How things have changed in 70 years

[RAM]

70 years ago they unloaded grain by hand.  http://www.altustimes.com/view/full_story/6465620/article-Facility-to-be-ready-for-2010-wheat-harvest?instance=home_news_lead

[ebtnut]

Few folks around today remember that grain used to travel in box cars.  The cars were cleaned, and "grain doors" installed, which were essentially bulkheads across the car's doorways.  There was enough room left at the top so the grain could be loaded from the elevator with a flexible chute.  Covered hoppers began replacing box cars after WWII.  The changeover was largely complete by the 1970's. 

[jward]

70 years ago labour was cheap. every locomotive had a crew of 2 men, trains usually had 5 or 6 men. most railroads employed telegraph or tower operators every few miles, even on branch lines. some spots had switchtenders to throw the switches by hand. and most towns had crossing watchmen who lowered the gates manually.....radio communications were almost nonexistant on the railroad, and most communication was done over the railroad's own phone lines, which reached even the most renmote locations via lineside poles.

[OldTimer]

Passenger Service...I grew up in a very small town, but even it had a nice brick station and we had two passenger trains a day.  The trains were great prototypes for models:  usually a baggage/express car and a coach, pulled by a pacific. 

[Atlantic Central]

ACTUALLY - 70 years ago the "labor" its self was about the same price ajusted for inflation. That is the amount of the money the boss paid the worker.

BUT, today the costs to the company that DON'T go to the workers pockets -  payrole taxes, unemplyment insurance, liability insurance, health benifits, etc  - have made labor too expensive.

You don't pay these things on/for machines, in fact you get a tax break for buying the machine. You get a tax increase for hiring a person.

You get more of what you subsidize and less of what you tax.

Sheldon

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

Some spots had switchtenders to throw the switches by hand.

Tell you what, since we just had another snowstorm here in Philadelphia, I was just thinking yesterday, I wonder whether they had as much trouble with "frozen" switches in the winter, when all switches were thrown by hand, as they seem to have today. 

[Jhanecker2]

They probably had more trouble with frozen switches because the rods and linkages were even more subject to the effects of snow , ice , and freezing temperatures. I suspect a lot of manhours were used in thawing out non-functional equipment . John II

[az2rail]

Thirty-five years ago, I used to work in a grain door factory. And yes labor was cheap, but that was by todays standards. Back then I was making two dollars an hour, and I could afford a house, a  car, and girfriend.

Bruce

[Santa Fe buff]

I'm sure many will enjoy this article:

http://undertheweatherblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/boxcar-grain-on-mansfield-branch-1983.html

Cheers,
Joshua