Why Railroaders Wear Bibs?

powerpro69 wrote:

If that happened over here

Yeah, it does feel a little like a dunce cap but you have to remember, lots of people wear ballcaps over here, I'm actually from Coventry (via Mountain Home).

There's actually quite a few guys that keep their orange caps after their first year, so when they get called out for a job they know nothing about, they can pretend like there brand new.

And I thought we were crafty over here!!!

I've been known to wear the FNG hat and vest, and pull through a foreign lines yard, hanging out the window, shouting "look at me, they're letting me drive", while making the international "blow the horn", hand sign. You never saw guys grab a radio, or phone, so fast......... Some guys just have no sense of humor..........

GOLDEN-ARM wrote:I've been known to wear the FNG hat and vest, and pull through a foreign lines yard, hanging out the window, shouting "look at me, they're letting me drive", while making the international "blow the horn", hand sign. You never saw guys grab a radio, or phone, so fast......... Some guys just have no sense of humor..........

Haha.... I'd love to see that.

GOLDEN-ARM wrote:I've been known to wear the FNG hat and vest, and pull through a foreign lines yard, hanging out the window, shouting "look at me, they're letting me drive", while making the international "blow the horn", hand sign. You never saw guys grab a radio, or phone, so fast......... Some guys just have no sense of humor..........

Thats funny!

cifn2 wrote:

GOLDEN-ARM wrote:I've been known to wear the FNG hat and vest, and pull through a foreign lines yard, hanging out the window, shouting "look at me, they're letting me drive", while making the international "blow the horn", hand sign. You never saw guys grab a radio, or phone, so fast......... Some guys just have no sense of humor..........

Thats funny!

I gotta try that...that's a laff riot!!

This is what you are looking for. www.round-house.com Try the vintage stripe #45 Engineer.

I was laughed at once when I said that pinstripe bibs were "stylish."

I was referring to the D&H engineer operating the D&H/Amtrak Adirondack in the late 1970s. The train departed from Alb-Renns station, with the beautiful blue & silver D&H (ex ATSF) PA4 on the point. The engineer was an older gentleman who was, I thought, very stylish in his clean, pressed pinstripes.

She laughed and said, "Stylish?" OK, well, maybe not stylish. Classy, maybe?

IN all my years on the railroad I NEVER saw anybody wearing the "classic" railroad garb of striped overalls, cap (to match) and a red bandana! Except for ONE foamer extraordinaire who happened to be an engineer. Honestly, for someone to be found on our division wearing that sh-- was to invite ridicule and snickers!! Sure, some of us wore regular "Red Camel" overall dungarees, not because they had anything to do with the RR, but because they are comfortable, loose, have lots of pockets, and simply did the job at hand! Why didn't they mock the foamin' engineer? "Cause he was "Andre the Giant", THAT'S why!!!!! The rest of us wouldn't have been caught DEAD in that stuff!!!!!

Gadfly

On the CONRAIL Phila division,we had Dennis Meeks, always in striped bibs and a cap. He was the official engineer on the Office Car specials.You know 4022/4021/4020 and all those green pass.cars.Some snickered at him,but he got the good jobs. We had another out of Oak Island,ex cr cop turned engineer who wore bibs too.

RDGTRANSMUSEUM wrote:On the CONRAIL Phila division,we had Dennis Meeks, always in striped bibs and a cap. He was the official engineer on the Office Car specials.You know 4022/4021/4020 and all those green pass.cars.Some snickered at him,but he got the good jobs

And now he runs the OCS for NS when headed to NJ, and yes, still wearing the same attire when running that or his regular assignement.....

pennsy wrote:Hi All,

But to REALLY look the part, you need the Engineer's hat. And don't forget that red bandana. Whenever I visit the OERM, Orange Empire RR Museum, I have on the hat with a large PRR keystone on the front of it. That plus the heavy gloves and I fit right in.

Pffffttttt! Try that bib overall, "engineers" (?)cap and red bandana, on Norfolk Southern and get laughed SLAM off the Right of Way! LMAO

Gadfly

Yo Gadfly; Me too. But you have to admit, it is great fun.

