Archie, Pete, and All - My understanding of the "hog" or "mark- up" board was
that, each day, the man with the most seniority took the job he wanted. There
were no regularly assigned men on any of the jobs. The rest of the guys on the
board - in seniority order - then took what they wanted. The poor guy at the
bottom of the list got to work nights and weekends. Maybe. Unless the old
heads were real hungry, then that poor guy could literally starve to death on
the board. This could be real though on enginemen when they were being set up
in strict seniority order - the youngest engineer would starve while the man
right below him on the list would sit on a cushy fireman job.
Trainmen on the C&NW had "reverse seniority" - the new guys were forced to work
as conductors, while the old heads with enough time could take a "set-back" and
work as a brakeman. At one time trainmen could "decline" promotion to
conductor and work strictly as "collectors" on suburban trains. Switchmen
could also choose to decline promotion, but they were then restricted to yard
work. They would have to take the conductor's exam and a set-up if they wanted
to work the road. When I was a brand new switchman on the Rock Island the old
heads would mess with me and tell me I was filling the foreman's slot and that
I was in charge. In fact, they were messing with the yardmaster and figured
they wouldn't be doing any work that day. (And how to we explain to people that
I worked a relief switch engine on the C&NW five days a week and had Friday
off, so I threw that up and got a six-day-a-week suburban job with Saturday and
Sunday off?) PAW
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