[PRCo] Re: Tunnel CH

[Fred Schneider]

John started another can of worms with railroad accidents.
Columbia Pennsylvania had a PRR yard even at the turn of the century before the
low-grade lines to the east were built.  It served only the Columbia Branch and the
Columbia and Port Deposit Branch and, of course, local industries.  Later on the round
house was just that ... 360 degrees ... but this was earlier.  The local stringer in
Columbia for the Lancaster New Era had a pipeline into the yards.  He knew of every
accident.  And there was about one a day in 1901-1902.  Anything possible.  Falling
off cars.  Goons opening blower valves while a crew was working in the smoke box of an
engine.  It was just unbelievable.  I kept a file of the accidents until I got tired
of the same things over and over.

John Swindler wrote:

> Not just carbarns lacked doors.  Homestead Works of US Steel was cold in
> winter, hot in summer, according to my father.  Most buildings had open
> doorways, which just made it easier for moving "stuff", to different parts
> of the mill.  Eliminates opening/closing doors, and eliminates opportunity
> for truck drivers and train crews to plow through a closed door.  But
> employees generally worked in middle - or far end of mill building.  The
> area closer to doorways - at least from a summer spent at 160" mill many
> years ago - tended to be storage areas.
>
> And maybe that somewhat explains lack of doors at carbarns, even in northern
> climates.  Security wasn't that strong of an issue.  They were just large
> "sheds" to keep part of fleet out of elements.
>
> So what about Homewood Shops??  Did the shop area have doors, or was it
> open??  And how much maintenance space was needed at Tunnel in earlier
> years???  (Opps, I see that Fred has already answered this question)
>
> Beyond that, Fred has a valid observation on working conditions and
> labor-management relations (or lack thereof).  It's difficult to realize the
> way things were just a couple generations ago.  From reading old newspapers,
> the railroads seemed to be a particularly brutal place to work for injuries
> and fatalities.
>
> John
>
> >From: Fred Schneider <fschnei at supernet.com>
> >Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >To: Boris Cefer <boris6 at volny.cz>, pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >Subject: [PRCo] Re: Tunnel CH
> >Date: Sun, 11 Apr 2004 14:04:39 -0400
> >
> >To the group:  This dialog started when Boris attached a PRC picture of
> >Tunnel Carhouse that I had taken, and asked about doors on Tunnel
> >Carhouse.  Thought some of the rest of you might find some of it
> >interesting.  And Happy Easter to all of you.  By the way, I'm putting
> >off processing the church collection.
> >You just don't understand the concept!  Doors cost money.  If the
> >workers get frost bitten fingers you simply hire replacement workers.
> >
> >I'm not trying to sound sarcastic.  This was the way management
> >thought.  This was also one of the reasons behind the development of
> >labor unions in the 19th and 20th centuries.
> >
> >Some workers didn't even have a roof.  Pacific Electric Railway did
> >routine operating repairs on PCC cars and the 5050 class, and before
> >that the 800s, at Toluca Yards just outside the Hollywood subway
> >tunnel.  The place had a pit.  What did they do when it rained?  The
> >help got wet.  How about those heavy spring rains in southern California
> >that are driven horizontally by the winds?  Well, productivity
> >suffered.  The help huddled around a stove in a shed.  I recall that
> >Boston's Cleveland Circle car house had doors when I first saw it in the
> >1950s but I also remember thinking how unusual that was.  I don't
> >remember doors at any Pittsburgh car house.  Nor do I remember doors on
> >any Philadelphia barn.
> >
> >Some rudimentary effort may have been made to keep workers warm.  Some
> >Philadelphia facilities had a separate shop track with doors and heat.
> >Some companies may have put radiant or resistance heaters in the pits to
> >change them from downright miserable and bone numbing  to simply cold.
> >
> >Companies in the United States believed that the investors and managers
> >came first.  Wage employees were expendable property that could be
> >replaced if they did something wrong.  This was particularly true during
> >the period of massive European immigration.  The earliest documentation
> >I've seen of any company providing benefits, as we know them, was an
> >announcement by R. P. Johnson, President, Lehigh Valley Transit Co., on
> >July 4, 1913 that is company would not provide company paid insurance,
> >sick benefits and pensions and a $200 death benefit.  The company
> >offered $1.00 a day when sick, medical and surgical benefits "under
> >certain conditions," and a $20 monthly retirement benefit after 25 years
> >service.  To put this all into perspective, the national average
> >compensation for wage employees in 1911 (according to the U. S. Census
> >of Electric Railways) was $674.26, which breaks down to $56.18 a month
> >of $2.16 a day if we assume a six day workweek.  Because wages in the
> >Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton area were significantly below the stational
> >average at that time, they were offering about 50% of salary on
> >retirement and 50% a day for sick leave.  But remember that this was
> >highly unusual at time and I suspect warranted a lot of hate mail to
> >Johnson from the presidents of other traction companies.  Ron DeGraw
> >told me that his father, a Philadelphia and Western motorman, received
> >no benefits until after World War II.  Vacations?  You got to be
> >kidding.  And if you have enough saved up to be able to do it on your
> >own, you don't belong here.  Unemployment insurance?  That came out of
> >the creation of the federal-state employment service by the
> >Wagner-Peyser Act in 1938.
> >
> >Back to doors.  In Pittsburgh, the Manchester, Homewood, and Tunnel
> >general overhaul shops had doors.  Kensington in Philly had doors.  Most
> >overhaul shops in the north had doors.  I think even Pacific Electric
> >put doors on the Torrance Shop in southern California.
> >
> >Satisfactory?
> >
> >fws
> >
> >
> >
> >Boris Cefer wrote:
> >
> > >  I cannot imagine replacing small parts such as contacts at about 5F.
> > > Did they use an acetylene burner to keep fingers warm??? You cannot do
> > > such jobs with mittens on your hands!
> > > From: Fred Schneider
> > >  They added doors after it became an overhaul shop.
> > >
> > > Lack of doors on car houses was anything but unusual.  You just
> > > dressed warmly in the winter.  Overhaul shop buildings often had doors
> > > because cars would stay inside for hours.  Carbarns generally either
> > > didn't have them or they were not kept closed because openening and
> > > closing them would be more of a chore than freezing.  Applies to many
> > > northern cities and virtually all southern US cities.
> > >
> > > Boris Cefer wrote:
> > >
> > >> Hi, Fred! Do you remember any doors on Tunnel carhouse buildings
> > >> (barn)? The photo doesn't seem to show any. It had to be tremendous
> > >> to work there in winters. Boris
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
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