Railroad shopmen

At the turn of the 20th century, approximately one fifth of railroad employees worked as shopmen, a broad group that came to include machinists, carpenters, boilermakers, electricians, sheet metal workers, and other related trades.

Beginning in the late 1820s, the technology of steam locomotion began to emerge as a commercially viable means of transportation in Europe and North America.

The production and maintenance of this railway rolling stock became a major portion of business operations of these emerging transportation firms and dedicated employees collectively known as "railroad shopmen" were hired for the performance of these tasks.

By then, the American rail network had grown to 360,000 miles of track, worked by 66,000 locomotives pulling approximately 2.5 million freight cars.

[4] A variety of different craftspeople were needed for locomotive and car maintenance, including machinists and blacksmiths to fabricate and sustain metal parts, carpenters to produce and repair wooden interiors, and others.