Agents?

[NW Mailing List]

It's understandable that traffic solicitation  is
never discussed here, but there were  people
that had a day-to-day impact on the  railroad.
 
1- Jean Stapleton, the actress that  played
     the ding-a-ling wife of TV's  Archie
     Bunker once worked in  N&W's New York
     traffic  office.
 
2- The traveling agents from the  Winston-
     Salem office and the Durham  office
     paired up to make calls in  both territories.
    When they arrived at Bassett  Furniture,
    in W-S territory, they found the  office
    locked.  The Traveling Agent  from W-S
    stopped a maintenance person and 
    asked about the location of the  Traffic
    Department.  "Oh, they moved  to 
    another building . . .several years  ago."
 
3- Robert S. Hamilton had come  to
    Southern Railway by way of GM  and
    the New York Central. He'd told  Bill
   Brosnan many times that he knew 
   nothing about railroading, yet he 
   rose to Southern's head of traffic.   He was
   a contender for Brosnan's position  when
   he retired, but of course, the job went  to
   Roanoker, W. Graham Claytor.    Unlike
   Stanley Crane that favored C&O as  a
   partner for Southern, Hamilton saw  N&W as
   a better fit.
 
   Hamilton's unorthodox traffic policies  had
   upset "Boss" Brosnan and he  sentenced
   Hamilton to serve 30 days on No.  153.
 
   No. 153 was probably right behind  "The
   Spark Plug" in  importance.  Blocked for
   Atlanta and beyond, No. 153 was  scheduled
   out of Pot Yard at 7:30 AM and into  Inman
   (Atlanta) at 11:15 PM -- 622 mi. in 15  hrs. and
   45 mins.  At Inman, the property  protection
   people would meet Hamilton, take him  to
   the Atlanta airport where he'd catch a  night
   owl to DCA.  There, his wife would  meet him
   with mail and fresh clothes, then the  cycle
   would start over.  Guess one might  say
   Mr. Hamilton was a Traveling Freight  Agent.  
                                         Harry  Bundy  



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