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Today marked my return to work after being off for 6 months.
Thank you Covid.
I’ve missed driving those trains through sleepy towns and sparkling cities. Feeling 4200 HP come alive with every throttle swipe is a rush. The sheer power of a turbo engine is truly amazing.
Thank you Covid.
I’ve missed driving those trains through sleepy towns and sparkling cities. Feeling 4200 HP come alive with every throttle swipe is a rush. The sheer power of a turbo engine is truly amazing.
A 2 mile long freight train has enough potential energy to blast a football stadium into outer space.
It’s an art to control that kind of power.There is an exorbitant amount of planning ahead and multi-tasking required to safely transport goods or people to their destination.
It’s an art to control that kind of power.There is an exorbitant amount of planning ahead and multi-tasking required to safely transport goods or people to their destination.
One must be able to focus without distraction and prioritize tasks. Take your eyes off the road for a few seconds and you might miss that whistle post or signal or person. It takes a lot of discipline.
When I hired on, there were only about 7 other women vs 1200 men.
When I hired on, there were only about 7 other women vs 1200 men.
We didn’t have our own locker room because the director of transportation didn’t ‘believe’ women should be on the railway.
33 years later, I’m still here.
I’ve had a long and varied career spanning close to 2/3’s of my life.
33 years later, I’m still here.
I’ve had a long and varied career spanning close to 2/3’s of my life.
I’ve ridden the side of boxcars for miles, holding on for dear life in -45 Celsius & been in a 6 million $ train wreck (my first month) and lived to tell. I’ve derailed and almost been cut in half because of lackadaisical coworkers who weren’t paying attention.
But if you were to ask me what about my job was the hardest part, it wasn’t putting up with sexism or disgust or long hours and strenuous work, it was the accidents. It was the fatalities. It was seeing people make stupid mistakes that cost them their lives.
My first accident happened when I was just 21. Two boys were playing on a trestle. An 80mph train vs 11 year olds ... on a bridge 50 feet high isn’t ending well.
I was the one who went back to find them, so scared and horrified at what I’d see. Nothing could prepare me for that
I was the one who went back to find them, so scared and horrified at what I’d see. Nothing could prepare me for that
Being with a fatally injured child during his last breath will never leave me. He was a monster reaching for me and I went towards him & didn’t run screaming into the woods. Holding someone else’s baby and feeling the life slip away from him changed me in ways I can’t convey.
Back in those days accidents and fatalities meant nothing to the company. You got right back on that train and started up again. Even though I couldn’t see or breathe or think, I continued on. I saw his face, bloodied and torn apart every time I closed my eyes.There was no relief
I wish I could say that there weren’t any more accidents but that was just the beginning.
There was an older man with a dog, you could tell both were loved. Wedding ring,ironed shirt,jeans and polished boots that all came off as he was ripped out of the side window
There was an older man with a dog, you could tell both were loved. Wedding ring,ironed shirt,jeans and polished boots that all came off as he was ripped out of the side window
and was thrown, along with his truck engine, 75 feet away, into a ditch.
I covered him with my coat and whispered to him that help was coming as I silently died right along with him. All I could think of was the police showing up at his home, ruining his wifes life with the news
I covered him with my coat and whispered to him that help was coming as I silently died right along with him. All I could think of was the police showing up at his home, ruining his wifes life with the news
I hoped this was the last but no. Another man decided to drive around the crossing gates right in front of us. We dragged his car for a mile on the front of the locomotive until we came to a stop. He was completely crushed and still alive.
When I got to him, there was so much blood and brain matter it made me physically sick. But I told him to think about the baby on the key ring hanging from his mirror and clutched his hand as he passed. I still have his blood in my railway watch.
Surely this had to be my last but I was sadly mistaken.
Railways don’t like to report suicides because there are so goddamn many of them.
A woman, alone in the middle of nowhere jumped in front of us. I found her purse and her head. There were only bits
Railways don’t like to report suicides because there are so goddamn many of them.
A woman, alone in the middle of nowhere jumped in front of us. I found her purse and her head. There were only bits
and pieces of her leftwhen 500 tons traveling at 90 mph made contact. In her purse were photos of 2 little boys. My heart broke for them.The fire dept came out to hose the train down.I puked with a firefighter, my grief violently ejected out of my mouth,mixing with her remains.
She was my nightmare. That severed head asking me ’what did I do to the children’. I’d run from the house onto the street shaking the dream out of my head. But it didn’t work. I just kept adding more faces to the mix, more death, more pain.
One beautiful March afternoon, I spotted a person in the distance walking by the side of the tracks. My partner blew the whistle. She turned and walked towards us onto the tracks. She was 16. Her arms were ocean-wide as we hit her head on. She was still alive but not for long.
There was an inch of snow on the ground. It was littered with her blood. The silence after she passed was deafening.
Eventually, I filled it with my own grief.
Eventually, I filled it with my own grief.
When it comes to railroad tracks please stay away. Please obey crossing signs. Please don’t take your family hiking on tracks and bridges. Please don’t shoot wedding pics on the tracks.
I might be driving that train.
I might be driving that train.
