The Lost Era of Steam Travel

The Lost Era of Steam Travel The Lost Era of Steam Travel They were called iron horses, a moniker suggesting indestructability, but ansicht 400-ton machines were very prone to wear and tear. In fact, the behemoths required plenty of tender loving care.And so for more than 50 years the great steam locomotives came, chugging in to a Southern Railway repair yard sprawled over 141 acres in Spencer, North Carolina, about 30 miles southwest of Winston-Salem.The facility at Spencer, constructed in 1896 and featuring a massive roundhouse, was one of hundreds of railroad back shops that dotted the American landscape during the heyday of steam travel in the mid-nineteenth century and into the turn of the twentieth century. While elend uncommon in its time, the Spencer shops stand out today as one of the largest remaining original examples of the final era of roundhouse construction, according to ASME, which recently named the facility a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.Samuel Spencer s aw the need for a large maintenance shop situated somewhere between the companys existing repair shops in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. Such a facility, Spencer reasoned, would enable the company to service and swap out its locomotives at short intervals along the busy eastern line, dividing the Washington to Atlanta run into four segments of about 160 miles each.ConstructionConstruction of the Spencer shops began in March 1896 and the facility was operational six months later. Spencer was a huge complex of shops, administrative buildings, lots, storage areas, and railroad spurs and sidings, reflecting the requirements of the growing company.The original facility included a semicircular roundhouse with 15 bays. It was here that Southerns steam-driven locomotives received routine light maintenance. Crews in the roundhouse performed brake work, gear adjustments, boiler washouts, grease jobs, inspections, and other tasks necessary to keep the companys rolling stock in continuous operati on. In 1924, the roundhouse at Spencer was expanded to 37 stalls, each one 106 feet deep.Since steam locomotives were unable to back out of these stalls, engineers designed and built a rotating turntable that enabled the engines to face in the direction they would exit the roundhouse. The turntable, which rotated 360 degrees about a centerspindle, was supported at each end by wheels rolling on a circular rail set in a concrete pit. A pair of electric motors set the turntable in motion.The facility also included shops for major repair work. Some of these shops were able to accommodate the complete disassembly of a locomotive. Need a parte? No problem. Spencer included a machine shop where any part could be cast, forged, and milled on spec. There was no outsourcing of work at Spencer.In peak periods, Southern operated three shifts at 24 hours around the clock at Spencer, retaining a workforce of 3000 repairmen and other employees.One of them was Clifford E. Spears, who worked as a boi lermaker at Spencer from 1942 to 1960. Spears, now 87 years old and still living in Spencer, recalls the bustle of the rail yard, with trains continuously entering and leaving the shops.All the stalls in the roundhouse would be occupied, said Spears, whose job was to weld joints and seams and perform other tasks to make the boilers on the locomotives steam-tight. After the repair work was carried out, inspections were done. Engines that passed inspection were rolled out and placed back into service. Engines requiring major repairs were taken to the other shops, where workers removed the running gears and cranes set the locomotives on wooden blocks. The equipment remained in certain shops depending on the extent of the repair work.Here Come the DieselsDiesel locomotives began arriving at Spencer in 1941, prompting officials at Southern Railway to retrofit the roundhouse to meet the requirements of the new engines. Nine stalls were extended to accommodate the longer, multi-unit diesel s, and new sections were added to service batteries, fuel injectors, and other components of the new locomotives.By 1953, the company had taken all its steam locomotives off the rails, marking the end of an era at the Spencer shops. Clifford Spears recalls that the job skills of the boilermakers and pipefitters became obsolete, while the mechanics with knowledge of electrical components became valued assets.While Southern continued to service part of its fleet of diesel locomotives at Spencer into the 1960s, much of the heavy repair work had ceased years earlier and by the latter 1970s, the great train yard had reached the end days. The facility was abandoned in 1977, its roundhouse and shops mothballed.RestorationSouthern Railways Spencer shops could have become part of Americas Rust Belt, a relic, a symbol of a forgotten period in the nations gritty industrial past. The government of North Carolina, however, saw the facility as much more, as a link to the states history and herita ge. In 1979, the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources in collaboration with the North Carolina Transportation History Corporation launched a campaign to restore the facility. Funds were raised to refurbish the roundhouse and turntable, which opened to the public in 1996.Today, the North Carolina Transportation Museum occupies part of the old Spencer shops and uses the roundhouse to display its collection of rolling stock.All the stalls in the roundhouse would be occupied. After the repair work was carried out, inspections were done. Engines that passed inspection were rolled out and placed back into service.Clifford E. Spears, Boilermaker, Southern Railways Spencer Shops

