Commuter engineers

pgengler wrote: On PATH, the engineers have a gray polo shirt with the PATH insignia on it.

PATH pretty much operates as a subway instead of as an FRA type railroad. It runs parallel to railroads, sharing realestate, but not tracks, so I wonder if it falls under FRA rules. Be that as it may a PATH employee corrected me once, told me that they call themselves engineers, not motormen.

I remember when I was a kid that New York Central Electric Division/Grand Central Terminal guys wore tie, jacket, hat like they were going to an office but North (West, timetable) of Harmon and N White Plains they wore the traditional bib, hat, kerchief we associate with an engineer. When diesels came, not much change at first.

...Ken

Though PATH no longer shares any trackage with mainline railways, it, along with SIRT, are FRA-regulated railroads, albeit operating under some crashworthiness waivers, and their motormen are "real" engineers.

Do PATH engineer people wear uniforms?

if you have ever seen a motorman on NICTD in a Uniform ( i think) quite a few of the motormen double as conductors, and that would answer that question.

gardendance wrote:

pgengler wrote: On PATH, the engineers have a gray polo shirt with the PATH insignia on it.

PATH pretty much operates as a subway instead of as an FRA type railroad. It runs parallel to railroads, sharing realestate, but not tracks, so I wonder if it falls under FRA rules. Be that as it may a PATH employee corrected me once, told me that they call themselves engineers, not motormen.

PATH is fully FRA regulated & their train operators are licensed engineers. The term "motorman" is really for subway/el & an older term, the correct job title is Train Operator or T/O. PATH used to operate side by side with steam & electric locomotive hauled trains as the Hudson & Manhattan Rail Road, the remnants of which are sadly mostly gone. There used to be a medium sized arched train shed style terminal at exchange place in jersey city, people going to NYC would either board a ferry, or transfer via elevator to H&M to hudson terminal (now totally removed in the WTC rebuilding process). The first president, a lawyer from the south, wanted to connect the CNJ, PRR, Erie, DL&W & NYC at their terminals in/near nyc. There would have been a line from communipaw terminal (CNJ), up under exchange place(PRR), then under newport (erie), then to hoboken (DL&W), across to christopher st, up to 42nd st, then over to GCT (NYC). There was a proposed expansion to brooklyn via astor place & the lower east side to connect to LIRR and so on. They still have a single track connecting PATH to hudson yard, and the freight line still runs parallel/adjacent to the PATH ROW between hudson yard & the portal past journal square. The above ground PRR viaduct to exchange place is gone save a small segment of embankment that lead onto the viaduct near the portal to the east.

Most of the time an engineer will be dressed in "rough" work clothes, with possible issued jacket etc depending on employer for cold temps/rain. NYCT subway crews have "work uniforms" that are "rough" but standardized and designed to stand up & be functional in the event of having to exit the train. Most of these jobs are considered industrial, wheras light rail/trolly/streetcar ops can often be covered by retrained bus drivers & not have engineers.

No point in wearing nice threads if all you're going to do is get them smeared with brake dust lube grease & who knows what.

- A

PRRGuy wrote:Thats about the only part of a uniform they have to wear, just the white or blue uniform shirt and blue pants. Also, they have a uniform winter coat they can wear also.

I'd prefer it. Somehow a person in uniform seems to be more ready to work and committed to being at work. When the guy or gal looks like they belong behind the controls it inspires confidence in their operation and the system. While "business casual" is the uniform I currently wear I've worked with peers who have a company golf shirt as a "uniform". (The only exception I have to liking to see professional people in uniforms is if the uniform design is poor.)

One should be able to pick the employees out of the crowd. Uniforms, or at least a uniform look helps.

WES Engineers/Conductors do wear a uniform, white dress shirt/black (or navy blue?) slacks, with an optional blue polar fleece vest (identical to TriMet Operator vests); I think I've seen a Conductor wear a trench coat.

Left sleeve of shirt has a TriMet patch. Right sleeve has a Portland & Western Railroad patch.

No No.. There is no such requirement of that. You can wear any formal dress. It is not compulsory dress just TTE and other ticket collector use it. But as far as I know commuter engineers are advised to wear white shirt and black pant.