behind an old signal box waiting to jump on a coal train. They were wearing just pants and t shirts. Well it started raining and they jumped on a coal train heading west. After some time it started raining harder and harder and their clothes started disappearing! It turns out they used to dump the old acid from the acid batteries next to the signal boxes. When they were lying on the ground the acid got on their clothes and the rain caused the acid to eat away at their clothing! George said they ended up far from home just about naked, their clothes having been eaten away! He laughed so hard when he related his parent’s reaction to the call from the police! I used to love listening to his stories and all of us at the NYSWTHS will miss him. It is with great sadness that I must report that long time NYSWTHS member George Childs passed away on March 14th, 2012. George was born on Feb 17th in 1941 George was a union electrician by trade but also worked driving a bus for both Arrow bus tours and New jersey Transit. Most notably George worked on the NYS&W Transfer, the bus that brought passengers from NYC to the NYSW railroad on Tonnelle Avenue just under Route 3. George was very involved with the Tech Society and loved working in the kitchen of the diner. On many of our trips you would find George busy at work cooking for passengers and crew alike! If something broke, George could always be counted on to “rig” something to get us up and running again! One of George’s greatest qualities was his wonderful sense of humor. There isn’t a week that goes by when I don’t recount one of his amazing stories. One of my favorites he quite often told was of the time he and a friend were hiding The Susquehanna Transfer bus that George use to drive dropping passengers off at “Susquehanna Transfer”. George working with Bill “Shaggy” Kunath in the diner on one of our many trips. George framed by our identical twin elves. George just sat down to relax after cooking all day on the Santa Train. 12
13 Publizr Home