About the Author 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. ©1999, 2003-2007 JD Santucci. Logo ©2002 The Railroad Network. By J.D. Santucci

August 11, 2004
With a topic like this, you might be thinking that we’re going to look at how the rail industry hob knobs with politicians to achieve desired results with regards to issues the industry faces. But alas, you are wrong again. That’s what you get for trying to out guess me.

Over the years it has been written numerous times by many, including yours truly, about how the rail industry has mirrored the military in its procedures. This is in part, due to the many military personnel including officers that moved to the railroad industry immediately following the Civil War. These folks played a huge role in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad as well the planning, development and expansion of the rail industry overall in the post Civil War era.

There has also been a close link between the rail industry and politicians over the years as well. The industry has gone to Washington to try to get what they have desired during the development and growth of the rail industry. President Lincoln envisioned massive expansion of the union with the development of a cross-country rail line. The government played a key role in the initial planning of the Transcontinental Railroad upon the urging, persuasion and guidance of railroad leaders. The industry has used their association with the government in other manners as well, such as bringing about the Staggers Act that deregulated the industry in 1980.

During the Reagan/Bush era, the industry used (literally) the White House to negotiate the contracts they wanted. Three times during this era, our collective bargaining agreements were not negotiated, but were acts of Congress as drawn from the findings of Presidential Emergency Boards (PEB). These boards were appointed by the President and when the unions and the industry were at odds over the findings, we got them rammed down our throats when the White House went to Congress demanding (and achieving) laws to be passed that forced the PEB findings to become our contracts. It was stated that we could not be allowed to strike for any period of time as it would cripple the economy.

We were so important that we could not be allowed to strike. However, we were not so important that we should have a decent lifestyle. And God forbid we should be allowed to make a decent buck without having to work 900 hours per week.

But, today’s lesson is not going to deal with any of this either. Instead, we are going to look at a comparison of some the antics and shenanigans that some railroaders have pulled off over the years. Some of these mirror what politicians have done worldwide.

We’ll start it off with sex. Sex is big; sex sells. Sex has found its way into everything. Four decades ago or so, some members of the British Parliament got themselves involved in what turned out to be a huge sex scandal. Not only did it make headlines worldwide when it broke, a movie was made about this scandal as well.

Here is the US, we are not exempt. Everybody is quite familiar with Bill and Monica. Then there was Newt and his escapades. Eisenhower had his mistress and it has often been told that FDR was with the other woman when his personal atomic bomb detonated.

The rail industry, not wanting to be outdone by a group of elected officials has followed suit. Now very few of you have ever heard of any railroad sex scandals, but they are out there. Certainly these escapades are not of the magnitude of a high ranking member of Congress or the person residing at the White House, but they sure make for interesting conversation for those of us at work.

We’ll start out with the official that got involved with a married female Operator. This Operator had a husband that also worked at this same railroad. Being that he worked the road, he tended to be gone a lot. So he managed to miss out what was going on here. And how he missed out was almost beyond belief. He must’ve been totally naïve.

This female operator and the official were far less than discreet about their relationship. Oh they weren’t playing kissy face huggy body in front of everybody, but their conversation when around each other and over the radio told the tale. He would call her on the radio to announce that he would be going to an outlying point and he would be staying at such and such hotel if anybody needed to contact him. And as it would happen, this Operator would need to contact him in person frequently at whatever hotel he was staying.

There were other things they did as well. He would leave for a late lunch right about the time she was getting off work fairly regularly. Again, this occurred when the old man was out on the road. However, nobody could ever find the official at any of the local eateries, and for some strange reason, he wasn’t answering his pager.

Everybody on the railroad for miles around knew of this affair. Everybody that is, except her husband. Or perhaps maybe he was just in denial, but if he really did know, he never let on to that fact.

However, one day these two went too far. I cannot recall how it was they got caught, but they did. And the interesting part was that the husband was the one to catch them. Made me believe that he knew all along perhaps he was just waiting for the right opportunity. The details were quite ugly and this official got his clock cleaned by the husband.

In any event, it became a true “scandal.” Word of this affair reached the higher ups and the official was lateral transferred out of this terminal. In fact, he was shipped off the entire division. In the rail industry, a lateral transfer to anywhere, particularly to another division generally indicates that you have reached a plateau in your career and thus, will not be moving up in the corporate world, at least not in the corporate world of this company.

The Operator and her husband were soon divorced after that as well.