5 things you should never say to a friend who hates their job

5 things you should never say to a friend who hates their job5 things you should never say to a friend who hates their jobIn a perfect world, we would obviously all love our jobs. We would jump out of bed every morning - nosnooze buttonnecessary - ready to put on our bestbusiness casualand be the first one to hit the office. We would gel easily with ourcolleaguesand supervisors and never get into an awkward spat with other people on our teams. We would rise seamlessly through the ranks at our current organization, too pleased with the companys mission and too fulfilled by our work to ever consider circling back to our resumes and applying to other jobs.Sadly, this isnt always the situation. Unless youre the rare lucky case, youve had imperfect moments on the job - and your friends have too. As a result, you may be the one your BFF comes to after an especially tough workday. Its not always easy to know what to say when someone is struggling, especially when it comes to something as vital as their source of support.We checked in with experts for advice on whatnotto say to a pal whos habitually unhappy in their work. Keep scrolling for their anti-recommendations.1. It will probably blow over.If your friend is miserable at the office, dont minimize their feelings or brush off their concerns as temporary. Instead, counselor, coach, and healerAnahid Lisa Derbabianencourages you to take the time to listen and to understand what theyre going through. When you tell someone that their worries are bound to pass, what they might hear is that you dont think that what theyre dealing with is substantial enough to merit a thoughtful conversation in the here and now. And we know thats not how you actually feel2. Ive been there Heres what happened to me Your first instinct might be to try to draw from your own experiences with a less-than-ideal job or to share an anecdote with your friend that will remind them that theres a light at the end of the tunnel, but coach and consu ltantJane Scudderadvises against it. Youre probably doing this in an effort to normalize the situation or empathize with your friend, but what it can actually do is make this about you, when it needs to be about them. There may come a time when your friend asks you to share your personal journey out of a crummy gig - but in the meantime keep it to yourself.3. If I were you, I would stay for the benefits.Naturally, a reliable health insurance plan or 401(k) is nothing to take lightly, but suggesting your unhappy pal stick around in apotentially unhealthy workplacesimply becauseyoufind the benefits attractive may come off as judgmental. Its up to them to decide whether the pros outweigh the cons in their current job. Plus, as author and coachBernard Charlespoints out, benefits can change with political or other shifts. Comments like behauptung keep your friends and loved ones playing small, Charles reminds us. Any job that exhausts you, sucks the life out of you, or expects you to ha nd over your proverbial kidney isnt worth it.4. How is thejob searchgoing?Assuming your friend has been unhappy with their current employment situation for a while, you might find yourself tempted to regularly touch base about their prospects. While that could be read as genuine concern, it could also strike a nerve in your likely stressed loved one. If they had a new job, they would have told you, saysMaple HolisticsHR manager Nate Masterson. They dont need a reminder that theyre still unemployed or searching for alternatives. This conversation is at the bottom of their chat-with-my-friend list.5. You should just be grateful for the job you have.Gratitude is important, but it doesnt have to come at the expense of your daily happiness. Being grateful doesnt mean ignoring pain and unhappiness, adviserCandice Thomasnotes. It doesnt matter if your friends job seems like the greatest job on Earth. Thats your perspective, not theirs. If they are unhappy, theres a reason for it. Your role should be to listen openly to their frustrations and to encourage them in whatever steps they want to take next.This article first appeared on Brit + Co.

How to Develop a Sales Training Plan

How to Develop a Sales Training PlanHow to Develop a Sales Training PlanDo you have a schlussverkauf training plan for your sale team, or do you just give them some books to read and maybe set them up with a webinar or two? A training plan is an essential tool to confirm both that the sales team is learning what they need to know and that they arent wasting valuable time on things they dont need. Sales Basics In most cases, your salespeople will start the job with a grasp of the basic sales skills. Your sales training program will build on those basic skills and also include company-specific training such as product knowledge, sales processes, and prospect qualification. Ideally, the sales training program is customizable for individual salespeople because theyll have different strengths and weaknesses. Sending everyone to a cold calling boot camp is great for salespeople who struggle with cold calling, but will have little effect on those who already possess strong cold calling skills. And first-time salespeople will probably need extra training on basic sales skills that the rest of the team has already mastered. Determine Skills Before you can develop a sales training plan, youll need to determine what skills are most important for your sales team. This list will vary from industry to industry and from company to company sometimes even from team to team. For example, inside sales teams will have little use for cold calling skills, while outside sales teams will find them crucial. The sales teams themselves will be able to provide suggestions as to which skills are most useful for them. Dont forget to include company-specific skills, such as handling CRM programs. Once your list is complete, sort it roughly by priority. The top few items will be the ones that are most important for training purposes. Your training budget will determine how far down the list you can and should go, but the first items should certainly be addressed. If you have sales t eams with different responsibilities, such as inside and outside teams, youll need different priorities for each. Compare The next step is to compare this list to each salespersons skill set. All salespeople have strengths and weaknesses in different areas. Some weaknesses will be low-priority, such as an inside salesperson with poor cold calling skills but when a weakness occurs in a critical skill, training should be a priority. You can uncover these strengths and weaknesses by analyzing your salespeoples metrics. Hopefully, you are already having your sales team track their metrics and provide that data to you. If not, you should institute a tracking system immediately. Tracking a salespersons metrics will determine exactly where in the sales process his sales are falling apart, which will help to identify the specific sales skill that hes lacking. For example, if hes getting plenty of appointments, but his closing ratio is dismal, the problem is related to his closing skills and that is where he needs mora training. Group Training If the whole team has a problem in one particular area, it can be worthwhile to send them all to group training. In other situations, individual training is probably the best option. However, customizing a training plan for each salesperson may be outside of the training budget. In that case, you may be advised to pick the most important sales skills from your list and train everyone in those skills using a group training program. It will be more time-consuming for your team but will usually be far less expensive. Another option is to assign a salesperson who is strong in one area to act as a mentor for a salesperson who lacks that skill. It wont cost you training money but will cost you in selling time for the mentor.