Excerpt from Working by Studs Terkel (1972)
https://books.google.com/books?id=7M6dLngSY2gC&pg=PR29&dq=%22bill+norworth%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj31bbHy-nVAhXE64MKHeDtAAcQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=%22bill%20norworth%22&f=false
[Bill Norworth, retired C&NW engineer]
A diesel's a lot easier than steam. It's a lot better job. Diesels can handle more cars, more tonnage. Diesel'll pull anything. They move, they can run. They don't take the know-how that you had to have with a steam engine. Steam engine was more of a challenge. Those men weren't well educated but still had the know-how. They could get more out of an engine than a man that had a college degree. It was all pride.
When they got the diesel and got rid of the firemen, they had to make 'em engineers overnight almost. They're savin' themselves a penny, but it cost 'em, in my imagination, a dollar afterwards. 'Cause they've got men now goin' over the road that never even worked as a fireman on that territory, that hardly spent any time on the road.
Most of the diesel work, it's electrical. If it breaks down, they can't fix it. You've gotta send for somebody. In the old days with a steam engine, why, it was up to you to get that engine in. If something you could see was wrong, why, you could do all the repairs yourself or put grease or oil or what was needed to bring it in. With the diesel, you got your throttle and a brake, same as an automobile. I think it's easier than driving an automobile. You're on rails. On an automobile you gotta watch curves and all that. That's truthful.
Diesel's very clean. In the old days, with the steam engine, you had steam leaks and all that. And in the wintertime there was times you could almost go over the road and barely see any crossings, with the steam leaking around the cylinders. Diesel, you could sit in a business suit. Same as this room. It's almost soundproof. With a diesel, all you are is like a bump on a log up there up front.