Hiring & Training

Things on the railroads were far more lax then they are today. The government had oversight of certain things back then but nowhere as much authority as they do now. Today, they regulate not only what you have to do to get hired but also what you need to do to stay on the job.

I hired out on the RV in February 1966 at 19 years old, answering one of Clark's "funny" ads for a brakeman in the Elizabeth Daily Journal. I went to the Kenilworth office, to inquire about the job, and met a man who looked like a bum. The man claimed he was the "watchman." I asked about an opening for a brakeman, but was told "no." I went back about a week later. Again, the "bum" was there but this time he revealed himself to be George A. Clark. At the end of the visit, Clark hired me because of my persistence.

There were no tests. I didn't fill out anything besides the basic information. There was no official application form. I didn't go for any physical. Clark asked me if I had a Driver's License. He figured that if I could see well enough to drive that I could see well enough to work on the railroad. There were no rules, just go out there and be careful - don't get hurt. On my first day, we just got on the engine and we went.

This was my first railroad job. I knew a little bit about railroading just from watching train crews when I was younger. It's a good thing I did because they really didn't tell you that much at all - there was no official training on the RV. The conductor I broke for was Tony DeFrancesco, whose philosophy on railroading was "it's common sense." I would ask him questions and that would be his reply, "That's all railroading is, it's common sense." That was tough.

No one on the RV was qualified on the connecting railroads. They told you to be careful when out on another railroad. If you encountered a signal, and it was red, you'd stop. That's all you were told.

Early on, they'd just tell me which switches to throw. The more experienced crew members would do the cutting and coupling up and stuff like that.

One time, we were going to spot cars at Levinson in Union. It was the furthest customer on a siding shared with Jersey Tab Card and Essex Chair. We needed to switch cars around so we could spot Levinson's cars down below. I'm at the switch. They're making moves, pulling back and forth, matching cars in. Switch, switch, switch. They finally get everything together and start shoving in. I saw the conductor waving a hand signal, which I thought meant to cut off. So I get on the engine and pull the pin. I hear Frank Froat, in the cab, yell "No!!" Froat blows the horn as the cars start sailing into the side track. Everything ended up being fine but it could've been a bad accident. The conductor comes back and asks why I pulled the pin. I told him that he had given me a cut sign. He responded that it wasn't a cut sign, that he was signalling me to get on top of the car. I asked why he didn't tell me beforehand, all he ever told me was to take care of the switch. After the first month, I thought "this sucks." I'd get to the point sometimes where I felt like quitting because they didn't even lay out the basics, it was very frustrating.

Evidently, Conductor DeFrancesco wasn't cut out for railroading after all and left the RV in Summer 1966 to go drive truck for Houdaille in Springfield. Afterward, at age 20, Clark promoted me to Conductor.