John West Wrote:
>
> Perhaps it was not as bad as it sounds. Each
> train from Durango or Chama usually meant three
> days of work, in terms of return legs, hill turns,
> and Farmington turns. When I first started
> visiting it was not unusual for there to be two
> trains a week from Alamosa and Durango, which
> resulted in six days of work for the crews. And
> Durango had a seven day a week switcher. The
> period that Earl cited was over the Christmas, and
> in my experience in engine service on the SP,
> crews often wanted to layoff during the holidays.
> So the lack of trains may have been as much to
> deal with crew availability as traffic to move.
> Earl knows the specific mechanics better than I,
> but presumably the ng. guys had the ability to bid
> in jobs on the standard gauge out of Alamosa if
> things got too slow on the ng. More generally, and
> assuming the DRGW was pretty much like the SP,
> operating employees stayed busy by moving around
> to where the work was. And often you could take
> advantage of paid deadheads and a few boards
> guaranteed a minimum whether you worked or not.
> It required a bit a flexibility, but you could
> make a good living at it.
>
> I have a friend who was a pilot for UA (now
> retired). He used to like to work "reserve" (what
> at the railroad we called the extra board) because
> he often got extra days off with pay when they
> didn't need him. And he lived a long way from
> where his crew base was. It reminded me of the
> old days on the railroad when we played the same
> kind of games. But his deadheads were a lot
> faster.
>
> JBWX
Thanks for the detail, John! The scenario makes a lot more sense now.
Yeah, for the airline guys, reserve can be a good thing, as long as you have a way to make good use of the time....and you're not trying to build flying time. Unfortunately, many of the folks working reserve are younger folks who are new to the line, so they are trying to pad their logbooks for future jobs, captain upgrades, etc. Like the railroads, airlines are typically seniority-based organizations. It does stink to have to deadhead to work. At least on the D&RGW, if the train providing the deadhead ride was late, the line might be understanding if the crewmember was late. On the airlines, folks are frequently deadheading on other lines and their bosses might be less understanding. It's a different kind of life than most of us are used to.
Have a great holiday!
/Kevin Madore
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/2018 07:11AM by KevinM.
