Loop fireman at New London?

The Library of the National Railway Historical Society has received the following e-mail inquiry:
"I have a document from 1917 in which a relative gives his occupation as a 'Loop Fireman.' I am assuming this is a railroad occupation, though I have [not] been able to find anything on the Internet. My relative lived in New London, CT, and may have worked in the shipyards, though this is just a supposition."

Loop fireman is a new one on me. Does anyone know whether this was a term used locally around New London, or whether it applied to a specific job, (like "swing brakeman")?

ExCon90 wrote:The Library of the National Railway Historical Society has received the following e-mail inquiry:
"I have a document from 1917 in which a relative gives his occupation as a 'Loop Fireman.' I am assuming this is a railroad occupation, though I have [not] been able to find anything on the Internet. My relative lived in New London, CT, and may have worked in the shipyards, though this is just a supposition."

Loop fireman is a new one on me. Does anyone know whether this was a term used locally around New London, or whether it applied to a specific job, (like "swing brakeman")?

I have never heard any reference on the railroad to "Loop Fireman". Maybe it had something to do with one of the branches of the military which has had for many, many years a major presence in and around New London.
Noel Weaver

I don't think that it has anything to do with the railroad. Just a guess, but I'll be willing to bet that the man was a fireman (firefighter), who because of training or shortage, had changing duties. It was more common during that era for firemen to be referred to as "enginemen", 'ladder men","hosemen", "driver", etc. as opposed to the more generic "firefighter" that we see today. Although I'm not familiar with that term being used in the Boston area, it wouldn't surprise me if a loop fireman did all those duties as required in a continuous "loop" probably in a smaller fire department, either civilian or militiary.

Thanks to both of you. I'll pass that along to the person who inquired--it does seem the most likely explanation. I figured if the people who post on this forum haven't heard of it, it probably didn't involve the railroad.