Annandale Depot - Personnel Assigned
account
from Stuart Nelson, Soo Line Technical Society
ANNANDALE DEPOT PERSONNEL ASSIGNED
The individual in charge of the
depot at smaller stations on the railroad is the Agent-Operator. He is the agent
of the railroad, handling freight and passenger traffic, handling funds received
for this movement, and paying for utilities in the form of a draft n the
railroads bank. Keeping up the records of all this, which can be considerable,
is also a responsibility. The agent also handles express, milk and cream
shipments, and the loading and unloading of U.S. Mail on the trains.
At
one-man stations he is also the telegraph operator. This consists of handling
commercial telegrams, company messages, and receiving and delivering train
orders in the control of train movements.
Complete records of assignment
of agents and others do not exist. Various sources (company records, union
records, and newspaper accounts) provide some sort of listing.
The first
agent-operator in 1886 is unknown, but by 1889 F. J. Petrie was listed as the
agent-operator. I. T. Woodruff had been there about a year until October 1891,
when he moved on and was replaced by Thomas Haggerty. Records are missing, and
then W. L. Haggerty was there in 1897.
A gap in the records finds John H.
Seeger in 1927. A Caretaker was also assigned at this time, Fred Hawkinson.
Track maintenance or Section Crew records are even less. In 1927 John
Haggerty was foreman and laborers were John J. Fashant and Emil Riep. It is
possible that the section crew was abolished in 1931, taken over by adjoining
sections.
John H. Seeger continued as agent-operator until after 1937.
Another gap in the records finds Clarence A. Hausken taking over in 1944 until
he passed away in 1956. Ben Norell was agent-operator from 1956 until retirement
in 1966, being replaced by Levine L. Becker until the depot was closed in 1971.
A different system consisting of a traveling agent replaced the resident agent.
Stuart J. Nelson
Soo Line Technical Society
March 25, 2008