Railroaders' Nostalgia > Stealth Retirement

I originally hired out for the Southern Pacific in September 1972 on the Western Division / Coast seniority district out of San Francisco. For those who don’t want to do the math that is 43 years and 1 month ago. Starting around mid-1979 I started to work on the Western seniority district of the Western Division out of Oakland. Then in 1988 I transferred to Eugene on the Oregon Division where I have been ever since.
 
In that time I have seen a LOT of employees retire. Some make a big thing of it telling people weeks or months in advance of their retirement date and even counting the days down. Others keep it low-key but almost invariably the word gets out before the final day so everybody knows about it; it’s almost impossible to keep a secret on the railroad. Of course there are others who retire unexpectedly because they get in discipline trouble and retire to avoid getting fired or get injured/sick and retire. The bottom line is that it is very rare, at least from what I have seen, to retire in a “stealth” mode – people almost always know about it ahead of time.
 
On their last day I have seen employees simply tie up and go home with barely a “thank you” from the company even though their retirement is known about ahead of time. Other times I have seen a small party be thrown, usually by the fellow employees and usually not by the company, on a person’s last day. I have often heard of managers (on UP at least) try to discipline an employee, with the employee’s consent, on his last day as the manager needs a “failure” – a conductor here recently was asked by a manager of he could get a “major violation” on him on his last day. It is common on UP to get a track bulletin from the dispatcher’s office if you’re on a road job thanking you for being such a “great employee”; I always thought this was stupid because the dispatchers usually have no idea who the person actually is, other than a name, and the bulletin is a generic computer form they just fill the employee’s name in on – real personal. I have often, in fact usually, seen an extra board person called in to work an employee’s yard job or local on his last day rather than let the person do it themselves, which some people might want to do. And the one I really love are the managers who make a big production of telling an employee how much they’re going to miss him/her and what a great employee they’ve been even though the same manager has tried to nitpick rules every day the person has worked trying to get rule violations, even making violations up, just to show discipline on an employee.
 
The reason I write this it to relate a retirement story about a conductor who actually did pull off a “stealth retirement” and I thought it was neat.
 
The Hill Pool between Eugene and Klamath Falls has all engineers based out of Eugene and the conductors are split between Klamath Falls and Eugene. On this one morning in the early 1990’s I got called with a Klamath conductor who I always liked working with. We did our duties and had a decent trip to Klamath Falls. Although I am not the most talkative person we chatted about stuff like we usually did. When we got to Klamath Falls and were relieved of our duties we went into the yard office to tie up on the computer. He got done slightly ahead of me and as he picked up his bag to walk out the door I casually called out to him, “It’s been a pleasure, Jack – catch ya’ next time.” He paused, looked at me with a big smile, and simply said, “Nope, that’s it, I just retired”, and just that quickly he was out the door. I finished as quickly as I could and then went out to congratulate him but he was already long gone and I never saw him after that.
 
Personally I always thought that was a really neat way to go out; no fuss, no muss, no stupid speeches by managers, just finish up like you have every day and go home – forever. Experiencing that first hand I always told myself when my day comes I’m going to do the same thing – I thought it was really classy myself.
 
Over the years since then I have been very open about my “plan” to go quietly – just come in, do the job I’m there to do, and go home. In fact I have told people the first time anybody will know I am gone is when my name is off the roster; no fuss, no muss, no stupid speeches by managers, just finish up like I have every day and go home – forever. And although I became eligible to retire effective June 1, 2014, I stuck around because unlike many people I actually enjoy the job and almost always find ways to do it that is fun for me making it more enjoyable. When asked by other employees about my plans I honestly told them my tentative goal is September 1, 2016, because that is when the wife is eligible for retirement also but that date can be modified based on my level of fun. By being open and honest about it I also avoided the rumors that always float around and pretty much eliminated people asking about it.
 
