Edgar Johnson
Position Held
Brakeman and Conductor
Railroad Line
Illinois Central and Canadian National
Routes: Freight Routes
Years Worked
IC: 1978-1989
Canadian National 2006- now
Lived in South Fulton TN while work working
Home Town: Fulton KY
Edgar Johnson's Kentucky Oral History Commission Interview is currently being transcribed. The video will be available for viewing in the Fulton KY Library shortly.
Edgar Johnson was born in Fulton KY and raised in So Fulton TN. He attended So Fulton Elementary School, So Fulton High School, and Tennessee State University and majored...
Scroll to below photos for full story.
Brakeman and Conductor
Railroad Line
Illinois Central and Canadian National
Routes: Freight Routes
Years Worked
IC: 1978-1989
Canadian National 2006- now
Lived in South Fulton TN while work working
Home Town: Fulton KY
Edgar Johnson's Kentucky Oral History Commission Interview is currently being transcribed. The video will be available for viewing in the Fulton KY Library shortly.
Edgar Johnson was born in Fulton KY and raised in So Fulton TN. He attended So Fulton Elementary School, So Fulton High School, and Tennessee State University and majored...
Scroll to below photos for full story.
EDGAR JOHNSON
Edgar Johnson was born in Fulton KY and raised in So Fulton TN. He attended So Fulton Elementary School, So Fulton High School, and Tennessee State University and majored in Transportation Service Management. Information on HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) was not given-out to So Fulton High School students in Tennessee, during the time that Mr. Johnson was in school. However, one day during half time in the locker room, at a foot ball game a crumpled Tennessee State flyer on top of the trash caught his eye. He picked it up, read it, was intrigued, and researched it; and that’s how he was able to find out about Tennessee State and chose it as the college he would attend.
Mr. Johnson’s parents live in South Fulton and are long and well-established members of the Ken-Tenn community. His father. Edgar Johnson Sr. is retired from 37 years of work at Goodyear and his mother, a loved and revered school teacher, Vernell Johnson, is retired from 37 years of work in with Obion County Schools. His only sibling, Rita Johnson, lives and works in Washington DC but Edgar has always wanted to stay close by and currently makes his home in So Fulton TN. He is married to Mrs. Lavossie Johnson, a homemaker, and they have two sons. Renaldo lives and works in Murray KY and younger son Carlos lives in Nashville and works in the field of computers for Dell Computer Company.
As a young man working a Turner's Dairy, while out back on his breaks, Edgar would see the approach of the huge noisy trains and would watch the guys get off, throw the switch and get back on and ride off. In a very short time, he knew that was the job he wanted.
So at age twenty-two he went after the job. Persistently…because in his heart, he knew without a doubt that he was capable of doing the job that he wanted to do. Convincing the Illinois Central, however, was not especially easy. Everyday he called to apply and see if they had an opening and every week he went personally into the office to inquire. Finally, the woman in the office believed in him, hired him, and gave him a chance.
He stayed with Illinois Central for over ten year and then spread his wings to try other jobs. They, however, were not as fulfilling and he missed the lure of the road, and in 2006 he re applied for railroad work. Again, it was not easy but he had practice now. So he called and he’d go out there every day and, additionally, he had a list of everyone that he’d worked with before that could validate him as a good worker. So with the added benefit of references, education and varied experiences under his belt, soon, they re- hired and took another chance on him!
Edgar Johnson is now a Switch Conductor, like the ones he watched in his youth. Now he is the guy that rolls in on the big engine. Gets off the train. Throws the switch. Gets back on the train. And rides off.
His workday usually starts about 3:00 or 5:00 am and goes until 2:00pm. When he arrives at work, he goes to the office, reviews and completes the day’s paperwork. The design is that “everyone has their job and knows what everyone else will be doing throughout the day.” He, then, before the train leaves, checks the train to make sure everything is where it should be and decides with his colleague what position the two of them will work for that day. The runs are usually a day or a day and a half. According to Mr. Johnson, if it is an over- night run they check into their hotel shower and rest-up for the next day return trip.
When Edgar first hired on John “Pete “ Algee, Robert Vanderford, John Wayne Cross, Marcus Rose, Terry Atkins, and break man, Willie Robertson were already working there.
Some of his best memories from those days are about the fun of the razzing Pete and Van subjected him to, being the new rookie that he was. His saddest railroad memory is of the death of a friend and colleague, Conductor/Switchman David Reils who was recently killed in an out of town yard accident.
Unlike his predecessors on the railroad, Edgar’s encounters with racism were limited and much more covert than overt Such is the case of the story a white van driver shared with him about an occurrence on Edgar’s first trip north with Pete (Algee) . It seems that in Mattoon IL, a van would always be sent for the arriving staff of the 2am trains; and for this arrival, the van driver shared, she had been sent but needed directions. So she stopped a policeman and asked the way. The policeman pleasantly gave her directions and pointed out the way to the pick up point but when he noticed that the conductor and engineer getting off the train were two tall strapping African American gentlemen….he stammered to her, knowingly, “you supposed to pick those up”…. ”you suuuurrre you supposed to be picking them up.” The van driver shared, with Edgar, her surprise and dismay that such an attitude could still be around in this century.
