1980s Video Shows Striking Maine Railroad Workers Confront Scabs
We live in an age today where everything is captured on video. Cell phones, Nest cams, dash cams, drones. There really isn't much that happens today that isn't saved for future generations to see as a part of history.
There are so many moments and events that happened during my childhood that I would love to see again on video, but most of that history was captured by news crews as home video cameras in the 80s were just becoming a thing. They were super expensive and very bulky so you couldn't just always have a camera at the ready in your pocket.
I have always been a railroad fan ever since I was a kid, so I was very surprised to see a post on Reddit of a video from the mid-80s showing the scene of a railroad derailment that happened during a strike on what was then Guilford Transportation and today is Pan Am Railways.
While the union members were striking, strikebreakers, better known as "scabs" were doing the work to re-rail the locomotives. The video has some very adult language as the scabs are confronted by the striking workers, all using thick Maine accents.
Reddit user carhelpplz69 explained the reason for the strike at the time:
Today, Guilford Transportation is Pan Am Railways, but soon it will be no more. CSX has purchased the railroad that runs throughout most of Maine and other parts of New England and will take control on June 1. So soon, instead of seeing blue Pan Am and black Guildford Transportation locomotives when you're stopped at a railroad crossing, you'll see the blue and gold of CSX.
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