A Free Ride to Texarkana or Abilene!
Jan 21, 2021 23:16:14 #
I believe it was during my junior and senior years at college in Denton that we would learn of evening jobs usually through the grapevine. One job that came round just before Christmas which allowed us to earn some cash at a special time was in Fort Worth at the rail road and U.S. Postal terminal. We were hired in large number for either one of two jobs.
The first job and most preferred was at the U.S.P.S distribution center where those working there were sorting and moving sacks of mail to the trailers that would take those sacks to the proper rail car to deliver them to their destination. The major benefit of this job was that it was indoors and heated. The possible downside was this job was under constant supervision and there is little if any down time.
The second job, where most of us got assigned was taking each trailer loaded with mail sacks to the proper track and load the sacks in the proper freight car. This wasn’t difficult and the sacks were never very heavy, possibly as much and 30 or 40 pounds each. The negative of this job was being outside in December and there seemed to always be a cold north wind blowing which made it sometimes bitter cold!
However, many of these freight cars were already hooked up to an engine and were steam heated, so it was better to be inside one of the freight cars than outside. The biggest problem was waiting for another trailer and getting it unloaded.
There was a special way each mail sack was supposed to be stacked inside the freight cars. Each sack was supposed to be stacked in rows with the tops or cord end toward the wall, the across these cords on the top end, another sack was laid sidewise, parallel to the wall of the freight car to lock the other sacks in place. When finished, the stacks of mail sacks would be about shoulder high. This was done on both sides of each car. That way, it allowed anyone to be able to walk between these rows.
Now there would regularly be lulls in delivery of any mail to any cars at all. I suppose it depended upon when various mail deliveries arrived at the distribution terminal because we would frequently have nothing to do for 15 or 20 minutes between loading cars. This was probably the most miserable part of the job, standing around in the cold wind with nothing at all to do. Well, almost. Some of the guys would purposefully leave out the some of the locking sacks, those laid cross the cord tops. They would sneak back into the car they had just loaded and crawl up over and behind this row of mail bags and go to sleep where it was warm.
The idea was to be awakened when the engine began to move, or they hoped to hear the freight car’s doors being closed and wake up and jump up to get out before the train left the station. However, on more than one occasion, some of our “loafer’ workers would be so sound asleep they would get a free ride all the way to Abilene or back east to Texarkana. Since the doors were locked, they had no choice if they awakened after the train left the Fort Worth terminal. More than one got a ride back the next afternoon, much to their embarrassment. I never heard if there were any terminations or other punishment for their goldbricking. I never dared to go to sleep. I admit lying low just to keep out of the cold north wind, but I was always afraid to go to sleep. Just Sayin…RJS
The first job and most preferred was at the U.S.P.S distribution center where those working there were sorting and moving sacks of mail to the trailers that would take those sacks to the proper rail car to deliver them to their destination. The major benefit of this job was that it was indoors and heated. The possible downside was this job was under constant supervision and there is little if any down time.
The second job, where most of us got assigned was taking each trailer loaded with mail sacks to the proper track and load the sacks in the proper freight car. This wasn’t difficult and the sacks were never very heavy, possibly as much and 30 or 40 pounds each. The negative of this job was being outside in December and there seemed to always be a cold north wind blowing which made it sometimes bitter cold!
However, many of these freight cars were already hooked up to an engine and were steam heated, so it was better to be inside one of the freight cars than outside. The biggest problem was waiting for another trailer and getting it unloaded.
There was a special way each mail sack was supposed to be stacked inside the freight cars. Each sack was supposed to be stacked in rows with the tops or cord end toward the wall, the across these cords on the top end, another sack was laid sidewise, parallel to the wall of the freight car to lock the other sacks in place. When finished, the stacks of mail sacks would be about shoulder high. This was done on both sides of each car. That way, it allowed anyone to be able to walk between these rows.
Now there would regularly be lulls in delivery of any mail to any cars at all. I suppose it depended upon when various mail deliveries arrived at the distribution terminal because we would frequently have nothing to do for 15 or 20 minutes between loading cars. This was probably the most miserable part of the job, standing around in the cold wind with nothing at all to do. Well, almost. Some of the guys would purposefully leave out the some of the locking sacks, those laid cross the cord tops. They would sneak back into the car they had just loaded and crawl up over and behind this row of mail bags and go to sleep where it was warm.
The idea was to be awakened when the engine began to move, or they hoped to hear the freight car’s doors being closed and wake up and jump up to get out before the train left the station. However, on more than one occasion, some of our “loafer’ workers would be so sound asleep they would get a free ride all the way to Abilene or back east to Texarkana. Since the doors were locked, they had no choice if they awakened after the train left the Fort Worth terminal. More than one got a ride back the next afternoon, much to their embarrassment. I never heard if there were any terminations or other punishment for their goldbricking. I never dared to go to sleep. I admit lying low just to keep out of the cold north wind, but I was always afraid to go to sleep. Just Sayin…RJS
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