Scott, et al,
Just came up from the basement where the hat collection resides. W. Meyers company of Chicago was the uniform supplier of the early 60s to the Q and probably earlier than that. Uniforms were a very dark blue, almost black. Hats were of the "stove pipe" or "pill box " design. Winter uniforms were wool with a solid wool cloth cap. Conductors had a "gold" Conductors badge and a "gold" double ribbon between the badge and brim. Collectors were the same but badge stated "Collector" . Brakeman/ Trainman's hat badges were polished steel to look like stainless or aluminum with a white ribbon.
The Carlson company then became the supplier of uniforms, which was, also based in Chicago's loop. Again winter uniforms were wool and summer were cotton. The color was more of a navy blue. Badges and ribbons were same as above. Hats were of the airline captains design, most guys cut the wire out of the liner and created more of a slouch hat look. Many old timers refused to where the airline style and wore their previous "stove pipes ".
Then sometime around 1967 or so Meier again won the contract. Styles and colors remained as they were with Carlson. I recall many of the old timers wearing their old "stove pipes" well into the 1970s by just cutting off the Burlington herald and attaching a BN emblem.
Some of the hats you saw on eBay have been customized by various owners. What I provided above were the correct and official standards. Summer hats had a wicker band Between brim and cloth material.
Now "the rest of the story" ...... as discussed in BRHS Bulletin 51 train crews paid for their own uniforms until well into the 1960s. Then a 50/50 split between employee and the Q was put in place with no more than two new uniforms per year. In the very late 60s the company picked up 100% of two uniforms per year. The Q standard was white shirt, dark tie and uniform. Polished black shoes.
In the late 60s standard became white or blue shirt with dark red or maroon tie. Employee supplied at his expense for shoes,shirts,tie,coats,etc....
Sometime in the 1980s under Metra uniform,shirts,shoes,tie,overcoat,stormcoat etc were supplied by Metra. If one was qualified for Amtrak they would supply the Amtrak badges and overcoat,stormcoat.
Now it's been almost 40 years but I remember the Milw. Uniforms as a very dark blue, almost black. My understanding is Metra basically adopted the Milw standards. I recall the CNW uniforms as a military green. When the lone pair of Wabash/N&W trains were based at CUS my recollection is they didn't have uniforms but had their old blue to almost black hats, white shirts and dark blue pants. I can't remember what the Pennsylvania/PC guys uniforms looked like but seem to recall again, a very dark blue to almost black.
Other than his punch,duplexes,report forms, and tariff,anything else a Condr/trainman wanted to use to collect fares, etc were his responsibility to procure on his own. Most guys on the dinkies had a "bus driver" coin changer hanging on their black belt or a bluefish coin purse hanging there.
Leo
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Ray Bedard has shared OneDrive files with you. To view them, click the links below.
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Rupert,
Back in 2003, I was fortunate to purchase my first Q hat. It's a conductors hat that was used in the summer from the early 1900, attached are some photos of it. It was made by Marshall Field in Chicago, has a wicker type top, and CB&Q button on the side.
The hat is in exellent condition.
I found a National Geographic ad dated June 1914 with this same exact hat. The reason why I say it was a "summer" hat was because a very knowledgeable BRHS members told that back then. I don't remember who told me that but it seams to make sense.
I also have a hat that was used in the 1950's/60's.
Ray Bedard
San Jose CA
There have been a number of items of uniform offered on eBay recently, including three different styles of cap each with a Burlington Route herald sewn on the front of the crown,
and twin braided cords between the badge and the peak.
The first cap was royal blue with a plain brim of the same material as the crown with a conductor’s badge
The second was royal blue with a band of black interwoven plastic strips around the brim but with no badge (sold separately?)
The third was sky blue with a plain band and a conductor’s badge.
Were these caps from different eras, and were there different fabric colours as opposed to different lighting for the photos?
There was also a trainman’s cap which appeared to be a black material. Were these a different colour?
Rupert Gamlen
Auckland NZ
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Posted by: qutlx1@aol.com
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