Railwaystation.com presents an Ebook for Railfans and Train Historians:
1942 Quiz Book on Railroads and Railroading
[ Railwaystation.com main site ]
[ home ]
[ about ]
[ contents ]
[ search ]
<=== PREVIOUS PAGE || NEXT PAGE ====>
Page 10 of 1942 Quiz Book on Railroads and Railroading
ORGANIZATION AND PERSONNEL
245. How many persons does it take to operate the American railroads?
The number of persons required to run the railroads increases or decreases according to railway traffic and earnings. When railway revenues were
at their peak, in 1926, the railroads employed an average of 1,883,560 persons. In 1933, the low year of the depression, when railway revenues were at their lowest, they employed an average of 1,028,533 persons. In 1941, the average number of persons employed was 1,212,000.
246. Do all railroads have similar departmental organizations?
Each railroad company shapes its organization to fit its particular requirements. A small railroad may have only a few officers and employees and a very simple departmental setup. A large railway company, with many thousands of employees and doing a business of many millions of dollars annually, has a much more extensive organization,
with several major departments and many minor departments, divisions and bureaus.
247. What are the different departments of a railroad?
Generally speaking, the railroad organization is grouped in nine major departments-Executive, Operating, Engineering and Maintenance of Way, Mechanical, Traffic, Law, Treasury, Accounting, and Purchasing and Stores. On most railroads the Engineering and Maintenance and Mechanical departments are branches of the Operating Department.
248. What are the responsibilities of the chief executive officer of the rail-
road?
The Executive Department is headed by the President and includes his staff of assistants. The President is the responsible head of the railway
organization. He is accountable to the Board of Directors and to the stockholders for the property and its efficient operation. He is expected to safeguard the financial condition of the company and to manage the property so that it will render satisfactory service to the public and meet its financial
obligations. Having risen usually from the ranks, he is a man of seasoned judgment and wide experience in railway affairs. Since the success or failure
of his administration depends in large measure upon the ability, enterprise and integrity of his principal officers and his staff of assistants, he must
be a master in judging men and must exercise great care in selecting his subordinate officers.
249. What are the functions of the Operating Department?
The Operating Department, usually headed by a Vice President or a General Manager, is, with respect to the number of persons employed, the largest department on the railroad. This department operates the trains, the freight stations, the passenger stations, and usually attends to the maintenance of the railway plant. Under the Vice President or General Manager on the larger railroads are the General Superintendents and other operating officers responsible for the efficient operation of trains. Each General Superintendent is in general charge of a certain part of the railroad. Under each General Superintendent are Division Superintendents, each in charge of a division of the railroad. Under the Division Superintendents are trainmasters, dispatchers and various minor division officers. Station and train service employees, such as station agents, locomotive engineers and firemen, conductors, brakemen, flagmen and trainmen are assigned to a division and report to the division officers.
250. What are the functions of the Engineering and Maintenance Department?
The Engineering and Maintenance Department, usually headed by a Chief Engineer, is charged with the construction and maintenance of fixed property, such as roadway, tracks, yards, bridges, station and shop buildings, coaling and water stations and numerous other facilities. Under the Chief Engineer on the larger railroads are the Engineer of Construction, Engineer of Maintenance of Way, Engineer of Bridges, Engineer of Buildings and other general engineering officers. Under the Engineer of Maintenance of Way are District Engineers and Division Engineers, and under the Division Engineers are Roadmasters, each in
charge of the maintenance of a certain part of the division. Reporting to the Roadmaster are the Track Supervisors, and reporting to them are the Section Foremen, each assigned to the maintenance of a certain section of road.
