J. D. Santucci (a.k.a. "Tuch")
began his railroading career in 1978 as a trainman on the Missouri
Pacific. After a round of lay-offs in 1985, Tuch embarked on a railroad
odyssey, working in many different situations for different roads.
This column tries to explain
some of the nuts and bolts of the job and also demonstrates what
we have to deal with on a regular basis within and without
the industry. Tuch currently works through freights out of Chicago
for Canadian National/Illinois Central.
September 24, 2002 Perhaps this has you thinking of that dance from the 70's and the
song the late Van McCoy made famous. In this case though, you are thinking
incorrectly. Well, that's what you get for thinking. We will look at the
job of Hostler and how one had to be able to hustle to perform the duties.
Some days when I was hostling, I really had to hustle to keep up with
all the work. When called on the radio, I know of several Hostlers who
answered by saying just that, "Hustler, over."
On 5 April 1979, I entered this wonderful world of engine service at the
position of Hostler. There are different types of hostling positions,
inside and outside. In some cases, the Outside Hostler may be called a
Herder or Hostler-Herder. Essentially though, it is the same type of job.
As a Hostler, you are hostling engines around.
To get started, we are going to look at the difference between inside
and outside Hostlers. There is a huge difference. Inside Hostlers are
restricted to working totally within a locomotive servicing area. These
are designated servicing limits often indicated by a bulletin, timetable
special instructions or terminal instructions. Inside Hostlers were not
allowed under the rules and oftentimes collective bargaining agreements,
to operate outside the servicing limits.
Outside Hostlers were just that, Hostlers that could operate outside of
locomotive servicing limits. In order to perform such service, they were
usually given more training as well as an extensive rules test. Outside
Hostlers were allowed onto the mainline to pickup or deliver power. Oftentimes
power on certain trains that operated through a terminal would need servicing
or to be completely or partially changed out. This might be a location
where the train was required to get a 1000-mile inspection. While the
train was being inspected, the power would get serviced or switched out.
If there were not a mainline fuel station at this location, it would be
taken to a servicing facility to get fueled and sanded, a daily inspection
and supplies. They could also deliver or retrieve power to various locations
within a yard, terminal or outlying points within a defined perimeter.
Prior to Locomotive Engineer Certification, Hostlers were allowed to be
Fireman or non-promoted Engineers. Since certification, what would be
an Outside Hostler or Herder must be a promoted Engineer with a Train
Service Certification. Inside Hostlers are required to be licensed as
Servicing Engineers and are restricted to designated servicing tracks
only.
Hostlers were not allowed to handle cars outside of the servicing facilities,
only light engine moves. Within servicing facilities, Hostlers could move
cars around if allowed by collective bargaining agreements. These were
generally sand cars spotted for unloading at the sanding facility, locomotive
wheel cars, prime mover cars (used to transport diesel engines used in
locomotives), fuel cars and the like. They were not allowed to move these
cars outside of the facility under any circumstances though. In a situation
where they were not going to spot the cars, a switch crew would generally
bring them into the facility and set them out there for the Hostler to
handle.
Hostlers came under the Fireman craft. On most properties they were represented
by the United Transportation Union when this organization was formed with
the merger of several operating craft unions including the Brotherhood
of Locomotive Fireman and Engineers (not to be confused with the Brotherhood
of Locomotive Engineers or BLE, which is a separate union). In the latter
1980's, the UTU negotiated the Hostlers jobs away on many properties.
Now mechanical department personnel who have been qualified as Servicing
Engineers under the FRA requirements perform them. However, they are restricted
to inside service only.
Train Service Engineers must handle what are considered Herder jobs. To
operate outside of the servicing area, you have to be a promoted Engineer
and there are no exceptions to this requirement. The herder is essentially
an Outside Hostler.
The Indiana Harbor Belt used to have several Herder jobs at one time.
