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A younger worker would lose out when the

engineer bumped" him. When the engineer's job reopened, he reclaimed his job, and the fireman reclaimed his position in seniority. If the engineer did not return to his last position, the fireman lost seniority. The conductors, brakemen, and flagmen were in "train service," and they were all "trainmen." A furloughed conductor could take a job as brakeman, but couldn't cross over to being a fireman, which was a different service - a separate entity. · Of course, one had to qualify for advancement. A brakeman had to pass a written examination to become a conductor, then take an oral examination on the physical characteristics of the railroad for the division he would be covering, usually a 100-mile limit. Next, he would have to pass a further examination to become a passenger conductor and qualify for an additional division. Only then was he allowed to be in charge of a train on the B&O Railroad. He had to qualify for his entire seniority district. (The government's Dictionary of Occupational Titles classified - and rightly so - a railroad conductor as managerial, even though he was unionized.) To show the meaning of a seniority district, let's follow a train. It came into Brunswick from the west on the main track. A fresh crew was there to relieve the incoming crew, got on, and took it to Philadelphia. The Brunswick crew got off in Philadelphia and a Reading Company crew took it from Philadelphia to New York - or wherever. The crews did not live at both ends of their district, so there was a bunkhouse atthe end. A crew could be gone from home 24 hours or more. After working a trip, they could have a long layover at home before working another trip. As an illustrlation of seniority, Jim McMurry' s brother-in-law was about ten years younger than Jim, but was three or four "times" (or steps) older than he - on the railroad. They went to apply for work together: Jim was sent to Washington and his brother-in-law, to Baltimore. Osborne was called a day ahead of Jim. Since seniority started on your first time card, therefore, Osborne was "older" than Jim. Jim later took his promotion to conductor; Osborne did not. So Jim never had to go back to braking to get his turn back. The yardmaster would have a crew move cars destined for the same classification (direction) placed on one track, another destination together on another track. The yardmaster would give information needed to classify the cars to the "hump master" or "yardmaster," who in turn would call out the

information needed to the working crew. Freight cars in the car yard opposite New Addition, at the west end of Brunswick, made up all the trains working east; this was called the "Eastbound Hump." This was a busy place, because freight destined for all of the Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, and in-between stations came into Eastbound Hump and was reclassified and made into other trains, then dispatched to proper destinations. The Westbound Hump was closed during the Depression. About 1941, the railroad reopened the Westbound Hump, located in the east end of the yards. During World War II, business got brisk, so the B&O reopened it, but once again it was closed. All of the reclassification work previously performed at Brunswick is now done at Cumberland. Brunswick was an ideal location for steam engine transportation because locomotives could travel only from Washington to Brunswick before needing inspection and repair, along with water and coal. The diesel, however, is able to make the 150-mile run from Washington to Cumberland without requiring inspection. This resulted in an immense savings for the railroad company, but was the death knell for railroad activity in Brunswick. Diesel engines came in gradually. The first road diesels on the B&O were used in passenger service on the "Capitol Limited" around 1937. Freight units began appearing in 1939 and were first used on the preference trains to New York and other long runs. Diesels did not have to stop to replenish water and coal supplies before completing a run, as did the steam engine."There was something about the old steam engine that was appealing-that was loveable, let's say that," said Jim McMurry. Why are railroads superior to trucks? Jim answered that question with a twinkle in his eyes: "You can't haul a railroad train on a truck, but you can haul a truck on the railroad! And they can make a snowplow out of the railroad engine and open up the railway, whereas there are too many highways and too few snow plows." S - Jim McMurry - taped interview Thomas Marcum John Anderson

W - MMM

SOMEONE DIDN'T BRING BACK THE #BUG" Occasionally, freight cars were wrecked at the hump. One time it was a cattle car that wrecked. To make up a freight train - or reclassify the cars ac-

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