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Re: (erielack) PV Line Industrial Question - Hours of Crossing Protection in Hackensack

Gordon,
    I found ur post interesting where it cited the D&H agreement about 
utilizing someone who had been injured in the Company's service for a 
guaranteed job as a crossing watchman. This must have been a practice on the 
DL&W too and long before there was any 'agreement'.
        I can cite from family experience that of my father's grandfather in 
West Pittston, Pa. (on the DL&W's 'Bloom' or Northumberland branch). Dad's 
grandfather had lost a leg while working for the DL&W railroad in the 1890s 
& was thereafter employed as a crossiing watchman in reward for faithful 
service to the Company. There was NO Social Security or other benefit in 
that bygone era if you lost a limb in an industrial accident.  My father was 
born in 1906 and told me that when he was seen by his grandfather near the 
Luzerne Avenue crossing where the old man worked as the crossing watchman, 
he knew he'd get paddled when he returned to the Smith family home at 318 
Spring street.
       For personal experience, when I worked on the Scranton Division of 
the former DL&W in 1962 , I heard some of the brakemen refer to the East end 
of Scranton freightyard as 'Hennigan's Junction'. I asked where that name 
came from & was told that there had been a shanty there for 'an old 
one-legged Irish switchman' who lined up the switches at the East end of the 
yard.
         Finally, I refer to a recent book of photographs on the Syracuse 
Division of the former DL&W. Most of the fotos were in the late 19th century 
and one of them showed a crossing watchman in Cortland, NY. standing on the 
crossing with one wooden leg. I guess it was a very widespread practice.
Regards to all,
Walter E. Smith

>From: Gordon Davids <g.davids_@_verizon.net>
>Reply-To: Gordon Davids <g.davids_@_verizon.net>
>To: erielack_@_lists.elhts.org
>Subject: Re: (erielack) PV Line Industrial Question - Hours of Crossing 
>Protection in Hackensack
>Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2006 15:47:06 -0400
>
>>>
>Ken -
>
>In my timetables from 1957 and 1963, there is no mention of "Hours of 
>Crossing Protection" on the NY&NY RR.  The subject is covered in both 
>timetables for the Caldwell Branch, so it is not an omission for the NJ&NY. 
>  A logical conclusion is that the NJ&NY crossings were manned 
>continuously, at least as late as 1963.
>
>By 1967 the nine crossings in Hackensack, along with Washington Ave in 
>Westwood and Central Ave in Pearl River, were manned Mon-Sat with split 
>shifts for the commuter hours, so each crossing was manned eight hours per 
>day.  The crossing watchmen worked for the Maintenance of Way Department.  
>While I was in Hoboken 1968-1970, we had a Supervisor of Crossing Watchmen 
>who reported to the Division Engineer.
>
>It seems wasteful by modern standards to keep a crossing watchman on duty 
>for a shift that might never see a train, but there was another factor 
>involved (e.g. pre-1967).  I don't recall the specific arrangement on the 
>Erie or the Lackawanna, but I know it was common practice to assign 
>employees who had been injured or disabled on duty to crossing watchman 
>jobs.  The D&H agreement stated that employes disabled in the Company's 
>service were to be placed on the roster for crossing watchmen with 
>seniority ahead of the oldest able-bodied employee.  At least into the 
>1950's it could well have been the policy that it was better to keep these 
>employes working the crossings than to pay them off to stay home.
>
>Gordon Davids
><<
>Subject: Re: (erielack) PV Line Industrial Question
>
>Back in the days when the Pascack Valley Line/N.J. & N.Y. R.R. had 
>manually-operated crossing gates at various Hackensack street crossings 
>which, I suspect, were operated for morning & evening passenger trains.  
>Were there operators on duty for freight trains?  If not were crews 
>required to flag the crossings?
>
>Ken Bush
>
>
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