Coal crapping

[NW Mailing List]

A "coal crapper" could then be something of a satirical name for a coal thief, someone who "cropped" from the railroad and the mines it served.  I have heard the term "cropping on shares" used in jocular political discourse in Georgia, as in "That candidate's been half-cropping for Georgia Power," or some other poltically dubious connection. 
 
Neill:
So far the discussion has been based thievery based on a lump or two or maybe what a man could
throw off a loaded hopper.  Back in the 70's, N&W had "coal crappers" that made these people
look "penney-ante".  There's a prescribed method of distributing empty hoppers so that every mine
gets an equitable share.  When there's a demand for coal, it's important that every mine gets its
proportion of what hoppers are available-- maybe not all they need. . . but their fair share.  The
proposed distribution of the empties is PUBLISHED.    The Car Distributor is responsible for seeing
each mine gets the  number of hoppers designated in the publication.

Back in the 70's, there had been an increase in Lamberts Point dumpings.  Hoppers were scarce.
Mines were crying for empties.  A friend had been transferred from Asst. Trainmaster at Wilcoe
to Operations Planning in Roanoke.  He told me the Asst. Superintendent had called and asked
if he wanted to go to Roanoke.  This friend asked the Asst. Super, "what's the job ?"  The Asst.
Super replied,"I don't know, but you've got 20 seconds to answer."  So he thinks it through --
he has a family living in the wilds of West Virginia with two children getting an education.  "OK,
I'll move."  

Time passes and one afternoon, he (and I) are told to report for a special project at 7:00 AM the
next day. Later on, I'm told there's no need for me to report.  At 7:00 AM, he reports and finds himself
standing before R. F. Dunlap, VPO.  Mr. Dunlap wants to know about the distribution of empty
hoppers.  HIs answer satisfies Dunlap.  Later on that day, the N&W Property Protection cops
bring the Pocahontas Division Asst. Superintendent Bluefield to Roanoke in hand-cuffs.  Seems
that he, several car distributors, and others have manipulated the empty hopper distribution to
their own benefit.  Instead of cash, the railroad officials receive loaded coal cars from a fictious
mine for their co-operation in diverting empties.  Train crews on one of the mine runs started asking
questions when they couldn't put the pieces together.  So my friends' transfer to Roanoke was a
maneuver to get him out of the picture.             Harry Bundy     

     

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20100607/4f7ebbe5/attachment.htm>