Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1907-04-19
BRATTLEBORO LOCAL
THE VETERAN CONDUCTORS.
Robert Wheeler and George spafford En-
Joy This Distinction on Southern Divl-
sion Of Central Vermont

Robert Wheeler and George spafford En-
Joy This Distinction on Southern Divl-
sion Of Central Vermont.
Conductor Robert Wheeler of the Cen
tral Vermont passenger service today en-
tered into the beginning of his thirty
sixth year in the employ of the road, 20
of which have been spent as a passenger
conductor. Mr.. Wheeler is the oldest con-
ductor in point of service on the southern
division of the road if not on the entire
system.
On April II, 1872, Mr.. Wheeler entered
the employ of the road which now en-
braces the Central Vermont as brake
man. He served in this capacity for a
year and then George o. Spafford, who is
the second oldest conductor on the line,
took his place at the brake wheel and Mr..
Wheeler became baggagemaster. Until %
years ago he acted as baggagemaster and
since then he has been a conductor.
In appearance Mr.. Wheeler hardly
seems the veteran that he is. He is rather
above middle height and his form is erect
as man of 40 and his eyes as bright as
those of boy. His step is firm and he
moves with considerable activity The
only indication of his increasing burden
of years--if IL can be called a burden-is
his grey hair and white moustache.
These alone mark him as a man passing
from middle life.
trail Vermont the veteran conductor has
formed the acquaintance of hundreds OF
persons who live along the line. His run
taking him through three states brings
him into contact with travelling men and
business men who are compelled to go
from place to place, in addition to the
ordinary transient public. To every ac-
quaintance he gives a word of hearty
greeting and on his train there is never
a complaint of any lack of courtesy on
the part Of train officials. OF course Mr..
Wheeler does not remember the names OF
all whose acquaintance he has made,
many of the names he never knows, but
he remembers the faces and the kindly
greeting makes each accustomed passen-
ger feel more at home.
In all his So years of service Conductor
Wheeler has been fortunate in avoiding
accidents and he is regarded on the line
as one of the most efficient of conductors.
His home is in Brattleboro, but he only
reaches there three nights in the week
now, the remaining three being spent in
Palmer, Mass, where he takes short
run every other day after reaching here
at 1925 p. m.
In three of its conductors, Messrs.
Wheeler, Spafford and Dan Patch, the
Central Vermont possesses a remarkable
trio of officials. They are all old timers
in the strictest sense of the word and
probably no three conductors in the coun-
try enjoy wider acquaintance with the
travelling public than they, for every one
who has ever Travelled on the Central
Vermont between here and Bratteboro at
least half dozen times probably knows
the veterans and it is said of Dan Patch
that he remembers the face at least of
every man, woman or child who has ever
Travelled with him three times or more.
While Mr.. Wheeler is the oldest in the
| point of actual service Mr.. Patch is the
older in years. and is older in railroad en-
! ployment. For 40 years he has been in
! the railroad business, man and boy, and
| before coming to the Central Vermont he
| had had several years experience. The
| term of service of each of these men is
about as old as railroading and they have
| seen 1t grow from hit or miss expert
| mental proposition to the exact science
that it is today.
When their careers began railroading
was not the same employment as now.
| Hand brakes were used, safety appliances
were totally lacking, the engines were
! poor and the cars were poorer. The time
/ tables which now keep the traveller flying
| from point to point were then hardly as
| comprehensive as now and did not give
the traveller a twentieth part of the ac-
! comomdation that he is now afforded.
! The passage of the years has been so
rapid that none of the men seem to con-
| slider their service in any way remarkable
and they say as they look back over the
years that 1t scarcely seems like long
| time to them.
| Probably no road in the country has
three men who have served so long or
who are so well known. And these are
not the only veterans on this line. Ed
ward Hayes, younger conductor, and a
man still in the prime of middle life, has
served a quarter OF a century and will
probably, barring any accident, reach a
term of service fully as long as any of
the three other ticket punchers, Messrs.
Wheeler Spafford and Patch.-[New Lon
don, Conn, Day, April II,