Railroaders' Nostalgia > old head conductor in a caboose question

when u old head conductors worked with a rear brakeman with you in the caboose and a head brakeman on the head-end with the engineer, how did u handle any s/o's or p/u's enroute?

did u have the rear brakeman ride the head-end and assist the head-end brakeman with the work?

after the brakeman completed the work, how was the paperwork handled?

just curious and thanks for any info......

66

Depended on where the s/o or p/u was, how deep in the train it was, or had to go, and how long the train was.

Sometimes the rear brakeman would ride the head end to assist with switching. Also, the rules on my railroad required the conductor to walk forward to inspect the train anytime the train stopped. When the train started the engineer would start slowly for one train length so the conductor could get on. Radios of course made this easier. Often, a train would pull past the pickup or setout location in order to make the cut at the switch entering the yard, this meant that by walking up the conductor or rear brakeman would be at the pickup before the head brakeman got there with the setout and the power, and would get switches lined, and/or exchange the waybills/paperwork. Sometimes the agent/operator would hand up the paperwork to the waycar and the conductor would just toss off the paperwork. BSB

On California and Arizona railroads until the mid-1960's, there were full crew laws which required a third brakeman (usually called a swing man) on most freight trains. On thru freight trains with no known work en-route, the swing man would ride the caboose, provoking arguments as to who would "rest" first. If there was work en-route, the swing man would ride the head end to assist in the pick up or set outs. Between Bakersfield and Los Angeles Southbound, the swing man would ride the head end to Summit, drop off and help cut out the helper. Then he would often make his way back to the head end, and drop off during the long hard pull up to Vincent summit, inspect the train, and catch the cab on the roll.

Norm

Norman Orfall
Helendale, CA
TIOGA PASS, a private railcar

As best I remember, on the U.P. out of Los Angeles the "swing man" rode only between Los Angeles and Victorville.

Eugene Crowner