Camp Cars

[NW Mailing List]

Jeff
 
I'll second that! Railroading for a living and railroading as a hobby are  
two different animals. I will always be interested in railroading from a  model 
and a historic view, but when I get to retirement age I'm  GONE!
 
Jim Kehn 
 
 
In a message dated 1/5/2008 8:11:01 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:


Gary,
 
Thanks for your honest assessment of camp car life.
 
I have enjoyed railfanning for over forty years, and I've enjoyed  
railroading for nearly thirty years. But the bottom line is that railroading  is a job. 
In most cases a railfan has to leave his "fanning" at home and get  serious 
about his job, if he wants to keep on working there.
 
Nights, weekends, 100 degrees, 14 degrees with a wind chill of -8, throw  in 
some downpours of rain, a foot of snow, sometimes for twelve hours (in the  
"good ole days" it was 16). Somewhere along the line we have all probably  
exposed ourselves to these elements for a short period of time to "get the  great 
shot", or see a special movement. But after having worked in these  
environments repeatedly through the years, I can tell you, as much as I love  
railroading, I wouldn't be out there if I wasn't getting paid.
 
Gary, my hat is off to you and your fellow workers for the hardships you  
endure while maintaining a good and safe workplace for the rest of  us. 
 
Godspeed, and my sincerest wishes for improved living conditions for you  on 
the hi-iron.
 
Jeff Sanders



----- Original Message ----- 
From:  _NW Mailing List_ (mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org)  
To: _NW Mailing List_ (mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org)  
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 12:21  PM
Subject: Camp Cars


This is a very touchy subject between supervision and contract  employees and 
trust me, the radio interviews are pretty bias, In order not  to ruffle 
management feathers, I will try to give you good and bad  situations about our home 
away from home.
 
The camp cars that I live in are 1971 trailers mounted to 1934  
ex-Pennsylvania Flat cars, built for Amtrak, sold to Conrail,merged into NS.  There is 8 
men sleeping in each car with only two showers to share among  them and one 
smaller than high-school locker to hang all your things in. We  have three sinks 
to share, and we have to walk outside,  (hot-cold-rain-shine) to use a 
portapotty.
 Jerry we get paid to work, not to use a out door john when its 0  degrees or 
100 degrees, once we get of work our pay stops, we are on our own  time while 
at the camp cars. There is nothing more miserable than waking up  at 3 a.m  
from a warm bed, getting dressed, putting on shoes and  walking outdoors just 
to take a crap when the temperature is so cold  that your butt freezes to the 
seat, or it is so hot that your are pouring  the sweat and nauseous from the 
stench. If one employee brings in a cold  chances are we all take it ourselves 
and carry it home with us. My car is  right next to the generator car, so guess 
what I have to hear all night  long. We all have TVS and DVD players, and 
Microwaves only because we bought  them ourselves. Our floor is falling through 
and we've had a mice problem  for several months now.
The mattress that I sleep on is smaller than a the twin size mattress  that 
my 9 year old daughter sleeps on, and my arms constantly hurt from  sleeping in 
a coffin-like state. Basically, NS didn't start putting money  into upgrades 
until somebody started complaining
 The good things about the cars is I personally love the  Railroading 
community and fellowship, I have a free ticket into the heart of  all the major 
railroad yards and facilities. I have set on my deck and  watched ships be loaded 
at Lambert's point and I've watched the endless  parade of trains from yards in 
Buffalo and Fort Wayne, but I love trains and  choose it as my career, most 
guys are there just for a paycheck.
 Harry, they still place occasionally beside the main line, last  year I was 
on the siding at Pearisburg, trying to sleep while trains passed  my car at 50 
mph just 6 feet from my window, one car off the track could  wipe a whole 
gang out at those speeds, how may trains derail into  hotels???
 Jimmy, yes we do receive three hot meals a day, it is deducted  from our 
paychecks, and in all reality, what kind of foods do you cook for  40-men?? 
Potatoes and beans, chicken etc... and usually all greasy, and you  have no choice 
over the menu,you either like it or you don;t, several guys  still go out to 
fast food because of the quality of food, oh and by the way,  we work from 
7-5:30, we don't eat supper until  we get off of work and  traditionally we pull 
overtime on Mon-Wed so if we work to 8-9 we have to go  back and eat food that 
has set since 5. Most of the gangs that approve  current conditions are 
Southern gangs that don't have to deal with the  sub-freezing temperatures that we 
have to up here, just this week, I had a  hot meal from lunch frozen almost 
instantly by the blustery wind that had  Hopewell chilled on Wed and Thursday.
 Another good thing is once your there your there, and you can  leave all you 
clothes, boots and supplies there, and not take them home  every week like 
checking out of a hotel on Thursday. We work predominately  in Nascar country so 
sometimes hotels can be sparse, and Ben Blevins can  speak on experience on 
finding hotels in West Virginia to house his small  gang in, as compared to the 
commute back and forth to the work site.
 
Hope this helps understand that things need to be a lot better, I'm in  favor 
of keeping the cars, BUT with major improvements, mainly indoor  toiletries.
 
Gary Price
Keeping the ole N&W safe one tie at a time
 
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