History for Chron

Striking members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers were ordered back to work after President Dwight D. Eisenhower empaneled an emergency board to study issues behind the work stoppage.

Some five days prior, members of the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway went on strike over wage issues. The strike of 200 railroad engineers idled about 3,000 railroad workers, including 1,000 in Spokane.

The work stoppage halted movement of all passenger and freight trains on the SP&S system and disrupted service on the Great Northern and Northern Pacific railways, which jointly own the SP&S.

O.J. Coughlin, chairman of the brotherhood’s Spokane unit, said he was notified of the development and was headed out to “pull the pickets.”

Coughlin said he understood that workers would be sent back to work immediately. The emergency board ordered the strike to be suspended for 30 days to allow federal officials to investigate the dispute.

Spokane fire investigators continued to investigate why traffic control boxes had been exploding around town.

An explosion blew off the door of the signal box at Lincoln Street and Main Avenue. Earlier the same evening, a signal box blew up at Second Avenue and Browne Street.

Several other signal boxes recently suffered the same fate.