The Herders could, and did roam the system to handle power. These jobs
were all assigned to promoted Engineers though. These were actually pretty
good assignments, far better than an Inside Hostler job. As recently as
the mid 1990s, these jobs were still working. In my days at the IHB, I
worked the Herder job at Blue Island on various occasions. I believe these
jobs have been eliminated since I left there.
With all that in mind, we go back to my hostling days. There were four
of these assignments at Yard Center. Generally, the four youngest employees
on the Engineer's seniority list were forced to these jobs. Once upon
a time up to the early or mid 70's there were two Hostlers per shift.
They were pretty well despised by most, as they were the lowest paying
engine service jobs. In addition, they were also the ones that kept you
running the most. I was in great physical shape during my hostling days.
All the running around and climbing on locomotives day in and day out
for months was better than many workout regimes.
The four-hostling assignments worked the following schedule: The daylight
turn worked Monday through Friday from 0700 to 1500. The afternoon turn
worked 1500 to 2300 with Monday and Tuesday off. The night turn worked
from 2300 to 0700 off on Wednesday and Thursday. The relief job worked
all the days off of the regular assignments and had Thursday and Friday
off. The relief job was actually my favorite of the four positions. The
way it was set up to work, you actually got two extra days off per week.
Going from days to afternoons, you had a 24-hour break. Likewise when
going from afternoons to nights, you had that same 24-hour break. I used
that time to my advantage too. Hey, I was young and single. I couldn't
stay out too late on Fridays and Saturdays owing to the 0700 start the
following mornings, but I made up for that on Sundays and Tuesdays. The
scheduling of these assignments left Thursday nights as the odd day to
be covered. There were several ways to cover the vacancy. The first choice
was to offer the regular night guy the chance to come in and work a rest
day for time and one half pay. If he passed, they would pull a Fireman
from a yard assignment to work the vacancy. If there were no Fireman working,
they would hold the afternoon guy (or gal) over to cover. These were hours
of service assignments, so the held over person could only work twelve
hours. They would call the daylight guy to come in at 0300, when the afternoon
Hostler went dead on the hours of service.
On rare occasion if there were no other options left available, they would
call an Engineer from the extra board to cover a vacancy. If they did
this, the Engineer called would be paid at Engineer's rate of pay. This
was like cutting off their arm and beating them over the head with it.
They had no problem paying time and one half at Hostler rate, but sang
the blues if they had to pay Engineer's straight time rate for eight hours.
On the evening of 5 April, I began training to become a Hostler. I arrived
at the Yard Center Diesel Shop on Indiana Avenue in Dolton, IL at 2000
hours (the time I was rested). I met up with the shift Foreman who then
introduced me around. I was then sent off with the regular Hostler to
begin to learn the ropes. This night it would be one Rowena Trotter. Weanie
has been mentioned in the past here, so some of you are probably familiar
with the name. Weanie taught me some of the basics I would need to know
right away. This included how to start and shut down a locomotive, how
to change controlling ends of a locomotive consist, proper radio procedure,
the layout of the land and various policies and procedures within the
servicing facility. There was a great deal to learn and three nights of
training only scratched the surface. Much of what I needed to learn came
along in time as I worked the job. I spent three twelve-hour nights learning
the most essential of information and was then cut loose and allowed to
work on my own. My first night solo was 8 April starting at 2300 hours.
The main purpose of hostling at Yard Center Diesel was to move the power
around the servicing facilities placing it where the mechanical forces
needed it to be for service and repairs. Inbound power would be turned
in by road or yard crews onto either the sand track at the south end or
the east or west fuel track at the north end of Yard Center Diesel. We
didn't use this big long name for the place though we all simply called
it the roundhouse. The building was not round but actually rectangular.
The roundhouse name was (and continues this day) as a carryover from the
days of the semi-circular buildings with turntables used for servicing
steam engines.
