As “railfans” and modelers, we often tend to focus on the equipment, and occasionally, the infrastructure of the railroads that we study. One of the things that draws me to the photography of Jack Delano is the way he often included the human element of the railroad. You’ve likely noticed that many (most?) of the images that I’ve posted over these past months contain a railroader doing his or her job.

Today I thought I’d focus entirely on those folks. Mr. Delano took the time to take many portraits of the people he saw while documenting the various railroads. Below are a half dozen images representing just a tiny facet of the thousands of railroad employees. I wish it were practical to feature someone from all the various disciplines required to make a railroad function, but that would literally take a volume to do.

This post is dedicated to the thousands of workers who contributed to keeping those trains rolling.

-Jack

Chicago and North Western steam locomotive #3034 is about to get a good cleaning by a couple of women engine wipers. Jack Delano recorded this locomotive servicing ritual which included a bath and a wipe-down back in April of 1943. Ascending the stairs is Mrs. Marcella Hart, followed by Mrs. Viola Sievers. I noticed that I had posted a photo last year of Mrs. Sievers washing down the running gear of the locomotive . . . she was a busy lady, indeed!

The steamer is a C&NW “H” class 4-8-4 built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1929. She boasted 27″x32″ cylinders, had 76″ drivers, and ran 250 psi of steam pressure in her boiler.

Here’s an interesting Jack Delano photograph that I spied over on Marty McGuirk’s blog. The subject is a Central Vermont 2-8-0 steamer, #453, and the location is Main Street in Enosburg Falls, Vermont. Jack recorded this image in September of 1941. I really like the composition of this photo, and the myriad of detail surrounding the train.

The locomotive itself is equipped with an externally mounted Coffin feedwater heater, which gives the front of the firebox the unusual look of an awning over the pilot deck. It appears that the crew has just spotted a couple boxcars at the feed mill/elevator at right (or perhaps has come to pick them up). The engine sports white flags, indicating that she’s in charge of an extra train. Presumably the rest of the train is a short distance back down the track.

At left we see a Shell service station, while across the street is the Enosburg Dairy store, featuring it’s dairy and ice cream products. And note the tiny popcorn stand with the American flag and a Shell sign on it’s flanks. Just visible beyond the flagpole is the dairy store milk bottle shaped sign, with (likely) a list of their offerings. The train obviously has the attention of a couple of young lads, while the older men pay no attention at all . . . likely they’ve seen it doing it’s work many times.

The automobiles in view span several decades, and it appears that the town hasn’t been completely covered in concrete or asphalt yet. Though it is September, the trees still hold their leaves, and one boy is seen wearing a short sleeved shirt and shorts . . . must be a warm day.

In his blog posting, Marty featured this photograph, along with others, plus a map of the area. He is evaluating this scene for information and details for potential use on his new model railroad. You can catch his blog here: http://centralvermontrailway.blogspot.com/ if you’d like to read what he’s up to. Scroll down to his post of Friday, June 21, 2019.

-Jack

This is one of my favorite Jack Delano photographs. I posted it over two years ago during a discussion about wooden floors sometimes seen in roundhouses, and thought I’d re-post the scene in this series of Mr. Delano’s images.

We’re at the Chicago and North Western’s yard in Chicago, and it’s December of 1942. The roundhouse could be a rather chilly environment, and these workers helped combat the situation by burning coal in open steel “drums” to provide a bit of warmth. I suspect that these heaters were fabricated right there in-house, and I’m sure that they are contributing to the haze inside. Also note the tool carts and acetylene bottle. One can barely discern the silhouette of a worker in the distance just above the pilot of the steamer at center (click on the photo to see a much larger view).

If you look carefully you’ll notice the wooden block floor in this roundhouse. Such floors were fairly common in industrial facilities many years ago. They provided a surface that was resilient and “kind” to the heavy, metal components that would be placed (or dropped) on them. Click on the link above if you’d like to read the post on the topic.

In January of 1943 Jack Delano captured this stunning scene of sunlight pouring into the Union Station at Chicago, Illinois. For many years architects designed such structures with these towering ceilings, and with large expanses of glass allowing plenty of natural light to flood an area. And scenes such as this became commonplace within those facilities.

A Baltimore and Ohio passenger train is seen departing Union Station in Chicago. It will travel via the Alton Road to St. Louis.

It’s a cold wintry night in January of 1943, and evidence of snowfall coming through the roof ventilation openings is seen on the tracks and platforms. Note the illuminated and raised platform between the tracks, the rest of the structure being rather dark and foreboding.

Photo by Jack Delano

For me, the caboose has always been one of the most interesting places to explore in railroading. Until generally the last decade or so of their usage on freight trains, a caboose was typically assigned to a specific conductor.  As such, they were often “accessorized” and decorated at the whim of the conductor, sometimes with help from his brakeman. Photographer Jack Delano captured this caboose image in January, 1943.

The scene is inside an Indiana Harbor Belt caboose, featuring the conductor’s work desk.  It’s a splendid study of the workspace that’s used by the boss of the train.  There are the usual railroad supplied appurtenances such as the oil lamp, the rack that holds rule books, timetables and other paperwork, and the wall mounted gauge which displays the train line air pressure.  Then there are the personal touches such as the pin-up photos, a thermometer, a couple cartoons, and even some photographs of (perhaps) the conductor’s pet dog.  Note the pencil holder tacked to the book rack, and the blackout applied to part of the lamp shade.  I wish we could tilt up the desk surface to reveal what is stored in its compartment. It’s one of those photos that begs to be studied, and doing so reveals a wealth of interesting detail.

George Bertino is at the controls in the cab of his diesel freight locomotive ready to pull out of the AT&SF yard in Winslow, Arizona. Judging by the year of the photo, and the wear and tear in the cab, this is likely an EMD model FT locomotive.

Mr. Bertino is apparently a veteran of steam locomotives as evidenced by his dress in traditional overalls. Note the sleeve protectors, not usually necessary in this new environment.

This scene was captured by Jack Delano in March of 1943.

We’re heading back east now, with California far behind in the distance . . . indeed, we’re well into Kansas. Our Santa Fe train is passing by the AT&SF’s Emporia Junction tower located a bit east of the yard in Emporia, Kansas. The track crossing our main belongs to the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway (the Katy). This photograph is taken just inside of a wye, of which the northern extension is the start of the line up to Topeka. If one looks closely, the east leg of the wye can be barely discerned just past the signal bridge. The date is March of 1943.

Photo by Jack Delano

The railroad infrastructure is a very maintenance intensive operation in itself. In the days before the mechanization that we see now, this work was done by manual labor. Track and bridge maintenance was a daily chore on railroads, and the track was divided into sections, each under the responsibility of a section gang, that is, a group of workers charged with maintaining their assigned area of track.

Jack Delano was traveling out west in March of 1943, where he documented some of the sights along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. In this image we see an Indian section gang aligning the track in the Santa Fe’s yard in Needles, California. More than a dozen workers are struggling to coax the track into it’s proper alignment. Imagine doing this kind of back-breaking work each day!