Railroaders' Nostalgia > Some more Tuesday slang

Continuing, today I'll cover some words/terms that have all but disappeared in today's railroading lexicon.

HERDER---Freeman Hubbard described this as a man, (that won't do, today), I'll modify that to: employee, who
couples engines and takes them off upon arrival and departure of trains. In fact, the term has probably vanished,
being replaced by "Utility Person". Using the Switchmans Union of North America ("Snake's") agreement with the
Southern Pacific Company of 1956 we find, among other facts  that "The position of herders will be filled by
switchmen receiving helpers rate of pay."

SWITCHTENDERS---Switchtenders duties were, as the name implies, attending switches. They were not required
to couple engines to or from trains nor couple or uncouple air hoses or other connections between locomotives.
Again citing the SUNA agreement with SP, an interesting provision was that, in 1956, switchtenders did not hold seniority
rights as switchmen and vice versa. The labor agreement provided that preference for filling vacancies in switchtenders
positions was to be given switchmen disabled in the service of the company when such injuries do not "unfit" them for such duties.  

CANNONBALL---One hour's pay, added to a yard crew's, (foreman and helpers, only), daily compensation when certain events occur
during their tour of duty involving handling of air hoses on cars other than between the engine and first car. Certain yard service
assignments received this "Cannonball" allowance by agreement with local management and these were generally considered to be
'preferred' jobs. On some roads this 'cannonball' allowance was called 'Air-Pay'. I don't know if it still exists; maybe it does.

AIR MONKEY---An air brake repairman. In today's verbiage: an employee in the mechanical department whose specialty is train brakes.

BROWNIES---Demerits. A system traced back to George R. Brown, general superintendent of the Fall Brook Railway (a part of the 
New York Central) in 1885. He thought the then current practice of suspending men for breaking rules was unfair to their families
and substituted a system of demerit marks. Too many demerits in a given period resulted in dismissal. I have a rule book of the
Pacific Electric Railway from January 1924 that includes four pages describing how that company applied its merit system of discipline.
Some of the highlights were that an accumulation of 75 demerits resulted in automatic discharge from the service. "Merits" were awarded
for meritorious service...or good judgment in emergencies etc. "Demerits" were assessed for such actions as: Missing runs, or
reporting late for work; 1st. offence--1, 2nd--3, 3rd--5. Not wanting to seem completely without compassion the railroad
allowed: "If extenuating circumstances exist and under proper authority reinstatement is approved, it will be with fifty demerits 
against employee's record. A second accumulation of seventy-five demerits will result in permanent discharge".
On the 'Merits' side of the system, a "Clear record for six months will cancel 15 demerits"; so it was possible to erase the
bad marks, over time. (EDIT: I failed to include this last sentence in my original post. Guess I'll have to sign for the 10 Brownies offered.) 
I don't know this actually occurred, but I was told that if an otherwise agreeable employee had accumulated so many demerits that the
assessment of additional discipline would exceed the magic 'seventy-five'; this was 'handled' by, first removing 'older' demerits and
then assessing the 'new' demerits with the proviso that the total never exceeded seventy-five. Can anyone elaborate on this?

BELL RINGER---Fireman. I heard this deprecating one occasionally as a young fireman on diesels.

CINDER DICK---Railroad policeman or detective.

GANDY DANCER---Track laborer. May have originated from the Gandy Manufacturing Company of Chicago, who made track
working implements; claw bars, picks and shovels.

SKATE---Shoe placed on a rail to stop or prevent cars from moving to 'foul' of adjacent tracks.

MOUNTAIN MILES---Another railroad labor term. Usually meant to describe a pay differential (increased pay) for those miles
of an assignment that traverse mountain or heavy grade territory. More pay for more difficult or hazardous working conditions.
Today's "Trip Rates" may or may not incorporate an accommodation (additional amount of money) for what were once known as
mountain miles. 

Charlie (no, I haven't dissappeared...yet)









 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/21 19:37 by cewherry.

Finally, I recall one from my earliest days on the SP at Oakland:

GLASS HOUSE  - Refers to one end of the structure in the Passenger Yard where the offices of the Asst. Trainmaster and foreman in charge of passenger carmen, service & repairs were located. That end had windows but the locker rooms did not.

Charlie, I can recall on the Southern Pacific, there were a couple of conductors who accumulated more than 75 demerits.  The company simply "set some over," and they continued working.  This was back in the freewheeling days of the 60's where yuo literally had to fire yourself.

Brian Black
Castle Rock, CO.

On the old ACL/SCL/CSX, The General Office Building in Jacksonville, Fl was referred to as "The Purple Palace" from all the exterior tinted glass.

Steve

cewherry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> HERDER---Freeman Hubbard described this as a man,
> (that won't do, today), I'll modify that
> to: employee, who
> couples engines and takes them off upon arrival
> and departure of trains. 

This was an important job at the San Jose Depot to couple up the commuter train engines.  

> SWITCHTENDERS---Switchtenders duties were, as the
> name implies, attending switches. They were not
> required
> to couple engines to or from trains nor couple or
> uncouple air hoses or other connections between
> locomotives.
> Again citing the SUNA agreement with SP, an
> interesting provision was that, in 1956,
> switchtenders did not hold seniority
> rights as switchmen and vice versa. The labor
> agreement provided that preference for filling
> vacancies in switchtenders
> positions was to be given switchmen disabled in
> the service of the company when such injuries do
> not "unfit" them for such duties.  

