Summer 2001
Volume 108 - No. 2
Summer 2001
Volume 108 - No. 2
BLE Focus
A monument to rails
A tragic railroad accident coupled with the deaths of his parents and
a near miss of his own inspired BLE Division 644 (Galesburg, Ill.) member
Doug Traff to memorialize railroad workers killed in the line of duty.
"I realized how lucky I was to have had my parents for their natural life-span," said Traff. "I have two friends whose locomotive engineer fathers were both killed when their train hit a gasoline truck. I nearly hit a gasoline truck myself, but their accident helped me to know what not to do."
Traff, a fourth generation railroader, is also interested in railroad history. He teaches a class about the subject for a railroad technical program at a local community college.
"Railroading has gotten to be much safer now than it was before, but is still a dangerous profession," said Traff.
With these ideas inspiring him, Traff conceived the memorial to be built in conjunction with the Galesburg Railroad Museum. He then went to the Board of Directors of the museum and they accepted the idea - and also asked him to join the board. He designed the memorial.
Traff was not only generous with his time, he was also generous with his money. He donated half of the cost of building the memorial and the other half was covered by the BNSF Foundation.
The memorial, with a three foot base and a ten foot black marble obelisk, was erected and dedicated on Labor Day 2000. The dedication opened up the process of building a new home for the museum.
"The feedback for the memorial has been very positive," said Traff.
Through his volunteer work on the memorial, Brother Traff shows that tragic moments can have inspirational results.
Photo caption: Standing with Brother Traff is his daughter Laura and wife Julia, at the monument Traff designed and helped fund.
© 2001 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers