Jan Yes, there was some real animosity between the "crafts', at times. But most wasn't real, it was just fun! There was a separation, of sorts, between enginemen(firemen and engineers) and trainmen(b
Jan: I'm not much of a philosopher or "mature" enough to give a real good answer to your question regarding "animosity vs fun"....However...the "great gulf fixed" between trainmen and enginemen seems
John M. I just finished writing my response and saw yours...Think I would agree with you re engineers being much harder to get along with than conductors. I'll put on a couple of examples soon...My s
There were a couple of factors which caused the separation. The conductor was the boss of the train, but the engineer was the one who was physically in charge. Enginemen belonged to the Brotherhood o
Thanks for sharing! I'm not sure if I understand WHY there was a certain amount of animosity between some of the different jobs, I don't guess I'll understand it. However, I think I can compare it so
Jan It was not always just "fun". As I said before, it could get "real". One incident sticks in my mind. I witnessed engineer(and I assure you, I use the term loosely!) Harold Carney try to kill engi
Pete Heck, they wouldn't even sit in the waycar and eat lunch together! There it was, enginemen in one end and trainmen(or switchmen) in the other end. With most crews, the big complaint seemed to be
One night I had the normal delivery from Gibson, (which is in Hammond IN), at Congress Park with around 90 to 110 cars. At this time they yarded trains with air as they did not have radios. This woul
Another little torment which switchmen would do to engineers in steam days was to "saw" a switch. That involved: After a cut was pulled out of a yard track and the engineer had "horsed her over" to g