Things had started downhill badly last December with some ridiculous rule changes. I got off the road and went on an afternoon yard job. That was a great job with a young foreman that I really liked working with (like me he likes to do the work and won’t put up with crap from managers). But a new DTO showed up and to make a name for himself he decided to go after us on the Old Yard because we were the highest paid yard job in Eugene, supposedly on the entire service unit but I’m sure that was a lie. Finally things came to a head in mid-May when we were accused of being “unprofessional” and that lead to a blow up over some false accusations they made about us. The manager even turned me into the superintendent for “threatening him” even though I never did that and had witnesses to prove it. In retaliation the managers re-bulletined our job to a midnight job knowing neither of us would go back on it. It took them a while to actually do it and when they did I went on the 0600 Weyerhaeuser Local instead. What that confrontation did was make my mind up it was time to get out though. My decided day would be June 12, 2015. There was only 1 person on the railroad who knew what I was going to do and that was the #2 engineer on the roster since I had to bump him and I wanted him to know it was only going to be for a very short period – and I swore him to secrecy.
 
June 12th came and not a person knew what I was about to do - not even the crew I was working with. I got a bit emotional on the way to work knowing that would be my last time doing that but I took a deep breath and was good to go. I got my usual breakfast burrito and off to work I went. From that point on it was just a normal day at the office and even in my own mind it was just another day.
 
We got our train and went to Springfield where we did our work. After a few hours we had our outbound train for Eugene and headed back to town getting here around 1400. The yard instructed us to simply pull into Track 62 and tie everything down (we’d cut the power away for them as that’s the usual move). Everything went pretty well until it hit me that everything I would do would be the last time I’d do it; I got a bit emotional because I really did like the job but I kept it together. We finally got everything tied down and got in the van for the ride to the office. We just started moving when the DTO called and told us we had to move the power somewhere else. I told the clerk to simply take me to the office, I was not moving the power, I was done.
 
When we got to the office the DTO was waiting for me/us. He told us we had to move the power and I told him we did exactly what we were told. Furthermore I was not going back out to do anything because I just retired, as in quit, and I was not emotionally able to do anything more at that point – I was DONE!!! He looked at me and told me not to give him that crap – I needed to move the power. I told him I was done and in fact I was in the process of doing my computer tie-up while we were “discussing” this. Finally he looked at me and asked if I was serious. I told him I was as serious as a heart attack and all I wanted from him was the form to sign and I’d be out of there. So at 1438 on June 12, 2015, my railroad career came to an end after almost 43 years and I even got to piss one more manager off on my way out the door – mission accomplished. <G>
 
I must admit that I did ask myself at least once on the way off the property, “What the f*** did I just do?” and I was sort of numb that evening. Saturday I was feeling good about it and Sunday I really got feeling good about it thanks to a crew dispatcher. Because I was kind of emotional on Friday I screwed up my tie-up and had to call CMS Sunday morning because I was still showing as “on-duty”. I got a really good older crew dispatcher and we had a good talk about “old school railroading” and the fact he couldn’t wait to retire (he was short time). He also told me his brother on BNSF just retired also. During all this he went the extra steps to put me on a board where the company wouldn’t be bothering me and would show me as “retired”; he really made me feel good. And by Monday I knew I did the right thing and was already asking myself why I didn’t do it sooner. Basically it only took me 2 days to adjust to retirement and I love it; no phones ringing, no incompetent managers nitpicking everything I do, just peace and tranquility doing what I want when I want.
 
There were only a couple of other people in the yard office other than my own crew and they gave me a good “goodbye”. I also got a lot of emails, texts, and phone calls from fellow employees over the next few days. I accomplished what I wanted – a very low-key retirement, a “stealth retirement”.
 
I didn’t write all this to blow my own horn – that’s not my style. But with all the retirements lately I thought I’d throw a twist into the retirement routine. I do at times miss running trains IF I could turn the clock back to when engineers ran their own trains and you didn’t have managers nitpicking everything you did. I absolutely don’t miss the company though and really like this “new job” – retirement!

---------------------------------------------------

Update: I'm sure there might be some "rails" wondering this since my retirement was in the middle of the year. Part of the reason I chose June 12 was that by my calculations I would qualify for 2016 vacation (have enough miles in) sometime around June 5th. I selected June 12th to give myself an extra week cushion to get the extra miles in. As it turned out I made it getting the miles in on June 4th. But by waiting I got paid my 5 weeks vacation for 2015 plus 5 more weeks for 2016 - a nice bonus for departing. <G>

 
 
 
 
 
 



Edited 9 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/16 18:15 by Railbaron.

