Voices of the P&OV
Crew, sayings, and yard-office life on the Pittsburgh & Ohio Valley, 1977–1991 · October 2026
The Pittsburgh & Ohio Valley Railway was a small railroad, and the people on it knew each other well. Names and jobs below are as Mark gave them in his captions.
Family details from the obituaries he reposted are left out. Only the railroad careers are kept.
In their own words
“Tell em nothing and practice telling em even less.”
“Leave it like you found it.”
— Elmer Picard (photo)
“If I could have thrown that switch you two would have both been up on the road.”
— Bill McEwen Sr., early 1980s, when Mark Connolly and John Iwanonkiw could not throw the frozen C9 switch at −10 °F. “In this case we really could not throw the switch over.” (post)
“How come railroad employees are not guaranteed 40 hours a week?” — “Cause we were on the extra board for all those years!”
— John Iwanonkiw's answer when a 1988 photo asked for a candid comment (photo)
The crews
Joe “Chick Chick” Adamcik (Joe Dates) Conductor and brakeman
On the #105 job he was supposed to ride the fifth car of the ore drag, “but we all know that if you hide in the cab you become invisible and no one in the yard office can see you.” When the crew chipped in for the crew room's first microwave, he heated potatoes and kept them in his pockets to warm his hands, eating one when he got hungry. “He sure did smile and make us smile a lot.” He also told Mark about the 1945 carbon plant explosion. (photo, photo, photo, photo, post, post)
Elmer Edward Picard Conductor, “the legend”
Worked the steady second-trick #205 job or the #115 relief job, and came to work every day in a sport coat and tie. “Looked like he owned the place when he filled out his time sheet.” He held his paychecks for long stretches to annoy the accountants. After a 1957 injury settlement, in which he testified he could “probably be an elevator operator,” he worked another 30 years on the railroad. At Thanksgiving the mill handed out frozen turkeys; Elmer threatened to throw his off the Fleming Park Bridge “and see if it will fly,” then gave it away. (photo, post, photo, photo)
John Iwanonkiw Conductor, trainman, and car rider
Part of the “Southside crew.” He bled gons and ladles at the PC&Y Interchange, worked the #105 and #110 jobs, and rode strings of cars down from the car dumper on E2, braking by hand. Many of the blog's dumper and scale-house photos are his. (photo, photo, photo, photo, photo, photo)
Sam Lacenere Conductor
Rode the lead hopper of furnace coke strings to F1, and worked the South Yard and the dumper. “If your car needed brake work Sam was the man. Great guy.” (photo, photo, photo, photo)
Nick Niapas Conductor
Worked the #105 and sometimes the #110 daylight jobs. “Always pleasant to work with.” Pictured with Wally Latshaw at the end of a #105 shift: “You can tell by the smiles that it must have been an early quit!” (photo, photo, post)
Wally Latshaw Conductor
Shoved boxcars over the scale and coupled empty ladles at the Y Interchange, from 1980 to at least 1990. (photo, photo, photo)
Don Amber and Bob “The Doctor” Paulin Conductor and brakeman
Photographed having coffee near the coke plant lead while working “the cherished #105 job on the ‘clean end’ of the plant,” in the green P&OV hats the whole crew wore. “The third coffee is mine.” (photo, photo)
Larry Wilcox Southside crew
Switched the West Yard with Don Amber in 1979, and was part of the Southside connection with John Iwanonkiw and Billy Bobak. (photo, photo)
Larry Obusek #115 relief job
Pictured on SW9 #6 working the #115 relief job in August 1979. “Larry was probably the nicest guy on the railroad. No one had a bad word to say about him.” (photo, post)
Tom Connolly Car knocker
Worked his way through college inspecting and repairing cars on the P&OV in the 1980s. Kevin and Denny Connolly also appear on the blog; it was a railroad of family connections. (photo, photo, photo)
