Port Reading Operations

Here is a goody. Were Reading operations at Port Reading Yard included
as part of CR's North Jersey Terminal or are they separate? I was wondering if RDG men had prior rights to Port Reading work or was their
senoirity dove-tailed with the other RR's as part of the North Jersey Terminal?

The entire NJCT roster was a portion of the "dovetailed" System roster. (which was done, according to Zones, districts and Divisions) The dovetailing is still probably being fought over today, for it's inequities, as viewed by some Brothers. A percentage of jobs, in each on-duty location were given "prior-rights" preferences. This was, of course, another point of contention. Needless to say, other than PC, and it's prior rights PRR/NYC/NH protected jobs, most everyone else felt left out of the mix, as far as "the good jobs" went.

GOLDEN-ARM wrote:The entire NJCT roster was a portion of the "dovetailed" System roster. (which was done, according to Zones, districts and Divisions) The dovetailing is still probably being fought over today, for it's inequities, as viewed by some Brothers. A percentage of jobs, in each on-duty location were given "prior-rights" preferences. This was, of course, another point of contention. Needless to say, other than PC, and it's prior rights PRR/NYC/NH protected jobs, most everyone else felt left out of the mix, as far as "the good jobs" went.

I am not sure just how good the work was in North Jersey but in Selkirk
and Buffalo a lot of EL and Lehigh people ended up with very good jobs
on the former New York Central, far better jobs than anything that
existed on their own former railroads. From what I understand, CSX no
longer has equity from any of the former railroads, just straight seniority
these days. Probably does not make much difference anyway because
most of the prior rights people are retired today.
I know on my former original railroad, the New Haven, we had NO through
freight jobs left when I went to Selkirk in November, 1987 but my New
Haven equity entitled me to a Selkirk - Buffalo job and I took advantage
of that for my last ten years on the railroad.
Noel Weaver

I would say, with the loss of Sayre, Manchester, and operations in and out of Tift, with the loss of the previously mentioned places, the Valley guys had to work somewhere. Same stuff happened everywhere, with guys who never had a job in the area, suddenly had some of the best jobs, in a terminal. The dovetailing was unfair, but everyone HAD to get a slot, and there were only so many LHR guys, and RRRR guys to go around. I knew many a guy, who couldn't hold a job, in their own yard, due to the dovetailing. In some cases, a guy with 10 years less seniority, could hold daylight over a guy from that yard, due to the protected slots. I won't open the wounds, over prior rights guys forced to hold prior rights slots, over ConRail new hires, and slots that were eligible to CR guys, over prior rights ones.