I am doing some research at the University of Texas at El Paso Library Special Collections Department (home to several hundred feet of EP & NE EP & SW, and SP files) for a story of a 21 hour trip on the Dawson branch of the EP & SW. I am courious if anybody knows where one would find a copy of the origional hours of service law. Thanks
Robby

epsw271@aol.com

Hmm, I would check out some sources on railroad legal history. James Ely's recent book "Railroads and American Law" discusses the issue of hours of service extensively. It has been a few months since I read it, but I remember that Federal Involvement in hours of service didn't come about until 1917 with USRA control of the railroads. Ely asserts that USRA control really firmed up the railroad labor stance at the time and gave the unions rock-solid bargaining positions for years to come, someimtes inspite of the overall health of the industry. Interesting stuff.

david.wilkins@inisightbb.com

I did a quick search on the web using google and it seems that the Hours of Service Act was enacted March 4, 1907.

It appears the original citation might be:
Act Mar. 4, 1907, ch. 2939, 34 Stat. 1415

For a source you might try California State RR Museum library, the Library of Congress, a law library of the local bar association, etc.

Brian Norden

> I am doing some research at the University
> of Texas at El Paso Library Special
> Collections Department (home to several
> hundred feet of EP & NE EP & SW, and
> SP files) for a story of a 21 hour trip on
> the Dawson branch of the EP & SW. I am
> courious if anybody knows where one would
> find a copy of the origional hours of
> service law. Thanks


bnorden49@earthlink.net

> I did a quick search on the web using google
> and it seems that the Hours of Service Act
> was enacted March 4, 1907.

> It appears the original citation might be:
> Act Mar. 4, 1907, ch. 2939, 34 Stat. 1415

> For a source you might try California State
> RR Museum library, the Library of Congress,
> a law library of the local bar association,
> etc.

The railroads didn't start abiding by the Hours of Service Act until Wilson got in the White House and forced them to. Sound familiar?

> The railroads didn't start abiding by the
> Hours of Service Act until Wilson got in the
> White House and forced them to. Sound
> familiar?

I appreciate the leads on where to look. In these series of cases their are issues brought up about what constitutes rest for several positions. One crew took 21 hours on a run, but a discussion of rest was brought up. Another case involves operators in Tucumcari that had an elapse time of 9:30 but suppositly had a free lunch period of thirty minutes. This was considered a possible trial case for the country. The correspondece shows that the Feds were considering an appeal on the decision, but nothing further is in the file. Seeing the law of the time may shead light on some of the railroads activity and positions.


epsw271@aol.com