Re: Straight to engineer

Guys - Keep working as a fireman and qualifying on the territory separate. Anyone that can show the experience (service letter from another property as an engineer) or other ways can be hired as an engineer and then take the prescribed number of trips to learn the territory. Usual procedure in later days was to get signed off on the territory by the engineers they made student trips with. These student trips were usually without pay and were determined by how quickly one learned the route. As mentioned this would establish an engineer’s date. The person that had hired out as a fireman(usually in one of the shop crafts before being selected by railroad management to "go firing")would of course pick up the road as he worked as a fireman and would have the fall back position when lay-offs occurred. When he was "set-up" it was to be expected that he would have to make far fewer student trips to qualify on the territory. Hopefully this offers some clarity, if not ask again. SoCalCond