I retired without telling anyone , I had planned to retire at the end of 2013,but I had some medical issues and the doctor advised me to retire if I could.   I might be an exception,but all my managers were great to work for, and while I got tested a lot; they were fair and they pretty much let me handle work however I wanted. If fact, some of my managers would let me know when they would be out testing; as they didn't want any failures.Now I am glad I retired when I did, as the managers I worked for are gone, some had enough abuse from upper management and went back to their craft or retired.  In addition, there was increasing number of people I didn't want to work with, and so I called CMS and told them I would like to take my last personal leave days, the caller said she was out of people,so I told her if she gave the two days;she would never hear from me again.    She  gave them to me, and wished me well,I left on as good as terms as anyone could.

Great story and I can empathize with you.  I started railroading for an Oregon shortline almost 20 years ago, a midlife crisis job change.  I have been in and around UP Eugene Yard some and like a lot of the people I have dealt with over the years  although I do not interact with UP management much, thank you. We have our own set of managers and have had many changes in the rules over the years.  I love railroading, running the line and have found a really good, steady conductor to work with.  I hope I can last until the day I retire and, like you, I want to leave quietly.  I have been having other thoughts about it but that would be giving away some secrets.

 

Interesting story.  I did a very successful retirement departure without anyone knowing it - and that's what I wanted.  Other than the RRB, only two people (very close friends, and also 'rails') knew and I swore them to secrecy.  I was working a local and on my final day (a Friday - we had weekends off) I went to work as usual, had my regular ground crew and when we got back to the yard to tie up it was then that I was going to let my conductor and brakeman know I wouldn't be back in.  I went to the restroom to wash up and upon my return to the locker room, my crew had already tied up and left.  I ultimately let my crew know by text message.  I slid my keys and company materials under the MTO's (aka trainmaster) office door and with a 'good bye' note.  It was a great 45 years.

It was hard for me to "retire" the way I did.

The railroad was a second career for me and I had only 14 years in it.  I did not know the last road trip I was called for would be my last day.  I marked off "sick" when I tied up.  I had three back surgeries and one cervical surgery over my short railroad career but the last one really took me out.  All the others I fought to get back to work but that last one did me in.  The RRB set me up with an exam for disability.  The doctor looked me over, asked a bunch of questions including do I want to go back to work, asked me about all my "scars" on my body, then after 10 minutes I was done.  The RRB, or whoever makes the disability decision, gave it to me immediately.  Just before my last surgery i was using a walker to walk with and was on heavy doses of pain killers.  I couldn't walk more than 1/4 mile without stopping to stretch my left leg.

Fast forward to after my last surgery.  After extensive rehab I got rid of the walker, worked my way up to walking 10 miles a day without a break five days a week, but still needed pain killers and probably will the rest of my life.  I can't carry anything over 10 pounds on my back which sucks because I was a backpacker and one of my retirement bucket list items was hiking the Appalachian Trail.  That's gone, but I can do day hikes and carry water and food in a small day pack.  Lifting more than just a few pounds and stretching above my head takes me out of commission fairly quickly.  Walking is excellent for back problems.  Living on pain killers is the pits but it makes quality of life better.  Anyway.....

I was about in tears when I cleaned out my locker at work knowing I probably would never be back no matter how much I wanted to.  I didn't tell anyone because I probably couldn't have kept it together.  I took a final look around the crew room, the hump and tower, the locomotive shop, and trains waiting for crews as I drove the mile out of the yard.  I never went back.  It took me a good two years to accept the fact I was done.  I guess I'm still on the list but I'm 62 years old now and can't see going back given my remaining problems.  But....

I sure don't miss the nitpicking by some of the officials, I don't miss the phone calls at all hours of the day and night when I'm not rested, I don't miss fighting with payroll over legitimate claims, and I don't miss driving an hour to work only to have my call busted at 3:00AM.  I do miss the job of running a locomotive/train, but I hear it isn't what it used to be anymore.  I miss the guys I worked with....every single one of them....even the asses.  I miss working in the snow, rain, but not the heat and humidity.

