Re: Rio Grande Engineer Jim Pearce Time Book January, 1958 - July, 1958

Yes.

I find it interesting that Jim, as a promoted engineer would chose to work at a lower pay rate as a Hostler. The only reason I can think to do this is to stay closer to home. Working as an engineer in Durango in the late 1950's, There were four possible jobs: the switch engine - a job usually held by the engineer with the highest seniority, the Silverton Branch in the summer - held by the number 2 seniority holder, freight run to Chama, freight run to Farmington. These freight runs were called from a pool board. The amount you worked was purely based on how much business the railroad had - in this case came much pipe and drill mud was being shipped to Farmington. Chama trips were two-day affairs, as Dave pointed out - usually at night so as to connect more efficiently with the trains coming from Alamosa. The Alamosa crews generally worked in daytime. Durango crews arrived early in the morning, went on thier rest, and were back on duty about the time the train arrived from Alamosa. The Durango crews would then make another overnight run back to Durango. Back in Durango the next morning, the Farmington Branch would be on duty to take the train south. The Farmington runs could be long, draw out affairs of 16 hours, because of the lack of track capacity in Farmington. Frequently, the main line ended up being the local team track with crews standing around waiting for cars to be unloaded, just so they could be moved.