Folks -
There were
some dandy
jobs on the
railroad, I
worked the
clerks
extra board in
the late
1950's. Seeing
the men
unloading a
box car was
similar to
working the
freight house
foreman's job
at Nebraska
City. All
the big stores
there such as
Montgomery
Ward received
store
merchandise
by boxcar. It
was fun
unloading
furniture,
tractor tires
and boxes and
boxes of goods
in August,
couldn't get a
breath of air
back in the
car,
so you just
sweat it out.
At Holdrege,
NE I worked
the night job
Friday
and Saturday
2000 hrs to
0500 hrs. A
large creamery
was across
from the
depot, 4 or 5
of the seven
passenger
trains that
went through
Holdrege
during those
hours carried
mail, express
and cans of
cream. I well
remember
loading nearly
400 cans of
cream every
night onto the
baggage
carts and
lugging them
west of the
depot so the
creamery could
pick them
up. Tons of
sack mail and
newspapers for
Holdrege
proper and
three Star
routes, which
went into the
freight house
and sorted out
onto other
baggage carts,
which by
morning,
especially the
Saturday shift
with
Denver and
Omaha
newspapers,
well filled
the freight
house. It was
fun
to grab a sack
of Sears or
Penny's
catalogs and
throw them
half way
across the
freight house
to the proper
cart. But,
that was
railroading
then, it was a
job with
higher wages
than anywhere
else.
Richard
Kistler