Personal safety equipment was virtually non-existent back then. And, trainmen and enginemen dressed for work. I've seen plenty of photos from that era of freight crew members wearing dress shirts and ties under their bib overalls!

Worked a stretch for the NYCRR in Detroit, and I can tell you the guy with the shoes is definitely not part of the train crew. He's likely a railroad employee hitching a free ride - a common practice in the '40s and probably now as well.

probably doesn't meet safety standards or maybe a stylish brogue toe-cap is on the requirements for a tail end crew of a freight.

Barstow is home to a Hump Yard, a bunch of tracks used for assembling train cars into whatever order they need to be.

Those posters however give new meaning to the name.