By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com
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The rope circling the cab is cut, but surprisingly otherwise intact and largely unfrayed. Pulling it fails to produce the desired result, however. That is until Mark Rickerman walks down the chassis where he finds and corrects the offending entanglement.
With that, Charles Robert Schlieper Sr. gives a tug causing the bell atop steam engine 3417 to sound out across Hulen Park. Maybe for the first time in years, certainly for the first time in decades for Schlieper, who once drove 3417 and other engines like it.
Cleburne born, Schlieper, who turns 95 on Wednesday, spent his entire career working in the railroad industry, including stints at Cleburne’s Santa Fe shop and Amtrak. He returned to with his family last week to visit his old train as an early birthday present.
Schlieper’s parents owned and operated Schlieper’s Bakery on Heath and Wilhite streets when he was young.
“Long gone now, building’s been torn down and everything,” Schlieper said.
Schlieper had little interest in the bakery business and, apparently, less in high school. He jumped ship from Cleburne High School in either his junior or senior year.
“Quit,” Schlieper said. “Got married, got a good job with the railroad and stayed with it.”
Schlieper began at the bottom, lubing and cleaning grease from under the engines in the pits.
“You’d go under that roundhouse to clean and grease the engines,” Schlieper said. “It was so hot and dirty. I’d come out of there looking like a barrel of oil.”
Once he put his time in, Schlieper promoted to the position of fireman on the engines.
“Shoveling coal or messing with the oil, in charge of keeping the fire going in the steam engine,” Schlieper said.
The promotion amounted to a move from the grease pits to the ire of cranky engineers, Schlieper joked.
“When you were a fireman, those old engineers treated you like you was a two-bit dog,” Schlieper said. “They’d spit tobacco on the floor and tell you to clean it up.
“I was nicer when I was an engineer, had a lot of good firemen who did me a good job.”
Part of Schlieper’s duties involved hauling soldiers during World War II.
“We hauled them around,” Schlieper said. “Most of them didn’t have enough money to stay anywhere so they’d sleep in the boxcars at night. I’ve slept in many a boxcar. Had a little ol’ blanket. You’d think it would be cold, but you’d get under that blanket and sleep like a baby.”
Schlieper said he enjoyed his time with the railroad, driving the rails. For the most part.
“I don’t like to think about that part,” Schlieper said, recalling the accidents he’s seen. “That was the sad part of the job, when people didn’t want to stop for the train. You’d see them [go past a certain point]. All you could do was pull on the brake and know it was too late.”
Schlieper said he moved from Cleburne to Temple about 40 years ago, when he went to work for Amtrak. Presently, he lives in Fort Worth with his daughter, Carolyn Hussey.
Hussey and her daughter, GiGi Southall, brought Schlieper back to Cleburne last week. From his daughter to a great-great grandson, four generations of relatives joined Schlieper at the site of the train.
It was the first time he’d seen his old train in years, and one of his few visits back to Cleburne since he moved four decades ago.
With a helping hand from relatives, Schlieper climbed the wooden steps leading to the train’s cab where he once again took his old seat and began toying with the controls.
“Do you know what all those things do?” Hussey asks pointing out numerous valves in the engine cab.
“I still remember what every one of them does,” Schlieper said.
Clearly overjoyed, Schlieper’s demeanor at being back in the saddle was more that of someone 5, not 95. Even the host of cats and wasps buzzing about failed to dampen Shlieper’s or his family’s spirits as they crowded the old cab.
After a few more stories, pictures and rings of the bell it was time to go. Family members decided they should enjoy a meal in Cleburne before heading back and going their separate ways.
They decided, appropriately enough, on the Red Chew Chew BBQ & Grill, across the street from the train.
