https://genius.com/Dirk-powell-mole-in-the-ground-lyrics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AwjzzuT0Rw Read the analysis of the song
http://jkadcock.blogspot.com/2013/10/railroad-man-will-kill-you-when-he-can.html
Watched the You Tube video.
Wow. Wasn’t that a laugh riot?
Balt and his words of wisdom with a few changes could also be applied to the OTR industry. Think about it many of them are gone from their homes for weeks sometimes months at a time sleeping in a different state each night eating who knows what from where loading up all over the place going to customers that may or may not give a crap if they even have access to a restroom. Yes that one happens more often than you realize still. They deal with weather extremes from -40 below in North Dakota with -80 below windchill to 120 degrees in the shade in the deserts across AZ in the summer. Yet they do it for the most part hidden no one knows who they are unless they screw up and someone gets hurt in an accident then everything they have ever done is put under the microscope for all to see and they all pray this prayer Lord please help me get thru this day safe and may all those that I interact with on the road also be safe around me in their actions.
That prayer was recited to me by my husband and several of my drivers over the last year. Why they all know that dreaded feeling of having been in the worst accident anyone can be in were someone you were involved in with died. Just remember while they are not railroaders they also have extreme responiblities they carry on their shoulders ever single day. In a train your interaction with traffic is limited they are surrounded by it all day. Their jobsite aka their truck outweighs the normal car 20 to 1 when fully loaded and takes 3 times the length to stop. So please if you can remind your loved ones to please give them room on the roads they are mostly family men and women all doing the same thing your doing a job to support their familes. Sorry just a few words from a trucking company worker that is married to a now disabled driver from an accident.
My Dad (who worked for the Mopac as a chief clerk) had an expression, “There is NO unselfish motive.” Even Mother Teresa gets satisfaction from her choices. We choose our occupations and if it gets too unsatisfying, we quit.
NKP Guy = May I introduce you to DiningCar (REAL railroader and a R/W Agent)
Railroad or not, if you’re not really into the job and learning your profession/craft, you had best not tangle with me. In recent history, I’ve more than annoyed several attorneys, a utility land agent, title companies and other surveyors and engineers because I didn’t buy the baloney they were spouting about railroad R/W.(Guessing and/or accepting hearsay is a pretty weak excuse) A couple of our railroad clients have discovered that they unintentionally have become owners of half of houses [In one recent case 2 1/2 houses] and commercial buildings because somebody was to cheap to pay for a proper survey or dealt with a fly-by-night title company. (scary how common this is getting to be)
Concept being: It takes all kinds to make a large organization function well. Hopefully those folks are all into what they’re doing.
MC,
Farnsworth?
Present day, yes. (oh, farnsbark!)
mudchicken: I appreciate your railroad real estate comments, especially the foul-ups resulting from a lack of good surveying.
When my neighbor sold his house next door (our houses date from about 1885), he found out from the surveyors that his house was on my land by 7", but Ohio has a law that after X number of years such an arrangement or situation is legal and doesn’t have to be undone; it’s never been a problem for me.
My Uncle Bob, who worked in NKP’s real estate department, is responsible in a way for my interest in that great railroad. In 1951 he alerted my parents, who were renters, that the NKP was going to sell several houses next to its RoW in East Cleveland. Although it was wrong, he told my parents how much to bid! Guess what? Dad & mom became first time homeowners by buying a (run-down) house for $4,000 cash. In 1960 they sold the place (much improved) for $12,000. Thanks to Uncle Bob and the Nickel Plate, dad & mom never had a mortgage on that or any other house. You can guess what a financial blessing that turned out to be for our family then and since.
As I indicated earlier, no one would ever have mistaken Uncle Bob for a railroader (at least by my definition), but he enjoyed working downtown for the NKP; it was in his house that I first saw and picked up Taylor Hampton’s book on the Nickel Plate, and thanks to him my bedroom window was level with a Berkshire cab for nine years of fantastic train-watching.
NKP guy,
My career RR experience prior to becoming Right of Way Agent was 20 years in the Engineering Dept. working on an Operating Division, building 79 miles of new RR and then working for the Chief Engineer in Corporate Hqs. From that I had learned what ROW requirements a Railroad needed to operate in the ever changing world of transportation developement like TOFC and COFC or hauling new automobiles. I began as ROW Agent with the task of acquiring the property needed for two new yards that would service a new huge manufacturing plant.
So yes I had to know how railroaders worked and what “your railroaders” must have to do their work efficiently and safely. I indeed understood what happened when trains operated both in yards and on the operating lines; plus the ever present problems my company had with its existing property as times changed.
MC,
I will not divluge the detailis. Just call me " Lt. Columbo". My deputy buddies say I am a good detectiive. LOL.
Interesting that the term “railroader” is more encompassing than the term “trucker”. No one would refer to a rates clerk for YRC (for example) as a trucker. That term is reserved for drivers and occasionally the higher ups.
very well said, my Dad never went out on the railroad, worked in yards, freight house and yard office, but he knew what it was like to work in all kinds of weather when he was outside.And had a vital job to do loading freight cars or checking the seals and making sure they had not been tampered with, espec cigs and liquor cars. Had his battery lantern to swing around so he’d be seen, no bright tower lights in those days and steam engines, some co-workers did die when a train backed over them. Mom was glad when he got enough seniority to work in the office, much safer. And the joking around with his co-workers, everyone did have a nickname and some were not so nice. The office was right next to the yards, so there was a lot of action going on and the crews came inside to wait for their trains and shoot the bull. It was like a big frat and Mom could understand too as she had worked for Frisco and so did her dad, uncles and grandpa, who were over the road guys. I grew up with railroading stories and feel like I understand what goes on, even if I never got to work for one myself. No matter what the weather, the trains will get through and especially during WWII when Dad worked and trains ran every few minutes, since Frisco served Ft. Leonard Wood, a huge training base. I know my parents considered themselves railroaders and their RR retirement checks proved it. Dad never lived to retire but Mom got hers and widow’s check for Dad.
Actually I was one of those green eyeshade-type guys from the Revenue Accounting area but I appreciate the props! [:)]