A punchy commuter tradition
Conductor John Mancinelli, 45, a 26 year veteran of the Metro North Railroad, with his ticket punch. (amNY photo by Dennis W. Ho)
Before a Metro-North conductor retired to Italy, he made sure his beloved heart-shaped ticket puncher -- his sidekick for many years -- lived on in a young conductor's hands.
Like passing a torch, the man's punch was passed down to Sharon Carlquist, who used it until it broke. Now a year away from retirement, Carlquist, a conductor for more than 30 years, hopes to get her hands on a heart-shaped punch to pass onto a new, young assistant conductor.
"We love our punches," said Carlquist, whose current punch looks like a lopsided star. "We get very attached to them, and you don't want them to break."
Carlquist and many other conductors have punched through sandpaper -- done anything, really -- just to keep their punches working well.
More than 1,000 punch shapes are used on the Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road. Almost as unique as fingerprints, the shapes identify which conductor punched a ticket to keep customers from reusing tickets from other trains.
"It's a part of you," said conductor Annie Murphy Kelly.
Read Marlene Naanes' entire story here. And see more photos here.