All in all, I enjoyed the railroad but the further I get away from it the more I realize I am better off without it.  I was woken up the other morning about 2:00AM with a wrong number call.  You know what I did?  I smiled, popped a pain killer, rolled over, and went back to sleep....lol.

 I too went without anyone knowing. I came into San Luis Obispo on a dead head on #14, went on 5 weeks vacation and used all my personal leave days. I had given our local manager my notice of retirement about a week before my actual retirement day and then the day came. Poof, gone.

What a great story- and a fine way to retire!  I worked for the same shortline as Roustabout, albeit part time. While working at my 'day job', the Gen Mgr called to inform me that the folks at corporate had decided to eliminate all p-t positions and that it was no reflection on me.  Although I appreciated the fact that he took the time to personally let me know, I was half pissed that I'd no longer be running trains- something I truly enjoyed.  Yet, after a single month of my regular time-off period and not having the phone ring for some short-notice, late night death march, I found myself not missing it one bit. While I missed the job, I didn't miss the work. The RR wasn't the same place it was when I started.  The 'art of railroading' that I had the great fortune to learn from old heads from the SP wasn't being practiced much anymore.  I wouldn't have traded RRing for anything but I also glad I didn't have to know that I was making my last run.  It would've been too emotional for me as well!

Awesome story. Congratulations. It is most unfortunate you had so much trouble with management and UP during your last few years, a sad and unnecessary ending. I was counting the days for the last few years although I too loved the job. I just didn't like having someone else control my life while on duty although I will say the local management where I worked for BNSF in Southern California could not have been any better. Working conditions could not get any better and the jobs I was able to work the last years of my career were some of the best worked during my career. Local management was so accommodating that prior to my last day I had asked for a task that would keep me away from the fences and security in the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles which my job spent most of it's time since a friend had made a very nice sign to put on the front of the locomotive and pictures would be tough with all the security and such. When I came in the last day they instructed me to get a trio of locos, take them six miles, through public accessable neighborhoods,  attach them to a train in a siding get in the van come back to the yard and I was done, a great way to end it all. I started saying my good byes days before as I knew I would likely never see most again and was glad I got to say farewell to many of the fine people I worked with during my thirty one years. I moved to Colorado from So California only two weeks after retiring so have seen very few of them. Like you, I worked two weeks after I could retire to work the first day of July to get an extra month of full medical coverage. Seems trivial but you never know. For those nearing retirement you get full medical coverage for the last month you work as well as one more month before you have to start paying extra for supplemental coverage in order to keep your coverage at or near what you get while working. It was a great career and I have no regrets.
JB
P.S. I never did get a watch but I did receive a nice "thank you" plaque with HO scale track at the bottom to display the nice Athearn HO scale BNSF AC4400CW (DCC "ready" but not equipped :-) that they included, shown above along with an earlier in my career souvenir.



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/15 16:11 by 3rdswitch.

---

I would say my departure was somewhat a combination of what has been posted so far.
My career spanned 51 years and a couple of months beginning with the PE, then SP and finally BNSF.
My experience with management on SP was for the most part, cordial but after some thought as I type
these words, it became a considerable factor leading to my departure in 1979 for greener pastures on BN.
It seems I couldn't complete a trip without some trainmaster interjecting themselves into my operation. Rarely,
if ever, did I have issues with my road foreman of engines. It was the assistant trainmasters and sometimes yardmasters
that I seemed to but heads with. As comparison, I can't recall ever having those experiences while at BNSF. There just
seemed to be a different mind set between SP, (I'm talking pre-UP), and BN. After BN + SLSF, that changed. In some ways
the SLSF did indeed take over BN, for the worse.  In my 51+ years I dabbled, or maybe blundered into the management
side of the game. Now there was a different story. As someone once said, there are many fish in the ocean...and some of them
are predators. Same story in management. Most of the fellow managers I was acquainted with had a burning desire
to some day be president of the place and Lord help those who dared get in their way. But I digress.

