Those old supers were something! Since we're telling war stories, I heard this one about Ernie Cross, on the New England Division. It seems Cross had been after a given official - I believe it was a RFE but may have been a TM - to ride with the crews more often. The guy was bogged down with other work and seldom got the chance. One day Cross blew up, and ordered the B&B dep't to nail up a large sheet of heavy plywood, completely covering the door to the guy's office. The man got the message, and spent the next month riding every crew he could find. The kicker was that on his desk was a large stack of timeslips which had been submitted by the train crews. Now as you guys who have worked there know, it was common for a crew to put in a timeslip for any possible thing they could think of, warranted or not. By union rules, if it was not denied within 30 days, it HAD to be paid. So that huge stack of timeslips sat there until it "outlawed", and the guys got a little something extra the next paycheck!
Another legend was Andy Conklin on the Buffalo Division. I never met the man one on one, but knew who he was from a few meetings and by reputation. You know the saying ch!t flows downhill, and he was a terror when angry. Sometimes the target was Frank Marshall, the Rochester terminal super. I would be sitting at the YM desk and the phone would ring. When I answered, a voice barked
"WHERE'S MARSHALL?" I replied he was not in yet.
"HAVE HIM CALL ME!".
click. No name, no title. But I sure knew who it was!
Those days were something never to be seen again in today's railroading!