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• 1 2020-08-01T09:57:57-07:00 Who worked on the railroad? 13 work plain text plain 2020-09-08T11:58:53-07:00 It is not an understatement to say that, at their height, the railroads ran the United States. They employed manual laborers to build and maintain tracks, and more skilled tradesmen to drive the trains. There were also station crews, to clean and repair locomotives, and signaling crews to ensure that trains did not collide.
  
  
  
  Railroads also employed doctors and nurses, cooks, cleaning crews, secretaries, accountants, and a host of other workers to support the company and its passengers. Entire towns could be employed by the railroads, men and women alike. While men worked in the engine and the trainyard, women held more supportive jobs: nurse, stewardess, cook, or secretarial staff.
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  .How many people needed to run a train differs from train to train, era to era. Today, most trains in the United States are run by only two people, a conductor and an engineer. They benefit from modern technology such as GPS, satellite imagery, and instant communication with headquarters and with other trains. In the past, however, crews could be as large as six or seven people. For much of the 20th century, railroad unions insisted on each train having a minimum of five. Passenger trains needed even more, to run dining cars and look after the passengers.

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