The switchtender on the freight lead at Bayshore Yard had his own shack and would respond to a request for a lineup into the 'inbound tracks' made with four short blasts of the whistle by an inbound train;  when the switch was lined, he would indicate "proceed" using a green flag by day and a green light by night per rule.  This switchtender job was called "the Bull ringer" and the lead switch was called the "bull switch."  (The regular guy on the job was, indeed, a former switchman who had been injured on duty when taking a short cut over the knuckles in a standing track which was struck by rolling equipment.) ( He was knicknamed 'Half Fast Eddie' in that politically incorrect era and served as a warning to new hires.) 

> BROWNIES---Demerits. A system traced back to
> George R. Brown, general superintendent of the
> Fall Brook Railway (a part of the 
> New York Central) in 1885. He thought the then
> current practice of suspending men for breaking
> rules was unfair to their families
> and substituted a system of demerit marks. Too
> many demerits in a given period resulted in
> dismissal. I have a rule book of the
> Pacific Electric Railway from January 1924 that
> includes four pages describing how that company
> applied its merit system of discipline.
> Some of the highlights were that an accumulation
> of 75 demerits resulted in automatic discharge
> from the service. "Merits" were awarded
> for meritorious service...or good judgment in
> emergencies etc. "Demerits" were assessed for such
> actions as: Missing runs, or
> reporting late for work; 1st. offence--1, 2nd--3,
> 3rd--5. Not wanting to seem completely without
> compassion the railroad
> allowed: "If extenuating circumstances exist and
> under proper authority reinstatement is approved,
> it will be with fifty demerits 
> against employee's record. A second accumulation
> of seventy-five demerits will result in permanent
> discharge".
> I don't know this actually occurred, but I was
> told that if an otherwise agreeable employee had
> accumulated so many demerits that the
> assessment of additional discipline would exceed
> the magic 'seventy-five'; this was 'handled' by,
> first removing 'older' demerits and
> then assessing the 'new' demerits with the proviso
> that the total never exceeded seventy-five. Can
> anyone elaborate on this?

Yes I can.  There were a lot of inconsistencies in the application of this system that made it very ineffectual as a behavioral modification stimulus.  In other words, it was generally held in contempt by the rank and file.
 

The Santa Fe utilized the Brown System of discipline at least up into the middle 1970's.  The only difference from what has been stated above was "the removal from service" point was 60 demerits instead of 75.

Mark
 

"Glass House" also applied to One Market Street in SFO.
I seem to recall demerits on the SSW KC division at 90 being a dismissal..... It was a numerical attempt to be evenhanded, but being perceived as fiar and equitable reuired far more than a m=nemerical system of discipline.  Cannonball was the name for airpay there. Herders had green bulbs in their lantern for use at night. 

So called cannonball or air pay......we called Air Hose Pay....techncially still available to protected yard employees...except on parts of CSX trainmen sold their arbitrary claims several years ago for a per paycheck stipend. It was paid to compensate trainmen who had to lace hoses in a yard where carmen were working...it's the carman's job to lace hoses usually. 

As I was re-reading the comments regarding 'Brownies', the following thought occurred.

On the SP, at least, I have heard, you would be offered two paths; accept responsibility and have demerits
placed on your 'record' or deny responsibility and go to a 'fair and impartial', formal investigation.
If you chose the investigation path and were indeed found responsible, you would be assessed no more
demerits than what were initially offered.

Does this sound familiar/possible? Searat?, tehachcond?, others?

Charlie


 

cewherry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As I was re-reading the comments regarding
> 'Brownies', the following thought occurred.
>
> On the SP, at least, I have heard, you would be
> offered two paths; accept responsibility and have
> demerits
> placed on your 'record' or deny responsibility and
> go to a 'fair and impartial', formal
> investigation.
> If you chose the investigation path and were
> indeed found responsible, you would be assessed no
> more
> demerits than what were initially offered.
>
> Does this sound familiar/possible? Searat?,
> tehachcond?, others?
>
> Charlie

This was true, and it even extended beyond demerits.  For a more serious offense, a suspension could be offered.  If the employee elected to take the investigation route and was found responsible, no more than the original demerits or suspension could be assessed.  Waiving your right to an investigation was known as "signing a waiver."  As I recall, a suspension up to ninety days could be offered under this process, but my memory is a little hazy on this.

Brian Black
Castle Rock, CO.

>
>
>  

I agree.  But to reiterate, the demerit system had such an arbitrary application, that most employees were pretty contemptuous of it, and preferred to take their chances at investigation where at least there was a requirement for the company to present some sort of evidence which could be openly disputed.  There was also a good chance of winning a reversal on appeal, and if you had your job insurance paid up, there was no requirement for reimbursement if you had been wrongfully suspended from service.  So it became a sort of paid vacation.  I even had an engineer complain that he wasn't being accessed enough time off as he was adequately insured and needed some extra vacation time.  Of course, that was not at all commonplace.  Most engineers took great pride in maintaining a good record, and would fight to maintain it in court rather than sign for 'demerits.'   

These posts have brought back many memories. In my thirty one years of service I aquired ten demarits to blemish my record. The system was eliminated on Santa Fe by the time of the BNSF merger.
Bell Ringers also referred to older units that were worn out with warning bells going off more than they should.
On CN's former IC main through downtown Jackson, MS, there is a CP SWITCHTENDER aptly named as this is where the old IC Mid South, now KCS came in from the east used at least three crossovers before heading west out of town. As stated, there was an original switch tender shack here with radio and switch tender position. It is also the south entrance to Jackson Union Station. Needless to say, after KCS aquisition of the old IC Mid South east west main, this guy was very busy having to hand throw as many as eight switches for a KCS movement across the IC.
JB

An inteeresting series for a non-rail, thanks for posting.   I do recall hearing a rail, a conductor/brakeman type as I recall, once saying that he had never heard or used the term "gandy dancers."  He said he always called them "section men."  Can anyone confirm this?

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

Section crew/men around here.

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