Would conductors on name trains (e.g. The City Of San Francisco) stay with their train all the way from Chicago to San Francisco, or do they change conductors at various points on the run? I know that the porters stayed with the train all the way through.
How many conductors would their be on such a train?
Train crews (i.e. engineers, conductors, etc) change out at division points, typically every 100 - 200 miles. Usually there was a conductor and at least 2-3 assistant conductors (a.k.a trainmen) per train, although that varies according to the size of the train. Hotel Crews (porters, lounge attendants, car attendants, etc) in most cases, stay with the train for it’s entire run end to end.
This is still true on Amtrak today. For instance, on a Northeast Corridor run from Boston to Washington, DC, train crews change at New Haven, CT, New York, NY, and Philadelphia, PA. That is 4 crews for that run, consisting of engineer, conductor and assistant conductors. NY to Pittsburgh gets new crews at Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
In the pre-Amtrak days, trains with Pullman service would have 2 conductors. The railroads conductor and a Pullman Conductor. The railroad conductors changed off at division passenger crew change points (note - passenger crew change points are not necessarily the same as freight crew change points). The Pullman Conductor normally had responsibility from Origin to Destination on the run.
The railroad conductors had responsibility for operating rule compliance in addition to collecting railroad fares and passenger counts and all the other normal functions. The Pullman Conductor was responsible for collecting and accounting for the Pullman fares and was the Pullman authority on the train.
It should be noted, also, that the train conductors’ runs were within prescribed seniority districts, and their time on duty was limited by the Federal Hours of Service Act, but Pullman conductors were not limited by the FHofSA and they could bid on jobs which worked anywhere the Pullman car line went.
And, on some runs on which the passenger and freight crews had the same change points, the passenger train crews might run through and the engine crews changed.
One example: In the sixties (at least) the IC had two passenger districts between Canton, Miss., and New Orleans, La., and each one was about one hundred miles long. All of the crews were based in McComb, Miss. All the passenger engine crews had a hundred mile day, and changed out at McComb. The train crews, with a 150 mile basic day, had a different arrangement. As a conductor or brakeman, you would leave home one day and return home twenty-four hours later, having passed through McComb once. The following day after returning home, you would take the same train out for another twenty-four hours away from home. So, in two days, the passenger crews would work 400 miles–or two and a third basic days. Except for the City of New Orleans, the trainmen changed southbound; the City’s crews changed northbound.
As a side note, the Panama crews worked that train only, and the City crews worked that train only. The other assignments were #3 south and #8 north, and #25 south and #4 north.
Johnny
How many Pullman conductors would be on a train? I know that they have to get some sleep and the trains do stop at stations at all hours of the day and night.
Usually, there was one, who was to be on the platform at every stop, day and night. The life of a Pullman conductor was not always easy; he not only had to take care of the passengers’ space tickets, he also had paperwork to tend to. If you can find them, I invite you to read Cnductor William Moedinger’s accounts of his travels as a Pullman conductor which were published in Trains in the seventies. The account that particularly concerns this matter is “It’s gonna be one of those trips, Captain,” which begins on page 38 of the May, 1972 issue.
On a train with many parlor cars, the conductor may have had an assistant conductor, but most other trains had only one conductor.
Johnny
When did the conductor eat, sleep, shave,etc? It does not sound like he had time for any of this?
The Pullman conductor worked all these things into his schedule. He knew when he had to be on the platform, and made certain that he would be there.
I do know of a certain instance in which a porter-in-charge was eating lunch when his train stopped at a certain station (apparently there was little Pullman business at that station), and a passenger in his car assisted the lady who was boarding there. The porter showed no appreciation for the passenger’s assistance.
Johnny
On the Amtrak long distance trains running overnight, the coach and sleeping car attendants are “on duty” through out the night, but might be catching naps between stops. That must be allowed, as with some train trips running around 48 hours, it would be a bit of a stretch to expect those crew members to remain awake for the duration of the trip.
The conductor, and assistant conductor(s) duties require that they remain awake and alert through their portion of the trip. I doubt that there are many conductor assignments that run more than 8 hours on duty.