A friend of mine was a member of the International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, and we got to talking about what an Oiler was. Exactly what would be the duties of an oiler, someone who fired an oil fired steam engine or a firemans helper who oiled around the engine, or something else? He worked in the SanBerdino enginehouse on the AT&SF when he belonged to IBFO.
Thanks in advance for the information.
Paul
Generally an oiler was one who oiled the moving parts of a steam locomotive plus wiped the engine down with oil soaked rags (although that job was often called a wiper) in and around the roundhouse. Of course, each railroad would have had different names and requirements for the same jobs. And the bigger the roundhouse operation the more likely you'd find oilers and wipers.
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The IBFO would have been one of the shopcraft unions. Organization by craft was/is mandated by the Railway Labor Act.
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