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I didn’t work on any of them. Most work trains are run on an ad hoc basis using spare crews, but the slag program was extensive so the jobs were “advertised” so crews could bid on them. They were big payers and those that bid had very high seniority.
For the rest of us, the slag program was a real pain. I was working in the east pool, Quebec St. to Hamilton or Toronto at the time. In one two week pay period during the program, every single tour of duty was 11 hours or more, that’s in each direction. Often we only had two hours off between off duty inbound and on duty outbound. Subtract the typical 1 hour call and myself & the rest of the crew worked 22 hours or more with less than one hour rest in the middle. Our reason for turning right back instead of taking rest, was that we had a chance to get by the track block for the slag operation before it started up next day.
One amusing anecdote I recall during the program occurred at Woodstock. I was called out of my pool crew to work as Conductor on the Woodstock 1830 job. Slag had been put down the day before, but during our time switching the yard, it started to rain. We were parked by the station occupying the main track so the west facing (eastward) signal at Coakley was illuminated & plainly visible. As the rain picked up, the signal started displaying some weird indications. After a bit, things cleared up. I found out later that the slag, having a high metal content, would sometimes cause electrical malfunctions by shorting out track circuits. As the signal maintainer explained the next day, the slag quickly oxidizes after the first rain & the trouble soon disappears.
Slag was really hard, I suppose account metal content. Some pieces were rather sharp and I noticed that boot soles wore out more quickly than before, and there were a couple times I found gouges out of the sole of one of my boots. In addition to that, slag being blackish in colour, seemed to make the right of way noticeably hotter in summer, much more than with the old stone ballast.
Great photo and thanks for all the information from your time on CP Ron.
Great information as always, Ron. Thank you for your comments.