I recall how we used to submit an arbitrary for each trip on #97 for handling
the box of compnay mail in the w/c that was for Savanna,Lacrosse and North.
The rule (4a, I think) allowed wayfreight rate instead of thru frt for this
extra chore. Yes we'd actually sort the Savanna mail from the rest and hand
it to the staff at Savanna so we had in essence done something for the extra
$2 or so.
In reading the BRT files I've learned that this was far more common than I
had ever learned during my working days. From the sheer volume of claims in
the files nearly every passenger train on the mainline and C&I must have had
company material stuffed in various places for delivery to mechanical forces
down the line. One of the biggest debates was for claims for the penalty when
the piece of equipment was tucked down in the nose of the unit or in a linen
closet,etc. The crews would actually have to do some investigating to find
the item. It would be for some point beyond their terminal and tagged as
such. They didnt touch it or do anything w/it. JUst left it there for the
next crew or maybe the rdhse forces at the end of the run to retrieve.
>From the correspondence accompanying these claims it became fairly clear that
this was a game of hide and seek between the mech forces and the crews.
Just for the sake of old time debate are the crews entilted to the penalty
for "handling company material in these cases? Again this is not where they
physically deliver the item or have to move it out of thier way to do their
duties.
Leo
|