Once the power was turned in, the shift Foreman would usually instruct
the Hostler what to do with it. There was a planned method, but oftentimes
this changed based upon what was going on at that precise moment. The
inbound power might be brought on to the east or west fuel track. Here
it could be fueled and sanded. There were also lines for lube oil and
water. If the units were not going to be brought inside the house for
servicing, any required fluids could be added on the fuel tracks. Generally,
the inbound power was spotted on the east fuel track. On occasion, if
the power was to be service and turned right back out without needing
a trip inside the house, it might be pulled right onto the west fuel track.
But other times they would instruct me to bring right into the house or
place it front of the door to be ready to bring in when the time came.
The west fuel track was generally the track where outbound power was spotted
for the final outbound inspection. It could also be fueled, lubed and
watered here as well. Brake shoes could be changed; brake rigging adjusted
and minor repairs could be handled on both of the fuel tracks as well.
As required, power would be pulled inside the house itself on track 8.
This track ran completely through the building, as there were doors on
both ends and this track tied into both ends of the facility. Inside the
house, more extensive repairs and servicing could be performed. There
was a pit underneath track 8 to allow for easy access for any issues needing
to be addressed on the underside of the locomotives. Actually, track 8
was built on pillars allowing for the entire area underneath the track
to be open for totally unrestricted access to the underside of the locomotives.
A walkway was located along the length of the east side of this track
inside the house allowing for easy access to the "top deck"
of the locomotive.
Track 8 could hold four, four axle locomotives completely inside the shop,
or three, six axle locomotives. On occasion, they would spot four, six
axle locomotives here with a portion of one of them sticking out and one
end, the other or even both ends depending how they had you spot them.
Using this method led to problems on occasion and we'll discuss that later.
In addition to track 8, there were two other tracks in the house, tracks
6 and 7. These were both stub-ended tracks at the north end of the building
that each held one unit. Locomotives spotted here for service usually
had bigger problems. Wheels, springs and traction motors could be changed
out on these two tracks, as there was a drop table underneath both of
them. Spotting the locomotive as required on the drop table would allow
for this type of work to be performed. Top deck work could also be handled
here such as changing out power assemblies.
There were several crafts of employees working at the roundhouse. Machinists,
Electricians, Car Inspectors and Laborers all staffed this facility. Most
of the Car Inspectors generally worked on the adjacent RIP track (Repair
in Place) side, but one was assigned to the locomotive side. On occasion,
an additional Car Inspector was required to work on the locomotive side.
Certain types of repairs, such as window or door change outs and body
and step work went to them.
The Hostler was required to perform all the movements of locomotives in
conjunction with the mechanical forces. This might mean checking out something
mechanical with a Machinist such as rolling a unit for flat spots or testing
a speedometer. It could also mean checking for some electrical problems
with an Electrician. It could also include performing locomotive air brake
tests and load tests when preparing units for their runs.
There was also a fair amount of switching out of locomotives. Just because
they came in together, it didn't mean the same consist of locomotives
would go out together. Yard Center Diesel routinely handled monthly and
92-day inspections of locomotives as well as the certain routine maintenance.
A three unit consist might arrive and the middle unit might be due a 92
day test. The other two units might just need routine servicing and be
scheduled to go out sooner or later, either together or separately on
different trains. Or, one of these units might be coming due a major inspection
such as an annual or semi-annual test. These tests were not done at Yard
Center, but instead were handled at shops like North Little Rock, St Louis,
Houston and Kansas City. So this might require having to switch units
out.
And then there were units that arrived dead, or in serious mechanical
or electrical distress. The problem might be significant enough a problem
as to require the unit to be shipped out of Yard Center dead in consist
back to one of the above mentioned shops for repairs. Of course, this
meant more switching.
I had a Laborer assigned to me as my helper. At the beginning of our tour
of duty, the Foreman would give everybody a list of what trains and power
were en route and their scheduled arrival times. This sheet also contained
all the outbound trains, the power assignments and scheduled departure
times. This gave all of us an idea of what was in store for our day. In
addition to this information, also shown were the locomotives due in that
were scheduled for the various inspections or maintenance to be performed
at Yard Center Diesel. Any units that were experiencing en route difficulties
and failures or those that had died and could not be restarted for whatever
reason were also listed.
