Nostalgia & History > RE; The good old days

I\'m really enjoying this new format,"nostalgia". Thank you Todd.
The only constant is that things are always changing it\'s been said. I reckon that today\'s railroading is a more efficient better functioning business than was the railroading of forty-fifty years ago, but the railroading back then had much more personality and was much more interesting than is the railroad business of contemporary times.
Back in the 1950\'s for instance there were many more people involved in transporting freight, AND people. There have been a lot of jobs abolished that have been nearly forgotten I think.
I lived on Tennessee Pass Colorado from June 1950 through June 1957. My dad was the agent and the 1st trick telegrapher/operator at TP.
In 1953 or 1954 the Grande abolished the jobs of two carmen that inspected the trains at TP, they looked for hotboxes and bad order brakes mainly. When these jobs were axed, we just knew that the railroad was making a big mistake, but the railroad survived. Then they installed ctc system wide on the Rio Grande and abolished the jobs of a lot of good family men and women op/telegraphers. It took all of my dad\'s 20 years seniority to hold 2nd trick as a towerman at Grant Tower in Salt Lake City after the ctc was in place. We just knew that this was a BIG mistake, but the railroads are still here and doing business. There were a lot of jobs eliminated through attrition and buyouts when steam locos, helper districts and so forth were eliminated, other folks were just laid off, but the slimmer more efficient railroad is still mostly here and turning yellow or some other odd appearance. It\'s not as interesting nor does it have much personality. Computers don\'t have personality, people do.
Thankfully there are nostalgia forums, books, and models. I still miss 2-8-8-2\'s, covered wagons, open agencies, and depot stoves when it\'s cold. I could ramble on, but I\'d better not. Is there anyone else out there that remembers Tennessee Pass in the "good old days"?

Con Sweet, aka, xtra1188w