Railroaders' Nostalgia > Last move of the day: Early quit!

Those are valued words to the average RR switch crew. One more chore and we can call it a day, with an early quit!!! No more switch lists. No more little chores. Yahoo, it’s quittin’ time! Those of you with RR experience don’t need any explanation.

But for the untutored, the term “early quit” refers to concluding a day’s work before the the scheduled off duty time. For example: Say the UP crew pictured here has regular shift hours of 7 AM to 3 PM. They go fetch these 2 ballast hoppers off of a storage track over by the old passenger depot. They return to the yard and get those 2 cars into their assigned track. Then they park their engine over by the yard office, go in and officially tie-up (end) their shift on the company computer and go home. The last guy walks out the door, but it’s only 2:25 in the afternoon. They have just gotten an early quit, to the tune of 35 minutes. It happens all the time. In my RR career I worked right up to quitting time numerous times. But I also enjoyed my fare share of early quits.

In my career the wildest and most unexpected (& most enjoyed) early quit came about in my Santa Fe days. It went like this: On a Friday evening (I can’t remember the specific date) I was deadheaded off of the brakeman’s extra board in Emporia, KS. I was sent to McPherson, KS to cover a regular brakeman’s vacancy on the McPherson job; the switcher/local train 1365. The job was to go to work Saturday morning at 7 AM, the regular on duty time. So with me being in McPherson & checked into the RR contract motel by 11 PM the previous night I would be legally rested by the on duty time of 7 AM the next morning. I set my alarm for 6 AM at which time I got dressed and headed for the local restaurant for breakfast. About half the time this job was annulled on Saturdays for lack of any real switching that needed to be done. The handful of Santa Fe’s regular local customers were usually inactive on the weekends. But it turns out that the Johns-Manville plant on the east side of town had a HOT boxcar that absolutely had to be handled on this particular Saturday. In the best Santa Fe tradition, there was an urgent “SEE NO FAIL” instruction added to the work order for this car. I pleasantly knew about none of this ahead of time. I just assumed I would be putting in a regular shift on the good old McPherson Roadswitcher, which was always a blissful change of pace from the Emporia extra board. So I made sure to get a good solid breakfast, because I ‘knew’ there was the possibility I would be out there for several hours.

Breakfast concluded, I dutifully arrive at the McPherson depot at 6:50 AM, 10 minutes early… I thought!! It turns out I was about 35 minutes late, but I wasn’t in any trouble. When I waltzed through the door (without a care in the world) I was greeted by the conductor only. Now this was strange! Normally the rest of the crew would settled into switch lists, idle chatter & second cups of coffee @ 10 minutes before on duty time. But the engineer & other brakeman were nowhere to be seen! The conductor was sitting at the desk and looked up at me with a sort of strange look on his face. In a pseudo-gruff voice he said: “Where ya bin, kid? Here… sign this and GO HOME!!” In his hand he had the crew time-slip/delay report, a standard document that gets filled out for every single shift of RR duty, road or yard (a strict FRA requirement-one of many, of course). I was totally perplexed, but filled out my name & social security # in the assigned box. By time I was done with that, my conductor was grinning at me from ear to ear. He explained to me that he & his regular crew had known about this hotter-than-hello box car move the afternoon before. And they also knew it just happened to be the ONLY necessary move for the whole day. They had decided they would get together a little early and get the car spotted, which would give them virtually a work-free Saturday WITH pay! So this hot boxcar was already spotted & cooling its heels about 45 minutes before I showed up (10 minutes early) for work. SO… I had been deadheaded up to McPherson with the DH mileage up roughly equal to a day’s pay. I had signed my name to a piece of paper to receive my day’s pay without ever putting my gloves on. And I was now released & looking at a DH back down to Emporia with the DH mileage up (again) roughly equal to a day’s pay. 3 days pay, just for having a good breakfast & signing my name. No too shabby! Now the situation is this: I will DH back to Emporia, but by contract I really don’t have to rush back home. The crew office won’t be looking for me for 10-12 hours (or more)! It’s a beautiful Saturday morning and I just happen to have my cameras and 3 or 4 rolls of Kodachrome 64 in the car. And I’m in an area of the state I don’t get to shoot in all that often. (Mama didn’t raise no dummy… ;^)

