(The following report appeared on the Bismarck Tribune website on August 23. Herbert Lee “Tubby” DeForest was a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.)
BISMARCK, N.D. — Two people will be inducted into the North Dakota Railroad Hall of Fame at 4 p.m. Sunday during Mandan Railroad Days.
Dr. Kenneth Johnson and Herbert Lee “Tubby” DeForest will be inducted at ceremonies at the North Dakota State Railroad Museum in Mandan, located just off I-94 Exit 152 on Old Red Trail at 37th Street and 30th Avenue.
Johnson grew up in east St. Paul, Minn., and has ridden a passenger train in every state and most Canadian provinces. He has served on the museum board for several terms, and is a frequent volunteer, cataloging artifacts and donating an extensive collection of scale model grain cars, freight cars and others to the museum. Johnson worked as a specialist in internal medicine and allergies at Q &R Clinic in Bismarck, retiring in 1990. He also is the author of two birding books.
DeForest died in 1952 of injuries from a train wreck near Falkirk when the train hit a washout and the locomotive plunged down a 19-foot embankment, an accident that also took the life of fireman A.M. Schneider.DeForest was an engineer for the Soo Line at the time, for whom he worked for 42 years. He moved to North Dakota from Minnesota in 1898 and to Bismarck in 1943. At the time of his death, he was the local chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers; he also was a veteran of World War I.
Activities during the celebration will run from 1 to 5 p.m. At 3 p.m., the Cowboy Action Performers of Mandan will enact “The Great Train Robbery.”
Other events include a railroad photo contest in which people may bring their favorite photos, speeder displays and demonstrations by John Beck, of Bismarck, a live steam presentation by Ed Duke of Hensler, questions and answers by railroad modelers, a “hobo banquet” of hot dogs, bratwurst and beans, visits with railroad “old-timers,” and “Railroad Maintenance of Way Shops: Home of the Gandy Dancers.”
Visitors can try their skills at spike driving, spike pulling, rail walking, rail car moving, telegraphy and Morse code.
Railroad Days are sponsored by the Railway Credit Union of Mandan.