(The Princeton Packet posted the following article by Jeff Milgram on its website on June 13. Arthur Radford is a member of BLE Division 373 in Trenton, N.J.)
PRINCETON, N.J. — Arthur Radford is a traveling man.
The son of a train engineer, the father and father-in-law of railway workers, Mr. Radford — known to everyone as Art — has driven trains for the Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central, Conrail and New Jersey Transit for 43 years.
For the past 20 years, Mr. Radford has driven the Dinky, the one-car NJ Transit shuttle, the 2.7 miles between Princeton and Princeton Junction and back 40 times a day. On July 1, Mr. Radford will get into the cab of the Dinky for the last time.
After 43 years, it’s the end of the line for Mr. Radford, who is retiring.
Mr. Radford, who lives in East Windsor, has spent his entire NJ Transit career, spanning 20 years, on the Dinky.
“It was closest to home,” Mr. Bradford said. “I didn’t like the layover in New York it’s very boring.”
And for most of these 20 years, he’s been partnered with conductor Earl Hagaman.
“He’s the best,” Mr. Hagaman said of his engineer. “He’s a good man to work with. He’s very kind. He goes out of his way for people.”
Mr. Radford spent the first 10 years of his railroad career as a fireman tending the boilers on the steam-driven engines while learning to operate the locomotive. Today, his son-in-law is taking part in a year-long training school to become an engineer.
The Dinky is a storied train with some storied passengers. Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nobel laureate John Nash and actors Jimmy Stewart, Brian Dennehy and Brooke Shields have all ridden the Dinky, which used to be a two-car train until the mid-1970s. A second car is added around Thanksgiving and Christmas, Mr. Radford said.
Every day, from a little before 5 a.m. to a little after 3 p.m., Mr. Radford shuttles students, professors, stockbrokers, magazine editors and shoppers between the main Northeast Corridor station at Princeton Junction, one of the busiest stations in the East, to the Princeton station on University Place.
“You remember the famous people — Brooke Shields. She gave me such a smile,” Mr. Radford said.
Each Dinky run has its regular passengers.
“The morning, it’s the same people,” Mr. Radford said. “Then in the afternoon is different people. On Wednesdays you have the women who go in (to Manhattan) for the matinees.”
He didn’t recognize Ms. Shields, who attended Princeton in the 1980s, when he first saw her. “She had such outstanding eyebrows and a smile,” Mr. Radford said. “She looked much better without any makeup.”
Mr. Dennehy took the Dinky several years ago to see his daughter’s recital at McCarter Theatre.
Dr. Nash has been a daily passenger. “You didn’t talk to him,” Mr. Radford said.
But Dr. Nash broke his rule of silence several years ago when the movie “A Beautiful Mind” came out, which depicted Dr. Nash’s decades-long bout with schizophrenia. “Now, that’s just a movie,” Dr. Nash told Mr. Radford when the movie came out.
Some passengers bring him magazines or newspapers. Every Wednesday, Denise Schaalb of West Windsor brings him the food section of The Star-Ledger and every Thursday, she gives him the home and garden section.
“I just think he’s one of the best,” she said. “He and Earl, who’s the best conductor New Jersey Transit has to offer, work well as a team.”
Ms. Schaalb has been riding the Dinky daily since 1996. “He’s wonderful,” she said.
“The main thing that’s important in this job is the people,” Mr. Radford said. “These are the nicest people in the world.”
Driving the Dinky is easier than driving a 21?2-mile-long freight train, Mr. Radford said. The Dinky is controlled by two knobs — one for the speed, the other the brake.
Mr. Radford has memorized every curve on the route, knowing when he can push the speed up to 60 mph, paying careful watch for people who walk across or near the tracks.
“These things get up to speed in a hurry,” Mr. Radford said.
It takes four minutes to go the 2.7 miles. “If you blink your eyes you’re going to miss it,’ Mr. Radford said.
Mr. Radford said the Dinky schedule is sacred. “The schedule right now is so tight we have to leave on time,” he said.
Retirement will give him a chance to fish and garden.
“I won’t miss getting up at 3 o’clock, but I will miss the people — everyone of them is my boss” and can write complaining letters, Mr. Radford said. “I found out right from the beginning you just do your job and do it right.”
He loves his job because it gets him outside — and he doesn’t mind the cold all that much. And then there are the people.
“You got to be a people person to get the benefits out of this job,” he said. “I don’t know what other job would give you the satisfaction I’ve gotten out of this job.”