Being that Yard Center was a joint facility with the L&N, both MoPac
and L&N power were serviced at the roundhouse. The L&N, as part
of the Family Lines Rail System also, routinely operated Seaboard Coast
Line units, which also made appearances on a regular basis. Both railroads
often leased additional motive power from other railroads which also showed
up. Likewise, any run-through power from other railroads also appeared.
Rio Grande, Southern Pacific, Southern Railway Conrail, Frisco, the Katy,
Grand Trunk Western and Chessie System locomotives often visited Yard
Center Diesel.
My helper and I would use the information on this sheet to try to set
ourselves up for moves we would have to make throughout the day. A good
Foreman could really help here as well as they could try to have you position
certain locomotives on certain tracks to have them where you could easily
access them.
Working with a good Foreman made your life easier. They didn't have you
running all over the place making a bunch of extra or frivolous moves.
They would tell you what needed to be done and let you have at it. You
made most of your own decisions. If there were changes, they would call
you and let you know. If you got everything done they required you got
a break. They would call you as needed. Of course, it was up to you as
Hostler to be mindful of any power that might get turned in. Being that
we had numerous yard jobs working here, yard power could get turned in
at any time.
Bad Foremen could literally have you making moves just for the sake of
making moves. Some could not stand to see the Hostler sitting still for
more than a couple of minutes. The good ones would give you the information
you needed and let you have at it.
The bad Foreman did not know how to set themselves up and as a result,
you made all sorts of extra and sometimes, totally ridiculous moves. They
would have you bury some locomotive some place only to realize they need
that engine in the house twenty minutes later. So, we would have to go
and uncover it and move it to where they desired.
Of course, no matter how good or bad the Foreman, there was the always
popular unpredictable that came along and threw a wrench into all the
plans. One locomotive failure could really jam up the works and undo everything
that had been done thus far. Discovering a previously unknown problem
on some inbound power could also make things crazy. And if the FRA happened
to show up to check everything out, well then all plans generally went
out the window. A couple of unforeseen problems and suddenly, you are
running around like a maniac. When the FRA arrived, you needed track shoes
or a jet pack to rapidly carry you around.
Some days it seemed like you would never stop running, while other days
you might have a decent day of it. There were also the days when everything
seemed to happen in spurts. You would have a lull, then go like mad for
a while, then another lull and then go like mad again. Saturday mornings
always seemed to be the worst. It seems like there were always five or
six sets of power coming in rapid fire.
In addition to moving the locomotives around, the Hostler had to make
certain all outbound power was sufficiently supplied with such amenities
as drinking water, ice (on units equipped with coolers instead of refrigerators),
paper towels, toilet paper or crew packs (which were packets containing
paper towels, toilet paper, a toilet seat liner, garbage bag and moist
towelettes), garbage bags, a broom, fusees, torpedoes, spare air hoses,
knuckles, a hammer, chisel and a wrench. The cab of each locomotive had
to be checked to assure it had been swept out; all garbage bags emptied,
windows washed and toilets cleaned.
It was also the responsibility of the Hostler to turn off the lights not
required on trailing units. This would include cab, gauge, number and
class lights. All safety lights like platform, ground and step lights
had to be illuminated. All windows and doors on trailing units were supposed
to be closed, the awnings over the windows pulled into the down position,
rear view mirrors and wing windows pulled in and all radios in trailing
units were supposed to be turned off.
All multiple unit air hoses not being used were required to be placed
into their holders. The covers on snowplows were supposed to be closed
and locked into position. Multiple unit jumper cables not required for
use were supposed to be stowed into the dummy receptacles or removed and
placed into the back of the engine room behind the air compressor.
The Hostler always had to mindful of the quality of the cab as well. You
didn't want to send one out as lead unit that had a cab in sorry shape.
