John et al
Does being a "retired lawyer" qualify you as a "non attorney spokesperson"????
I'm sure glad you got this thread started. It's sparked a lot of ideas and
thoughts which might not have been brought to mind otherwise.
Speaking of railroads being self sufficient and using their own help brought to
mind something I observed over time in the mid 1960's...In the early 60's the
Rock Island bought a building south of La Salle St. station I believe the
address was 124 West Polk..It was located at the corner of Polk and LaSalle St.
The RI then moved the accounting function which had been at Hamilton Park on
the near south side in a neighborhood which was, shall we say becoming less
than desirable. The old building was non AC and was located right on the ROW.
I spent some time there in the summer of 1960 in the Training Program. With
the windows open when a suburban train would go by the dust and dirt would roll
in along with the heat and assorted insects.
Along with the accounting department came the Freight Claims department (all
non lawyers) and the "Refrigeration, now Perishable Protective Service"
department.
The Polk St. building had been a printing and paper storage warehouse. It was
10 stories high and was supported by a series of "mushroom" type columns the
much larger ones on the first floor decreasing in size to the 10th floor. The
building having been nothing but a warehouse had to be completely remodeled. I
didn't get in on the initial work, but after being "rescued" from the operating
deparment in the spring of 1964 I was officed on the first floor where the FC
department was.
The remodeling of our area had not been completed and thus there was painting
to be done. I, of course, was not "privy" to any discussion but was told that
there was a dispute witth the RI painters who were doing the inside painting in
the building over the use of "rollers" versus brushes. Well, guess what
instrument won out. Each day a couple of aged painters would wander in to our
floor, spend considerable time getting all of their stuff ready, then spend the
day leisurely applying paint to all the walls and columns with 3 or 4 inch
paint brushes rather than what would have been the faster and more effiecient
rollers.
I don't remember how many days it took those to geezers to get our floor done,
but it would have been at least 2-3 times longer than had they used rollers.
As John and others have pointed out there was virtually no outsourcing on the
railroad. In addition as earlier pointed out there were fixed and immovable
walls between the crafts and any infrigement would bring threats of "timeslips"
and other penalties for violations. A particular division in the mechanical
department was between the machinists (mechanics) and the eletricians...When
working on a steam engine and it was necessary to replace and/or rewire an
electrical system there it was necessary to use both a pipefitter (plumber) and
an electrician...The pipefitter would have to remove and/or repair the conduite
and the electricial would take care of the electrical wiring.
Another ongoing matter which did involve a limited amount of outsourcing. It
was the matter of replacing right of way fence. The law in nearly every..if
not all states requires that the railway maintain its ROW fence. Cattle
wandering onto the ROW through a defective fence and being injured or killed
were deemed to be there via the neglegence of the railroad and thus the farmer
or rancher got paid for his dead stock in almost every case.
The maintenance of theROW fence was the responsibility of the section crews.
In the later years as section gangs were reduced and territories extended there
was little attention given to fence repair or replacement. It finally got the
the place, at least on the RI, that the roadmaster would say to the rancher or
frmer. We'll buy the posts and wire and you put it up. Well, most farmers and
ranchers went along with this arrangment. They would buy the materials and
install it. The bill for the stuff was usually given by the farmer to the
local agent. AGent would forward bill to roadmaster, who would send it to the
Superintendent, who would send it to the General Manager who would send it to
"Chicago".....well you get the drift...These bill would float around for
sometimes up to a year...Sometimes they would even get over to the Claims
Department. Can you say..."mad farmer"...It was an ongoing thing.
John mentioned claim agents being non lawyers. I'm sure that he is referring
to what we called the "General Claims Department" as contrasted with the
Freight Claims (Loss and Damage Claims) where I held forth for 8 years as
manager. It was the most fun job I've ever had. You could find a "stoggier"
more stuck in the past deparment anyplace on the railroad. This deparment was
an "unwanted stepchild" on the RI it had passed from the Law Deparment, to the
Operating Department and then finally to the Traffic Department then, in the
"latter days" I think it went back to the operating department. What
determined who handled what as far as claims against the railroad..It was very
simple...If the damage was related to something covered by a Bill of Lading it
was for the Freight Claims Department..anything else was for the General Claims
people...Personal injuries were handled there as well damage to property ie
automobile-vs train situations...etc.
That's enough for here, but I'll put up some ;o;ther "interesting" situations
in the future.
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: John D. Mitchell, Jr. <cbqrr47@yahoo.com>
To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sat, Mar 5, 2011 9:56 am
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Railroad operations
After I responded to Leo's e-mail, a few more examples came to mind. The
reclamation plant at Eola is good example of how they recycled old equipment.
The Q operated grain elevators at various points and the stockyard at
Montgomery was essentially a large scale livestock operation complete with feed
mill. They had their own dump truck which was used to haul coal to the general
office building. They printed their own stationary. And while the legal
department is one place they employed outside help, there was an army of staff
lawyers. They also had a quasi-legal department, the claims department. I read
recently that the reason that the railroads employed non-lawyers as claim
agents is that they didn't want claim agents to be bound by the legal code of
ethics. Can you imagine, they didn't want them to be as ethical as lawyers!
Before anybody starts, I'm a retired lawyer. The Q and several other railroads
also had their own airplanes.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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