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[quote user="henry6"] Basic milage day was set at about 100 then 125 and finally 150 as 8 hour days (maybe 12 early on).  It was how long it was expected for a crew to go from starting terminal to ending terminal.  As track, signals, and equipment got bigger and better the "working day" milage got longer and matched other non railroad jobs at 8 hours.  However....in commuter services then and now, in order for someone to get his 150 miles per day or 8 hours often means "split days" in which one may start at say 5:30AM do an 80 mile round trip  (maybe up to 4 hours) then have three to 10 hours off and do the remainder of the 8 hours or 70 miles.  Sometimes one way is 90 miles on a commuter run and so there could be almost a 10 hour layover before returning; sometimes there is a quick turn around.  Some assignemtns go for a lot more than 150 miles in a 12 hour day and so each day is equal to two days pay thus the job is boarded every other day.  And remember, too, there is a difference in on/off duty times.  Engine crews often are (were) 30 minutes before and after while train crews had only 15 minutes before and after.  Of course there were rosters at various terminals with "home" crews but other crews worked in and out; there were freight and passenger rosters; there were extra boards sometimes mixed freight and passenger, sometimes totally seperate; there were commuter rosters and non commuter rosters...each railroad, each terminal, each craft had their own contracts which were inherited by the next merger, changed or not, and inherited with yet the next merger, etc.  Labor contracts and mergers are a hodgepodge of rules, regulations, contract clauses, seniority districts, operating districts, merged and unmerged rosters, etc.  And no two railroads and unions contracts seemed to be exactly alike so that they fit together like hand and glove. I've told this story before...and I will only vouch for it as a story,not neccessarily factual.  The DL&W had a train out of Washington, NJ about 6:30 each morning arriving in Hoboken about 8:30.  The engine, crew at least, was said to remove their coveralls, grab a ferry to Barclay St. and work the stockmarket until 4 PM and return to Hoboken.  There they donned thier overalls, climbed aboard their train for a 5:30 departure to arrive back home in Washington about 7:30.  Their assignement had that duty cycle that allowed a full day on Wall St. while getting a full day's pay as engineer and fireman!  As I said, I'm not sure whether the train crew could do it or not, and it is a story that was told to me often in the '50s.  [/quote]   My uncle, who lived in Flushing and rode the Long Island to the city from Station Road, told me that his company, which was a national supermarket chain, had a Long Island Railroad trainmen who worked in his office, which was located in the Greybar Building off of Grand Central.  This was 1956 or 1957.  He was essentially a runner, coffee maker, and mailroom clerk.  He worked a morning train to the city and an evening train from the city.
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