office for him they roused a lot of homeless people and also discovered a few bodies, but they were all vagrants who had died of natural causes.

But back to "Flash" ... my best memories of him were that before I became a Yardmaster I worked as a midnight clerk up in the Movement Bureau. No sooner had we talked to a disabled or trouble train then Flash was on the air and responding. Sometimes, two, three or four times a night and all over the Island. And this is all after a FULL days work.

As a Yardmaster I can't tell you how many times he took my butt out of the bag. He'll be missed by all of us, but most of all by the LIRR.

Happy, healthy and prosperous Flash ... you deserve it !

Hay BMC, remember that new yardmaster who started posting there right after the shootings that wouldn't come to work without his 15 lb. bulletproof vest?

My, he was just a kid back then and boy, did we break his chops about that... Turned out to be a great yardmaster though, and a good guy.

Hahahaha

Clem

From a Car Inspector/Repairman to General Foreman. What a nice personable man to talk to. Even on my off days(he lives by me) always recognizes me. I'll see him more and more now.
Chris(Low Carb Rail Reports)

To Clem ...touche and thanks for the kudos

And now that Flash is going, troubled times lie ahead. He was great at what he did, and always found the problem and fast. It seems like we could break down anywhere and Flash would always show up in short time. We're gonna miss him!

Mark,

That is because long before science got involved the LIRR discovered how to clone Flash. They had a policy " one Flash every 200 feet"

I was still relatively new on the LIRR when Flash was shot.
Having no idea who "Flash" was at the time, I saw a guy in the M of E office at Babylon Yard, with bandage on nose.
Inquiring of someone what happened to the guy, I was informed that it was "Flash", who was shot only 2 days before.

I suppose if you look up the word "dedication" in the dictionary, you might find a photo of Flash as the definition.

Flash was also chronicled some time ago in one of the papers. I think it was the NY Times. I remember seeing a newspaper article about him posted in the Trainmen's room in BY way back when I was a CAM.

Tom

Yep, Tom, it was the Times. Probably in the early 80's?

Bet no one knows why they call him Flash... I'm sure that wasn't revealed in the interview...

Clem