Confessions of a Railroad SignalmanFagan, James O. (James Octavius)
History
Confessions of a Railroad Signalman
Fagan, James O. (James Octavius)
Railroad accidents; Railroads; Railroads -- United States -- Employees
Thus, by evolution and revolution, a mighty change has come over the
scene. To-day, when a railroad man makes a trip from point A to point
B, it is altogether different from the performance to which I called
attention at the beginning of this essay. At the end of his trip,
the man now takes out his pencil and does some figuring. Neither the
superintendent nor the paymaster has the slightest idea what the
engineman’s, the conductor’s, or the brakeman’s bill for a day’s work
is going to be. If a man is delayed on a road by the negligence of
a fellow employee, the company will have to pay for the extra time.
If he makes a straight trip, with one or two stops, he has a certain
rate; if in the performance of his duties he is called upon to make an
extra stop or to pick up a car of perishable goods, he will call for a
special rate and much more money. His day’s trip frequently bristles
with possibilities in the way of special rates and overtime. In the
matter of overtime, he may have the opportunity to be just or unjust,
as it pleases him; anyway, the company is at his mercy. Again, if at
the end of a hundred-mile run, or thereabouts, for which an engineman
would receive from four to five dollars, he is requested to take his
engine out on the road again and move a car a distance of twenty feet,
he will turn in his bill to the company for a greater amount than a
gate-tender or a switchman would receive for his whole day’s work, from
six in the morning until six at night, without a minute for meals.
Again, if a man gets into trouble, he is called into the office for an
investigation. If it turns out that the accident was unquestionably
the fault of the employee, he, of course, is liable to be disciplined
for it in some way; but if as a result of the accident, the whole road
is tied up for twelve hours, and he remains on duty half a day longer
than his usual time, he will receive payment for this overtime in full,
regardless of the fact that he himself was wholly responsible for the
delay.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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