Jan: I'm not much of a philosopher or "mature" enough to give a real good
answer to your question regarding "animosity vs fun"....However...the "great
gulf fixed" between trainmen and enginemen seems to have always existed...You
go back to any old source for railroad lore and you always see it.
Here's just a few examples from my own experience which began with my first
railroad job (brakeman) in 1956.
When you saw a crew walking uptown to eat, you always saw the engineer and
fireman walking separately, either ahead or behind the train crew...In the
restaurant they always sat in separate booths or tables.
I recall one instance when I was working the Hastings-Sargent local
(Nebraska) that we went to eat at Central City... After we had finished
eating,The engineer who was a real horse's......stood up and announced to
everyone in the place..."Well, I've got to go down and get things to
movin"....the conductor, sitting at a separate table with his two brakeman
said..."He can't do a thing till we give him a sign"....
The engine crew always had their own "accommodations" for sleeping...never
never never with the train crew.
I recently read an account in an old RAILROAD MAGAZINE which I'll shorten up
considerably for here.
A particular conductor was one of those guys who always was having some kind
of trouble and never could get over the road without some kind of difficulty
befalling him.
He was at a station with a carload of mules which kept kicking the slats out
of the sides of the car...He kept coming into the depot and telling the
operator his troubles to be relayed to the dispatcher....He tried this and he
tried that, but the mules kept kicking and the conductor kept asking the
dispatcher what to do.
Finally the dispatcher told the operator to tell said conductor: "Do
whatever you have to do to bring those jackasses into (whatever the terminal
name was)....We want to make conductor's out of them"....That one didn't
involve a trainman vs engineman, but that kind of thing went on all the time.
Enginemen were nortorious for accusing Conductors of misfiguring or
deliberately lying about how much tonnage they had. Enginemen were equally
notorious for stalling and doubling if they had one ton over what they
thought they should have.
An example: Anybody have Howard Fogg's ALL STEAMED UP...it was done in
about 1958 on the C&S...The engineer was one of the Speas boys,,,don't
remember which one...If you've read "Gone Railroadin" authored by one of the
Speas boys daughter...there were several...Neal, Clarence and maybe more you
know who they are.
They were getting ready to leave Longmont and Clarence, I think it was, asked
the Conductor..."How much tonnage are we gonna have out here"??
Reply...You'll have about 1200 tons....Engineer's reply: "That's too much
tonnage"....Conductor's reply after a short pause to refigure....You'll have
about exactly 1150 tons....You should be able to handle that...Enginee'rs
reply:..."Yeah I think we can pull em".. They did.
It's a great recording if you can find it...I think it's available on CD
now...I have the record version.
Maybe someone else with more maturity than I can further philosophize on the
Trainman vs engineman matter which is as old as railroading itself.
Pete
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