Oh, yeah

[railfanespee4449]

Going this January- even I had bad luck- The steamer is in the shop, or i'd be engineering that!!!
Well, some other trip

[mloik]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mloik

QUOTE: Originally posted by chessking

<Sigh> :-( I hate my job. I want one like yours.

Chessking,

Sorry to hear that. Have you considered grabbing life by the antlers? (No offense intended, just curiosity and compassion)

ML

No offense taken. I don't know exactly how to properly interpret taking life by the antlers by your meaning of it. A railroad career is dangerous work indeed, but then isn't it so living every day on this planet with 10,000 nuclear missiles pointed at us from various countries along with a host of other daily life-threatening problems?!

[mloik]

QUOTE: Originally posted by chessking

<Sigh> :-( I hate my job. I want one like yours.

Chessking,

Sorry to hear that. Have you considered grabbing life by the antlers? (No offense intended, just curiosity and compassion)

ML

[Anonymous]

<Sigh> :-( I hate my job. I want one like yours.

[mloik]

QUOTE: Originally posted by railfanespee4449

I'm going to the Golden Gate Railroad Museum in California AND getting a chance to engineer the GGRM's resident GP-9!!!

Congrats! I look forward to hearing all about it! Please do take some pics and post them so we can all share.

I look forward to the day when my son Travis is old enough to join me in the GP-9 at GGRM, as well as at the Feather River Railroad Museum's Rent-A-Loco program.

ML

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by chessking

Hey LC, do you ever get that feeling I do some days with my line of work, where you simply don't want to work it? I look at railroad work for the engineer as highly adventurous, somewhat lucrative, and an overall noble profession where the work never gets monotonous. Yes there are risks with what you do just like where I am now. Every day I report to work to go about my daily job walking on top of tanks having an approximate 30 kt blast yield (B 322 Propane/Propanone Tank Farm).

From the point of view of someone who has done the work of trainman, conductor and locomotive engineer as well as many other occupations, I can safely say that your view of the locomotive engineer's job is unrealistic. I don't think it is nearly as adventurous as you think and consists of equal parts of fear, loathing, sheer terror, sleep deprivation and occasional euphoria...

I can't speak to walking around a propane farm. I have however been a firefighter at a station protecting a quadrant of a town including several major tank farms. The tank farms even paid for a separate foam engine for our station.

Oh, I can speak to the danagers of working around key trains with 30 to 40 loads of propane, butane, chlorine, hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid and other nasty stuff. Walking trains like that is as bad or worse than a propane farm... and probably about as exciting... (that is, not very)

So, yes, there are quite a few days when I'd rather be elsewhere. It is, after all, a job. Still, I wouldn't do it if I didn't get some enjoyment out of it...

LC

[Anonymous]

Hey LC, do you ever get that feeling I do some days with my line of work, where you simply don't want to work it? I look at railroad work for the engineer as highly adventurous, somewhat lucrative, and an overall noble profession where the work never gets monotonous. Yes there are risks with what you do just like where I am now. Every day I report to work to go about my daily job walking on top of tanks having an approximate 30 kt blast yield (B 322 Propane/Propanone Tank Farm).

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by chessking

It would be very nice to have an opportunity to sit in the cab of any locomotive and work the controls. Some get lucky, some don't.

No, some have the gumption to go out and hire out on the railroad, setting other things aside. Railroading is a choice, a lifestype and a career. In that order...

So screw up your courage and try it if you dare...

LC

[Anonymous]

It would be very nice to have an opportunity to sit in the cab of any locomotive and work the controls. Some get lucky, some don't.

[Anonymous]

That ol' Geep will be fun to run, and a great part of the reason is the way it talks it up in response to the throttle. You'll see what I mean. . .

I put in a lot of miles on GP9s (and 7s, too) back when the 9s were new. I loved them.

Old Timer

[CSXrules4eva]

AWSOME MAN!!!! Have fun! U most certainly will enjoy the experience. Not many people get to get behind the throttle of a GP-9, I the engineers I know that work for CSX, have never been behind the throttle of a GP-9. ENJOY it.

[miniwyo]

Lucky you, have a great time!!!

[railfanespee4449]

Savin' for a digital cam at the moment

[Anonymous]

Sounds like fun. Remember to let the independent (brake) out nice and easy...

LC

[adrianspeeder]

Do you have a digi cam? Take some pics.

Adrianspeeder

[Anonymous]

Awesome[8D] [8D]

[railfanespee4449]

I'm going to the Golden Gate Railroad Museum in California AND getting a chance to engineer the GGRM's resident GP-9!!!