[Date Prev][Date Next]
[Chronological]
[Thread]
[Top]
(erielack) Snow-fighting on the RR's
- Subject: (erielack) Snow-fighting on the RR's
- From: Rich O <rev66_@_optonline.net>
- Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 16:17:36 -0500
There has been a lot of talk on many of the lists regarding the
snow-fighting efforts of "then" compared to "now". On the D&H list a
lot of banter went back and forth about how the RR's seemed to have a
better handle on these things in the "old" days. Gordy Smith, their
senior dispatcher came on with his opinion on why this is so. He
noted that "years ago, signal maintainers were not under the hours of
service laws, and could be counted on to be out there 'round the
clock keeping switches cleared, etc. And there were lots of them;
same with the track department, you had gangs every 20 miles or so.
When there was a storm like this (Feb 15), they were also out. And we
had lots more yards then, and hundreds of more employees. Today we
only have two terminals on this RR ( Saratoga and Binghamton) for the
road crews." He then detailed how the road crews now live out of the
area and when the highways close, it makes sense to shut down the
railroad because it precludes anyone from making it into work. He
laments the demise of any real snow-fighting equipment and stated
that with the limited number of maintainers and M&W men left you can
only work so long.
Interesting perspective from a man with a lot of experience.
Regards;
Rich Onorevole
The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
Sponsored by the ELH&TS
http://www.elhts.org
To Unsubscribe: http://lists.elhts.org/erielackunsub.html
------------------------------