NEVER BE AFRAID TO ASK
by Dan
Myers
When I was a kid one of
my neighbors was a retired O&W Fireman. Like many O&W employees Lloyd
Young’s father Horace B. Young had been an O&W Conductor (and the Mayor of
Middletown). During the waning years of steam and passenger service Lloyd
had salvaged a couple of headlights and locomotive bells and had also taken
part in the stripping of obsolete passenger equipment which was later burned
for salvage by the railroad.
There
were always stories around Middletown about railroad employees who had
stained glass windows and of those who had fabricated furniture and bars in
their basements from O&W mahogany. (I’ve found some of these inlaid
mahogany panels but never did find the guy with the bar!!)
My
old neighbor retired to Florida about the time I graduated from high school
and he donated a Sunbeam headlight and some stained glass windows to the
local fire department for a fund raising auction. I unfortunately missed
the auction but before he left for Florida, Lloyd called me and asked me if
I would like to have the headlight from the 402 which illuminated his
in-ground pool. He didn’t have to ask twice!!
There
was still more! Lloyd’s house had two garages, one of the garages had home
made wooden doors with a pair of oval, pressed glass windows from the
bathroom of a parlor car. The other garage had a stained glass transom
window from a parlor car centered over the doorway. I didn’t have the nerve
to ask if I could strip both garages so I just watched and worried about the
windows.
One
day when we were visiting from our home in Detroit I passed Lloyd’s old
house and saw the wooden garage doors lying on the ground. I asked the new
owner of the home about the oval windows and he said sure, take them—he
thought I was nuts!!
But
what about the transom window? As a National Sales Manager for a machine
tool company I should have had the nerve to ask for it--but I didn’t. Years
have passed, I moved back home, and every day I go past that green,
stained-glass transom window. I have never built up the nerve to ask if I
could buy it, replace it with a clear glass window or find some other
solution.
Yesterday, I heard a great grinding and roaring of machinery and—you guessed
it—the garage was gone! Flat as a pancake! I passed the demolition on my
way to Middletown and lamented the obvious loss of this great O&W
artifact.
On my way back from town
I decided to stop by and ask about the now-dead window.
When
I got there I found the window carefully placed on the grass. I inquired as
to the disposition of the window and the owner gave it to me. He couldn’t
understand why anyone would want it, and I’m sure he still
thinks I’m nuts.
There are a lot of
morals to this long story! Lightning does strike twice in the same place,
he who hesitates is (almost) lost and most important, NEVER BE AFRAID TO ASK
!!
