Union Card
When we started operating the Cedar River Terminal we wanted some way for our crew caller to keep track of what crews were available and what jobs they were qualified to work. In our prototype railroad paperwork, we had a stack of union cards. We decided to make similar cards for the CRT using software to print on standard business card stock. The front of the card provided the employee's and railroad's names and the back listed the jobs and qualification dates.
When a crew reported for duty, they gave their union cards to the crew caller. When the caller assigned them to a job, he gave them back so the crew would be carrying them while working. At the end of a job, the crews kept the cards if they wanted to take a break or gave them to the caller if they wanted another assignment.
It was up to me, as Vice President of Operations, to determine what crews were qualified for what jobs. Generally I just sent people out there to try positions; if they worked them successfully their cards were marked as qualified. I could do this because we had detailed instructions for each job. If you prefer, you can send rookies out with experienced operators to determine if they qualify.
Card Front
Card Back
User notes
We left a few employee names in the CRT database so you could see how it works. When you are ready to use this tool, either print a bunch of basic cards and fill in the blanks by hand or make a new table with your railroad's information. Be sure to change the selection criteria in the query before you print your cards.
Download
This program is unsupported freeware using a Microsoft Access 97 database. You must have Access 97 or higher to run it.