In smaller towns, where only one man worked in a station, he was the stationmaster even if his title was “agent”. In larger towns, such as Charlotte, the man in charge of the station and other employees was the stationmaster. I am not absolutely certain, but I think it was the stationmaster in Charlotte who called the trains so that the passengers would know that it was time to board. And, the stationmaster in Charlotte did not have the same accent as those in Atlanta, Birmingham, or New Orleans.
A yardmaster is a supervisor of yard crews, both operating and clerical (though he’s an operating employee and there aren’t many clerks left).
A trainmaster is a supervisor of a region and the employees therein. He doesn’thave crews directly underneath him, but is there as a troubleshooter to ensure that things run as smoothly, as efficently, and as safely as possible.
Now, add little things like quotas for efficiency tests, quotas for failed efficiency tests, and trainmasters can become troublemakers instead of troubleshooters. They forget that their job is to ake things run smoothly and efficiently, but begin to think that their job is purely to make their superiors happy (unfortunately, that’s true in many cases). Neither position feels like he’s the “master” of anything, because he’s always “Mr. In-between”.
And neither one likes it at all when an informed employee would take them to task about choices they’ve made. Please don’t ask how I know that.
On most properties, Yardmasters are contract employees - just like the T&E and Clerical employees they supervise. Trainmasters are non-contract Officials of the company they are employed by.
In the olden days, it was desired to promote appropriate contract employees to become 1st level supervisors because of the knowledge they had acquired during their time spent in the contract positions. In today’s world of railroading, contract exper
Chuck - this was a LOL moment for me - my very best girlfriend’s dad was a conductor and his car was a Roadmaster. She managed to run into a wall at a local drive-in and rip off a door handle. She never did give me details of just exactly what he said, but I am sure it wasn’t golly-gee…And looking back, I am so glad we had that car and not some of the little ones from today!
A yardmaster is a supervisor of yard crews, both operating and clerical (though he’s an operating employee and there aren’t many clerks left).
A trainmaster is a supervisor of a region and the employees therein. He doesn’thave crews directly underneath him, but is there as a troubleshooter to ensure that things run as smoothly, as efficently, and as safely as possible.
Now, add little things like quotas for efficiency tests, quotas for failed efficiency tests, and trainmasters can become troublemakers instead of troubleshooters. They forget that their job is to ake things run smoothly and efficiently, but begin to think that their job is purely to make their superiors happy (unfortunately, that’s true in many cases). Neither position feels like he’s the “master” of anything, because he’s always “Mr. In-between”.
And neither one likes it at all when an informed employee would take them to task about choices they’ve made. Please don’t ask how I know that.
On most properties, Yardmasters are contract employees - just like the T&E and Clerical employees they supervise. Trainmasters are non-contract Officials of the company they are employed by.
In the olden days, it was desired to promote appropriate contract employees to become 1st level superv
I don’t doubt for a minute that has occured, but I can’t think of a more effective way to insure the first level supervisory employees have no clue what is going on. I wonder if that idea is coming from middle level managers or corporate staff?
Seems to be a pattern going around the industry where management doesn’t want ANY employee (including non-contract) to have a fall back position. “My STUPID way or on the street you go, profitability be damned.”
Still doesn’t work. They just quit. So instead of having someone go back to the ranks (and still contribute to the company) they are providing that initial experience for the college grads to use to get a job at a better company. Guess that’s nice of them.
Within my area of responsibility over the past year at least 6 Trainmasters have ‘moved on’. Either went back on their contract seniority, went to various short line operations or sought other employement. Can’t keep up with the changes without a scorecard, and Division Management won’t produce a scorecard (because I don’t think they know when the next shoe will drop).
I once heard a story about a railroad crew that befriended a monkey named Bobo. The railroaders would play with Bobo and feed him and really treat him nice. In fact, they taught the monkey to give hand signals and run the engine and to even read a switch list and switch out the cars. Soon Bobo got to be so good at it that the guys would let the monkey do their work while they went fishing. One day the Trainmaster caught the guys fishing while Bobo was doing the work. All of the railroaders got fired on the spot. A couple of months later the railroaders got a letter from the company. It was a great flowery piece and reinstated all of the railroaders to their former positions with all back pay. It was signed by Trainmaster Bobo.
seppburgh2, that sounds as though it is from A Treasury of Railroad Folklore.
There are some gems in there, telling of middle management types who were hired off the street–such as the man who saw, while riding up and down, short lengths of rail with bent ends here and there and suggested that they be removed and put to good use after the ends were straightened. And there was the man, complete with yellow gloves and shades who was riding, on a branch, in a coach with a coal stove . He complained about the cold air in the coach, and was told that it was cold because the heater was at the rear of the car. His response was to order that the car be operated with the heater at the front–despite the fact that there was no way to turn the car at the end of the branch.
Jeff Hergert and Paul North may be able to quote some more examples.
Bobo probably outperformed all the other middle managers.
In another vein, a certain engine had been shopped and then was put out on the line. The engineer on the first run was having trouble getting the engine to run smoothly; the road foreman of engines was also on board, and when he saw the engineer’s trouble, he put his crocheting down, went over, asked the engineer to get up, sat down, and tamed the engine. He had apparently come up from the ranks.