Lex Anteinternet: Train crew size

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Train crew size

Burlington Northern train going through Casper Wyoming.

An interesting article in the Tribune today relates that railroads are petitioning to allow trains to have a single crewman.

It also related that at the end of World War Two, trains (by which I think they meant freight trains) had a crew of seven, which was down to five by the 1970s, and which is now down to two. Pretty remarkable change.

I guess in the fwiw category, while I don't doubt that a train could be manned by a single man, I think it a poor idea really, given the safety concerns that might give rise to in certain situations.

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Lex Anteinternet?

This blog has been around since 2009. In the very first post, we asked the question: "What the heck is this blog about?"

Our answer to the question was: "The intent of this blog is to try to explore and learn a few things about the practice of law prior to the current era. That is, prior to the internet, prior to easy roads, and the like. How did it work, how regional was it, how did lawyers perceive their roles, and how were they perceived?"

We also noted: "Part of the reason for this, quite frankly, has something to do with minor research for a very slow moving book."

All of this is still true, but the focus of the blog has changed somewhat. It now focuses on the era from 1890 to 1920 in general, rather than on the law and lawyers specifically, although that may be far from obvious. It's also become the location where we comment on anything we feel moved to comment on.

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