The T & E guys make it so hard on the "buffs" (and you get labeled a "buff" and a "foamer:) if you DO show up wearing that old-timey stuff!) that it sort of becomes a "I dare you wear that sh--" out here! LOL! Nobody will dress that way (well, maybe once!) because peer pressure kicks in and people want desparately to fit in! In all my years I saw ONE person dress in the striped 'halls, cap, and red bandanna, and the guys MOCKED him off the RoW! Him, it didn't bother; he was such a diehard foamer he didn't care.

Seriously, most aren't "buffs" in that way! I honestly think there are two kinds of rail fans: the diehard hobbiest, and the career railroader. The career railroader is difficult to break down in his "fan-ness" in that he is interested in the WORK as a career. He may take an interest in random equipment that shows up on the property, yet you won't find him out snapping photos or riding every steam trip he can find. He doesn't WEAR "garb" or participate in railroad clubs. HIs interest is purely professional tho, yes, he IS interested. People often assume that everybody that works on the RR is a "fan" and they cannot readily separate the little train around the Christmas tree from the real-life employee. It CAN be true. Often it is not. The true rail "buff", the dreamy-eyed hobbiest, the one who daydreams about steam choo choos, the one that dons overalls, striped "railroad" caps, bandanas and fake "railroad pocket watches, HE is......................well, outside reality because that very penchant for wearing out-of-date and "dorky" clothing is a telling indication that this fellow that has suddenly showed up on the job as a new hire just ain't with it. He would tend to be eyed with bemused suspicion at our railroad ( "pssst, that guy *********, he ain't RIGHT in the head or sum'pin!" )


Like I said in another thread, if you want to be MOCKED slap off the RoW and branded a member of the "national railway 'HYSTERICAL society", show up on our Road dressed like that! LMAO!!!! You'll either have some mighty thick leather for skin, or you won't do it anymore!!!


Gadfly

One of the guys here, who is also a volunteer on the Adirondack, wears overalls and the hat on our "more historic" passenger trips. The overalls have been weathered over the years. Some of the guys make comments about his dress, but never in front of him. Personally, I think he pulls off the look pretty well. He is not a foamer, but he sure knows his way around an engine!

Moral of the story, don't mock a guy based on his clothes. (Although some certainly do deserve it lol)

Plate F wrote:One of the guys here, who is also a volunteer on the Adirondack, wears overalls and the hat on our "more historic" passenger trips. The overalls have been weathered over the years. Some of the guys make comments about his dress, but never in front of him. Personally, I think he pulls off the look pretty well. He is not a foamer, but he sure knows his way around an engine!

Moral of the story, don't mock a guy based on his clothes. (Although some certainly do deserve it lol)

Well now............THAT's different! We are talking about a tourist? road as opposed to a Class 1, right? People. (the public of course), may even EXPECT that sort of dress. I'd even go so far as to say it is appropriate in the "tourist" setting.
On a Class I, many employees may be "closet" fans that won't admit it. And you would never find them wearing the striped overalls, etc. Maybe Red Camel bibs, but the striped "engineer's" costume? NO WAY!!!! I know that one time we in the Yard Office decided to ALL wear bibs on a certain day---like on a Tuesday. EVERY Tuesday!!! It didn't take long for the Terminal Agent to get curious and ask just what the heck we were doing. So we stopped.
On another bid-in assignment, there was a foreman that was..............well, kinda "wierd". We called him "Poo Poo" behind his back (never mind, it would take too much explaining). Anyway he had these strange ways and mannerisms, so we all
actually bought white lab coats and wore them to work!!!! We played a tape of the old '60's song, "They're coming to take me away, hey, hey, hee, hee, hi hi, ho ho..........."
We really thought the guy was NUTS! I was a "fair" cartoonist so I drew caricatures of him and left them around the property. He'd angrily snatch them down and mumble, "them boys just ain't got enough to do!!""""" LMAO!!!!

Gadfly