Then there is the story of the Clerk that apparently was not making enough money to support herself and her family. She worked at an intermodal terminal checking the trailers in and out. There were times when “foreign” drivers (drivers new to this facility and not familiar with the yard and its layout) could not locate their trailer. This Clerk would readily volunteer to show the driver to their trailer. It always seemed to take an unusual amount of time for her to return, so one day the supervisor decided to check things out.

He found the truck she was directing along with her car only her car was unoccupied. Upon further review, the supervisor discovered the clerk in the truck with the driver. And they were not exactly discussing foreign affairs either. She was busted and the supervisor reported this episode to his boss. It was quickly discovered she was operating quite the sideline business.

The initial reaction was to dismiss her. However, she had a trump card to play. It seems that she was also having affairs with two of the managers at the terminal as well. One of them was married and his wife was expecting to boot. It was also learned that these two managers were charging hotel rooms to the company and taking this clerk there for these little trysts. The clerk threatened to blow the whistle on all of this to the married guy’s wife, and also to send a letter to senior managers about this entire situation as well.

Somehow, instead of being dismissed, the clerk was reassigned to another facility. One of the managers involved left the employ of the company several months later and the other was reassigned (laterally) to another terminal in another state.

Then there is the story of the cab drivers and two high ranking managers at a large terminal. It seems these two ranking managers managed to get involved with the hiring of cab drivers for the private contractor cab service at their terminal. As it would happen, the drivers hired were all young, very attractive females. It seems that these dollies were also part of the world’s oldest occupation. They were apparently providing more than just transportation for the crews. For a fee those interested were getting another ride as well. More bang for your buck I guess.

These girls were then kicking back some of their earnings to the two managers involved.

Needless to say, the situation somehow revealed itself and they all got caught. Both managers received lateral transfers out of this facility almost immediately. The girls were all dismissed from the cab company as well. This cab service went back to their old method of hiring their female drivers by the pound again.

Not all scandals involve sex though. Some involve greed.

Some railroads will lease unused space within a yard out to private contractors. This is not unusual as you see this at many rail facilities. Bulk distribution operations will often lease space and several tracks within rail yards. Contract car repair operations may lease an unoccupied building and track space around this building to support their operations.

At Markham, we have a bulk distributor and a private contract rail welding operation leasing space within the yard. Both arrangements are lucrative in several areas. CN receives rent from these operations and they service both facilities as well. We provide rail service to both operators which generates additional revenues. You would call this a win-win situation.

At one line where I worked, some unused space was rented to private contractor that provided support services to several railroads in the area. However, the lease that was negotiated was not the same lease that was presented to the legal and real estate management departments. It seems that the contractor was paying a different amount of rent than that indicated in the contracts. What was shown in the contracts was actually less than what the contractor was paying. Some of the actually rent money was being kicked back to one of the senior officials at this terminal.

It seems that the rent payment negotiated in the contract presented to the company for approval was on the low side for the region. It was said that this official involved convinced corporate that the property was sitting unused but the company was still paying taxes on it. In the interim until some other use could be determined or outright sale of the property be consummated, this lower rent payment would generate some income off the land transforming it from a liability into an asset.

The contractor was actually paying a higher rent that that stated in the contract, but it was still lower than what the region generally commanded for such a parcel of land. The additional money was finding its way into the official’s pockets. Somehow this was discovered within a less than a year of the inception of the lease. The lease was cancelled, the contractor was served notice and evicted and the official was sent to “Siberia.”

Somehow though, this guy managed to make a comeback. Last I heard he had climbed the corporate ladder again with the successor to the company he worked for. Perhaps the new owners liked his style. They might have thought his creativity would be an asset to their operation.

Now who was it that said crime doesn’t pay?

Not all schemes of greed are limited to managers. Sometimes some of the help wants to snag a piece of the action.

The rail industry is a dangerous place to work. Large, heavy rolling equipment is not the safest environment in which to engage in the activities of your employment. People are injured on the job periodically. Sometimes it is the negligence of the employers. Other times it is the result of negligence of the employee. Still other times, it is the result of some freak accident that cannot be foreseen. In any event employees are injured on the job. And as a result of such injuries, there are claims and sometimes lawsuits filed to recover damages.

Injuries are thoroughly examined and investigated. In many cases the railroads will employ the services of private investigators to observe the injured employee over a period of time. You see there have been those over the years that have not been injured as seriously as claimed. There are also those whose injuries were not sustained while at work either. So the “private eyes” will observe the injured individual over a period of time. The will watch for signs that they could either be faking it or just milking it for more than it is worth.