Edgar has now worked many years for the railroad. The position of Conductor has always been the final intent and his upward mobility goal has been met. He likes the job because it’s secure and the pay and the benefits are good and because it’s never the same- there’s always something different…and because as those huge engines roll by , those that will become the next generation look at him and can say to themselves-- if he can do it I can
Interview by Linda Bradford
** Photo# 1
RAIL GRINDING TRAIN OCT 79
Edgar Johnson, Conductor & Larry Williams Engineer
Edgar intentionally tool this picture at dusk to capture the flash of the sparks that accompany the work of the train. The train runs on top of the rails to make them rough for better traction.
This train travels the rails “all over.” It has it’s own dining car, sleeper car, caboose on the rear and a fireman with a hose to extinguish brush fires that are caused as it passes.
Edgar Johnson was born in Fulton KY and raised in So Fulton TN. He attended So Fulton Elementary School, So Fulton High School, and Tennessee State University and majored in Transportation Service Management. Information on HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) was not given-out to So Fulton High School students in Tennessee, during the time that Mr. Johnson was in school. However, one day during half time in the locker room, at a foot ball game a crumpled Tennessee State flyer on top of the trash caught his eye. He picked it up, read it, was intrigued, and researched it; and that’s how he was able to find out about Tennessee State and chose it as the college he would attend.
Mr. Johnson’s parents live in South Fulton and are long and well-established members of the Ken-Tenn community. His father. Edgar Johnson Sr. is retired from 37 years of work at Goodyear and his mother, a loved and revered school teacher, Vernell Johnson, is retired from 37 years of work in with Obion County Schools. His only sibling, Rita Johnson, lives and works in Washington DC but Edgar has always wanted to stay close by and currently makes his home in So Fulton TN. He is married to Mrs. Lavossie Johnson, a homemaker, and they have two sons. Renaldo lives and works in Murray KY and younger son Carlos lives in Nashville and works in the field of computers for Dell Computer Company.
As a young man working a Turner's Dairy, while out back on his breaks, Edgar would see the approach of the huge noisy trains and would watch the guys get off, throw the switch and get back on and ride off. In a very short time, he knew that was the job he wanted.
So at age twenty-two he went after the job. Persistently…because in his heart, he knew without a doubt that he was capable of doing the job that he wanted to do. Convincing the Illinois Central, however, was not especially easy. Everyday he called to apply and see if they had an opening and every week he went personally into the office to inquire. Finally, the woman in the office believed in him, hired him, and gave him a chance.
He stayed with Illinois Central for over ten year and then spread his wings to try other jobs. They, however, were not as fulfilling and he missed the lure of the road, and in 2006 he re applied for railroad work. Again, it was not easy but he had practice now. So he called and he’d go out there every day and, additionally, he had a list of everyone that he’d worked with before that could validate him as a good worker. So with the added benefit of references, education and varied experiences under his belt, soon, they re- hired and took another chance on him!
Edgar Johnson is now a Switch Conductor, like the ones he watched in his youth. Now he is the guy that rolls in on the big engine. Gets off the train. Throws the switch. Gets back on the train. And rides off.
His workday usually starts about 3:00 or 5:00 am and goes until 2:00pm. When he arrives at work, he goes to the office, reviews and completes the day’s paperwork. The design is that “everyone has their job and knows what everyone else will be doing throughout the day.” He, then, before the train leaves, checks the train to make sure everything is where it should be and decides with his colleague what position the two of them will work for that day. The runs are usually a day or a day and a half. According to Mr. Johnson, if it is an over- night run they check into their hotel shower and rest-up for the next day return trip.
When Edgar first hired on John “Pete “ Algee, Robert Vanderford, John Wayne Cross, Marcus Rose, Terry Atkins, and break man, Willie Robertson were already working there.
Some of his best memories from those days are about the fun of the razzing Pete and Van subjected him to, being the new rookie that he was. His saddest railroad memory is of the death of a friend and colleague, Conductor/Switchman David Reils who was recently killed in an out of town yard accident.
Unlike his predecessors on the railroad, Edgar’s encounters with racism were limited and much more covert than overt Such is the case of the story a white van driver shared with him about an occurrence on Edgar’s first trip north with Pete (Algee) . It seems that in Mattoon IL, a van would always be sent for the arriving staff of the 2am trains; and for this arrival, the van driver shared, she had been sent but needed directions. So she stopped a policeman and asked the way. The policeman pleasantly gave her directions and pointed out the way to the pick up point but when he noticed that the conductor and engineer getting off the train were two tall strapping African American gentlemen….he stammered to her, knowingly, “you supposed to pick those up”…. ”you suuuurrre you supposed to be picking them up.” The van driver shared, with Edgar, her surprise and dismay that such an attitude could still be around in this century.
Edgar has now worked many years for the railroad. The position of Conductor has always been the final intent and his upward mobility goal has been met. He likes the job because it’s secure and the pay and the benefits are good and because it’s never the same- there’s always something different…and because as those huge engines roll by , those that will become the next generation look at him and can say to themselves-- if he can do it I can
Interview by Linda Bradford
** Photo# 1
RAIL GRINDING TRAIN OCT 79
Edgar Johnson, Conductor & Larry Williams Engineer
Edgar intentionally tool this picture at dusk to capture the flash of the sparks that accompany the work of the train. The train runs on top of the rails to make them rough for better traction.
This train travels the rails “all over.” It has it’s own dining car, sleeper car, caboose on the rear and a fireman with a hose to extinguish brush fires that are caused as it passes.