Pete
Heck, they wouldn't even sit in the waycar and eat
lunch together! There it was, enginemen in one end and
trainmen(or switchmen) in the other end. With most
crews, the big complaint seemed to be rough train
handling by the hoggers. The engineers always gripped
about making too many moves.
And speaking of low down officials, I think the
absolute worst was Ass't Super. Henry Pierce. His
hiding in the weeds was really bad.
John
--- PSHedgpeth@a... wrote:
> 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
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
>
>
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