Upper Harlem Division Station Office Hours

I was looking through a list of Upper Harlem Division station office hours in a 1943 employee timetable, and noticed the variation of office hours from station to station. For example, Wassaic was open weekdays from 7:30 A.M. to 6:20 P.M. (10 hours, 50 minutes) and Sundays 10:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. (9 hours), while Craryville, farther up the line, was open weekdays 8:00 A.M. to 7:40 P.M. (11 hours, 40 minutes) and Sundays 8:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. (12 hours).

Does anyone recall how the Agent/Operator shifts were organized? Would I be correct to assume that each station had an Agent and a relief job? I'm just trying to get an idea of how these jobs were covered when those office hours were in effect.

Later timetables (mid-'50s to early-'60s) that I've seen from other NYC lines such as the St. Lawrence Division or the West Shore's Catskill Mtn. Branch and Wallkill Valley Branch typically show office hours at rural stations as being no more than 9 hours per day (in most cases, 7:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.), and only Mon-Fri or Mon-Sat. Did this become the case on the Upper Harlem at most stations in the '50s?

Thanks.

Both Wassaic and Craryville were one man stations with daily overtime after 8 hours. On one man positions the Agent Telegrpher was allowed one hour to eat if permission was granted by the train dispatcher. If the TD needed the operator to stay on duty during the 11:30 to 1:30 “contract” lunch period he or she would be paid overtime and allowed to take 30 minutes with pay to eat at the first opportunity. One man jobs could work a maximum of 13 hours by law.

In 1943 the Agent Telegraphers normal work week was 6 days. A relief job was established to provide one day off per week. Wassaic was relieved on Thursday. There was no established relief position for Craryville in 1943 so either Bill Glynn the Agent Telegrapher at that time worked 7 days or an extra man was provided to give “Old Bill”, as he was know, a day off.

The hours were pretty well established so that someone was at the station for the more important trains and to provide necessary train control i.e., manual blocking. The Agent also needed to be there to handled the mail and Railway Express shipments for those trains that provided that service. Handling LCL, less-carload, and CL, carload, shipments was another activity that required his attention when the local freight arrived. He also needed to coordinate the movement of MOW equipment.

On the upper Harlem, west of Brewster, in 1943 the only two trick (two shifts) stations were Pawling, Wingdale, Dover Plains, Millerton (three tricks), and Hillsdale. “X” Tower at the end of two tracks in Dykeman’s was of necessity three tricks. Typically the first trick job in the station was called the Agent Telegrapher with the second and third trick referred to as a Telegrapher Clerk.

By the 1950’s the hours for Wassaic and Craryville had been reduced to 8 hours a day unless the Agent was required to come back to make a meet between trains. The reduction in hours was directly related to the ORT, Order of RR Telegraphers, getting the 5 day work week. The reduction in passenger traffic was also a contributing factor. The RR needed to offset the additional costs for only getting 5 days of work so, it was necessary to reduce overtime and station hours. Also, by the early 1950’s four trains, No. 1, 19, 20 and 22 had been eliminated west of Dover Plains.

During the mid 50’s Wassaic was the meeting point between trains 15 and 26 so the Agent got a “2 hour call” to come back to make the meet. An operator called in to work outside of the regular hours was paid a minimum of two hours.

In the early 50’s Craryville, until it was closed in 1953, was often the meeting point between NK-1 and KN-2 the night freights. I called Old Bill many evenings to make that meet when I was a young kid learning the ropes at Millerton. He lived right behind the station and loved the OT. He was called “old Bill” because he hired out on 12-26-1900. He was a fine gentlemen and did not retire until 1959.