251. What are the functions of the Mechanical Department?
The Mechanical Department, usually headed by a Chief Mechanical Officer or a Superintendent of Motive Power, is responsible for the maintenance of the railroad's rolling stock-locomotives, passenger and freight cars and work equipment and for the operation of locomotive and car shops. A few railroads are equipped to build their own locomotives, and many railroads build freight cars
in their own shops. All railroads maintain shops for the repair of locomotives and cars. Among the major officers of this department are the Mechanical Engineer, the Engineer of Tests, the Electrical Engineer, the Car Department Superintendent and other men with technical or special training. Each railway shop is in charge of a Master Mechanic, who reports to the Superintendent of Motive Power. Shop forces include general foremen, foremen, machinists, boilermakers, patternmakers, blacksmiths, and numerous other craftsmen.
252. What are the duties of the Traffic Department?
The Traffic Department, usually headed by a Vice President or Chief Traffic Officer, is the sales department of the railroad. It has charge of the solicitation of freight and passenger business, the securing of new industries and the development of new traffic for the railroad. This department also establishes freight rates and passenger fares, fixes prices of other railway services and negotiates with other railroads for the division of joint rates.
On many railroads the Traffic Department is made up of a Freight Department and a Passenger Department. The Freight Department includes several sub-departments, each specializing in some branch of traffic work, such as solicitation, rates,
tariffs and divisions, coal, coke and ore, industrial, agricultural, livestock and perishable freight traffic. The Passenger Department of many railroads
includes sub-departments which look after specialized activities such as dining car service, mail and express service, milk traffic, baggage and advertising.
253. What are the duties of the Law Department?
The Law Department, usually headed by a Vice President or a General Counsel, is responsible for the proper handling of all matters in which special knowledge of law is required. It not only handles matters before courts, state railroad commissions, the Interstate Commerce Commission and legislative committees, but also all other legal matters such as the drafting of contracts and agreements, deeds and other documents. The head of the Law Department usually has, in addition to his regular duties, general supervision over personal injury claims, property damage claims and tax matters.
254. Who looks after the money?
The Treasury Department, headed by the Treasurer of the company, receives and disburses money, checks and vouchers, issues or approves checks and vouchers, attends to the banking, issues pay-checks, keeps the record of stockholders and bondholders, and performs numerous other duties having to do with the financial affairs of the railroad.
255. What are the duties of the Accounting Department?
The Accounting Department, usually headed by a Vice President or a Comptroller, performs the vast accounting work required in connection with railway operations. It portrays in figures the operations of the railroad and its financial position. The auditing of departmental and station accounts, bills, vouchers and payrolls, the compilation of statistics and the preparation of statistical and financial reports are among the numerous duties of this department.
256. Who does the buying for the railroad?
This is the special function of the Purchasing and Stores Department. The Purchasing Agent, General Storekeeper and their staffs are charged with the responsibility of keeping the railroad supplied with thousands upon thousands of different materials and articles. They attend to the proper storage and distribution of materials, keep the inventories, place orders, fill requisitions, issue vouchers and perform numerous other duties incident to buying, storing and distributing fuel, materials and supplies required for the efficient operation of a railroad.
257. How many persons are required to keep railway tracks and equipment
in repair?
Track repair men, bridge and signal maintainers and other employees engaged in maintaining the roadway and other fixed property numbered 235,466 in 1941. Shop employees and others engaged in keeping locomotives, cars and other movable
equipment in repair and in handling railway supplies numbered 315,851 in 1941.
258. How much are railway employees paid in salaries and wages?
The total railway payroll increases or decreases with the rise and decline of railway traffic and earnings. In 1926, the year in which railway earnings were the highest, the Class I railway payroll totaled $2,946,114,000. In the depression year 1933, it fell off to $1,403,841,000. In 1941 it amounted
to $2,336,221,000.
259. How are railway train service employees paid?
Enginemen, firemen, conductors, and brakemen are paid on the basis of miles run. If it takes longer than a certain time to run the miles so paid for, they are paid for any hours over that certain time, in addition to the mileage pay. The modern oil-steel air-conditioned passenger coach, with controlled temperature and constant flow of filtered fresh air, combined with improved seating and lighting, provides maximum travel comfort.