If there were gaps around doors and windows, poor heaters or units with
very foul odors, you didn't want to have that one as the lead unit. If
you sent one out like this, it was a certain bet the Engineer who boarded
it would complain and you would wind up bringing them back to switch them
out or turn the entire consist.
To give you an idea as to how much running one might have to do, here
are some moves as required. First off, I am instructed to go pull the
sand track where some inbound power has just been turned in. My helper
and I take the quarter mile walk to get them. While he removes the derail
and blue flag that protects the track, I climb aboard the power. Sometimes
several sets of power are turned in at once, so I have to go through them
to make sure they are coupled together and the brakes are all released.
When everything is ready to go and the helper is also ready, I pull the
power past the derail and blue flag and stop. My helper puts them back
into position, climbs aboard and I pull them down to where the Foreman
has instructed. In this case, it is in front of the door on track 8. The
plan is we will pull right into the house when given the OK and couple
onto the power already in there.
As we arrive in front of the door, it opens and the blue lights on either
side of the door are extinguished. The Foreman calls and tells me it is
OK to pull them right into the building, couple on and shove the power
in there out the other end, then spot this power up for servicing. We
pull in and couple up. The helper walks to the north end, releasing the
brakes on all the engines in the house, opening the door on that end (if
it is not already opened), steps outside at the north end removing the
derail and blue flag there. With this all complete he gives me a sign
to bring them ahead.
I shove the power all out the north end of the house on track 8 clearing
the walkway just outside the door and stop. The helper applies a brake
on one these engines, pulls the pin lifter to uncouple, gives me the signal
to back up and I shove back into the house and spot them for the mechanical
people to service. Once spotted and secured, the Foreman instructs me
on the next round of moves.
I have to board the power we just shoved out of the house, set the middle
unit of these three into the house on track 7 for service and take the
remaining two over to the west fuel track leaving them north of the derail
at the north end. With these moves accomplished, I am to head over to
the oil track and dig a unit out of there to marry up with the two I left
north of the derail on the west fuel track. Of course, the unit I need
to get is not at the north end, so I have to pull all the engines up to
the one I need out of there and set it over on top of the other two on
the west and then set all these back in on the oil track.
With this all complete, I am told the power spotted on the west fuel track
is ready to set out to one of the outbound tracks. I make my way up through
the cabs of all this power checking them all out as I go along. My helper
waits at the south end of the power we left north of the derail on the
west. He has dropped the derail and blue flag and will have me shove back
against this power. I will then pull this power onto the west, cut it
off and run the power that was on the west out one of the two outbound
tracks. Of course this requires my helper to do even more walking, as
he has to drop the derail and blue flag in front of me as well as put
all of them up behind me after everything is cleared up.
Once the outbound power is taken out to one of the outbound tracks and
secured, I have the quarter mile walk back to the roundhouse for another
round of moves.
In addition to just moving the power around, there were times power had
to be turned. We didn't have a turntable like some railroads. We had a
wye track. The engine or engines that needed to be turned would be run
around the wye. Sometimes the power could be left on the wye, other times
it was brought back to the roundhouse.
All brand new power ordered by the MoPac was delivered to Yard Center
and placed into service there. All new power built by Electro Motive Division
that was ordered by the L&N and their Family Lines System cousins
was also delivered to Yard Center and placed into service here as well.
In the time I hostled, both MoPac and Family Lines purchased a great deal
of new power. This gave me the opportunity to work with brand new power
that had never been run previously. It all had the "new car"
smell to it. This also gave me a chance to meet some people from EMD who
came out to test the power before it was placed into service. I used this
opportunity to ask them questions about the new power and EMD locomotives
in general.
In 1980, MoPac obtained fifty-two GP38-2 locomotives from the Rock Island
estate after they ceased operations. These units were brought to Yard
Center Diesel for evaluation and those that were in sound mechanical shape
were placed into service here. Several had to be sent to North Little
Rock, site of MoPac's largest shop on the system, for further work. Some
of these units were in halfway decent shape and some were rather sorry,
although from outward appearances they looked pretty good anyway. I got
the chance to run power new to the MoPac.
