HO figures for Caboose verandah - US equivalent of the UK railway guard

[Talbotjohn]

I would like to place a figure on the trailing verandah of a caboose but I am not sure what the US equivalent of the UK railway guard looks like. I have vague childhood recollections of a man in uniform and peaked cap from episodes of Casey Jones (!) who I think was called a conductor. Ideally I need as figure in uniform? to go on a steam age C&O caboose. I have a Slaters figure who I think could fit the bill. Can anyone fill this knowledge gap please?

[pH]

Do a Google image search. Searching for ‘conductor caboose’ retrieves pictures which should give you some ideas.

 

Edit to add - a search for ‘brakeman caboose’ would also be useful. The rear end brakeman on a freight would also travel on the caboose.

Edited October 12, 2021 by pH

[Prof Klyzlr]

Dear TalbotJohn,

 

Either Preiser or Woodland Scenics should have you covered...

 

Suspect you'd land on something like

 

https://www.walthers.com/train-personnel-scenic-accents-r-pkg-6

 

https://www.walthers.com/scenic-accents-r-figures-depot-workers-accessories

 

https://www.walthers.com/scenic-accents-r-rail-workers-w-handcar-pkg-5

 

https://www.walthers.com/train-mechanics-scenic-accents-r-pkg-60

 

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Edited October 12, 2021 by Prof Klyzlr

[dave1905]

Depends on the weather.  Summer would be a long or short sleeved shirt and blue jeans or work pants, maybe a shirt and bib overalls.  Colder weather, a "Carhart" type jacket, insulated overalls or a snowmobile suit.  Any color except red or yellow.

 

As far as a hat, it depends on era and locale.  Eastern, a "railroad cap" (striped denim), baseball cap or in early eras a fedora or bowler.  Western areas a "cowboy hat".

 

Freight and yard crews didn't wear a uniform per se after 1900-WW1.  Only train service and other employees that came in contact with passengers wore a uniform (porters, baggagemen, maybe ticket agents, etc).  The postal employees in an RPO (railway post office) did not wear a uniform but did carry sidearms by law.

Edited October 12, 2021 by dave1905

[Talbotjohn]

Thanks for the advice and interesting facts. I realise that the caboose was a travelling goods office in some respects. The rear end brakeman riding in the caboose on freight trains makes sense too owing to the length of US freight trains. Clearly the staff wore rather more informal clothes than those in the UK. Those Woodland Scenics "Train mechanics " look an interesting bunch!

[Regularity]

Typical freight train of the era had a crew of 5. 
Engineer, fireman “head end” brakie up front (HE brakie sometimes travelled in the cab, sometimes in a “doghouse” on the tender, and during switching movements, frequently on the pilot!)

Read end brakie and conductor in the caboose.

The conductor was in overall charge of the train, and it was the brakie who usually threw the switches and did the (un)coupling and brake hoses.

Other than the station agent, and maybe a (freight) porter, no other staff were required along the way, which suited a one-train a day type of operation. None of the station master, ticket clerks, porter(s), signalman, goods clerk, goods porter(s) at nearly every station that we seem to have had at one point in the UK.

Many short lines, being exempt from rules for major railroads, operated with a crew of two, because they didn’t have radio control, and one person had to be on the ground. The North Stratford RR had a crew of 2. On Wednesdays, they pulled the full box cars from the Ethan Allen furniture plant at Beecher Falls, and replaced them with empties. On Thursday, they took the full box cars down to North Stratford for exchange, picking up the odd empty car along the way at the Agway depot at Colebrook, and came back with empties, dropping off any full loads of fertiliser on the way. Fridays, Mondays and Tuesdays were spent on maintenance by the same two guys. 

[Regularity]

With his permission, and because the relevant 9 year old post on his blog is no longer there, the following sequence explains how things were done, when switching at the head end, on Trevor Marshall’s old Port Rowan layout:

 

HTH

Edited October 14, 2021 by Regularity

[dave1905]

Quote

Other than the station agent, and maybe a (freight) porter, no other staff were required along the way, which suited a one-train a day type of operation. None of the station master, ticket clerks, porter(s), signalman, goods clerk, goods porter(s) at nearly every station that we seem to have had at one point in the UK.

