Aurora was the crew the supply point for all Chgo and Aurora Div jobs except
the Cicero,Western Ave and 14th st jobs(there were also a small number of
suburban jobs that went to Chgo zone men to equalize the mileage. Since
Aurora was 38 miles from CUS and 31 from HY this resulted in some
"arrangements" to reduce commuting time to work. Some were totally legit and
obviously within reason, for example guys on outlying road switchers tended
to live in the "boon
docks"(Milledgeville,Rochelle,Oregon,Savanna,Streator,Ottawa,etc.).They all
held seniority in Aurora [after the various seniority combinations of the
50's and 1964).If "bumped" from one outlying job they would place on the next
nearest or highest paying job they could hold. The Galesburg to Cicero pool
was Aurora Div (GT zone) these men were based in Gt but were on the Aurora
seniority roster.That meant (in almost all cases) they lived in GT and worked
that pool until (as often happened) times got tough and then they exercised
their seniority in Aurora. It was routine to see Gt men working in AU from
time to time (the Singer brothers, Lonnie Treadway,etc come to mind).They
would live in their mobile homes placed on company property until things at
Gt got better and then bid back there.
Ok,I've digressed far enough. The "Aurora step off" was a convenient
arrangement that while not officially allowed was well known to all company
officials and simply ignored unless something went terribly wrong. It worked
as follows: If you regular job for today was a westbound Northern or Zephyr
you met one of your eastbound counterparts at the Aurora platform. You
stepped on in his place and he stepped off. You worked to CHGO for him and
then tomorrow he returned the favor to you or whatever other train was his
most convenient "commute" to CUS. In the days of regular, on time and
frequent service this worked like clock wok as everyone knew which job
relieved which eastbound at Aurora so as to eliminate the 3 hours or so time
elapsed from going by Aurora on your job until you finally got home if you
actually worked your own job all the way to CUS. All company
paperwork(timeslips,registers,etc) showed you working to Chgo. If called off
the extra list you knew or the caller did which job you stepped on for.
Leo
P.S.-There's a couple sub chapters off this already long email so I'll save
them for another time.
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