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Re: Butte Street, PE- and SP's J yard..... Ain't nuttin' like it once was...
Author: Dr Zarkoff
Date: 03-01-2023 - 18:25
SP: yard crews, "switchmen", and road crews, "brakemen", were two different crafts. Until the 1970s there was no crossing over between the two crafts.
Switching jobs worked 8 hour shifts, 5 days a week (as of the early 1950s) and had paid holidays. Overtime started after 8 hrs in a day and was paid on the 6th and 7th straight-time shift in a week. The "conductor" on a yard job was called the (engine) foreman, and the two helpers were the field man and the pin puller.
Brakemen's jobs on locals, a.k.a. "road switchers", worked six days a week without holidays, paid or otherwise, and no time off for holidays unless the job was blanked ("will not work on Dec 25th"). Pay was based on mileage, which was spelled out in the bulletin establishing the job. The conductor on a brakeman's job was just that, the conductor. The other two cremembers were the head and rear brakemen.
Through freight was purely mileage, and there were no paid holidays (nor time off).
These are known in railroad parlance as "three-man crews", but both crafts could have additional crew members assigned, permanently or temporarily.
All I can tell you about the PE situation, is that they used and "electric agreement", which was based on hourly pay, not mileage.
Switching jobs worked 8 hour shifts, 5 days a week (as of the early 1950s) and had paid holidays. Overtime started after 8 hrs in a day and was paid on the 6th and 7th straight-time shift in a week. The "conductor" on a yard job was called the (engine) foreman, and the two helpers were the field man and the pin puller.
Brakemen's jobs on locals, a.k.a. "road switchers", worked six days a week without holidays, paid or otherwise, and no time off for holidays unless the job was blanked ("will not work on Dec 25th"). Pay was based on mileage, which was spelled out in the bulletin establishing the job. The conductor on a brakeman's job was just that, the conductor. The other two cremembers were the head and rear brakemen.
Through freight was purely mileage, and there were no paid holidays (nor time off).
These are known in railroad parlance as "three-man crews", but both crafts could have additional crew members assigned, permanently or temporarily.
All I can tell you about the PE situation, is that they used and "electric agreement", which was based on hourly pay, not mileage.
