Monday, November 10, 2014

John Henry - a good place to start

You must know where you have been, to know where you are going. So, I must explain... I got a job in 2001 at the Railroad. When I was hired on, things pretty much had been the same for a while, but something was getting ready to happen on the railroad. Something that would change the way railroading had been done for decades. The Locomotive Engineer, the person in the Engine, the hogger, was getting ready to be "cut out" and "set out" of working in the yards. The RCO box, switchman, AKA Groundhogger was getting ready to take over. 

The craft of Locomotive Engineer was being threatened by computerization! The person who blows that lonesome whistle, just might not be a person in the near future. As a folk musician, this opens up a serious invite for romanticism. Our most celebrated musician... the player of the lonesome whistle...

 is getting kicked out of the band!



I made a CD in 2008 called Music For Modern Railroaders. It started in 2006 as one song that made fun of our new union contract. Hub Engineer.. I'll tell that one, when we get there.. So. Here we go.. I'm gonna get you lined out.. and cut in.. and start with the first song from my first CD. John Henry 2007. I took me a little while to figure out that I was a folk singer but there was plenty of examples of what to do and how to do it. I grew up in a very folk oriented German Catholic family and also grew up around John Gage a local folk singer.. So Naturally, I put 2 and 2 together and started down a track I knew pretty much nothing about.

I had never heard of Utah Phillips and had no knowledge of a great folk music tradition. I knew who Pete Seeger was and knew about Woody Guthrie, but Joe Hill and a massive union tradition of songwriting... I knew very little of, but something was going on at the Railroad and I knew it needed to be told. The first shots had been fired! Extra! Extra! Read all about it!!

Trains are being run by computers! The Locomotive Engineer craft is in danger of extinction!

I was an RCO Operator, and carrying around that box, sucked. Engineers would look at you like you were some sort of scab. 


That box represented to them something vile. Something of a Civil War had broke out in the rail yards. Brother against brother. It was intense.

Looking back on the situation now, I can understand why the Engineers were so upset. I also understand why the railroad Barron's of the day decided to take advantage of a perfect storm. Railroad Retirement reform had just been passed and there was getting ready to be a serious turnover. The work force was much younger and had not experienced the agreements that got rid of the caboose, not to mention we RCO folks really had no clue what to do. We had no say in the matter. We were just pawns in a game of chess being played by the Railroads and foot soldiers in a long standing historical war between the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and The United Transportation Union.


There really was a John Henry in Osborn Yard working down in the bowl. I remember nights working the original 3 man crews hearing about a war on the horizon called RCO. John Henry, who was getting ready to retire would say " Aww, I don't care, I won't see heads or tails of it, i'll be gone, boys!"

There is a lot of Slang in this song and the boy's loved it. It was a story about them. It made fun of a situation that we all pretty much hated to be in.

Bowl - the receiving part of a hump yard where railroad cars are classified for destination.
Switchman - A yard craft that was getting ready to be eliminated.
RCO - Remote Control Operator - AKA Ground Hogger
Hogger - Locomotive Engineer AKA Big E
Shanty - Yard Office where crews gather for paper work and to eat. Aka Break room.
6022 - Was CSXT engine 6022,  one of the first class of EMD GP40 to be retrofitted with RCO
Poll offline and Boxes linking up - The Remote had to connect to the RCL aka Remote Control Locomotive. This process sometimes got a bit wonky. 
The East - A track used to pull out long cuts of cars that had been put together
Convert one today - When the RCO boxes would't work. The Engineer was called in and the job converted back to conventional. engineer and two switchmen. 

Next up.. will be Nashville Bound. A tune about long hours and what it's like to work a road job. If you are interested in this music, please download a few tunes. Thanks! Railroad Music is the thread in the quilt called Americana! Get some thread here... CD Baby... clickity clack. 






John Henry 2006 jp rufus porter to all my brothers and sisters in

The BLE&T and The UTU!

Well John Henry he was a locomotive engineer

Workin' down in the Osborn bowl.
And he looked at his switchman said you
Better git to work.
We’re gonna beat that RCO.
Gonna beat that RCO!

Yankin’ and a Pullin’ on them cars with his
Switchman working as fast as he can.
Ol’ John is a thinkin  the whole time,
A Machine aint gonna beat a man.
A machine aint gonna beat a man.

Well the groundhoggers came out of the shanty
And they looked at the 6022.
Said to each other as they switched on their boxes,
Ya know we got a lotta work to do
Ya know we got a lotta work to do.

The groundhoggers were havin a little problem
They couldn’t get their boxes to link up.
Between a poll off-line and a comm loss,
They wer’nt having a very good time.
Seems like it happens everytime.

Well the groundhoggers hollerd at the bowl.
BOWL TOWR
We’re havin a problem linkin up.
We’ve tried everything we know how to do.
I guess we’re shit outta luck
I guess we’re shit outta luck.

The tower hollers to John Henry.
Come and get this engine outta the way
It’s blockin the East and we gotta pull some cars,
I guess we’ll convert one today,
It seems like it’s better that way.

The groundhoggers sat in the shanty,
Waitin for a Big E to come and git er done.
John Henry and his switchman all ready pulled 300 cars
That RCO job pulled none.
But it’s safer when you sit on your bum.

There is a reason for this story,
Corporate greed is killin this land.
If we don’t do something and ORGANIZE.
Say hello to the ONE MAN PLAN.
That’s talkin Union!
They wanna run trains with one man.


Roll the Union on!!