Guy Winters on March 12, 1975 in a photo that accompanied a front page story for the Oklahoma Times. The caption said “Guy Winters, road foreman of engines for the Rock Island Railroad at El Reno, examines a track joint in the switching yard.” Photo: Oklahoma Publishing Company Photography Collection
Guy Winters worked for the Rock Island from 1952 until the railroad was shut down in March 1980. He started as a messenger at the Little Rock passenger station, soon getting a position as a brakeman, then engineer in Arkansas. Later, Winters became road foreman of engines at El Reno, Oklahoma, and for a brief time also worked out of Des Moines, Iowa.
Many members of Winters’ family also worked for the Rock Island. His father started with the railroad during the Great Depression laying track for 64 cents a day and later became an officer. Guy’s brother A.J. Winters was a general roadmaster. Even his sister worked for the Rock Island, serving as the superintendent’s secretary. As he put it, there was a lot of nepotism at the Rock Island.
I sat down with Guy Winters on February 7, 2016 at his home in Ward, Arkansas. He shared details about his decades of working for the Rock Island, and after it was shut down, Missouri Pacific, which eventually became part of Union Pacific. He had a sharp recollection, sharing vivid details of his 42 years in the industry.
AUDIO: STARTING WITH THE ROCK ISLAND. It took a few years of working as a brakeman before Guy Winters got the opportunity to become an engineer. He also talks about one close call when he and another worker were preparing to jump from an engine.
AUDIO: TWO SCARES. Working for a railroad can be an extremely dangerous profession, where one mistake can have serious consequences. Guy shares two experiences, one that he feared would have had his freight train plow into a stopped passenger train at Ola, Arkansas, the other that left him dangling between two engines near Forrest City while traveling at about 50 MPH.
AUDIO: PROMOTIONS. After initially accepting, then declining a promotion that would have brought him to Chicago, Guy got other opportunities with the Rock Island, including becoming road foreman of engines at El Reno, Oklahoma, and spent a year in Iowa.
AUDIO: OTHER RAILROADS. After the Rock Island was shut down in 1980, Guy went to work for the Missouri Pacific, then Union Pacific in Arkansas and Kansas. In the early 1990s, he retired after more than four decades of experience.
AUDIO: ROCK ISLAND DIFFERENCE. Guy said he later appreciated what a family operation the Rock Island was compared to other railroads. He also discusses the decline of the Rock Island’s track, with money from the federal government only allowed to go toward rolling stock.
AUDIO: TURKEY HUNTERS. This was an odd story about how one Rock Island worker was accidentally shot while turkey hunting from the front of a locomotive. After an effort to cover up how the injury occurred was revealed, several workers were forced to resign.
AUDIO: FAMILY. Guy talks about the experiences of his father, who started with the Rock Island during the Great Depression, and brother, both of whom became managers for the Rock Island.
AUDIO: BOONEVILLE: The Griffin Hotel was operated behind the depot in Booneville for workers of the Rock Island. Guy talks about Viola Gainer, the woman who ran it and was known for having strict rules, as well as exceptional cooking. Guy also mentions how most people who worked for the Rock Island had nicknames.
In the final interview segment, Guy Winters couldn’t remember the name of Viola Gainer, but the March-April 1972 issue of the The Rocket, the railroad’s employee magazine, featured a short article about Gainer following her death in December 1971.
Six months after our interview, Guy donated a brass Rock Island sign to the Clinton School of Public Service, which is housed in what was the railroad’s passenger station in Little Rock. He was concerned the building no longer had any mention of the Rock Island and that visitors to the neighboring Clinton Presidential Center wouldn’t know that for 65 years, the building was part of the railroad’s passenger operations. Guy offered the sign, which had hung at a depot in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and after a few rounds of discussions, it was unveiled on August 29, 2016.
Guy Winters speaking at a ceremony where the Rock Island sign he donated to the Clinton School of Public Service was unveiled on August 29, 2016. Look at the laughs on the faces of many in the background. He was a great speaker. Photo: Michael Hibblen
Guy Winters and Jerry Oates, president of the Rock Island Club of Arkansas, pose in front of the former Little Rock passenger station after the ceremony. The brass sign can be seen in the background.
I wrote a story about the unveiling ceremony for NPR station KUAR-FM 89.1, which can be read here. It was a happy day for Guy. Many former employees of the Rock Island and their families also attended.
Guy Winters died on October 3, 2018 after suffering a stroke a few days earlier. He was 84.
A few funny stories were shared three days later during Guy’s service at Griffin Leggett Rest Cemetery in Sherwood, Arkansas. One included how he suggested a friend borrow a Rock Island-issued radar that Guy used to check the speed of trains. The device was used repeatedly during a road trip to Florida while listening to a CB radio just to hear the reaction of truck drivers with radar detectors who were hitting their breaks and trying to figure out where police were hiding.
It was also noted that one of Guy’s hobbies was collecting coins. He had an affinity for $2 bills and, at the end of the service, it was announced that Guy wanted everyone who attended his service to receive a $2 bill. So a friend then took out a large stack of $2 bills and began handing them out. It was a sweet and funny gesture that Guy wanted to be remembered for.
