Casey Jones - Rules Infractions

Rules Infractions

Jones was issued nine citations for rules infractions in his career, with a total of 145 days suspended. However, in the year prior to his death Jones had not been cited for any rules infractions. Railroaders who worked with Jones liked him but admitted that he was a bit of a chance taker. Unofficially though, the penalties were far more severe for running behind than breaking the rules. He was by all accounts an ambitious engineer, eager to move up the seniority ranks and serve on the better-paying, more prestigious passenger trains. At the time, passenger trains took priority on the rails: a passenger train never had to "go in the hole" for a freight train to pass. The only time a passenger train ever went to a side track or "passing track" was to allow another passenger train of higher priority to pass. And the passenger trains No. 1 through No. 4 had priority over all other trains, except when one would meet the other.