Joint Committee of Adjustment for the Rock Island System's Order of Railway Conductors and Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Photograph, 1910
Collection Number: 6268 P

The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen [BRT] was founded in 1883 in Oneonta, N.Y. as a protective and insurance organization. The BRT was established to represent members' interests in obtaining a satisfactory contract with management. The rail service members of the BRT included conductors and their assistants, dining car stewards, ticket collectors, train baggagemen, brakemen, and train flagmen. The yard service members of the BRT included yardmasters, yard conductors, switchtenders, foremen, flagmen, brakemen, switchmen, car tenders, operators, hump riders, and car operators. By the time of its merger with three other railroad labor unions to form the United Transportation Union in 1969, it had the greatest membership of any of the operating railroad brotherhoods.

The Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen [ORC&B] was founded in 1868 to represent the interests of railroad conductor. The first name of the organization was the Conductors Union. The name was changed to Order of Railway Conductors of America [ORC] in 1878. In 1942, the Order of Sleeping Car Conductors merged with ORC. The union's name was changed in 1954 to the Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen to reflect the changes in their membership after the union began to represent brakemen. In 1969, the Order merged with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, and Switchmen's Union of North America to form the United Transportation Union.

The Rock Island Railroad (formally known as the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad) was a Class I railroad which operated in the midwestern region of the United States from 1852-1980.

Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference archivist for access to these materials.

This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and Procedures for Document Use.

Joint Committee of Adjustment for the Rock Island System's Order of Railway Conductors and Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Photograph #6268 P. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.

Related Collections: 5021: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Additional Records 5102: Emergency Board No. 129, Long Island Railroad and the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, Locals 517 and 1090, Records 5149: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Records 5149 MB: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Memorabilia 5149 P: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Photographs 5348: W.P. Kennedy as President of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen against the Long Island Railroad Company Court Documents 5446: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Ledger 5612: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Moosic Tunnel Lodge no.93 Meeting Minutes 5623: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Legislative Board of New York Files 5631: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad General Committee File 5647: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Joppa Lodge (Toledo, OH) Minute Books 5894: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Additional Railroad Booklets 6312 P: Judith Sullivan Kowalczyk Collection of Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Photographs 6312 PUBS: Judith Sullivan Kowalczyk Collection of Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Publications 6312m: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Annual Report of the Legislative Board 6405 PUBS: William Sharp Collection of The Railroad Trainmen's Journal 6480 MB: Paul Berger Collection of Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Memorabilia