After I made the mental decision that enough was enough and after filing the paperwork with RRB, I saw my local
terminal manager, Linda Routh, driving out of the parking lot and we had a brief chat about my plans. She simply asked if I wanted
a 'party'. No, no I said. I didn't want anything like that, I just want to go home safely.
 She laughed and seemed relieved since it was she who would have to make the arrangements. I started saying my goodbyes
at the yard offices the job visited and then waited for the day.

My last working trip was on 12-21-13 shown above. When I came to work the next night Linda had modified my request
and provided the cake....and a relief engineer. I had a couple of cups of coffee, a piece of cake, shook hands with the folks
that happened to be in the office then drove home. I went back once a few months later after cleaning the garage and found
my supply of safety plates that BNSF issued. One of my co-workers had expressed a desire to get mine. Maybe he sold them on eBay.

Now I've got oodles of time to do those things that I just never got around to. I''ve taken up modeling (RR things that is!) again. Guess
you never really get it out of you're blood.

Charlie
 

---

---

Well, West-in-Ashahr, there are a few of us still there who miss your smiling face! Also miss Scott, Gary (RIP), Kester and Pauly, all of who were ex-SP guys.

WestinAshahr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What a great story- and a fine way to retire!  I
> worked for the same shortline as Roustabout,
> albeit part time. While working at my 'day job',
> the Gen Mgr called to inform me that the folks at
> corporate had decided to eliminate all p-t
> positions and that it was no reflection on me. 
> Although I appreciated the fact that he took the
> time to personally let me know, I was half pissed
> that I'd no longer be running trains- something I
> truly enjoyed.  Yet, after a single month of my
> regular time-off period and not having the phone
> ring for some short-notice, late night death
> march, I found myself not missing it one bit.
> While I missed the job, I didn't miss the work.
> The RR wasn't the same place it was when I
> started.  The 'art of railroading' that I had the
> great fortune to learn from old heads from the SP
> wasn't being practiced much anymore.  I wouldn't
> have traded RRing for anything but I also glad I
> didn't have to know that I was making my last
> run.  It would've been too emotional for me as
> well!

We had an old Conductor in SLO that was known as "Sarge"  He was an old grumpy guy but once you got to know him you were a friend for life. As I said, Sarge was an old rail and trying to stay up on the  NEW CRAP in the 70s. Well SP had hired a bunch of gals as brakeman and they came to SLO to work. Sarge had one of them and vowed never to have another on his car. Sarge bumped along until one night around  1 AM and got called on a west train to Wat. Jct. He asked who his brakeman were and it was two of the gals.  He told the clerk to lay him off. The clerk said the TM had a "no lay offs" message posted. Sarge told the clerk he could tell the TM to shove his job up (we know where) and hung up. Pretty soon the drunk (as usual) TM called him and said if he didn't take the call he would pull him out of service. Sarge told him where he could go.  Sure enough he was cited. He called the Local Chairman Vansandt and he had it  set back for a week or two.

What Sarge did was apply for his pension the morning after he refused the call. He had enough and this was just the boost to retire.  Well it was granted  He was way over 65 and plenty credits so no problem. Well along comes the day of the investigation and he showed up. Everyone involved was present,. all being paid for lost time. Well, the TM started his usual temper tantrum. Finally Sarge had enough and said, "You are such a %#$* . If you wern't such a drunk, you would know if have been retired for 2 weeks. I don't work for you anymore.

He turned around and left. The TM sat there slack jawed.  I had a beer or two a few days later with Sarge and my sides hurt from laughing so much. He was a bachelor and had a great time up in Reno and Vegas with wine, woman and song. (He didn't sing much and I met a few of the gals and not bad) Years later, that's how he died. In bed having fun.  Not bad for an old fart.

Hope you enjoy after pulling the pin. I know I do.

