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I am assuming you are talking about American railroads. 1. Where there are 2 man crews working without remote control on common carrier railroads, yes. 2. No. There were firemen well into the diesel era. 3. Sometimes. It was usually the Engineer, Fireman and Head End Brakeman. The Conductor, Rear End Brakeman and/or Flagman rode the caboose on road trains. 4. Sometimes. Usually a train has only one Conductor who is also the "Boss" of the train crew. In passenger service the conductor and other trainmen wear uniforms and collect tickets these other folks can go by a variety of names depending upon the railroad and the exact duties and include: Trainmen, Assistant Conductors, Brakemen and Ticket Takers. 5. See #4. Yes there is seniority in play and as one moves up the train service roster one can hold various positions. Different railroads may divide the rosters differently by job and promotion. For example, a new brakeman could hold the brakeman's roster, but not the Flagman's or Conductor's roster. One rose by seniority and knowledge of the craft and through periodic promotion exams. 6. No. Usually it is a fireman or in the case of Amtrak an Assistant Engineer who is also a fully certified Locomotive Engineer under the CFR. With regard to the black employees on southern railroads. They suffered discrimination at the hands of others just as their counterparts in other industries did. I believe the photo you are talking about depicts a black Fireman. Typically Fireman did some running of trains, but that would probably depend upon whether the Engineer would allow it. LC
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