I am a freight conductor on the Union Pacific Railroad. I go from Rawlins to Green River every day. I was talking to a guy at the hardware store the other day who wondered why my job even existed. He assumed the train ran itself and there was no work to be done. He was smug and I wanted to smack him. The engineer is like the pilot of a plane, and I'm like the co-pilot. He runs the train and I do everything else.
Every once in a while the train's air brake system will break and It's my job to get it fixed and get the train moving again. This usually entails a 2 or 3 mile walk no matter if it's hot and sunny or cold and snowy. sometimes I'll be in between trains as they move by. I've almost been run over several times. That's scary, especially when the other train is going 60 or 70 miles per hour.
I could relate some stories where I am not sure how i survived but my wife will probably read this.
Working on the railroad also means memorizing hundreds of rules. Most of them I use every day. If you don't follow these rules and you get caught, you could get fired.
I love my job. I'm gone a little too much from home, but it's a job.
Simple Woman
10 years ago
3 comments:
EEEEEK.....I did not know you had to get off the train to do "stuff". I didn't know who did those things....but I didn't think it was the conductor.
Gone are the days of the conductor wearing the cute outfit and punching tickets like in Little House in the Prairie eh?
You keep being extra super wonderfully careful cause I need you for Camille. And it IS all about me....right? ;)
Keep up the train stories though...educate us. :) I live in a train town and admit to knowing next to nothing about them.
That guy at the hardware store is totally ignorant, huh? Yeah, trains run themselves...tell him so do hardware stores. Ugh.
You've got a cool job. I'd love to hear more, too...minus the near-death experiences!
You don't know me, I'm one of Camille's friends from Oklahoma. I have two boys that are totally in love with trains. My youngest still plays with his trains everyday(making tracks all over the hosue), and my oldest did when he was his brothers age. We used to go a sit in the parking lot by the train yard and watch for hours, the cars moving back and forth. It was fun. SO I think you have a neat job, and would like to learn more also.
Thanks,
Amy :)
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