 

Common positions along the way .  Up until the 1980's there were train order operators at about half the stations.  Train order operators reported the arrivals, departures and passings of the trains to the dispatcher and copied and delivered train orders to the crews.  There were also agents (which could also be train order operators) who sold tickets, received and distributed less than car load freight and handled the billing and freight charges for shipments originating and terminating at that station or area of responsibility.  At manual interlockings (major junctions or places where railroads crossed at grade there were interlocking operators.

At locations where there were switch engines, there would also be a yardmaster who directed the movements of the switch crews.  Yards would also have a chief clerk, and several clerks who created lists and maintained the inventory of cars at the station.

At crew changes (every 75-150 miles or so) there were crew callers that kept track of the crews and notified them when to show up for work.

 

Clerks, train order operators and interlocking operators started being phased out in the 1970's and 1980's as railroads computerized, converted to CTC signals, eliminated train order operation and radio communication improved.

 

Firemen started phasing out in the 1960's and 1970's.  They went to "2 man crews" (conductor and one brakeman, plus an engineer) in the 1980's and conductor only in the 1990's.  In the 1990's and 2000's they went to remote control yard engines that had only a conductor and switchman, no engineer.

 

Quote

Many short lines, being exempt from rules for major railroads, operated with a crew of two, because they didn’t have radio control, and one person had to be on the ground.

 

Sorta.  They weren't exempt because they were short lines, its that there were many short lines whose crews did not belong to the railway unions.  If the crews weren't union then union rules didn't apply.  If the crews did belong to the union then the same labor rules would apply to a shortline as a trunk railroad.

There were a couple shortline railroads that went to one man crews, only an engineer, however those were phased out after the Lac Megantic disaster.

[F-UnitMad]

12 hours ago, Regularity said:

With his permission, and because the relevant 9 year old post on his blog is no longer there, the following sequence explains how things were done,

Very nice, but at least one of the photos is out of sequence. Second to last, should be swapped with the one above it?

Edited October 14, 2021 by F-UnitMad

[Regularity]

Thanks - hopefully sorted, although I seem to be missing the bit where the hopper and tank car are put back in the spur.

Edited October 14, 2021 by Regularity

[Regularity]

10 hours ago, dave1905 said:

They weren't exempt because they were short lines, its that there were many short lines whose crews did not belong to the railway unions. 

 So, what was all the fuss about Springfield Terminal becoming the major party in the Guilford takeover of B&M and MEC?

Just asking: I thought that was why they did it.

[mdvle]

1 hour ago, Regularity said:

 So, what was all the fuss about Springfield Terminal becoming the major party in the Guilford takeover of B&M and MEC?

Just asking: I thought that was why they did it.

 

It wasn't.  Some Google searching reveals:

 

- Guilford buys the MEC in 1981

- Guilford buys the B&M in 1983

 

Among the properties/subsidiaries that Gulford owned was the Springfield Terminal - and being a small line the Springfield Terminal had a somewhat unique union agreement that both reflected the unique nature of the Springfield Terminal but was also ownership friendly.

 

After the union(s) went on strike in 1986 on the former MEC/B&M lines Guilford attempted a run around the unions by transferring the MEC/B&M operations to the Springfield Terminal - and then claiming the Springfield Terminal union agreement applied to the entire operation.

 

The backdrop to all of this was both the significant changes happening in the industry - changes that meant the same amount of labour was no longer required - and the changes at the government level (Reagan firing striking air traffic controllers) and to an extent at the voter level where unions were being viewed as a problem.

 

 

 

 

[Regularity]

Ah. Evil capitalists vs overpowerful unions, with a side order of political interference. (The impression I got 35 years ago from the reporting did not reflect the whole truth.)

That would never happen here. Oh, wait a minute…