Nicknames of the railway companies.

[The Stationmaster]

27 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

A lower grade with lower pay? There must, as electrification spread, have been drivers who were obliged to transfer from steam to electric...

I'm not sure if it was a lower rate or a higher but at one time  it was definitely a different rsate.  I suspect that it might well have been higher as the union would have been looking for some compensation for single manning - even back then.

[eldomtom2]

The "Igniting the Flame of Unity" site on the Brighton branch of ASLEF contains a lot of primary sources from union journals, meetings, etc. about electrification - certainly in the 1910s it was viewed as a potential threat to pay and jobs.

[009 micro modeller]

6 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

I'm not sure if it was a lower rate or a higher but at one time  it was definitely a different rsate.  I suspect that it might well have been higher as the union would have been looking for some compensation for single manning - even back then.

I thought it was lower on some lines due to the (whether perceived or actual) lower level of training/skill needed. Although that doesn’t sound right because there would have been people who transferred from steam to electric (or diesel - Irish NG lines called railcar drivers ‘motormen’ as well - in one case I think this persisted even after the line had closed, and the replacement bus service run by the former railway company referred to the bus drivers as motormen).

[eldomtom2]

On 29/09/2023 at 19:56, 009 micro modeller said:

Although that doesn’t sound right because there would have been people who transferred from steam to electric

I believe this was a point of contention between the unions and the companies - the unions wanted electric drivers to be drawn solely from existing steam drivers.

[Compound2632]

10 hours ago, eldomtom2 said:

I believe this was a point of contention between the unions and the companies - the unions wanted electric drivers to be drawn solely from existing steam drivers.

 

Which was presumably impractical, since the greater service frequency would require more motormen than there had previously been drivers. On the other had, a promotion for firemen? 

[Buhar]

One I've only heard once. Lazy Man's Society. I have a notion that might be a jibe from folk in another industry.

Alan