This “early quit” thing might seem wasteful or seem like a needless form of pampering to a regular Monday thru Friday, structured 9 to 5, non-railroading work mentality. But is a very common & accepted fact of life in the RR world. These so-called early quits can vary wildly, as evidenced by my rare example above. But the down side is also often true, at least for the crews. You can believe you are getting an early quit, until the Yardmaster “jabs” you with 1 last little move designed to keep you working right up to your advertised quit time. This usually occurs between a YM & switch crews that don’t get along well. Or this will happen on a RR with management that doesn’t give a $#!+ about employee morale. But when all parties can work amiably, early quits are a routine thing. The prevailing wisdom is: As a yardmaster (or other RR authority) if you have a crew that is done with their work with a significant amount of time remaining before their advertised off-duty time there is no sense in ‘jabbing’ them another switch list. Unless they just wanna be mean. An experienced crew that has had an expected early quit evaporate before their very eyes can (& usually will) find a way to turn that jab into overtime dollars. They can do this well within operating & safety rules parameters. And there is nothing the company can do about it. For quite a few lower-level RR managers in the industry, allowing needless overtime is a cardinal sin! So it’s best to just let a crew go home a little early. They come back to work next shift with a pleasant attitude & everybody gets along. This is an atmosphere that is conducive to good morale, thus conducive to good productivity. It goes without saying that crew members working with good attitudes tend to be safer then crew members who are pissed off, grumbling about something which can easily take their minds off of strict attention to safety in their workplace. There are 10s of thousands of railroaders (both dead & still living) who can testify about mental distraction in the RR workplace.

I’m pretty sure this thread will evoke many memories, anecdotes & stories amongst the railroaders within the TO populace. I will look forward to reading those replies…

1. A Union Pacific switch crew aboard GMTX 2688 nose onto a couple of ballast cars at 9th St.

2. LLPX 2225 is the trailing unit, now leading the move back toward the yard, crossing N Santa Fe St. (Yes Virginia, there is a crewman in the cab protecting the movement.)

3. The switch consist & 2 cars are clear of the crossing but the gates are still down…
Aha! Here comes UP 6961 with loaded coal buckets over on the adjacent mainline…
(3 photos taken October 30, 2012 in Salina, KS)

Thanks for listening!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/14 13:51 by santafe199.

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Conrail days in Elmira, NY the orders were to keep the overtime under thirty minutes. The Yard Conductor finished the timeslip and turned it in with 8 hours and 30 minutes. Shortly the Trainmaseter AJT (AJ Almost Jesus) screamed to the Conductor that he had to keep the overtime under 30 minutes. The Conductor redid the slip with 8 hours and 29 minutes. The next day the crew got done under the 8 hours but the slip showed 8 hours and 1 minute. AJ blew up again and wanted to know if the Conductor was stealing time. He said NO that was the one minute he gave up yesterday.
Oh the number of times I've heard a Yardmaster say one quick move just as we were ready to quit and you end up with almost 12 hours.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/14 16:24 by PCCRNSEngr.

When I worked switchman on the CNW East Minneapolis, YM's would predictably always find "just one more little chore" for you, so crews got skilled at finishing up just a few minutes before their 8 hours, regardless. It was an adversarial relationship between switchmen and yardmasters. When called for West Minneapolis, though, there was no on-site YM, and the work that was there when you got there was what you did, then went home. Largely industrial spots, but some yard work. You could plan your own pace if not much there, work fast, skip lunch, and take a three hour quit. If there was a lot to do, take it at an easy pace, and pick up some OT.

When I worked on the Q, there were three tricks in the EB yard and three in the WB yard. EB normally had more yard work to do, but was hard to predict. You just worked 'till you got your trains out, then went home. Sometimes, you got a quit. If you didn't get done, another crew came on duty after your 8 hours and picked up where you left off. No OT.

Westbound usually got better breaks. Again, no OT (unless you doubled out for another 7 hrs. 59 minutes). (We could work 16 hours, then.) (You never put a full 16 hours on your timeslip, unless you were getting really tired and wanted to force them to give you a day off.) There were no industrial spots, though the Q did actually have some "on line" industries and a freight house in Minneapolis, but switching them was contracted out to the GN.

