138:. By then, the American rail network had grown to 360,000 miles of track, worked by 66,000 locomotives pulling approximately 2.5 million freight cars. Railroad employment grew commensurately; by 1920 more than 2.2 million Americans were employed in the railroad industry with the count of railroad shopmen alone topping the 400,000 mark. More Americans worked as railroad shopmen than were employed as steelworkers and meatpackers combined.
20:
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to fabricate and sustain metal parts, carpenters to produce and repair wooden interiors, and others. The stability of this employment seems to have varied in accordance with individual skill, with the employment of highly skilled mechanics relatively permanent, while less skilled shop hands and
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The network of railways grew rapidly during the second half of the 19th century. By 1880 there were approximately 400,000 people (almost exclusively male) employed in the railroad industry of the United States: about 1 worker out of every 40. While the largest part of them were involved in the
110:, and other rolling stock became a major growth industry, attracting financial investors and entrepreneurs intent upon establishing lucrative railways for the transport of raw materials, finished goods, and passengers from place to place. The production and maintenance of this railway
166:
was perceived by some lines as common; others saw periodic scandals in which company workers worked on their own personal projects on company time and with company raw materials or in which local foremen absconded with company lumber and labor to improve their own homes.
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construction and maintenance of roadbeds and rails, the second-largest group was the shopmen charged with the construction and service of rolling stock. Approximately 20% of railroad employees then worked as shopmen, according to the investigation of one leading scholar.
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By 1920, railroad repair was one of the leading industrial sectors in the United States, with more than 1750 shops generating in excess of $ 700 million in value-addedm an output that ranked third among the country's manufacturing industries.
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The railroads continued to grow dramatically through the first two decades of the 20th century. In 1917 in the United States the
American government took control of rail transport, in conjunction with its entrance as a combatant in
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became a major portion of business operations of these emerging transportation firms and dedicated employees collectively known as "railroad shopmen" were hired for the performance of these tasks.
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A situation of uneasiness and distrust existed on some railway lines between the centralized management of the company and the employees at the various local shops. The theft of
42:. At the turn of the 20th century, approximately one fifth of railroad employees worked as shopmen, a broad group that came to include
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A variety of different craftspeople were needed for locomotive and car maintenance, including machinists and
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Employees of railroad companies responsible for construction and maintenance of rolling stock
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Working for the
Railroad: The Organization of Work in the Nineteenth Century.
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charged with the construction, repair, and maintenance of the company's
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In 1922, some 400,000 American railroad shopmen collectively went on
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American
Railroad Labor and the Genesis of the New Deal, 1919-1935.
159:
120:
18:
230:
Power at Odds: The 1922 National
Railroad Shopmen's Strike.
203:
Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1983; pg. 33.
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apprentices were put to work on a more transient basis.
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in a massive work stoppage remembered to history as the
232:
Urbana, IL: University of
Illinois Press, 1997; pg. 10.
305:
Gainesville, FL: University Press of
Florida, 2010.
90:began to emerge as a commercially viable means of
86:Beginning in the late 1820s, the technology of
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94:in Europe and North America. The laying of
23:Machinists working in a repair shop of the
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125:Shopmen overhauling a locomotive on the
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71:1922 National Railroad Shopmen's Strike
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62:workers, and other related trades.
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127:Chicago and North Western Railway
177:List of American railway unions
1:
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287:Working for the Railroad,
274:Working for the Railroad,
261:Working for the Railroad,
217:Working for the Railroad,
25:Illinois Central Railroad
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98:and the production of
28:
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22:
77:Occupational history
319:Railway occupations
301:Jon R. Huibregtse,
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100:locomotive engines
36:railroad companies
34:were employees of
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324:Railway workshops
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228:Colin J. Davis,
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88:steam locomotion
32:Railroad shopmen
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296:Further reading
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248:Power at Odds,
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199:Walter Licht,
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92:transportation
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146:Labor process
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112:rolling stock
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108:railroad cars
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182:Gandy dancer
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56:electricians
52:boilermakers
31:
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152:blacksmiths
136:World War I
96:train track
60:sheet metal
313:Categories
289:pp. 94-95.
219:pp. 33-34.
82:Background
48:carpenters
44:machinists
188:Footnotes
171:See also
285:Licht,
276:pg. 76.
272:Licht,
263:pg. 37.
259:Licht,
250:pg. 11.
246:Davis,
215:Licht,
129:, 1942.
104:coaches
27:, 1942.
164:copper
67:strike
160:brass
162:and
315::
237:^
208:^
106:,
102:,
73:.
58:,
54:,
50:,
46:,
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