I had mentioned much earlier about problems with leaving locomotives sticking
out of one end or the other (or both) on track 8. Here is what can go
wrong when they are in a rush. I was instructed by the Foreman to pull
three units out of the south end of the house on track 8. A fourth unit
was there as well, sticking out the north end of the building. It was
a cold day and they had the doors closed as far as they could to keep
winter out. Being the locomotive was sticking out a bit, the door was
only closed down to the short hood nose off this unit. In fact, the door
itself was resting upon the nose itself.
Needless to say, I questioned this move. I was told by the Foreman the
north unit had been cut away from the rest, was secured and it wasn't
going anywhere. I protested that the door should be opened all the way
but was told to do as I was instructed. Okay, you're the boss. So I began
to pull.
There was a crunching, sort of screeching sound being made as that rear
unit started to move and pull on that partially closed door. Before I
got stopped, the bottom several panels of the door had been torn off and
several others were damaged; so much for that rear unit being cut off.
Of course, the Foreman immediately tried to place the blame upon me. Off
we went to see the General Diesel Foreman in his office upstairs.
"'Splain this one to me Lucy!"
When all was said and done, it was learned the Foreman forgot to tell
his people to cut off that unit and tie it down there. He sure was thinking
about it though. I was off the hook.
There were other situations resulting from Foremen in a hurry. In one
situation, a Foreman instructed a Hostler to set the power on the west
fuel track out, as it was ready to go. The Hostler was sitting on this
power. His helper went and lined the switch and dropped the blue flag
and derail. Nobody bothered to check everything closely. They quickly
discovered this power was still being fueled. That is, after they ripped
the fuel hoses off from the fuel rack.
When I gained enough seniority to be able to bid out of the roundhouse
and into a Fireman's job, I did so in a hurry. However, once in awhile
I would get yanked back over there for a day or night or even a week.
Once I entered the formal Engineer's training program, I was exempt from
hostling during the training period. After I was promoted to Engineer
in 1981, I was forced back to Hostling. There's that seniority thing,
or lack thereof, again.
In September of that year, the MoPac and L&N worked out a deal to
bring the Monon South Hammond Engineers over to work at Yard Center when
L&N's South Hammond Yard was closed and the operations consolidated
at Yard Center. This put those guys behind me in seniority while some
sort of agreement was worked out with the BLE Divisions representing both
groups of Engineers and the carriers. That entire situation is a column
of its own too, and I have actually been picking at it a bit and will
complete it one of these days.
At the very end of November 1983, I made a move to a Fireman's slot. We
had an experimental agreement with the carrier to allow this. I had been
on the Engineer's extra board but wanted to have regular days off. There
were all those holidays coming in December as well as my birthday to celebrate,
so I wanted to be able to plan for such. I made the dreadful mistake of
not checking to see who would be on vacation that month. There was a Hostler
on vacation and as it worked out, I was the youngest Fireman on days.
Guess who got yanked over for that little chore? I spent the entire month
at the roundhouse and as luck would have it, this turned out to be one
of the coldest Decembers in recent memory.
I spent the entire month working in lots of bitter cold and snow. There
were numerous locomotive problems and failures related to the cold weather.
As a result, I spent all of my days that month running around like a chicken
with his head cut off. All of that running around kept me from freezing
I guess. There were also several mishaps at the roundhouse involving low
speed collisions of locomotives causing damage to several of them. Fortunately
for me though, none of them involved yours truly.
In true railroad fashion to save a buck, the powers that be annulled my
job on Christmas Day and the day after, both of which were regular scheduled
work days for me. I took full advantage of this getting to spend Christmas
Eve night with the little dolly I was dating back then and Christmas Day
with the family. I capitalized on having the day after Christmas off and
the little dolly and I took the day and went to the Museum of Science
and Industry in Chicago.
