You said you have more to say about working after graduation.
Right. I wanted to be a little more specific about my early months with Westinghouse.
Okay.
As I said, I chose to go into manufacturing. But, on the Graduate Student Program, the company paid me to try work assignments at several plants to find where I would best fit in. And, in between work assignments, I attended several schools to help me out.
Home base for all this activity was at the GSP Educational Center in Wilkinsburg, a suburb of Pittsburgh.
Here’s the Center.
Nice-looking place.
It was. And here are the hills of Wilkinsburg.
Steep.
They were. I didn’t have a car yet at this point. So I would walk to the trolley to get me to where I had to go. But later, after I bought a car, these hills were quite a challenge when it snowed. Which it did.
Anyway, after an orientation at the Center, my first work assignment was at the original plant started by George Westinghouse. He was who we called Uncle George.
I couldn’t get a decent photo of the plant. It was so huge and spread-out. I was assigned to the section that made industrial switchgear.
That’s the circuit-breaker that protects electrical circuits and equipment. They wanted to give me a taste of what life was like on the shop floor. I helped out a worker in that section. It was a good introduction.
After that it was off to the company’s Manufacturing School in another nearby building.
There I learned to operate machinery and learn manufacturing techniques. Even did some arc-welding.
That’s not me, but it could have been. I wore that kind of safety protection.
After that, it was back for more class time. Learned other aspects of manufacturing, such as time-study.
My next work assignment was at the Westinghouse Buffalo plant in upstate New York.
There I learned about large-motor design, construction, and test.
And while I was there I visited Niagara Falls. On a bridge across the water I stood on the U.S. side and put my hand on the Canadian side. You could call it a Hand Across the Border.
My final assignment was at the Newark, New Jersey, plant. At 95 Orange Street, I recall.
It was where I decided to stay. And it was then that i bought my first car: a used 1946 Chevy.
It was officially a two-tone brown two-door. But it actually had three colors, because one fender was yet another shade of brown. Apparently it had lost a tangle with another vehicle. But it ran all right. Stick shift. Cost me $750. Compare that with today’s prices.
A bargain, I suppose.
Yep. And I paid for it on time. So I could establish a good credit history.
Good idea.
I’ve owned several cars over the years, but my old Chevy was the first.