Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
A note from an extra board survivor..many times over. When I first went to work on the CNW, in the summer of '69, I was on the Wisconsin Division extra board. It was road freight only, and one could never predict when they'd be called. The division was brakeman starved, so we would generaly "get out on our rest." Meaning as soon as your 8 hours rest was fullfilled, you were back on parade. "The board is spinning," was the phrase used. But as soon as men came back from vacation, things would slow down. You would tie up, at the end of a trip and be old, "You're 10 times out, nothin' showing." Meaning 9 guys ahead of you, and no vacancies to be filled. So a whole day goes by and you call the caller. "7 times out, with a pool job showing later today," he'd say. So you'd go out for a while, come back and call again. "I was trying to get you, you're called for 295, 9pm at the ramp." Bingo...Just when you thought you'd have another nigt's sleep, you were off. Upon return you'd be told, "Better stick around, I only have 2 men rested." And you'd sit for 3 days before being called. Yes...If you're not on a gaurantee board (one that pays you just for staying marked up) you may get as little as 20 hours work in a half. But it's rare. That would be only one trip in 2 weeks. I've seen it bad, but never that bad. They'd just "furlough" you. The Milwaukee board on the Milwaukee Road was better, especially after I was promoted to conductor. You could work down to Chicago, west to Portage, over to Savanah, and up to Green Bay, with a delicious assortment of local patrols to work, and, as an added bonus, all the Fox Lake suburban, and Amtrak passenger jobs. There was a time when we could only get 3 days a week out of all that. The South Shore Line's engineer's extra list was good. Gauranteed, and with the variety of flagman's, collectors', conductors',and engineers' jobs to be called for. Sometimes punching tickets, sometimes punching automobile bumpers on 11th Street. All Passenger lists are good to work on. If you get along with the caller, you can see what jobs are vacant, you know when they go to work, and sometimes get an "early call" ahead of the standard calling time, and do some errands. But quite frankly, I would rather have root canal work done than work an extra list today. Mitch
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag