Railroaders place to shoot the shit.

On a similar note.

Date: 05/26/10 08:28
Re: SW Chief Crew Change Points
Author: DavidP

Ptolemy Wrote:
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> The Santa Fe changes were Chicago, Shopton (now
> Ft. Madison), Kansas City, Emporia and/or Dodge
> City (depending on train), La Junta, Raton, Las
> Vegas, Albuquerque, Gallup, Winslow, Seligman,
> Needles, Barstow. Not all of these were
> trainman changes.

....which illustrates one of the major reasons passenger service became so unprofitable for the railroads.

Dave

 
Date: 05/26/10 09:27
Re: SW Chief Crew Change Points
Author: dan

can you say feather bedding, now union members get much fewer passenger trains to work. helped kill the institution that they always thought would be there.

 
Date: 05/27/10 09:00
Re: SW Chief Crew Change Points
Author: dan

PumpkinHogger wrote:
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"Ah, someone left the moron light on bright." to which I reply

CAN you say fireman! Yea they were really neccesary after the advent of the Diesel for a few years, while crews got used the new units but after that , but they continued? Sure someone needed to check the boiler water on varnish, but with 3 people in the cab and 5 man crews? Look at the FEC when they tried to get rid of them then organized labor bombed the railroad and shut down pass service to this day for the most part, pumkin hogger justify all that crap! Unions have resisted a lot of improvements that should have increased productivity years ago. Long run they slit there own future, current brothers wrists and helped kill the passenger trains.


somone else wrote

"Yes, but these crew divisions were established when trains were much slower, and existed when communications were much worse. I remember in the 1960s there was a derailment ahead of the North Coast Limited in eastern Montana, and we sat for five hours in below freezing temperatures somewhere west of Glendive. The rear flagman spent those hours out on the line behind the train protecting its rear end. Never again did I think crew divisions were too short."


to which I reply



Well I remermber taking the train to Gunnison and our train stalled out on Boreas Pass in a snowstorm, thank god it was circus train and they had to unload the elephants to help pull it out of a snow bank then the brakeman had to get back on the roofs and cinch up the brakes one by one as we made it down into Breckenridge, like they did with every train, in a howling snowstorm.