A few years ago, I asked Clee Sprague to write down a couple of my favorite Haley stories for me to save. Here they are, presented in Clee's own words.

What Do We Do Now?

It could have very well been a spring evening in about 1963. I had bid in 2nd trick at Haley Tower and went to work there steady in October of 1960.

It had been a pretty decent evening at work, but along about sundown, C&EI No.83, a long-tailed southbound freight, was approaching Haley and the crew started hollering on the radio, "We've got an approach at your place, Haley." That indicated that the operator at Terre Haute, (which later became known as Union) was not lined up southbound. I started ringing Terre Haute on the intercom line we had between Dewey, Haley, Terre Haute, Baker yard, and Springhill. The "op" at Terre Haute said "I've got a long PRR westbound stopped across my plant waiting on a northbound E&I coal train to clear Vigo's plant at First Street. You should be able to see him there at your place in a few minutes."

Sure enough, in short order here came the E&I with about 130 to 135 cars of coal. A heavy drag, stretched out around curves in Terre Haute ... and looking at a red signal at Haley because of the long southbound stopped across my plant. The operator at Vigo, down on First Street close to the river, could not let the westbound Pennsy go because the rear of the E&I coal train was still in his interlocking.

Words flew furiously back and forth on the radios, "Somebody is going to have to back up!" The conductor on the E&I was on the radio with his engineer, asking "How much room have you go up there yet?" To pull the E&I coal train up any further would block a busy Terre Haute street, north 13 th, but they had to try it. Terre Haute was already in a stranglehold. The E&I conductor hollers, "Get right up against that signal at Haley! As close as you possibly can!" The E&I engineer kept calling me, "Are we on your plant yet, Haley?" "No, not yet." I reply.

Momentarily, the operator at Terre Haute, down by the old Union Station, hollers at me and says " The E&I's rear end just cleared Vigo's plant and the westbound is starting to move. That should let your southbound C&EI move in a few minutes."

I'm sure everyone heaved an enormous sigh of relief, because now the city of Terre Haute was tied in knots, and the police were getting in on it!

Clee J. Sprague, 7/29/91

Oh, No!

Of all the years I worked at Haley interlocking, from October of 1960 until retirement in September of 1989, I had a genuine fear of a really bad auto accident happening at one of the street crossings near Haley in which someone would be killed or terribly injured. I had always carried that fear.

Sometime after June of 1969, not only I, but the other employees at Haley had frequently seen one of the locals in the area always cross the L&N and Penn Central tracks just a dozen yards north of the old brick tower. That day, this fellow, at the time appearing to be 55 or 60 years of age, came walking along the west side of the L&N tracks, heading south along the edge of the crossties. A southbound extra was bearing down on this guy, honking the horn in rapid succession, toot-toot-toot-toot. I was watching it all from a north window of the tower. I had raised the window and started hollering at him. He acted like he didn't even know that the train was almost upon him.

The train hit him, and he flew several feet up into the air and landed in the weeds off the west side of the track. Had he landed ahead of the lead unit, needless to say, it would have been curtains for him. I instantly thought to myself, "Oh no!" In another instant I had picked up the city phone and told the police to send an ambulance, telling them what had happened. I went down to the scene of the impact, and almost by the time I got down there, the ambulance had arrived. Of course the fellow looked completely out of it as they loaded him up.

Two or three days later, this fellow's son of about 30 years age came to the tower seeking information about the accident. I could not give him any information, but I told him who he could contact with the railroad concerning the accident, and that I felt very badly about it. I asked him about his dad's condition, and he told be that he had been released from the hospital the next day, with no broken bones and only very minor injuries. I just sat there in awe, not believing what I had just heard.

Sure enough, about a week later, I saw the man who had been hit by the train crossing the track, although considerably further north of the tower. I just know it was him.

That was the closest I ever came to seeing something gruesome during all my 41 very interesting years on the railroad.

Clee J. Sprague, 7/29/91

Al Janssen, a former operator at Haley, shares this story with us:

This happened during the summer of 1959, and it concurs with Operator Sprague's feeling and fear of a bad auto accident at one of the street crossing near Haley.

I, being the youngest operator on the seniority list at the time, was assigned the swing shift at Haley. My swing began Sunday at 7:00 a.m., then Monday and Tuesday at 3:00 p.m, and Wednesday and Thursday at 11:00 p.m. I lived north of Haley, about a two hour drive. I would leave my home in early morning and upon arrival in Terre Haute would first stop off for breakfast at a truck stop along route 41.

This particular morning, several trains were due Haley around 9:00 a.m. The situation was the operator controlled all the switches and signals, along with the street crossing flashers at the intersections to the north and south of Haley. The flashers had to be operated on and off manually ... a dangerous situation which I hope was eventually corrected. Every thing was running smoothly until the street crossing flashers failed to operate. As the trains passed, I was on the as ground per normal procedure. Nothing unusual caught my attention at the time. However, after the last train had passed, a gentleman out of breath came running up the tower steps and was very shaken. After talking to the gentleman and offering him a cigarette, he calmed down and explained his story.

As he had approached the tracks to the north of Haley, he failed to see the train until the last moment. Miraculously, he got stopped in time. However, the train did brush his front bumper leaving a large black mark. Evidently the engineer on the NYC was also unaware of what had happened at the time, as he did not stop. After obtaining his story, ID and all other pertinent information, he seemed at ease. But we talked a while longer. A report was filed with the NYC. No more was ever heard from the NYC or C&EI. What would happen to today in our litigious society? I expect other operators working at Haley experienced the same fear of auto accidents near Haley, although I am not aware of any incidents.

Al Janssen, 1/3/98

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