I've Been Working on the Railroad Part 1

I spent many years working for the Burlington Northern Railroad and later BNSF. The next few posts describe a little of my job there.

I was always stressed during job interviews and the interview I had with Maurie Tessier from the Burlington Northern Railroad was no exception. I had applied for a job almost a year before but apparently at the end of the hiring season and had actually forgotten about it when the call for an interview came. Mr Tessier was a balding middle aged person with glasses and a smile that immediately put me at ease. He explained what a clerk would be doing, some of the jobs, that the pay scale was union, and a few other details. He offered insight into what the extra board was, and explained that after a couple of years on the extra board, I would have enough seniority to hold a bulletined position and would be set until retirement. Neither of us could have foreseen the economic changes that were about to occur and how his statement would be so far from the truth.  I was hired, but needed a “company physical” before I could start working so was told to schedule that ASAP and wait for my first call.

            The call came almost 2 weeks later. On June 12, 1977 I was to be a janitor at the Allouez scalehouse. Being new, and unfamiliar with the locations, I needed to ask for directions. The job worked from 7am - 3 pm and included not only the 3 story scalehouse but the switchmen’s lunch room. Everything on the railroad was on the job training so when I arrived I met the person who would be showing me the ropes: what needed cleaning, where the supplies were, timing the lunchroom when the building was not occupied. The day flew by.  It was only a one-day vacancy so the next day I was back on call on the extra board.

            The clerk’s extra board in 1977 was strictly by seniority.  A crew caller was tasked with filling the vacancy by calling people in seniority order. If there was more than one vacancy available when they called, you were given a choice. The crew caller called people until all vacancies were filled. As a clerk, we had specific call times when we needed to be available: From 5-7 am, from 1-3 pm and from 9-11 pm. They could call at other times but we were not penalized for not being available outside of our regular call times. This was before the days of cell phones so you pretty much needed to be home “in case the railroad called.”

            My second day on the job I was a chief clerk at the 17^th st yard office. It was hard for my parents to understand that despite the job title, I was not given a promotion the second day of working.  Again, it was only a one day vacancy and involved overseeing the yard office operations, answering the phones and listening to the company radio. The chief clerk directed the yard clerks to check the incoming and outbound trains and in general make sure everything ran smoothly.  . I had a trainer, which made it much less stressful. I remember my parents laughing at the so called “promotion”. Janitor one day and chief clerk the next.  Thus began my career on the railroad.