Nudge

I thought you wanted to live up in the fog at JM   :)

Nudge

I told everyone my date months in advance , even announcing it on the computer retirement page ,  and it became fun when road trains coming through Mojave would come on the radio and let me know how much longer I had to go and we would get into a joke filled conversation without any regard to who was listening. Some road trains actually stopped and the crew came over to shake hands and talk for a minute. Even the Superintendent was out testing and came over to thank me for 39 years of never an injury or causing an injury to another employee.  I went out my way having fun and pissing local managers off. They called an extra engineer on my last day and that was that. A few weeks later a nice jacket arrived and soon after that a nice watch too. I cannot complain about the job anymore as that has left my system and only good memories remain. 
Tom



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/15 20:04 by switchlamp.

3rdswitch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Awesome story. Congratulations. It is most
> unfortunate you had so much trouble with
> management and UP during your last few years, a
> sad and unnecessary ending. ...

Unfortunately on the Portland Service Unit this is standard practice for the managers here.

Morale is non-existent on this service unit and this isn't just local employees saying this; this comes from employees who come here temporarily from other service units. In fact a few months ago there was a rules instructor who came to Eugene and he voluntarily mentioned that he had been to every location on the UP but the Portland Service Unit was without a doubt the worst for having no morale and having an adversarial, antagonistic, and vindictive relationship between management and all labor crafts, not just operating. On top of that but you have higher managers on this service unit who manage through discipline rather than leadership and almost all the lower managers have no railroad experience so they don’t know any better and they have no seniority to fall back on so they’ll do whatever higher managers want just to keep their jobs.

My own retirement last trip was rather uneventful which was OK with me.  Being a relative short timer, I only put in 21 years on the SP, I didn't really expect any kind of send off compared to guys who spent most of their lives out there.  I was a late bloomer and hired out at the tender age of 42 for which I will be eternally grateful for to the guys who helped me get on.  My last trip was in pool freight service on the then newly instituted long pool from L..A. to Yuma. On my last trip from Yuma to L.A. I had a U.P. conductor and a fireman, both of which I did not know.  We went dead on the Law at Beaumont.  I got off the engine and sat on the ground waiting for a ride to our home terminal.  The conductor called down from the cab and asked me what was up?  I just told him that I just retired.
When we got back to L.A., I just tied up and went home without a word from anyone.  Actually I finished my career by going on vacation and with company approval never came back.  I did get a nice watch from the company later on.  I miss running trains now and then but not the extra board life.  These days I only run my model trains.

Ray

I love railroading. I hate what the railroad has become. If I ever left, I'd still find a way to run engines. I love it.

That being said, Congrats on retirement. Look for a tourist group or museum that would LOVE to have someone with experience to help teach others about running trains. There are places near me who would take you in a heartbeat!

Joe

The very best retirement story I ever heard was when Frank Norton was the conductor on an eastbound San Diegan during Del Mar season one day.  They pulled into Oceanside, Frank handed his keys and radio to one of the a/cs and said "Ive had enough of this S$%^.  I quit!"  And retired right on ther spot.  Anyone who knows anything about the Del Mar trains in the 90s knows exactly how he felt.

There is one more. A hoghead was working the 3 ended pool out of Roseville. After getting put in every siding he made it to a town on the main line. Well, he happened  to live there. He called the dispatcher and said he had lost to many engines and needed  RH personal to get everything running.  He then packed up his grip and walked home.  I saw the message from the RH folks that went to the Roseville Dispatcher. They said they couldn't find the problem and restarted all the motors and everything was fine. But they said they would need a another engineer because the other one went home.  It all hit the fan,, the delay report that went to the City and all the Officers were jumping up & down.  He had just taken his pension.

I know there are other people on TO that know more details and could give you the straight dope.

Nudge

Well, this story was posted on the late Pat Vaughan's SP site on Facebook a couple of years ago, along with a copy of the actual message from the dispatcher's office to the City.

It was the 3 ended pool out of Tracy, and the engineer lived in Lodi, so when he got to doing the work in Lodi, he just put the throttle in MU Stop, all the units died, and said he was broken down.
Then he picked up his grip and walked home 

i have 13 years to go i plan on doing the same thing, not telling a sole. i feel like i don't owe csx anything and they don't owe me anything, as for the men,i'll miss them but thats what i work for to be able to retire.