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Autobiographical Sketch of Robert Linsey Addressed to Bill Barrow, at the Cleveland State University Library: "I was born in Cleveland in 1951 and was raised in Shaker Heights. I graduated from High School there and attended Cleveland State for two brief periods completing about two years of course work in a liberal arts program. "School, like most everything else in my life, gave way to a railroad career. My first employment was with the Baltimore & Ohio RR as a clerk at their Clark Avenue Yards in Cleveland. From there I moved to the Penn Central as a Block Operator in 1971 working various towers throughout Northern Ohio. During a period of furlough in 1972 I worked for the Washington Terminal Co. as a Leverman and then briefly on Penn Central's Chesapeake Division. In 1973 I moved up to a Train Dispatcher's position in Penn Central's Cleveland Division offices located in the Cleveland Union Terminal. In 1979 I transferred into engine service with Conrail and now work and reside in the Albany, NY, area. I also serve the local unit of my union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, as a Local Chairman and am the Eastern Member of the BLE's internal Board of Appeals. "My introduction to the collection that I have donated was through my interest in the history of the Shaker Heights Rapid Transit and the other traction projects planned by the Van Sweringens. I became acquainted with the then-Chief Engineer of the Cleveland Union Terminal, John Anderson, who had been employed by the CUT since its construction. He was approaching retirement and was concerned about the future of a large archive of material that was stored in the terminal. The collection of negatives and photographs was included and he granted me custody of this material in 1968. "I have stored this material since that time with the best intentions of fulfilling a commitment I made to put this material to good historical use. My work and personal obligations, however, have precluded me from doing much more than providing safe storage. Inclusion with the previously established Cleveland Union Terminal archives at Cleveland State should enable fulfillment of that promise. "I also owe a debt of gratitude to Marcus Ruef of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers who discovered [the Cleveland Union Terminal] web site through which we eventually made contact." Robert Linsey
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