Fred Springer

Fred Springer was an avid railroad photographer and live steam hobbyist. He is listed as one of the key people that helped build the Comanche & Indian Gap Railroad. The "Springerville" yard is named in his honor.

During his lifetime Fred took some 50,000 photographs of railroad equipment. The collection has been digitized and is housed at Center for Railroad Photography & Art.

Texas Boiler Code

Marty Knox wrote:

The Hobby Boiler rule for Texas is an exemption. I was on the advisory committee to the Texas Board of Boiler Rules working on rules for hobby boilers when Fred Springer contacted a legislator. He was able to get a bill passed to amend the law and grant the exemption. This took place back in the late 1980's and early 1990's.

From Modeltec, August 1995:

The State of Texas has made a change in the state boiler code, which exempts certain hobby boilers. The legislation was the result of work by Lee Balkum of the Houston Area Live Steamers and Fred Springer of the Southwestern Live Steamers. Layton Black, state representative in Fred's district, sponsored the bill and obtained the state boiler division's endorsement. The bill passed both houses, was signed into law by Governor Bush on June 12, and becomes effective on August 28, 1995.

Gallery

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  Approaching the station, David Hannah guides Fred Springer's engine across the trestle of the Browning Railroad. In the cars behind him are Jim Jackson, Sheryl Pillegi, Dale Spring, and Fred Springer. The photo was taken at the first meet on the Browning Division on Labor Day 1987 by David Hannah, IV.

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  Fred Springer’s volunteer work for the Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec, beginning after he retired, involved a Goose, which he caught on film. He was rear brakeman on Goose No. 5 when it started operating out of Chama, N.M., beginning in 1998.

Obituary

From Berardinelli Family Funeral Services:

Fred M. Springer

June 30, 1928 - April 18, 2012

Fred M. Springer was born June 30, 1928 in Washington, D.C. to George E. and Marguerite Springer. They were of Iowa ancestry who migrated west after the Revolutionary War. Fred is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution as his Dutch ancestors fought in the New York Militia. He was raised in Houston, Texas so viewed that as his home having graduated from Mirabeau B. Lamar High School in 1945.

He graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Missouri School of Mines (Now Missouri University of Science and Technology) in 1949 and was awarded a Professional degree from the same university in 1999. He was a member of the Kappa Alpha Fraternity. In 1985 he was awarded the Alumni Achievement Award and in 1996 he was inducted into the Academy of Mechanical Engineers at Rolla. There is a classroom named for him in the new Mechanical Engineering Building at Rolla. Upon graduation from Rolla in 1949 he went to work immediately for Magnolia Pipe Line Company (which became Mobil Pipe Line Company) in Sundown, Texas. He moved around the Texas oil patch for Mobil until 1963 when he was transferred to the New York headquarters of Mobil. He had a varied professional career retiring in 1985 as Vice President of Mobil Diversified Businesses, a division of Mobil that managed the non oil properties such as coal and chemicals. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas and a Registered Professional Surveyor in the State of Texas. He is a life member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He was drafted into the US Army in 1950 and was sent directly to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma as a fire direction specialist due to his engineering background. While this was the Korean war era, his unit the 18th Field Artillery Battalion, was sent to Babenhausen, Germany as part of the “Army of Occupation”. He had a leave of absence from Mobil, so upon return to the USA as a Sergeant, he immediately went back to work in the West Texas oil fields.

He had a life time interest in railroads and trains, a hobby which he pursued with vigor. He found that moving around in the oil business was not conducive to indoor model railroad layouts because of frequent physical transfers. As a result about 1967 he discovered live steam, a hobby of miniature trains running on 7 1/2 inch gauge track that are big enough to ride on. He is still a member of the New Jersey Live Steamers where it started and now also the Southwestern Live Steamers covering Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. He has three steam locomotives and three electric engines and many cars. They are easily hauled around in a pick up truck. Fred retired from Mobil in 1985 and moved to Salado, Texas where he built a backyard railroad to run his trains on as there was no nearby club track to use.

In addition to live steam he was an avid collector and photographer of everything relating to trains. His collection of books, timetables, and passes was donated to the Railroad & Heritage Museum of Temple, Texas who named a park next to the Santa Fe Railway depot in his honor. His large photography collection has been donated to the Center for railroad Photography and Art at Madison, Wisconsin and Lake Forest College in Illinois.

In 1993 he bought a full size railroad car off the famed “Super Chief”. The Vista Canyon is a 4 drawing room, one bedroom lounge car that was the rear end of that famous train. Restored to operating condition set by Amtrak the car recorded over 50,000 miles while Fred owned it. In 2001 he donated it to the Arizona Railway Museum in Chandler, Arizona where he is a life member. He made many trips to Australia and New Zealand and was in 1992 awarded a Honorary membership in the Australian Society of Live Seamers. In 2012 he was awarded the Senior Achievement Award by the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society. He is a life member of the National Model Railroad Association and a 60 year member of the National Railway Historical Society and a member of the Santa Fe Model Railroad Club.

He is a lifetime Methodist having joined First United Methodist in Houston while in high school. As a result of many relocations he has been a member of too many churches to list. He served on the Board of Directors of the National Conference of Christians and Jews in Chicago (1976-83). He is a member of St. John's United Methodist Church in Santa Fe. Preceded in death by his parents and a daughter, Janice Marie (195759) Survived by his wife Dale Marie Mizell Springer and their children Kathryn Kuddes, Paul Springer, and Carol Luttrell and the grandchildren Denver Luttrell, Austin Luttrell, and London Luttrell.

A Memorial Service will be held on Friday, April 27, at 1:00 p.m. St. John's United Methodist Church, 1200 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87505.

External Links

• Fred Springer photo collection, approximately 50,000
• Fred Springer obituary, C&TS Dispatch