Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
tion agent's job may or may not be full-time. Basic responsibili-
ties include keeping the station clean, selling tickets, and handling
baggage. They'll also direct you to the spot on the platform to
wait so you'll be near your car when the train stops. Frequently,
however, they're called on for other things. For instance, if the
lounge car on an incoming train is running low on ice, a radio
message may be sent from the train asking the station agent to
have several bags of crushed ice waiting when the train pulls in.
Yard Workers
As your train passes through major stations around the coun-
try, you'll see railroad employees in hard hats working around
the trains—both freight and passenger. This is tough, dangerous
work. You'll see them hanging onto ladders on the sides of roll-
ing cars and working in between railcars for the coupling and
uncoupling process. They talk with the engineer by radio and
help direct him when he's backing up to add more cars to the
train. They'll do this by calling out car lengths (“Two cars . . .
one car”) then switching to feet (“Twenty feet . . . ten . . . five”).
Finally, and this is a curious railroad tradition, they will all call
out, “That'll do!” just before the cars bump together.
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