The WB crew normally picked up the "chores". For example, delivery of interchange cars with the Milwaukee. Physically, the Milwaukee Pigs Eye Yard was 26 feet away from Daytons Bluff on the Q. But, plan on an hour to an hour and a half to get there and get back, via Hoffman Ave. (Hoffman was a Milwaukee tower. That operator could care less how long it took him to let you through. Or, back.)

When things got really busy, they'd add another switch job once a day to help get things caught up. Called "The Tramp", and he took care of most of the chores. Such as , "trimming" on the east end, spotting the ice house, rip tracks, roundhouse fuel, and "Mexico City Spur" (Section crews siding. Don't ask, it's politically incorrect.) The Tramp never got the plums, such as deliveries to Milwaukee, Belt, CGW, etc. The YM let the regular tricks do those and put the Tramp in their stead. The Tramp was generally an early quit job.

However, if the Tramps foreman saw early on that OT was in sight, you can bet the ranch that the job took at least 5 hours 40 minutes OT. Who's gonna tell me why???

-John

BTW, I do not necessarily endorse all the procedures described. I was just there, and that's the way it was. 1962-65.

It took me a while to try and describe how our job works to other people. I finally figured it out. We are contractors to the railroad. Our contract is our union agreement. They set up terms and we get paid by them.

Let's pretend our job is cutting grass. And the company has agreed to pay $20 for us to cut a yard of grass. We show up and run out the door to get it done. We finish and expect an "early quit". It's one of the most motivating things the railroad has to offer us.

The next day we run out the door and the manager comes running out, "you cut the yard too quick yesterday. Today when you finish YOUR work, you are going to go do someone else's work". And then you do. and it keeps adding up. Pretty soon you are cutting three yards of grass for the same $20 we initially bargained for. So you slow down. Screw it. No early quits and I'll go for over time. Now the company says you are screwing them. You show up and check the yard and grass to make sure nothing will get caught in the blade. You inspect the mower. You check your safety gear. And now they want to fire you, so they go back and forth with early quits and you're gonna do more.

One day, they lean out and say ,"5 extra dollars to weed eat!". So you do. And then they don't pay you.

Tis the life of a railroader.

I'll take my early quit and day of the week.

-Joe



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/14 20:21 by joeygooganelli.

"Do this and go home". Famous words probably heard by every yard crew in the country. If the last move was going to take 90 minutes and a crew only had an hour to work, they were usually sent home, rather than be made to sit around the yard office for an hour. When I was a young engineer, I was stuck on a midnight switch engine at Bayshore Yard in San Francisco. When we came out of "beans" around 6 a.m., the Yardmaster would often give us a list of cars to be weighed, with the words "do this and go home". The move was very tedious and time consuming and would take us right up to quitting time. As a young crew, we just went along with the program, but as I and the rest of my contemporaries gained seniority and experience, we learned how to stretch things out simply by complying with the rules to the letter. Southern Pacific didn't like early quits, but they hated paying overtime even more.

my pop worked the P-RSL from 1940-1981 ... from the time i was born and before he worked the extra list which made him a LOT of money but in the early 60s as i got older and and into sports pop opted for a 2nd trick (4-12) yard job at Cooper's Point Yard in Camden,NJ with a 12 hr guarantee so he could spend time with me while i played ... he umpired the little league i played for ... he also supplemented his income working moonlight for a local plumber during the day ...

Cooper's Point Yard was along the waterfont on Delaware Ave in Camden,NJ virtually under the Ben Franklin Bridge to Philly ... while there were quite a few industries along the cobblestone right of way like RCA the main responsibility was to serve the Campbell Soup Co which had to be switched on all 3 tricks ... 1st trick worked every bit of their regular shift handling the bulk of the work for Campbells and other industries along the waterfront ... with 2nd and 3rd tricks only needed to handle cars to set up Campbells for the next day and perhaps another switch ... pop took the job knowing he went to work for his 4pm trick and he'd be home before 9pm after setting up Campbell Soup and perhaps another switch ... it was a DAMN GOOD GIG working 3-5hrs get paid for 12 with gurantee money and home by 9 ...

