Erie Railroad Biography - MOW Supervisors, 1912
William Schlafge
From the February, 1912 issue of Erie Railroad Magazine
Mr. William Schlafge, who has been appointed general mechanical superintendent of the Erie Railroad, with offices at New York City, was born in Berlin, Germany, October 11th, 1868. During his early life he received a common school education, but, in order to better equip himself, attended night school, using every means of self-help at his command, to acquire a more liberal education.
His first railroad experience was with the Lehigh Valley Railroad at Packerton, Pa., serving in minor capacities in the machine and car shops. Leaving that company in 1887, he went West, entering the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie shops at Minneapolis, as apprentice under instruction. After serving the required time, he quit this company, and engaged in various railroad and contract shops, as mechanic and foreman.
Again entering the service of the Soo Line in 1893, as roundhouse foreman at Gladstone, Mich., he remained until 1898, when he resigned, going to the Escanaba & Lake Superior Railway, serving in the capacity of locomotive fireman, engineer, and, later on, master mechanic.
Realizing that the opportunities on a small road were limited, Mr Schlafge left the latter company, accepting a position as roundhouse foreman at Newark, Ohio, with the B. & 0. Three years later he was promoted to general ioreman, in charge of the Locomotive and Car departments, with office at Chicago Junction, Ohio.
Resigning the last-mentioned position, he accepted service with the Erie Railroad, as general foreman at Port Jervis, N.Y., in March, 1903, and the following year was made master mechanic at Jersey City, N.J.
In December, 1906, he was promoted to master car builder of the Erie, with offices at Meadville, Pa., and within the next few months was again promoted to general master mechanic and assistant mechanical superintendent. In October, 1907, the company again elevated him, this time to the responsible post of mechanical superintendent of the Erie Grand Division and N.Y.S.& W. R.R., with offices at Jersey City. N.J., which position he held until his recent appointment to general mechanical superintendent of the Erie system.
Personally, Mr. Schlafge is a very square man. and one who, while expecting those serving under him, to do their utmost for the general welfare, is neither a fault-finder, nor a knocker, and he has a social side to his nature that invites and makes friends, holding them ever after. The Mechanical Department, especially on the Lines East, knows him well, and the boys all will pull together to help him succeed.
Joseph A. Boyden
Joseph A. Boyden, the newly appointed master mechanic of the Mahoning division of the Erie Railroad, was born on September 2, 1876, at Susquehanna, Pa., and was educated at the high schools and at Wyoming Seminary. Mr. Boyden began railway work on November 6, 1892 at the Susquehanna shops of the Erie as an apprentice, and after completing his apprenticeship in 1896, he was for one year in the drafting room. In January, 1898, he went to the Pere Marquette as a machinist at Saginaw, Mich., and in February of the following year returned to the service of the Erie Railroad as a machinist at Susquehanna. In August, 1899, he was transferred in the same capacity to Dunmore, Pa., and in February, 1900, he was again transferred to the Baldwin Locomotive Works at Philadelphia, inspecting the engines being built for the Erie. He returned to the Susquehanna shops in September of the same year, and in January, 1901, was promoted to machine shop foreman at Port Jervis, N.Y. He was again promoted in February, 1904, to general foreman at Newburgh, N.Y., and in March, 1905, was transferred as general foreman to Bergen, N.J. Four years later he was again transferred as general foreman to Cleveland, Ohio, and since April 1, 1911, he was general foreman at Hornell, N.Y.
T.S. Davey
The many friends of T.S. Davey, for several years general foreman of the Stroudshurg Shops, will be pleased to learn of his recent appointment to master mechanic of the Stroudsburg Shops, which position was made vacant bv the death of W.H. Taylor.
Mr. Davey is a man of modest and retiring disposition, and never speaks of himself, yet he is a man of sterling ability, an excellent mechanic, and a man careful and diligent in business. He is an excellent disciplinarian and a man of good judgment. He is well liked by every man who knows him, and we believe the Erie Railroad has made no mistake in selecting him as a successor to Mr. Taylor.
Mr. Davey was born in Devonshire, England, and came to America when but eleven years of age. He learned the machinist's trade with the DL&W at Scranton, Pa., when the late D. Brown was master mechanic. In those days apprentices received very little pay. Mr. Davey worked his first year for four cents per hour, and most of the time only six hours for a day's work. He began at the Stroudsburg Shops in 1898, being laid off through the depression caused by the big coal strike, during which time he worked for the Southern Railroad at Columbia, S.C., under Master Mechanic Sproul. At the close of the strike he returned to the Stroudsburg Shops in the capacity of gang foreman. In May, 1905, he succeeded M.N. Diefenderfer, as general foreman, filling this position with credit to himself and the Erie Company, until Nov. 18, 1911, when he was appointed acting master mechanic, and on January 1, 1912, was appointed master mechanic.
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