Engineers
John Doubt Engineer
Started on the P&OV in 1972, worked the #110 Furnace Job a lot, and later ran for CSX until 2010. (photo, post, photo, photo)
Jack Burik Engineer
Pictured at the throttle of P&LE 1554 “with the throttle and enthusiasm both at notch 7.” In 1987 he found a Shenango track crane hung up with five loads on the East Runner Main, which became a grievance the union won. (photo, photo, post)
Scott Morrison Engineer
Third out on the extra board most of the time, he added water to Loco #4 “the hard way” at the scale house in 1988. He boxed as a left-handed light heavyweight; a group of the crew went to see him fight. “He went the distance but lost the decision.” (photo)
Billy Bobak Engineer
Ran Loco #3 toward the scale house as Santa Claus in December 1988. He also worked for the Union Railroad. (photo)
Mike Britzki Engineer, “of the Rocks”
Pictured taking a break on the engineer's side of the cab, and once at the controls while Walter Cooper hitched a ride to the ore dumper: “10 shades of wrong here with conductor and engineer changing roles.” (photo, photo)
Trainmasters and the yard office
Wayne Amber, Bill McEwen, and Denny Jarvis The weighers
Trainmaster Wayne Amber, Bill McEwen, and Trainmaster Denny Jarvis did the weighing at the scale house. “I was always amazed at how fast he, Bill McEwen, and Denny Jarvis could weigh anything in a heartbeat. You no sooner cut away and backed off the scale and bam the buzzer was off.” Jarvis also wrote the crews' switching orders. (photo, photo, photo)
Jack Burik Sr. Clerk
Clerked in the evenings and summers when he was not teaching or coaching. He had taught Mark business law in high school, so “he will always be Mr. Burik to me.” (post)
Chauncey Evans Trainmaster
Retired in 1978 as trainmaster after a 30-year career on the P&OV. The blog also shows his October 1970 paycheck. (post, photo)
Around the yard office
- Coffee runs: crews stopped at the millwrights' shop on the furnace lead after a drag to the dumper, around 10:00 to 10:30 a.m., and brought coffee back to the yard office. A four-cup holder hung on the bulletin board. (photo)
- Gin games in the back room of the scale house in the 1980s. (photo)
- The yard office itself: a Toledo scale, a lantern, base radio, phones, track cards, a hardhat, and a horseshoe above the door. “Yep, that's a yard office alright.” (photo)
- Foot-board relief: crews coming on duty sometimes relieved the engineer to weigh cars or take a drag to the dumper, so the earlier crew could get a slightly earlier quit. (photo)
- Coffee breaks at the gandydancer shed off the west end of S1. (photo)
UTU Local 150
- P&OV crews belonged to United Transportation Union Local 150, whose officers helped with grievances, law boards, safety issues, and later the merger hurdles with the P&LE and CSX. (photo)
- Tony Prozzley, whose nomination for the local's vice president Mark was told to second at his first meeting, had UTU Local 150 hats made up for the crew. (photo, photo)
- The Scully Yard picnic, around 1980, brought out John Iwanonkiw, Bill McEwen, Mark Connolly, Larry Wilcox, Bob Paulin, Sam Lacenere, and Joe Adamcik. (photo, photo)
- Grievances included a January 1977 claim over a track gang supervisor running “the Dragon,” and the 1987 crane hung up on the East Runner, an “easy win for UTU.” (photo, photo)
- Jim McCaffery of Local 150 always worked the Santa Train in Carnegie. (photo)
- Mark Connolly and Don Dunleavy represented the local at the 1991 UTU convention. (photo)
Remembered
- August 3, 1945: six men died in an explosion at the carbon plant. Chick Chick told Mark about it years later. (post)
- March 1987: crane operator Ollie Carlini died in a fall at the ladle house, where electricians had left an access grate open. (post)
Sources
- Mark Connolly, @pittsburghohiovalleyrailroad on Tumblr, 2013–2026. Every story above links to its post.