(erielack) EL way freight operations

[JG at graytrainpix <graytrainpix_@_hotmail.com>]

Regarding way freight operations, I never worked as a station agent, but I spent some time with working agents on the NY Division.  From what I remember, the drills (our usual term for way freight) would usually leave their terminal yards between 9am and 11am, and would meet up with an agent or clerk before getting down to work.  Often that meet up would take place at a station or freight house where the agent or clerk worked.  Sometimes the agent would work at a central location miles away from the crew's work zone; e.g., the Dundee branch in Passaic NJ had a dedicated crew, the Dundee Drill, but did not have an open station along it.  The branch was handled, I believe, by a clerk out of Paterson.  

The agent or clerk would present the crew with a drill slip showing what cars were ready to be pulled by late morning.  The crew would give the agent or clerk their waybills for loads being delivered, or empty car tickets for empties to be loaded.  The agent would inform the crew what industries were ready for the inbound cars on the drill; if the industry still had cars being loaded or unloaded, the inbound car would be "constructively placed", i.e. spotted on a near-by siding for delivery on the next work day (usually).  The crew would get down to work and the agent or clerk would get back to his or her office.  

Later in the day, the crew and the agent or clerk would meet up again to update their plans.  Perhaps one or two industries finished loading or unloading a car during the afternoon, and the car could now be pulled.  Perhaps some of the inbounds planned for delivery could not be placed, e.g. because of a track problem or a minor derailment.  The crew conductor and agent or clerk would then go their ways, after any new waybills or empty card tickets were given to the crew, along with an updated drill slip.  The agent / clerk would probably close up and head home long before the drill crew would.  On the next work day, the crew would update the agent / clerk as to whether there were any further changes during the final hours of work from the evening before.  

Of course there were many variations on this pattern, especially where crews worked sidings late into the night, e.g. the second Passaic drill, the evening Dover Drill, the Silver Lake Drill, etc.  These crews might have met with an agent or clerk as they were coming on duty at around 4 PM, or might have received their programs from the day-shift crews that they were relieving.  

I'm not sure this is 100% accurate, as it has been a long time since the EL days (what, 32 years).  But it reflects the rough pattern, on the NY Division at least.  Jim Gerofsky

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