BUUTT there was one drawback ... pop had to stay near the phone because every now and then a HOT CAR had to be spotted for Campbells and my pop CF (railroads alaways referred to their guys by their first 2 initials) would have to go back in and make the shift ...

well pop got tired of having to run in for the increasingly more frequent HOT CAR move and he left Cooper's Point job and took the 2nd trick job at Paulsboro who's primary purpose was to shift the Sacony Vacuum oil refinery(now PBF refinery) which paid the same with the guarantee and had the early quit BUTT no HOT CAR moves ... once the refinery was worked that was it ... they were done ...

pop would've retired off that job but once Conrail took over all guarantees would only be paid if you could hold the highest paying job your seniority would allow ... so all the senior guys got screwed now having to work the money jobs which were 12hr 6 day week jobs and the junior guys took the early quit guarantee pay yard jobs ... eventually Cooper's Point was abandoned when Campbells left Camden NJ for Ohio and the Paulsboro refinery went to contracting out their in plant switching leading Conrail to abolish the 3 shifts for in plant switching ...

i on the other hand working for Amtrak had my share of early quits too ... our favorite saying for that was "HIT IT AND QUIT IT"

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Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/14 07:27 by Out_Of_Service.

Working for Santa Fe at Los Angeles Hobart yard there were a number of "dash" or "quit" jobs. Most of which I could not hold but occasionally caught them off the extra board as they went very high on the roster list because most guys back then wanted quits rather than overtime. Boy did this change by the time I retired! In summer '78 when I hired out the best "quit" jobs were three "top end" jobs, one each shift which equalled "hump" jobs but Hobart yard did not have a "hump" per se and was considered a flat switching yard although there was a mini three foot or so "hump" on the top end lead that accessed all forty six tracks of Hobart yard at the time. These jobs were normal yard jobs that were "swung" out every day to six or eight men depending on how many cars were to to switched every shift and was continuous a holes and elbows from start to finish because finish was around five hours plus or minus very little usually with no lunch. In case not mentioned above overtime was the only time hourly came into play as all jobs received a full days (eight hour equivalent) pay no matter if you worked one or eight hours. We were so spoiled at Hobart in the late seventies that we expected the "quits" on yard jobs and if we didn't get a one or two hour quit we were piss@%! Of course back then with running and getting on and off moving equipment you could get a lot done. The "top end" jobs normally switched around three hundred cars a shift. The foreman sat in a small mini tower and controlled both signals on the top end lead for the engineer (there was little or no radio use on this job, as engineer you looked at the lights, green big kick, yellow normal kick, flashing yellow shove, dark back up) as well as four or five power switches of which was the "bull" switch which led to all tracks. The added number of men were required as the jumped on and off cars slowing them down with the hand brakes and throwing a lot of switches. Those were fun times as everybody enjoyed hauling butt and running for switches. If you didn't pull a cut out of an arrival track at fifteen mph with guys jumping on and off knocking brakes off you got yelled at. What a different world it was railroading than today.
JB

LarryDoyle Wrote:
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However, if the Tramps foreman saw early on that
> OT was in sight, you can bet the ranch that the
> job took at least 5 hours 40 minutes OT. Who's
> gonna tell me why???
>
> -John

Penalty lunch/late beans/whatever your railroad called it.

BSB

BigSkyBlue Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> LarryDoyle Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> However, if the Tramps foreman saw early on that
> > OT was in sight, you can bet the ranch that the
> > job took at least 5 hours 40 minutes OT. Who's
> > gonna tell me why???
> >
> > -John
>
> Penalty lunch/late beans/whatever your railroad
> called it.
>

Yes. After 5:40 you were allowed to claim 20 minutes for lunch, whether you actually took it or not - but if after 5:41 you also got penalty.

Plus, 5:40 at OT rate was equal to a full shift at regular rate. In other words, you got "double day".
> BSB

Got a quit today, 7 hour tie up. Only had 3 switch lists, and the go home move was moving dead POS (They all are) gensets to tie up track to spot for Mech.

Kick em!

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