If the hours of protection were limited, were those crossings flagged by freight trains which operated when no crossing watchmen were on duty? Or did they simply blow the whistle, ring the bell, and ease into the crossings? I recall once, when a commuter on the PV line, there was a grade crossing accident south of Hackensack involving the second westbound train of the evening. All five other trains stacked up behind it. No doubt, the mess didn't get cleared up until after the normal hours of crossing watchman service. While overtime probably wasn't an issue, might there have been some hours of service issues? Ken Bush bob gillis wrote: > In timetable 57 Oct 26 1958, the Hours of Protection on the NJ & NY in > Hackensack were were 6:15 -9:15 AM, and 3;15 - 8:15 PM Monday - Friday > and at Essex and Passaic, Poplar and Main 6:15 - 7;30 AM and 12:30/45 > - 6:15/30 PM on Saturday. > > Washington Street, Westwood was 15 minutes earlier on M-F AM and > Central Ave Pearl River 30 minutes earlier. > > There was one second class train 672/671 on Saturday btween Spring > Valley and North Hackensack only besides two passenger in each direction. > > bob gillis > > Gordon Davids wrote: > >>>> >> Ken - >> >> In my timetables from 1957 and 1963, there is no mention of "Hours of >> Crossing Protection" on the NY&NY RR. The subject is covered in both >> timetables for the Caldwell Branch, so it is not an omission for the >> NJ&NY. A logical conclusion is that the NJ&NY crossings were manned >> continuously, at least as late as 1963. >> >> By 1967 the nine crossings in Hackensack, along with Washington Ave >> in Westwood and Central Ave in Pearl River, were manned Mon-Sat with >> split shifts for the commuter hours, so each crossing was manned >> eight hours per day. The crossing watchmen worked for the >> Maintenance of Way Department. While I was in Hoboken 1968-1970, we >> had a Supervisor of Crossing Watchmen who reported to the Division >> Engineer. >> >> It seems wasteful by modern standards to keep a crossing watchman on >> duty for a shift that might never see a train, but there was another >> factor involved (e.g. pre-1967). I don't recall the specific >> arrangement on the Erie or the Lackawanna, but I know it was common >> practice to assign employees who had been injured or disabled on duty >> to crossing watchman jobs. The D&H agreement stated that employes >> disabled in the Company's service were to be placed on the roster for >> crossing watchmen with seniority ahead of the oldest able-bodied >> employee. At least into the 1950's it could well have been the >> policy that it was better to keep these employes working the >> crossings than to pay them off to stay home. >> >> Gordon Davids >> << >> Subject: Re: (erielack) PV Line Industrial Question >> >> Back in the days when the Pascack Valley Line/N.J. & N.Y. R.R. had >> manually-operated crossing gates at various Hackensack street >> crossings which, I suspect, were operated for morning & evening >> passenger trains. Were there operators on duty for freight trains? >> If not were crews required to flag the crossings? >> >> Ken Bush >> >> >> The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List >> Sponsored by the ELH&TS >> http://www.elhts.org >> > > > > The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List > Sponsored by the ELH&TS > http://www.elhts.org The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List Sponsored by the ELH&TS http://www.elhts.org ------------------------------
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