Railroaders' Nostalgia > Railroading by "The Book".

The companies soon realized that it was best not  to "screw" the switchmen. They were responsible for the smooth flow of practically
everything involved in the yard areas. It was discovered that happy switchmen worked and got the job done. But things happened and the
"snakes " would ocassionally take heat from the Company.
It didn't take long for the switchmen to reciporcate.
"Well. we'll just Railroad by the Book!
And they did just that.
Movements slowed down in the utmost regard for safety!
Clean off a track in under 30 minuters? Not anymore!
Switch out some  bad orders, sure but count on a couple of hours!
And so it went.
And suddenly, very suddenly, the heat came off and the yard purred like a house cat.
How was your Yard?
Happy 29th.

Yes, similar working conditions existed at a yard I worked at.  The best incentive was an early quit...give a crew so much work to do in a night and if done early they could go home would result in very fast switching moves..I can remember going home 2-4 hours early (at night anyway) with that as an option.  That was when effeciency was important, now its productivity, how much can you get done with a few people as possible and how long it takes is not important.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/23 15:33 by atsfer.

When I hired out in 1978 on Santa Fe in Los Angeles working Hobart Yard, virtually all the yard jobs got a one or two hour quit, and, with the exception of the "top end" job, this included lunch. The "top end" job was Hobarts version of a hump job but all cars had to be "kicked" the job had a foreman, a pin puller and five or six "field" men that lined switches, hopped on the cars and either slowed them down or rode to a hook and any cars in the track. This was a very high seniority job that normally got a three hour quit. There were six of these jobs a day, one each shift on the west end and one each shift on the east end. Each job switched using block signal type signals. The foreman controlled four or five switches as well as the signals with dark indication back up, green big kick, yellow normal kick, flashing yellow shove. At this time, there was no such thing as railroading by the book.
JB

The switchmen at Argentine went through all that over and over through the years, probably still do, and it was great until it involved me and my train being delayed. Nothing I hated more than Car inspectors on a rampage to find every bad order they could on a main line crew change train. It was especially irritating if there were trains on all three mains, fueling and inspecting at the same time, so nobody was able to come in or depart from either direction until all the bad orders were thrown out. Before I retired though, there was some ex-BN jackass they sent over as Assistant Superintendent or something like, that brought in new terminology I'd never heard before..."malicious rules compliance".

Posted from Android

LocoPilot750 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>..."malicious rules compliance".


I think that may have originated in the BN Seattle dispatchers office. With relation to us was the first time I heard that term.

TAW

It's malicious compliance only when they want it to be....it's THEY who want 100% compliance yet when they get it it's malicious? KISS MY uh, butt. 

In San Francisco and on the Coast Division it was known as the  " Mission Bay Waltz"

Generally, the carrier didn't get railroading by "the book" until they started it. Then, the secret was to not "flex" about it. Give them what they say they want, and go about your business. Let them figure it out by themselves.

I will add that as a rule, the officials that knew what they were doing were easier to get along with anyway.

 

RetiredHogger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Generally, the carrier didn't get railroading by
> "the book" until they started it. Then, the secret
> was to not "flex" about it. Give them what they
> say they want, and go about your business. Let
> them figure it out by themselves.
>
> I will add that as a rule, the officials that knew
> what they were doing were easier to get along with
> anyway.
>

By the book includes insubordination. Do exactly what you are told no matter how stupid... as long as you could prove that was what you were told to do.

(That's easy for a train dispatcher: hold your foot on the push to talk pedal while being instructed. Be sure you have at least on operator on the dispatcher phone or the mic is connected to the radio.)

TAW

TAW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> RetiredHogger Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Generally, the carrier didn't get railroading
> by
> > "the book" until they started it. Then, the
> secret
> > was to not "flex" about it. Give them what they
> > say they want, and go about your business. Let
> > them figure it out by themselves.
> >
> > I will add that as a rule, the officials that
> knew
> > what they were doing were easier to get along
> with
> > anyway.
> >
>
> By the book includes insubordination. Do exactly
> what you are told no matter how stupid... as long
> as you could prove that was what you were told to
> do.
>
> (That's easy for a train dispatcher: hold your
> foot on the push to talk pedal while being
> instructed. Be sure you have at least on operator
> on the dispatcher phone or the mic is connected to
> the radio.)
>
> TAW

That’s when it gets fun. Do exactly what they say and have concrete evidence of what you were instructed to do.
Lots of “mating of elephants” and assorted actions until you point out your doing exactly what was requested of you and here is the evidence.

Thence it gets so quiet you hear the proverbial mouse fart and the language changes to Hindu as the CYA and backpedaling commences.
Got the T-shirt.

Good times.

Regards

Posted from iPhone

Reminds me of strict rules compliance in Lancaster Yd  Ft Worth.  Big shots upset with slow pace of humping trains.   Job  called for 1.5 MPH.  But the hump engines normally ran at 3 MPH unknown to the big shots.  Well they went to humping all trains at 1.5 mph and the whole yard was jammed in couple of days. Radar guns were every where.   Trains were stacked all over Ft Worth for a week until the crews went back to 3 mph humping.

Seem like I have heard of things like this at other railroads.

They want you to follow don’t follow the rules 100% so you can be written up for something that they can make up unless no.

Working for schizophrenic alcoholics.

Regards

Posted from iPhone

Yard job last night...130 odd cars to switch....thrashed 40 of them....not one single rule bent. Relief job will probably get 30 or 40 more. 

This happens in other industries too, usually just before the contract expires. I know it did at AT&T.