One of the tough parts of being on the extra passenger list was trying to
remember which job had how many smoking cars on each end when you caught the
job and most or all the regular crew was off. Seems like each job had its own
rules as to how much space to allow for the nicotine crowd. There were signs
above the doors on each end of each half that you'd switch to change that
portion from non to smoking or reverse. Some nine car jobs had a whole smoker
on the West end and 1/2 on the East, some a whole smoker on each end and one
or 2 a car and a half on the West end and a whole on the east,etc,etc,etc.
Too many times I'd set the train up in the Hill Yard or 14th st and then get
royally chewed by one of the regular riders when "his" car wasn't set up the
way he was accustomed to! Then if you were a "flip" you'd shut cars for the
second leg and then go thru the sign changes again guessing how much to
allocate for the smokers. I gradually developed a list by job as to which
track the train was on in the morning at the depot or Hill Yd and then again
in the evening at 14th st,how many cars,how many and which cars to line up
for smokers,etc. Life is much easier today.
Leo
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