As a young man I had a fun but dangerous job as a train brakeman | Columns

Eighty is another milestone I recently reached and it seems appropriate to reflect on. I never thought I would live this long.

When I was very young, I lived at times on the edge of the abyss and had a dangerous job. When I started working for the Illinois Central Railroad in 1962, the brakeman's job was considered one of the fifth most dangerous jobs in the country.

Insurance companies were reluctant to give me life insurance, and I paid higher premiums for other types of insurance. Medical insurance was provided by the company through its own hospitals, and in every town through which the railroad passed, the company had doctors on contract.

Being a brakeman was one of the most fun jobs a young man could do at the time. The pay was higher than most jobs in the country, the hours were unusual, you got to operate freight trains and sometimes work on passenger trains.

We serviced railroad stations, grain elevators, industrial facilities, and an air force base. The definition of “free and loose” perfectly described the job and lifestyle of a brakeman.

By “unfettered and free,” I mean we lived without a set schedule. One day you might be called to work at 11:30 p.m., and the next day you might be called to work at 2:00 p.m.

In through freight traffic, we worked with chain hoists on a first come, first served basis. This meant that if the train combination came out first, you got the next train that was listed, regardless of the time of day.

The extra board was even more chaotic because you didn't have a set partner or crew member to work with. As an extra, you had a new crew to work with every day, which made for some interesting matches.

Our train crews were not coordinated with the locomotive crews, so we worked with a different locomotive crew, a different driver and a different fireman on every journey. In the early days we still had firemen in the locomotive crew.

The only steady jobs were in the rail yard at Kankakee, Illinois, local freight trains, and five favorite combinations on auto parts trains that ran from Chicago to East St. Louis; our district took them to Clinton, Illinois. On the main line trains, we changed crews in Champaign, Illinois. On the through trains, we changed crews in Centralia, Illinois, and we drove the St. Louis passenger trains all the way to St. Louis.

As you can see, there was an endless variety of trains and locations where we worked from day to day. It was the perfect job for a kid who didn't want to be tied down to a factory shift. It was what every kid I grew up with wanted to do as we watched trains go by. Who wouldn't want to ride on a locomotive or a company car?

Not only did the job allow you to be a train crew, but it paid better than most jobs in factories, construction, teaching, police or fire. It's hard to describe the freedom this job gave a young man. Their life revolved around the job and 90% of the time it was just rock and roll on express trains, journeys lasting between three and 16 hours.

The payment was very complicated. It was based on a simple 100-mile day. Then you had to factor in the number of cars on the train, the time it took to get out of the first terminal (delayed at the first terminal) and the time it took to ram the train (delayed at the last terminal). Also factored in was maintenance while away (if you were held at a terminal other than your home terminal for more than 16 hours) and empty leg compensation if you had to take another train to yours.

As you can see, there were many different factors to consider to even know what to claim. We had to submit our claims on timesheets that were processed by payroll.

In those days there were no restrictions on getting on and off moving machines like there are today. We thought nothing of jumping on the front running boards of the locomotive as it approached us, sometimes at speeds of 10-15 miles per hour.

We would climb onto squad cars at 5-10 miles per hour, holding onto a handle with one hand, and grabbing the grab rail (the curved handle on either side of a squad car end) in hopes of overcoming the rear railing and handbrake at the back of the squad car.

We never thought about getting on or off moving equipment, whether locomotives, service cars or wagons. When picking up or putting down wagons, things moved quickly. We thought it was a game to see how fast we could make a move (picking up and putting down).

At that time, there were walkways on all freight cars and covered hopper cars, tank cars had walkways at the ends and sides of the car, hopper cars had no way to climb over the roof of the car, open freight cars and flat cars only had handrails and steps on the sides.

If we wanted to have some real fun and we had a train with only freight cars, it was not uncommon to run (against regulations) from the locomotives to the service car and back across the roof of the train at 60-70 miles per hour. It was both scary and exciting.

One of the most exciting things that could happen was that the SE-1 (the fastest freight train the IC ran), the CN-5, a speedy train to New Orleans, and the CB-9, a speedy train to Birmingham, Alabama, would leave Markham Yard simultaneously on three different main tracks and then race to Monee, Illinois, to see who could run the double-track section first.

There were several times when all three trains left Markham Yard at the same time and headed for Monee. Sitting on the locomotives, the noise was simply incredible as the three trains roared along the tracks at the same time. These were very exciting rides.

I will stop here, but will soon return to my time as a brakeman and conductor.

BERNARD LESLIE is a beekeeping expert living on Kentucky Lake in northeast Henry County. His email address is [email protected].