Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 14 hours ago

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In July 2025 I interviewed Don Maurer about his times working on the railroads of the Rock Island and Union Pacific. He started his career in 1965 and finished with the UPRR in 2006.
In a strange twist of fate/ destiny or whatever, I crossed paths with him in Las Vegas Nevada while he was working for the Union Pacific and I was crew-hauling for the UP during the time between 1994 ad 1997. Little did we know we were both from the same area of LaSalle Peru. While he was running passenger trains on the Rock Island in the late 60's, it is quite possible I was being brought down to the depot to watch those trains by my Dad. I was only about six at the time. Fast forward to late 1994 or early 1995 and my very first crew hauling job was to take a crew from Las Vegas to Caliente, NV 150 miles away at night on a two-lane blacktop, with people I didn't know. I was a bit nervous. Dead silence for three hours was not going to be fun, but with a simple question of, "So where ya from?" That began a wild and bizarre conversation, both of us being shocked that I grew up in the same neighborhood as his relatives.
Anyway, my time around the UP allowed me to haul many crew members and meet many fine people but there will never be a story like this one. He also was giving train rides to Eddie Brown when he was a kid in Utica. I would come to know Eddie Brown many years later and I got a train ride from Eddie just 4 miles away where he got a ride from Don Maurer. To me that's bizarre. Nevertheless, Don gives us a good overview of his life on three different railroads. It was an absolute pleasure interviewing Don.