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Why work for a railroad?
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I have 31 years of service in, 25 of them as an Engineer. <br />I never considered, and still would not consider a career in any other industry. <br />The Country has less than a half million of "US", they have roughly 249 1/2 million of "THEM", they dont need any more of "them".LOL <br />Kidding aside, I do have one perplexing concern these days. <br />Railroading as a career does not offer the same SPIRITUAL REWARDS that it did when I was starting out. Morale in our industry has never been lower. <br />There was a time when you would walk down the street in your community and mothers would say to their small sons: "Look, little Johnnie, There goes Mr (x.y.z.), he works for the RAILROAD!", or something like, "HE'S an ENGINEER!" <br />It's all different now. These days, when somebody asks you your occupation and you reply: <br />RAILROAD ENGINEER or RAILROAD CONDUCTOR, even though you're in a profession that's existed for nearly 170 years, they just look at you with a blank stare, as if you just mentioned some obscure occupation that exists only on the othe side of the planet MARS! People are just not railroad aware anymore. If you wanted to be a folklore hero a generation ago, you could become a railroader, now you have to be a rock musician! LOL <br />That covers OFF the railroad property, what about ON the railroad property? <br />WELL, this negative spirit has infiltrated the ranks of us inside as well. <br />I blame this on the hiring practices of the Human Rescource departments. They seem to be rampant on a campaign to hire as many people who do NOT have the railroad in their blood as they can. <br />Railroading used to be a CHOSEN proffession, people were here because they wanted to be, and were proud to be here. I read recently that of a recently hired training class for train/loco drivers in England, many of them had bever before set foot aboard a train! HECK ! When i was a kid, railroadmen's sons used to begin their apprenticeship UNOFFICIALLY when they were still in grade or grammar school, frequently accompanying their dad (or next toor neighbor etc) to work. <br />It's all different now, much of thwe workforce doesn't know how it stumbled into the profession, it's almost like they were shanghaied like sailors in days of old. <br />MORE John Phillip Sousa <br />LESS Micheal Jackson <u></u>
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