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Want a couple of even more ridiculous "calling situations"..These on Rock Island at El Reno....Only noted here for comparative purposes not delibertely off Q. There was an engineer who lived in El Reno and had been on a 2:30pm yard switcher for many years...He demanded and got call every day for his job.
And another Rock Islander...this is in the early 1960's. I can't recall whether this guy was train or engineman, but he did not have a telephone and demanded that the crew caller come to his home to summon him to work..Just like the crew callers of old who rode bicycle and knew all the places where the crews hung out..Lots were not a home..to say the least...Houses of "ill repute", bars and "somebody else's wife's place were routine ports of call. Even at home the call boy would go right to the man's bed and shake him awake.
Back in the day 50's when I was a trainman the phone was the common denominator, but there were no cell phones or other portable means of communication. If you left home you had better call in every hour or so. I'm told that at outlying terminals like Alliance and Hastings, some of the movie theatres would project a crew call on the movie screen as a convenience to their railroad customers.
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: 'Rupert & Maureen' gamlenz@ihug.co.nz [CBQ] <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Thu, Aug 17, 2017 4:38 pm Subject: RE: [CBQ] Local Agreements i.e. Calling Time Leo
Wouldn’t it have been cheaper and easier to issue each man with an alarm clock? Rupert Gamlen Auckland NZ From:
CBQ@yahoogroups.com [mailto:CBQ@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Friday, 18 August 2017 9:04 a.m. To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [CBQ] Local Agreements i.e. Calling Time Just remembered what may have been a unique Aurora local agreement. Depending on the
decade their were 18-21 train crews and five extra collectors assigned to the
dinkies.
These were bid in jobs. Guys who bid long distance passenger runs,Wayfreights,yard
jobs,etc,etc did not receive a call each shift or run reminding them to come to
work on their regular job. Only the pool guys and extra, list men received
calls to go to work, simply because you were never absolutely certain when you'd
go to work next.
The exception, by local agreement was that the trainmen assigned to
suburban could request a wake up call. Once the man did so his name went on the
trainmens night crew callers separate list for a wake up call each day. Now to
make matters more complicated this crew caller went to work at midnight and
starting about 3AM he had to call each and almost everyone of these 68 or so
men. Oh, did I mention each man could request that his call be at a certain
time too. Some wanted an hour and half, others were all over the place from
short to long calls. The caller kept a check list of when he called each man.
Why you ask ?
Because if one of these regularly assigned trainman was not called and
didn't show up for work he got paid !
This unique agreement lasted well into the 70s and was finally traded
away in negotiations but I just don't recall what the trade was for.
Leo
On Aug 17, 2017, at 2:53 PM, qutlx1@aol.com [CBQ] <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
__._,_.___ Posted by: jpslhedgpeth@aol.com __,_._,___ |