to dream no more..

[Jackflash]

One of my boys started braking a little over 2
years ago, but he wants out now, no interest in
railroading at all, says he dont care what it is
as long as its not on the railroad, got another
one in Houston been trying for about a year to
get on but cant get hired. when I was a kid I
wanted to be a fireman (fire fighter) but I guess
I grew out of it, should have stayed in the
military, lots of good times there. I agree, most
young people dont know what they want to do
compared to the young people 30, 40 years ago.
jackflash

[Anonymous]

I'VE HAD MANY FRIENDS WHO WORKED ON THE RAILROAD, MOSTLY NYC BUFFALO DIV-SO IT'S BEEN A WHILE. I RECALL ONE ENGINEER WHO ALWAYS WAVED TO KIDS OR ANYONE ELSE. A NEW TRAINMASTER (WHO DIDN'T LAST LONG ON THE RR), CHIDED MY FRIEND ABOUT IT. MY FRIENDS REPLY WAS-"THAT WAVE MAY SAVE A ROCK THROUGH THE WINDOW!" THE TM HAD NO ANSWER FOR THAT.

[dknelson]

Plenty of dads bring their sons to wave at trains where I railfan in Milwaukee so I imagine there are at least a few kids who dream of being an engineer. (Fortunately the engineers around here wave back -- and these poor kids will never know the friendly wave of a crew enjoying the breeze at the back of a caboose)
Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

You just hit on a big pet peeve of mine so bear with me. :)

It seems to me that the professions kids look up to now are a lot less "blue collar" than they were 30-40 years ago. Railroading is blue collar, and I have my doubts that it is even on the radar screen for most kids, the more likely answer one will get from kids is something generic like "I want to make a lot of money" and they are fed the idea that a college degree in computers or business is the way to go. It's a shame, really. A business or computer degree means starting out in an unstable, degrading job like tech support or data entry (or worse, flipping burgers or a convenience store clerk) making just above minimum wage until they can land that big break (and that "big break" for an MBA often means getting to *manage* said McDonalds or 7-11), while going the blue collar route - whether railroading, driving trucks, entering an apprenticeship to be an electrician, lineman, plumber, steamfitter, welder, what have you - means good pay ($30/hr for some jobs!), a job they can be proud of, and at least some job stability despite the number of blue collar jobs continuing to shrink.

This is reflected in the culture too. Kids used to be encouraged to take up hobbies like model railroading. Or amateur radio, or model rocketry, or archery, or other similar things. How many of those hobbies are now mostly adult hobbies, including model railroading? Instead, kids have their PlayStations and their Harry Potter, and they want PalmPilots and wireless phones to carry to school because they are sooo unhip if they don't have one. They are being sold a (sometimes violent) fantasy world fueled by high-tech electronic games, but nothing that will prepare them for a real career or spark a lifelong interest in railroading or any other career. No wonder the responses you get these days when you ask high school kids what they want to go into are, "business, I guess"; "computers, I guess", "I don't care as long as I make a lot of money". In the 1950s and 1960s, kids learned songs about John Henry's hammer, Davy Crockett, going North to Alaska, loading coal, lumberjacks, and of course TRAINS! Even into the 1980s we still had Springsteen and Mellencamp. What music do the kids have today, and what things are kids being encouraged to take an interest in because of it? I'm afraid to even ask but I think the Backstreet Boys and Eminem have a lot to do with it.

Yeah, I was fed the "go into computers or business" line too, hit my teenage years just as video games and malls became all the rage and the Reagan era of commercialism and instant gratification got into full swing, and I'm bitter about it. If I had to do it over again and knew then what I know now, I know exactly which way I'd go, even if it would have meant putting up with "working for the railroad, do people still, like, even do that? It sounds hicky fer shuuure, like totally" from the peers. Kids today aren't interested in things like railroading as a career because we live in a society that doesn't encourage them to be interested. Sad.

[wabash1]

to answer your question my kids dont want to work for the railroad. reason they dont want nothing to do with transportation. now their husbands are differant they work for the railroad but only after they was married they decided a career change was in order. most of the guys i work with dont want their kids getting on with the railroad but they also dont stop them when they put their applications in and then get hired .

[cabforward]

thanks for your comments, but what i was hoping to hear was what kids today talk about doing in life, before they reach puberty.. especially in r.r. families, how do parents react.. in multi-generation r.r. families, how has the discussion changed between what grandpa said then and what dad says now?

[JoeKoh]

dear sir
a classmate of mine was the smartest in the class.went to college got his degrees and landed a great job.guess what?He got downsized.there are tough lessons in life and I will encourage my child to strive to be the best.Its a tough lesson to learn but sometimes life isn't fair.if he wants to work for the railroad fine or if he wants to enjoy our hobby of train photography together thats fine too.i hope this answers your question(s).have a great day
joe

[cabforward]

back in my 'good ol' days, the question, 'what will you be when you grow up', typically brought these responses: doctor, lawyer, nurse, teacher, policeman, fireman, r.r. engineer.. which of these still has its attraction for those young enough to dream? any bets on what 100 kids, ages 8-12, would say today? i can't guess, but i do have impressions from tv & other media, and it ain't good..

doctors, they talk at you for 5 min, complain about reimbursement from medicare and kick you out the door for the next patient..
lawyers, crooks who take your money and walk away.. sharks who shame the name 'predator'..
nurses, very few left; overworked; paid next-to-nothing; stress out in a few years; prefer working in smaller clinics with fewer clients..
firemen, brave, sacrificing men & women who get to ride the big, red, noisy trucks and put out fires..
teachers, martyrs to the self-interests of education bureaucrats, indifferent parents, goofy education lobbies, and the 1 in 25 students who actually wanted to learn..
policemen, another breed of martyr who put their lives on the line so the contemptible can shoot at them, spit at them, call them names and generally make life pretty miserable..
r.r. engineer, still an enviable position for youngsters; riding at the front, ringing the bell, stopping traffic at crossings; a real head-turner.. how many adults working on the r.r. would counsel their child to do the same? probably not nearly as many as a group of parents would have 50 years ago..

what's the point of allthis? it has nothing to do with r.rs.. i just have to wonder what kids dream about being these days, is it different from when i was little, and how do parents react to these aspirations?
i wonder who/what do kids admire nowadays, in terms of working for a living?

i can't say i would demand my child, if i had one, not enter a profession, or enter a profession because of the way i felt about it.. i wonder how r.r. parents feel about their children going with the co. when they are of age?

in r.r. families going back several generations, how do impressions of joining the r.r. today compare with joining up in the '60s, '50s, etc?
what would a parent tell a teen-ager today about joining up in a few years?

besides finishing high school, what needs to be said? attend union meetings? ride the emgine a few times? hear 'war stories' from old-timers? meet a few a-holes on the job, so they can be easily recognized in real life? how does the spin work?