Railroaders' Nostalgia > Conversations with the boss - 10

After I had been on the Milwaukee for about four months, two operator positions came up for bid.

Operator and train dispatcher positions worked (and most dispatcher positions still do) the same way. Positions are identified by assigned days, hours, and location. When a position becomes permanently vacant (retirement, death, or someone resigns), that position is advertised to all operators (or train dispatchers) in that seniority district (put up for bid). Anyone who is interested in the position responds before the cutoff date with name, seniority date, and position applying for (bidding on). On the cutoff date, the senior applicant gets the job. If the high bidder is not qualified on that specific position, a specified period is allowed to break in (learn) that position and qualify. If a bulletin lists more than one position available, anyone interested in more than one must bid on them separately. If you bid on one and you don't get it, you're not automatically in line for any other position. That is important for an operator on the extra board, filling in for vacations, off sick, and other vacancies. The extra board covers all of the stations on the seniority district. For me, that was Avery ID and anywhere west of there. I've known professional extra men who loved the variety, but my experience with the Milwaukee so far was screaming bad idea, bad idea.

The two positions were second trick Cedar Falls and Bellingham. I bid on both. I preferred Cedar Falls. It would give me some semblance of main line railroading and...
I was hearing bad things about Belligham. Nobody wanted it. It had been worked by the extra board for some time. It was currently being worked by an extra man. It was up for bid again in hopes of finally getting an operator who wanted to stay. I also heard that the operator working there was driving in Sumas and was hit at a crossing by the MILW local...while he was on duty at Bellingham. I heard more than once that there was strange stuff going on there. However, I could see a clear vision of my future on the extra board - Kent. I thought anything would be better than that and bid on both jobs.

The guy working at Bellingham was older than me (more seniority) and got Cedar Falls. I got Bellingham.

The Bellingham operator job was 7p-3a Mon-Fri and a call (come to work for a short period outside of assigned hours) on Sat. The Chief released me from Kent to go to Bellingham.

There was no operator at Bellingham to break in and qualify with. He was released to start Cedar Falls immediately. The agent was there to give me a quick tour, then I was on my own. In Years Gone By, I have walked into a job and gone to work with no break-in time and no formal "qualification." I quit doing that in 1990 when "modern" railroading practices made it just too dangerous to do.

The station was in downtown Bellingham in a brick building that did not look railroad at all - tinyurl.com/n4z39k5. The track ran in the middle of Railroad Avenue to industries east of downtown. It was originally the line to Sumas, but that was abandoned some years before that. There was a roundhouse - www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=529097 - with an air operated (connect the locomotive trainline, blow it up, and turn the engine) turntable. The line continued west down a moderate grade to a connection with BN, a Georgia Pacific paper warehouse, and a small yard (don't remember sure, maybe 6 tracks and a scale). Beyond the yard, the line continued northwest along the waterfront, crossing BN at grade, then turning northeast under BN and on toward Sumas. Just east of the BN overhead crossing was a spur to OPC, a cement plant.

This was a steam heated road trip - all in the office. I was on my own for a real windshield survey (drive around looking at the railroad).

The agent's hours were 8a - 5p with an hour lunch. There were two clerks on days. Everybody went home at 5p sharp. On nights, I was on my own.

There was a small combination board (trainmen/yardmen, and engineers/firemen) to manage, filling vacancies and making up crews if needed. There was an 8a yard job and a 5p yard job. Both were quit jobs (less than 8 hours) or 8 hours at worst.

The train from Tacoma (dim memory - 362 maybe) arrived early in the day shift. The clerk listed up the train for the yard crew, the agent called the local crew and got the orders from the dispatcher via city phone. The yard crew banged out the train from Tacoma, set the local, and went on to deliver whatever industry cars just arrived.

The local stopped at OPC and picked up the empty rock train, 45 rickety old beat up ore cars - www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=537435, and took off to Sumas and Limestone. At Sumas, the local delivered the CP and BCH interchange. They ran to Limestone and swapped the empty ore train for loads then returned to Sumas to pick up the CP and BCH interchange. On they way back to Bellingham, they made a side trip to Lynden to spot, pull, and take the Lynden traffic to Bellingham. On arrival at Bellingham, they took the head end to OPC, then brought the rest into the yard.

The afternoon switch had industry spots and pulls. They would be finished by the time that local came in. All I had to do was list up the industry pulls and the arriving local so that the switch crew could build the train to Tacoma. After giving them the list, I would call the crew (at the Leopold Hotel, a few blocks away), give the crew and count (load/empty/tons) to the BN dispatcher. The BN dispatcher would fix the train with the BN operator and I would go get the orders. When the Tacoma crew came to work, I would give them the orders and when they left give the OS to the BN and MILW dispatchers.

While the train was doubling, I had time for my other agency work. I had to do the switching settlement statements (BN pays MILW for delivering BN line haul cars to industries on MILW), the interchange records (the afternoon switch job did all of the BN interchange), and the demurrage (customers pay MILW for cars kept in excess of the allowed time for loading or unloading).

I had to handle teletype traffic, messages to and from the agent and the traffic (marketing) guy at the end of the hall...whom I never saw. I also had to teletype the list of the Tacoma train to Everett and Tacoma.

Saturday was easy. All I had to do was call the outbound crew and get the orders. The local would bring in the train lined up Bellingham, East, South and set over the Bellinghams. The switch crew would have the east and south blocks from Bellingham lined up. I just had to list it up, get the orders, call the crew, and OS when they left. The operator contract called for a minimum of two hours pay for any call to duty outside of your regular working hours. It was an easy job.

Oh...nobody will tell you when to show up, you just have to be at the depot when the train gets to Bellingham and put yourself on duty.

Oh...the switching, interchange, and demurrage are about seven months behind, so you'll need to catch them up.

Having heard about the guy I succeeded being hit by his only train in a place 25 miles away while he was on duty, I wasn't really surprised.

Oh...and I know all about your experience. You don't need me, so don't ever call.

That was it; time for me to go to work.


Oh, yeah...Don't call was reinforced a couple of months later when I managed to get some sort of flu or similar malady. I was so weak I couldn't get out of bed...walking. I was living in a crash pad (bunch of people chipping in on rent and sharing a house). In the days long before cell phones, the one and only phone was in the hallway outside of my room. I crawled to the phone and called the dispatcher to tell him that I couldn't make it to the station. He told me it wasn't his problem, call the agent. I called the agent. He said that I just needed to put some effort into getting to work. I told him that wasn't going to work. I could barely crawl to the phone and was loaded on cold medication. He wasn't happy. He said that he'd be right over. A while later, he arrived...with a typewriter, train order forms, clearance forms, lists the switch foreman made, waybills, wheel report forms, and the call book. He told me he would be back in a couple of hours to pick up the paperwork for the Tacoma train and leave it on the train register in the station. I sat there on the floor copying orders, listing the Tacoma train, and making the wheel report. A couple of hours later, the agent showed up, took everything he brought and left. I crawled back to bed and took another dose of whatever over the counter stuff I was taking. I woke in time to go to work the next afternoon.

TAW

Ihave to say, this is awesome stuff. Thanks for posting, and I wait for each new edition!
I thoroughly enjoy this look into the days at the railroad when EVERY employee was some kind of Character!