Do you wonder? Want to know? "The Work"

You see them in every town.  You hear them from afar.  Little boys are always for some reason drawn towards the toot and  sight of the infamous choo choo train.  It's the role that I've lived for the past four weeks.  

Here's a brief summary of the work that I've been doing in Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota.  It's also known as the Bakken Oil Region.  Boomtowns and oil rigs line the highway.  In those towns, a one bedroom can rent for approximately $3000.  The towns have been known to also house crime because of the huge influx of men and money.  

I run trains from Glasgow to Minot and back, 5 to 6 days a week.  A usual trip down the rails, 276.6 miles to be exact can run anywhere from 7 to 14 hours, depending on the circumstances we all encounter on any given day.   A typical day is around 11 or so and starts 75 minutes before my on duty time when I get that on duty call that's all automated, informing me of my when and where with who.  When I speak of cirumstances, it includes anything that a railroader knows could dictate his trip and decide on whether or not they are going to fall short of their destination and get dog caught in another city.  Dog caught?  It means a relief crew is going to come out in a van to take over and bring the train in so you don't exceed the federally mandated 12 hour time limit a railroader can be on a train.  From there, the relief crew takes control of the train and we van it back to our final destination.  The things that consume our time is speed.  How has are we able to go on this trip?  That all depends on what we're carrying and how much it weighs.  What's out on the rails?  This decides on if we stay on the main track or take a siding to allow another train that's following or that's incoming to pass.  To date, I've spent several hours on a side track, waiting or rolling by those trains.  Rolling by?  If I'm pulled off to a siding and other trains are passing I will do a roll by which is simply getting out and standing trackside behind the protection of the locomotive doing a moving safety inspection of those trains as they go down the rails.  I manage everything about the train.  I am aware of our load, which can range from corn to crude and even containers.  I know the weight, length, axle count, cars and speed restrictions.  I know what type of work is being down out on the rails as well so I can safely navigate our train from stop to stop without incident.  

Here are some rough figures that still just blow my mind.  Our locomotives alone hold 5000 gallons of diesel fuel, weigh nearly a half million pounds and have over 4000 horsepower.  We'll run a few of those on our train with one in the rear as our DP(distributive power).  In the area our trains are as long as 8000 feet in total length.  Yes, that long!  Over a mile and a half and if something out on our trip happens, I'm walking that length on loose large gravel to determine the problem we've encountered.  A train that long is well over a 100 cars.  When your that big and long, were pulling over 15000 tons!  It blows my minds still, over 30 million pounds at 70MPH with everything that you could imagine on them from crude to containers filled with our everyday goods and groceries, going up and down hills, through sleet and snow.  I got a little off track, starting to sound like a foamer.  A foamer?  People that are crazy for trains, some even follow trains just to hear the horn or to snap pictures.  I watch for speed restrictions on a daily report given that includes work being done on or around the rails which require us to call in and or stop if required.  I read signals, flags and placards that tell me what's out there to keep us at a safe traveling speed or to allow oncoming traffic to get by.  It's a job of focus and awareness.  A job that places a great deal of responsibility onto a crew of two, the conductor and engineer, to move millions upon millions of dollars worth of goods from point A to point B in a safe and timely fashion.  The people are all characters from all areas.  Solid individuals with families in some form or another that they've sacrificed to the life of the railroad.  I haven't seen my family in a month.  The last physical image was from the first blog that I posted.  My boys waving me away as I came across a few states to take on this life as a railroader.  To provide in hopes of a future that can financially free us from our binds of all the things that seem to regularly shake us to our knees with stress.  

Overall, I'm enjoying the work and the relationships that I've made in class and out on my trips.  I feel proud to finally work in a place that appreciates its employees.  They provide the wage, the tools and supplies to succeed.  They support an employees family with benefits that far exceed any other company I've heard of or worked for.  I feel like it's becoming a home out here with the locals and environment all around me.  I am enjoying the journey, learning a trade and finding out who I am and what I'm made of by being out here alone and away from my family.  I'm enjoying the ride thus far and look forward to what God has in store for me as I progress with my work and my life as a railroader.  Conductor Resseau out!