Western Railroad Discussion > to gabby

gabby, fyi, i posted a reply today to your reply to me dated 7-3 (in case you don’t look back too far, too often). i was a needles wannabe but never tried to hire out there acct being scared of the eye exam, reputed to be the toughest on the atsf in those days. regards, eljay

Eljay,
I know what you mean about the eye exam. Did you know that there was a time that Santa Fe also required a back exam. You had to have between a type one and a type three (out of 5 types) to qualify?

The exams are a lot different today. For a while out west there was a particular person in charge of hiring out here that if you didn\'t pronounce this persons name correctly, or that you were related to a rail, you had no chance to be hired.

While there are different hiring practices, now one has to have had experience handling large machinery, or have military or law enforcement background. As if that makes a difference with what we do out here.

While the list is long, I still prefer the hiring at a local level. At least in a railroad town, the people knew what the job is like and tended to make for a longer employment than those hired today.

Did you figure out what was happening with your camera?

Gabbyh1