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| Re: Pinstripe overalls. (1468356) | |||
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Re: Pinstripe overalls. |
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Posted by randyo on Mon Mar 5 15:26:40 2018, in response to Re: Pinstripe overalls., posted by chicagomotorman on Mon Mar 5 10:46:49 2018. I’m not sure of the exact year, so I’ll have to ask one of my more knowledgeable TA friends. Prior to the 1966 strike, all NYCTA employees had to buy their own uniforms which for bus operators was actually a sort of army olive drab and khaki shirt and OD tie. C/R uniforms were pretty much the same as they are now with navy blue trousers, and either a uniform style dress jacket or an Eisenhower jacket. The caps were the 8 pointed style with the appropriate color for the bus operators and C/Rs respectively. B/Os’ badges were relatively substantial but C/R and M/M badges were basically 1” by 6” pieces if tin with the title and badge number punched out. M/M were required to wear pinstripe or hickory stripe overalls with matching jumpers ( These days referred to as “chore coats”). The pinstripe was similar to what you in CTA wear assuming they still wear them there but was a finer stripe than the hickory stripe once worn by locomotive engineers. In NY,the pinstripe was preferred but hickory stripe was acceptable and it seems that IRT M/M went more for the hickory stripe while BMT and IND M/M opted for the finer pinstripe. Both M/M and C/Rs were required to wear light blue shirts with a dark blue tie. M/M had 2 options for their caps. There was of course the matching striped RR style cap but there was also a black silk cap reminiscent of something worn by a fisherman. Caps for all titles were supposed to have the badge attached although for some reason BMT M/M for the most part never wore the badge. When the TWU contract provided for uniform supplied by the TA, B/Os uniforms changed to blue almost the same as the C/Rs but with a smooth sided cap instead of the 8 points. C/R caps were changed to a cylindrical style pretty much like mainline RR C/Rs. B/Os received Eisenhower jackets and C/Rs received more of a suit jacket. The shirts for both B/Os and C/Rs had loops on the right shoulder to hang the badge during summer months when caps did not need to be worn. I don’t know what precipitated it, but for some reason M/M were not given any sort of uniform and per contract did not have to wear them although it was recommended that we wear the appropriate overalls to look more professional. Some time in the mid 1980s, the TA started issuing M/M uniforms which were the stripped overalls. A few years later, probably around the time the M/M title was changed to “Train Operator” (T/O) the uniforms were changed to the same dark blue trousers but with white shirt with thin black pinstripes. Dating back to when the traditional style C/R caps were introduced, C/Rs in train service were not required to wear their caps since being bulkier that the older style, they were prone to being knocked off when the C/Rs stuck their heads out the cab windows to operate the doors. It’s been years since I’ve seen either a C/R or T/O wearing any sort of cap and I’ve been told there is no longer an official uniform cap although many employees do wear baseball caps with either the MTA logo or in some cases the bullet of the line they work. AFAIK, there are no longer any badges issued for T/O but since the B/Os’ badges merely read “Operator” should the MTA choose to, the same badges could be used for both titles. |
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