Dr Zarkoff Wrote:
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> >Leaving a mainline switch open should strike the
> fear that running a red block does yet for some
> reason it happens much too often.
>
> This is because after the 1985 manning agreement,
> the RRs drove off all the experienced help, and
> what I mean by this is the RRs killed off 150+
> years of RR operating culture, all of it garnered
> by "blood" (accidents, etc.). No more kicking
> cars, no more drops, and saddest and most
> discouraging of all, no more getting on and off
> moving equipment. When the RRs said "no more
> getting on and off moving equipment", they were
> admitting they lost it.
>
> I never cease to be amazed by what I hear, see,
> and read of the post-manning agreement types. It's
> not that they are stupid nor can't learn, it's
> just that they never had the exposure to the old
> ways, never had an ornery old conductor chase them
> around with a brake club for doing something
> downright stupid, like walking off and leaving a
> main line switch open; nor endured the educational
> erudition of the a** chewing after "standing 'em
> up and then sitting 'em right back down ". And no,
> I'm sorry, one or two years as a trainman isn't
> sufficient work experience to be promoted to
> conductor, let alone and engineer.

Or for that matter, a M A N A G E R !!!!