Traffic Representatives: What Was the Story Behind Them ?

[NW Mailing List]

Abe

Your question is a can of worms.  Traffic people came from all over.  
 From off the street so to speak to other railroads and other departments.

A good example is R. F. Dunlap.  His first job on the railroad from my 
memory was at the scrap wharf Roanoke Shops.  Next was in the Traffic 
Department and from there to the Operating department.  Briggs Thornton, 
George Ruff and others came from the operating department.  The two 
mentioned were Passenger Representatives that were on the new Arrow.  
John Adams Traffic Manager came from the Southern Railroads Freight 
Association in Atlanta and was our representative to that rate making 
body along with being in charge of N&W Pricing Lumber etc.   Other 
Departments there were similar.  Don Tolmie General Solicitor came from 
the PRR and a first class Attorney.   Of course I started in the 
operating department as a clerk on Roanoke Terminal.  There were a 
number of clerks from Roanoke Terminal that proceed my move to the 
Traffic Department.   Some later went to other departments including 
operating, computer and out in the field as Sales Reps. Back in the 60's 
most of the sales jobs were filled from people in the Traffic dept.  
Later with the training program some were sent to sales and other 
departments upon completion of training.

Actually my first job in Traffic was the file clerk in sales dept in the 
office of Joe Christoph Traffic/Sales  Manager for Atlantic and 
Pocahontas Region.   I knew from this job I had found a home. The best 
chance for advancement was in freight rates and being able to 
interpenetrate freight tariffs.  Rates was a good choice for me.  As for 
the sales they got the best they could find.  When the Norfolk Southern 
(old) was taken over we had our pick.  The N&W hired Tex Benton from the 
old NS to be a sales rep. in Houston, TX.  One of his calls was Texas 
Gulf & Sulpher. Needless to say it was a win for the N&W, Tex and our 
customer.

  I might add that the coal and passenger  depts. was not part of 
Merchandise Traffic.  TOFC pricing was.

Jim Blackstock

On 4/12/2024 12:31 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:
> Today someone sent me a photocopy of a 1967 N&W Passenger Time Table, and I took a gander at something nobody ever paid attention to - the listing of company Traffic Representatives.
>
> About 69 Representatives of the Traffic Department are shown, under these job titles: District Sales Manager, Sales Manager, Traffic Manager, Assistant Traffic Manager, Perishable Sales Representative and Passenger Sales Representative.
>
> These fellows were scattered as far away as Montreal, Toronto, New Haven, Los Angeles, Green Bay, Denver, Tulsa, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Portland Oregon &c.
>
> The on-line public face of the Traffic Department consisted of W.L. Butt at Bristol, R.E. Foster at Durham, W.O. Robinson at Norfolk, W.J. Deans Jr at Lynchburg, J.E. McCabe at Petersburg, C.R. Ford at Winston-Salem, and W.C. Pittman and W. Allen Thurman at Roanoke (both headquartered in the passenger station.) I have never heard any of these names before, so my guess is that the Traffic Department was rather much a "self-contained" operation, where people stayed within the department.
>
> So, this leads to my QUESTION ... HOW did the railroad fill Traffic Representative vacancies at far-flung places like Phoenix, Portland Oregon, and the Canadian jobs?
>
> My guess is the railroad hired people already located in those cities, men who already knew the commercial situation (re manufacturers, shippers &c) in those areas. Should the railroad send out a home-grown Virginia boy for one of those jobs, it would take him some years to get a good "handle" on the commercial situation and the players on the field, before he could become effective. These fellows did not just sit in the office and answer the phone, you know -- they pounded the pavement looking for car load sales.
>
> So... Just how did all this work? Where did the outlying Traffic Representatives come from? Perhaps the only man on this List who may have the answers is the Hon. James Blackstock, retired from said Department and now Mayor of Smith Mountain Lake, Va and Traffic Representative in Greater Metropolitan Chamblissburg.  Speak up, James... !
>
>        -- abram burnett
> Dabbler... Especially in Turnips
> ________________________________________
> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
> To change your subscription go to
> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/