In true railroad fashion, the powers that be at the MoPac discovered they
screwed up big time. Apparently, they were not figuring on any trains
coming into Chicago during the daylight hours the day after Christmas.
I guess they also had completely forgotten about the outbound trains and
yard assignments that would operate that day as well. All of a sudden,
they have all kinds of engines to hostle and nobody to hostle them. DOH!
Sure enough, while I was getting ready to go out, the phone rings. I was
in the wash cycle of getting ready, so I let the answering machine handle
the telephone chores instead of tracking water through my apartment. Good
thing too. When I finally got to it and listened to the message, it was
the railroad calling wanting to cancel the annulment and have me come
to work. Oh yeah sure, I'll be calling right back. I didn't take this
call and was out the door. As I was leaving to pick up the dolly, the
phone began to ring again. Needless to say, I didn't stop and get it.
The following day, I heard all kinds of attitude from the Caller and the
General Diesel Foreman about where was I and why didn't I call them back
when they called? I simply told them I was annulled and had gone away
for the Holiday. I was not obligated to wait for a phone call in case
they changed their mind. The bulletin annulling my job was silent about
the same. Therefore, I am not in trouble and not concerned about what
they are threatening me with in regards to not protecting. And when all
was said and done, I did not get a phone call from anybody who is anybody,
nor was there a letter inviting me to appear at a "fair and impartial"
investigation.
As a Hostler, I was not allowed to head home until my relief arrived.
Most of them were pretty good and always showed up a few minutes early.
There was one or two though, that always had a difficult time arriving
on time. One of them was routinely twenty to thirty minutes late, just
about everyday. The first few times I let it slide. But when I realized
this was his standard operating mode, I decided it was time to square
up. I started to claim anything at all in excess of eight hours as overtime.
I showed the time he arrived as my off duty time. I got questioned about
this and told them that I was not going to donate my time because he cannot
ever seem to arrive on time.
He was called onto the carpet and warned to arrive on time or be faced
with discipline.
With this lecture, he began to behave. But then he whined to me about
my getting him into trouble. I told him to show up on time and we would
not need to discuss the situation and that I wasn't the one showing up
late, so how could I have gotten him in trouble? He seemed to be doing
that on his own.
With that he came up with a new plan. He would ask me to "cover"
him on a certain day, as he knew he would be late. He claimed he would
make it up to me by coming in early one day allowing me to depart early.
He burned me once. The day he was supposed to be in thirty minutes early
to spell me, not only was he not early, he was late. Claimed he had car
trouble. Car trouble seemed to happen to him at least three days per week.
Eventually it was learned there was trouble all right, but it was not
with the car; it was with the bottle.
As I mentioned earlier, it was generally the four youngest men or women
on the seniority list that were forced into the roundhouse. On occasion
though, one guy who was ahead of me in seniority that would mark up there
and work there for a month. He was looking for weekends off when he had
things going on away from the railroad.
Big changes came after the merger with the Union Pacific (none of them
for the better for Chicago Terminal employees). The Family Lines merged
into one big company called Seaboard System and they also made changes.
They decided to pull their business out of Yard Center in favor of the
Belt Railway of Chicago's Clearing Yard. They also built a new intermodal
facility right along side of Clearing Yard in Bedford Park. With these
changes, all of their power stopped being serviced at Yard Center.
Several switch jobs were pulled off. Then, MoPac management decided to
move most of their business out of Yard Center and over to the Belt as
well. This chopped off even more jobs. All of a sudden, hostling jobs
looked pretty good. It is amazing how good a bad job can look when it
is the difference between that and unemployment. At first, I could hold
them. Then things got worse and I was bumped out of the roundhouse and
onto the extra board. Getting forced out of the roundhouse was akin to
being kicked out of hell. I began to work three days a week with no kind
of job guarantee or protection. But that topic is for another column at
another time.