In the case of one guy I worked with, he reported a personal injury to the carrier. He complained of back pain that occurred when he attempted to perform his duties and blamed on it on a problem on the carrier’s part that caused the injury. He was taken to the hospital, diagnosed with an injury and began treatment.

It was determined by company physicians that this guy’s injury was permanent and would likely prevent him from ever returning to duties of his craft. After a period of time, this guy reached a settlement with the carrier with regards to his injuries. This settlement was a structured type where instead of paying him a huge sum of money, he was given a smaller lump sum up front, and would then be paid his salary for the rest of his career until he reached retirement age. His wages would be adjusted whenever the members of his craft received wage increases. Included with this settlement would be his health and welfare coverage as well as other benefits.

There was one caveat of this settlement though; he had to submit to a physical whenever one was requested by the carrier. They wanted to make certain that he was still unable to perform his duties. It was set up that they could request such a physical exam as they desired although there were some guidelines within this agreement.

This employee agreed to the settlement; the papers were signed and he received his initial lump sum payment. Everybody seemed pleased with the outcome of the settlement proceedings.

“And now for the rest of the story.”

This guy was skilled in some of the building trades and oftentimes worked at them on his rest days to make extra money. With the nature of his injury, it was not likely that he could ever continue with the side line work; or so it was thought. However, this thought did not escape the managers at the railroad. Within several months after the settlement was signed, sealed and delivered, the carrier employed the services of a private detective agency to observe this individual.

The permanently injured employee’s injuries apparently only excluded him from performing his duties on the railroad. He began to work his sideline business a couple of months after making the settlement on the railroad. The private eyes quickly discovered this fact and alerted the carrier of his activities.

With video tapes as well as still photographs of him in action on their hands, the carrier contacted this guy and summoned him in for a meeting. When presented with the overwhelming evidence, he was pretty much up the river without a boat, paddle or even a life jacket. In exchange for an immediate release from any charges the company could bring up against him for fraud and the total release of their obligation of making any future payments with regards to his injury settlement, he tendered his resignation from the company.

“You ain’t got no money, you just are no good.”

Another character was injured when the cab he was being transported in was involved in an accident. All of the crew members in the van sustained some type of injury. This one guy had quite a serious injury (or so it seemed) and was off work for some time. During his period of convalescence he was receiving what is often referred to as “wage continuation.” He was still collecting pay from the carrier while off injured. This is not an uncommon practice and such money is generally part of the total settlement.

Also while he was recovering, he landed a job with another railroad. This line was closer to the region from which he originally hailed. This other road had no knowledge of his being off with an injury from the first road. And of course, he overlooked placing such information on any application or medical history questionnaire.

By trade, this guy was an Engineer. The second railroad hired him as a Brakeman with the intent of fast track promoting him to Engineer there. When they checked with the first railroad about the state of his Engineer Certification (required under Federal Law) it was discovered that this guy was indeed off from railroad one with a personal injury. Upon receipt of such information, railroad two immediately dismissed this guy for falsifying his application and his medical history. And while they could have, railroad number one did not file charges against him for fraud. They also could have come after him for the money he took from them as well but again, they chose not to do so.

As a footnote, even if you have been employed with the road for years and years, if it is discovered that you falsified your application or medical history, you can be dismissed.

I learned this guy really was seriously injured and wound up having to have surgery to correct the injury sustained in the accident.

This guy appealed his dismissal from the first railroad and lost. This outcome meant that he was through there and would likely never be offered employment there again. Now I can hear some of you complaining about the union trying to protect this bum. But here is the way it goes; by law they are required to represent him to the best of their abilities, even if he is totally in the wrong. If the union should fail to make a valiant effort to represent him when disciplined, he can file a lawsuit against the union and its officers for failure to adequately represent him under such circumstances.

As has been clearly demonstrated here, the link between politicians and railroaders is closed than you might think. Of course it is all for the wrong reasons but, scary isn’t it? There are more tales and capers from this file as it is overloaded with other such cases like these. But we’ll save them for another time.

We’re continuing to enjoy the summer season when not working. This coming week the beautiful bride and I will take a day to go to the county fair. It is an annual tradition for us. There are a few other events planned for the remaining warm season days as well, and then vacation in September around our anniversary. So these trusty diatribes will continue to be sporadic in appearance for awhile longer.

And so it goes.

Tuch