In road freight train service, a basic day's work for pay purposes is 100 miles or less or 8 hours or less. If a run exceeds 100 miles, an employee receives additional compensation of 1/1OOth of his basic day's pay for each mile run. If time consumed in running the miles averages more than one hour for each 121/2 miles paid for, overtime payment at time and one-half is made for excess hours
consumed.
In through passenger service, a basic day's work for pay purposes for engineers and firemen is 100 miles or less or 5 hours or less, while that for conductors and trainmen is 150 miles or less or 71/2 hours or less. For mileage in excess of those amounts they receive additional pay on a pro rata basis.
260. What part of the railroad dollar is paid out in wages?
Forty-three and seven-tenth cents out of every dollar taken in by the Class I railroads in 1941 was paid out in wages.
261. What is the average hourly wage of railway employees?
The average hourly compensation of Class I railway employees in 1941 was 78.1 cents.
262. How much does the average rail road employee receive in wages in the
course of a year?
The average annual compensation of Class I railway employees in 1941 was $2,050.
263. What are the ten leading railway occupational groups?
Based upon the number of persons employed, the ten leading occupational groups in railroad service are, ranked in the order listed: (1) Section-men, (2) clerks, (3) skilled trades helpers employed in the maintenance of equipment and stores, (4) car builders and repairmen, (5) road freight brakemen and flagmen, (6) yard brakemen and yard helpers, (7) gang and section foremen, (8) machinists, (9) extra gang men, (10) road freight firemen and helpers. These ten groups include about 45 per cent of all railroad employees.
264. What is meant by seniority in railway service?
Seniority refers to the greater length of service of one employee as compared with that of another employee in the same occupational group on the same railroad. Brown became a locomotive engineer in 1908; Green in 1910. Both have worked for the railroad continuously since then. Hence, Brown has two years' seniority over Green and is entitled to preferential treatment in the assignment of locomotive runs.
265. How many railway employees are there for each locomotive in service?
There are approximately twenty-five railway employees for each locomotive in active service on the railroads of the United States.
266. What is known as "Rule G" in railway operations?
Rule G of the Standard Code of Operating Rules prohibits the use of intoxicants or narcotics by train service employees, station employees, dispatchers, telegraphers and other employees whose duties affect train operations. Early railroad rule books carried the prohibition in one form or another, and in 1897 the American Railway Association adopted Rule G (or Rule 7 as it was first
known).
267. What constitutes a train crew?
Generally speaking, the train crew of a steam-powered freight train consists of a conductor, a locomotive engineer, a fireman, and one or two brakemen or flagmen. The train crew of a steam-powered passenger train usually consists of a conductor, a locomotive engineer, a fireman, and a brakeman or flagman. A baggageman is sometimes required.
268. How many persons are employed in the operation of a long-distance passenger train?
The number of persons required to operate a long-distance passenger train varies according to the length of the run and the character of the train. On a train running between Chicago and the Pacific Coast, conductors, trainmen, engineers,
firemen and baggagemen change several times enroute. In addition to regular train crews, there are mail clerks (if mail is carried), a Pullman conductor, several Pullman porters, club car attendants, dining car stewards, cooks, several waiters and sometimes a stewardess. Altogether, from thirty to fifty different persons may be employed on such a run.
269. What is the average age of railway employees?
The average age of railway employees in 1939 was approximately 42.5 years, according to the Railroad Retirement Board.
270. What do the stars and bars on the sleeves of conductors', trainmen's and
flagmen's uniforms signify?
On most railroads the star represents twenty-five years of service, and each bar, or stripe, represents five years of service. Hence, three bars indicate that the wearer has been in the service of the railroad for fifteen or more years; four bars indicate twenty or more years of service; a star and
two bars indicate thirty-five or more years of service.
271. What is the oldest railway employees' brotherhood or union?
The Grand International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, which was organized in 1863 at Detroit, Michigan, as the Brotherhood of the Footboard, is the oldest railway labor organization in the United States.
272. What percentage of all railway employees are represented by labor unions?
It is estimated that between 85 and 90 per cent of all regular railway employees are represented by labor unions.
