I've Been Working On the Railroad Part 5

The Rack Clerk

Most stations of Superior’s size had a yard rack clerk and an industry rack clerk.  The rack had small slots just large enough to hold a deck of IBM punch cards and had a labeled slot for each track in the yard. It was the rack clerk’s responsibility to work closely with the yardmaster to make sure there was an accurate paper representation of each track in the yard. Yardmaster shifts were 6am-2 pm, 2pm-10 pm, and 10 pm - 6 am. Before the next shift yardmaster would come on duty, the rack clerk would need to run switch lists of the entire yard using the IBM 402 and the punch cards. It was imperative that those cards stay in order, and the tracks also run in a certain order so the yardmaster was best equipped to plan the work of his switch crews. A rack clerk’s worst nightmare would be to drop a multi track deck of cards which would then need to be put back in order using the most recent switch lists.

Claudia and Dewey LaJoie were the longtime husband and wife team that manned the day shift rack positions at 17^th St. Dewey was responsible for the industry rack while Claudia was the yard rack. Both had a great sense of humor, were willing to share what they knew about railroading, and made newcomers feel comfortable. Claudia was more of a “mother hen” personality, while Dewey was quiet and reserved. The pair complemented each other well.

The yard rack clerk would receive the marked up switchlists back from the yardmaster showing the work he expected the switch crews to do.  If things went as planned, the rack clerk could then switch the cards to the marked  tracks in his rack to reflect that work. In many instances the switch crew didn’t accomplish all so it was wise to wait until the yardmaster gave the word when the tracks were completely switched.  If the crew was making up a train, as soon as it was done, the rack clerk would run another switch list for the manifest clerk so they could do their job of getting the consist and wheel reports ready for the conductors. If the switch crew was spotting an industry, or several with  a transfer, the rack clerk would take that track and hand it and list to the industry rack clerk. The industry rack clerk would need to make sure the cars were spotted on the correct track in the rack. He also received information from the industries when cars were loaded or empty. This would be reported to C.O.M.P.A.S.S. and a new switch list would be run for the yardmaster showing the crews could pull the cars out of the industry. Several of the satellite stations, Superior East end, Mikes yard, and Duluth East side, reported to their respective  industry rack clerks by way of Telecopier. The telecopier was a precursor to the fax machine. You would put your paper list into the machine, dial a phone number and place the handset in the cradle to start the copying and sending process. The receiving person would receive a copy of what you were sending on their telecopier.  Many times the list was not fully readable and would need a follow up phone call for verification of car numbers or other data.

 The industry clerk also reported the Interchange between other railroads thereby releasing responsibility of the rail car to the other railroad.  From 17^th st, we interchanged with the LSTT, the CNW, the Soo Line, Milwaukee Road. Later, after the DWP built Pokegama yard, they were also added to the Interchange list.  Before the yardmaster shift change, the industry clerk also needed to run the industry yard switch lists for the yardmaster to be able to plan the work for his crews.