Former Hays railroad worker relives history by handing orders to Big Boy No. 4014

Jim Stramel, right, is using a Y-Stick to give signs to "Big Boy" No. 4014 engineer Ed Dickens, middle. Photo courtesy of  Dr. Janet Stramel — Jim Stramel, right, is using a Y-Stick to give signs to "Big Boy" No. 4014 engineer Ed Dickens, middle. Photo courtesy of Dr. Janet Stramel

By ALIN HETT
Hays Post

For just a few moments on Saturday, Jim Stramel stepped back into a role that defined much of his career on the railroad.

The former Hays depot agent and telegrapher had the opportunity to hand train orders to the crew of Union Pacific's Big Boy No. 4014 using the same Y-stick he once used while working along the railroad decades ago.

"Well, it just brought back all old memories because that's what I used to do," Stramel said. "I worked in the depots, and they handed up orders to the trains."

For Stramel, the moment carried even deeper meaning because he had performed the same duty for Big Boy locomotives during their original era of operation.

"I started railroading out in western Wyoming, where Big Boy was running at that time," he said. "I handed up orders to Big Boy out at Granger, Wyoming."

Before modern radio communication and computerized dispatching, depot agents and telegraphers played a critical role in railroad operations.

Train orders, issued by dispatchers, were copied by telegraph operators and delivered to train crews as locomotives passed through stations.

A Y-shaped wooden staff, commonly known as a train order stick or Y-stick, held a loop containing the paperwork, allowing crew members to grab the orders without stopping the train.

"This was way before computers and radios," Stramel said. "The dispatcher had control over all the trains in his area, and he would write out the orders to the operator, like me, at a station."

Stramel spent 38 years working for the railroad after beginning his career in 1949. He later spent decades as a familiar face at the Hays depot, helping keep railroad operations moving through the area.

Although train orders eventually gave way to modern communications, Stramel kept one of his original train order sticks from those years.

His chance to relive that piece of railroad history came during Big Boy No. 4014's stop in Hays.

The invitation came from Big Boy engineer Ed Dickens, who has developed a friendship with Stramel over the years. After seeing Stramel during Friday's stop, Dickens arranged for him to hand the locomotive's crew a set of replica train orders the following day.

"I thought it was super that Ed Dickens, the engineer and the instigator of the rebuilding of the engine, was gracious enough to let me do what I did," Stramel said.

The orders were not operational instructions but copies of authentic train orders Stramel had saved over the years.

"They're just copies of original train orders that I have had for years," he said. "I just gave them to him to get an idea of what we went through way back then."

For safety, the demonstration took place while the locomotive was stopped, but the experience still recreated an almost forgotten part of railroad history.

Built in 1941, Big Boy No. 4014 is one of only eight surviving Big Boy locomotives and the only one operating today.

Originally designed to haul heavy freight through the Wasatch Mountains between Utah and Wyoming, the massive steam engine was restored by Union Pacific and returned to service in 2019.

Since then, the locomotive has traveled across the country, drawing thousands of visitors at public stops and whistle-stops.

While many people gathered in Hays to watch the historic locomotive, Stramel experienced something few others could claim: the opportunity to perform the same railroad duty he carried out throughout his career.