273. How many railway employees' unions are there in the United States?
There are twenty-one so-called "standard" railway labor unions and brotherhoods in this country. Twenty of them belong to the Railway Labor Executives' Association.
274. How are disputes between the railroads and their employees settled?
Most of them are settled by direct negotiations between representatives of employees and individual railroads. Under the Railroad Labor Act amended June 21, 1934, disputes which cannot be settled by direct negotiations may be referred by either party in the dispute to the proper division of the National Railroad Adjustment Board, whose duties are to interpret the rules and working conditions on the individual railroads. The Railroad Labor Act also created the National Mediation Board to act as mediator in disputes which are not properly referable to the National Railroad Adjustment Board. On the invitation of either party in the dispute, or upon acceptance by either party of its proffer of services, the National Mediation Board seeks to effect a settlement by mediation. If such efforts fail, the Mediation Board may suggest arbitration. If arbitration is accepted, a board of arbitration is appointed to hear the case and decide the issue. If
arbitration is not acceptable to both parties in the dispute, and if interruption of transportation service is threatened, the Mediation Board so notifies the President of the United States, and he may appoint an Emergency Fact Finding Board to investigate and report. The Board's findings do not
constitute an award and do not have to be accepted by either party. The law allows the board thirty days in which to complete its inquiry and submit its findings to the President, during which period neither party is permitted to take action to enforce its demands.
275. What per cent of all railway employees are women?
Women employees constitute about 3 per cent of all railway workers, according to statistics compiled by the Railroad Retirement Board.
276. What are the functions of the Railroad Retirement Board?
The Railroad Retirement Board is the federal government agency charged with (1) the administration of the retirement system for railroad employees under the provision of the Railroad Retirement Act, approved June 24, 1937, and (2)
the administration of the system of unemployment insurance for railway employees under the provisions of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, approved June 25, 1938.
277. Where are the headquarters and regional offices of the Railroad Retirement Board?
The Board maintains headquarters in Washington, D. C„ and regional offices in New York, Cleveland, Chicago, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, Denver, Seattle and San Francisco. In addition, district manager's offices are located
in fifty-three cities.
278. How many retired railway employees are receiving pensions or benefit payments under the Railroad Retirement Act?
On December 31, 1941, there were 156,513 persons receiving pensions under the Railroad Retirement Act, aggregate monthly disbursements amounting to $9,983,882.
279. How many railroads maintained pensions systems for their employees prior to the enactment of the Railroad Retirement Act?
Pension systems were in effect on 75 railroads of the United States when the Railroad Retirement Act was passed. Several of these systems had been in operation for more than a quarter of a century.
280. Why do train service employees wear uniforms?
The "Standard Code of Operating Rules" provides that employees on train service duty "must wear the prescribed badge and uniform and be neat in appearance." A uniformed employee is at once identified by the traveling public as a representative of the railroad.
281. Have most railway executives come up from the ranks?
A study of the careers of seventy-five railway presidents and chief executive officers-men who have "reached the top" in the railway field shows that sixty-seven of them entered railway service in minor capacities and advanced step by
step up the ladder. Seventeen started as clerks, ten as rodmen, eight as telegraph operators, six as messengers, four as stenographers, three as laborers, three as office boys, two as attorneys, two as call boys, and one each as assistant resident engineer, assistant signal engineer, assistant treasurer, claim adjuster, city passenger agent, transitman, chainman, machinist's apprentice, mail clerk, secretary, law clerk and track apprentice. On the
average, railway presidents reach their positions after thirty years of railway experience.
<=== PREVIOUS PAGE || NEXT PAGE ====>
[ Railwaystation.com main site ]
[ home ]
[ about ]
[ contents ]
[ search ]
[ BACK TO TOP ]
Site Content Manager is Ron Paludan. Site Design and Maintenance by Eve Paludan
Copyright © 2001 Railway Station Productions, LLC unless otherwise credited.
|
|
