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RE: (erielack) Silk Mills and Coal
Hey, Rick,
Good thing there weren't any United States Senators sitting there in those days.................................who knows, maybe there were.
Walt Smith
PS, The large concrete building just south of Binghamton (Conklin) yard office had been and was still in the 60s known as the 'shithouse' & altho by this date it was a locker room the name stayed. Of course the track which ran in front of it and the yard office was called the 'shithouse track'. When the west end switch engine tied up for lunch, the tower "BY" would call us and say 'tie up ur engine in the shithouse track'.
see ya all at the convention..........
> From: Njricky2_@_aol.com> Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2007 01:36:30 -0400> Subject: Re: (erielack) Silk Mills and Coal> To: erielack@lists.elhts.org> > By the mid-60s, it wasn't only women working in the silk mills. It was mostly > men and there were many of us teenagers who had summertime jobs (majority > guys) who made a few bucks to gas up our cars.> > By that time, they were "nylon mills" but still called "silk mills". Times > had changed. A few in Scranton were still served by railroads but the rest were > using trucks. One of the reasons for that was that many spurs along the > branches were no longer used by EL and the others, thus, as merger mania was taking > place, the trucks took over.> > Environmentally speaking, the smoke, the smell and the noise, in 2007 terms, > would have shut them down but 40 years ago, that was not the concern. A > decimetre would have blown itself off the charts in those places. > > When you took your break during your eight-hour shift (who works eight-hours, > I sure don't but many do), you took your break in what was called (pardon the > use of words, but we are guys), the "shithouse". Yes, that's what they called > it.> > Most smoked back then and that's where you sat for 15 minutes. Others were in > the stalls, conversing as if there was no barrier. > > One July afternoon in that room, one man, sitting on the bench looked at us > teenagers while we were complaining about the working conditions. He said, > "Wait until you're here for 26 years as I am, You'll get used to it." That was in > 1967, thus he had been there since 1941.> > That man whoever he is, on that afternoon made me think. I finished high > school, went on to college, received my degree and will always remember my roots.> > He just as EL and the others were on the way out. Things as we and they knew > were changing. I was at the point in life to "go for it" and did. > > The "silk mills" are a part of my personal history and with that experience, > I grew, learned and never forgot what that one man said.> > In t!
he (agai
n pardon the words) "shithouse", that so-called, uneduacated man > educated me. I'll always thank him for that 15 minutes in July. Without his > words, who knows?> > Rick> > > > ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com> > > The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List> Sponsored by the ELH&TS> http://www.elhts.org> To Unsubscribe: http://lists.elhts.org/erielackunsub.html
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