100 mile rule

[rclanger]

Thanks to everyone for the information.

[Railway Man]

johncolley

This was indeed a holdover from even earlier days of steam. Division points were set up around 100-120 miles apart because the early engines required inspection and maintenance servicing after that long a run! When the Unions came in they originally contracted that a run between two division points was the standard for a day's work/pay. This was eventually taken as the standard equivalent for locals and finally included yard work. Then the Government legislated this equivalent into what became the "hours of Service" Law. John

 

Until 1907, many crew districts were much longer than 100 miles.  160 to 200 mile districts were quite common especially on western roads.  Some districts were much shorter.  The length of the district was determined by whatever the railway thought it ought to be.  The passage of the Federal Hours of Service Law in 1907, which limited on-duty time of enginemen and trainmen to 16 hours, and the passage of the Adamson Act in 1916, which codified the eight-hour standard workday for railway workers engaged in interstate commerce, resulted in union agreements that established the 100-mile run as the equivalent of a day's pay.  That, and only that, created the more-or-less standard 100-mile crew district.  Many crew districts that were longer than 100 miles had to be shortened, and as a result many long-time crew change terminals were at that time abandoned and relocated.

It's become conventional wisdom now that the 100-mile district was an outcome of the technical limits of the steam locomotive.  While the steam locomotive did have its limits, different locomotives on different roads in different services had wildly divergent servicing requirements.  The 100-mile day is a legal and social decision, not really a technical one.  Had the public decided, for example, that a 32-hour day was just and proper, then we'd have 200-mile districts and the railroads would have figured out how to make their locomotives run that far, and today we would be taught by the railroad press and the authorities that the steam locomotive was only good for 200-miles before it needed servicing.

RWM

 

[johncolley]

This was indeed a holdover from even earlier days of steam. Division points were set up around 100-120 miles apart because the early engines required inspection and maintenance servicing after that long a run! When the Unions came in they originally contracted that a run between two division points was the standard for a day's work/pay. This was eventually taken as the standard equivalent for locals and finally included yard work. Then the Government legislated this equivalent into what became the "hours of Service" Law. John

[tomikawaTT]

The 100 mile rule was a holdover from the earliest days of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, a time when most steam locomotives had a maximum range of approximately 100 miles before needing mechanical attention and over-the-road start-to-stop speed seldom exceeded 10mph.  Note that, in that 100 miles, that locomotive might need to stop for water a half-dozen times and either coal up or wood up several times as well.

If you had told an engineman of that era that a multiple-unit consist of high-horsepower locomotives (under control of a single engineer) might run from the Port of Long Beach to New Jersey with nothing but crew changes and a few refueling stops, and that a mainline crew on a transcon could expect to run Tucson-El Paso in a single shift, he would have been sure that the stuff in your pipe WASN'T tobacco!

Chuck

[challenger3980]

Truckers have a 10 hour driving limit before they have to rest for 8 hours before driving again.  The number of miles don't count, just driving time.

 Those are the OLD hours of service rules, in January of 2004, the rules were changed. The old HOS rules allowed for 10 hours of driving, within 15 hours on duty, followed by a minimum of 8 hours off duty. These rules also allowed a driver to stretch his 15 hours by logging off duty time, so if a driver started at 12:00 midnight, 15 hours would be 3:00 pm, if he(or She) logged 3 hours(as an example) off duty, during the day, they would be allowed to work until 6:00pm. I myself had used this loophole to work many days that would stretch as much as 19-20 hours, legally, from the time that I went on duty.

  In January of 2004, the HOS rules for Truck Drivers(Federal Interstate Rules) were changed to 11 hours behind the wheel, but reduced the The begin-end time to 14 hours, rather than 15 overall for the day, and closed the off duty stretch the day loophole, now if a driver starts at 12:00, they have to be logged off duty by 2:00pm, even if they take, say an hour long lunch break, they still have to be done driving, by 2:00pm. A driver would still be allowed to work past 14 hours, say loading/unloading, or truck repairs, but they would need to have the 10 hour minimum off duty time, before returning to work.

  The old rules also limited a drivers HOS to either 60 hours/ 7 days or 70hours/ 8 days, period. The new rules still have the same 60/7 or 70/8 limits, but allow a driver to reset their 60 or 70 hour clock after having 34 unbroken hours off duty, this equals the 10 hour minimum, plus one full day off duty. The reason for the changes were to try and keep drivers to a more consistent schedule, so the bodie's Circadium Rythum (spelling?) could adjust, reducing driver fatigue.

Doug

[BRAKIE]

Here's the rub..It can take 12 hours to go 100 miles! You see you have meets,you can be held at a crossing diamond,slow orders,slow trains ahead of yours etc..

Your actual train speed may average 22 mph or less!

I recall one time we took a cut of loaded hoppers to a rail/barge transloader and it took 8 hours to make the 40 mile round trip and all we have to do was drop the loads and pick up the empties.

You see we was held at Limeville waiting for a clear inbound track for 4 hours..You see we wasn't very high on the pecking order for inbound tracks as they ran several trains around us during that 4 hours...

[Omaha53]

What I heard from a railroad supervisor was that it was a hold over from the days of steam when shoveling coal for 100 miles was a days worth of work.

[rclanger]

In the March MR Jim Hediger answered a question about crew change procedures.  He mentions the 100 mile union work-day rule.  A hundred miles seems very short, maybe its era specific.  Truckers have a 10 hour driving limit before they have to rest for 8 hours before driving again.  The number of miles don't count, just driving time.

Does someone have more information about this rule?

Thanks,