Railroaders' Nostalgia > That's OK, Mom can take care of it

It’s Sunday afternoon and you just got done with your weekly racquetball session. You’re just in time to pick up your 12 year old son from his clarinet lesson. It’s your once-a-week turn to cook tonight but you just smile. You can always bring home a bucket o’ chicken with all the fixin’s, the good ol’ stand-by. Good thing too because your wife is just leaving for her church choir practice. You and your son fix a plate and “man-up” together watching some NFL on the TV. Meanwhile your 9 year old daughter takes a plate into her room and has a go at her homework. As usual, you’re available to answer her occasional call for help. The game is just coming to an end as your wife gets home and gratefully digs into a chicken breast & honey-biscuit with a some green beans. Game over, you take your son out to the garage where you will finally teach him how to change oil & filters in both cars, a routine chore that needs to be done before it really starts getting colder. And this will allow your wife to make it to her computer class later this evening while you’re home guarding the fort.

Ideal family life, right?!! Not, if you’re a train service railroader! Let’s reset:

It’s Sunday afternoon and you just got your call to go work a train to Kansas City. You were supposed to pick your 12 year old son up from his clarinet lesson. That’s OK, Mom can pick him up because you really need to stop by on the way to work and get that nagging oil change done in your car. It was supposed to be your once-a-week turn to cook tonight, but that’s OK. Maybe Mom can grab a bucket of chicken and some fixin’s. She’ll just have to miss her church choir practice this afternoon. Again. Her friends at church will understand. Again. Mom takes the opportunity to get started on the first of 4 huge loads of laundry, then fixes up 3 plates of chicken dinner. Your 9 year old daughter takes her dinner into her room and has a go at her homework which you’ve been a big help with. Your son has that NFL game on the TV and is happily occupied. Sorta. You had promised to watch the game with him. Maybe Mom can keep him company. Nope, your daughter is now yelling for help and Mom is right there. After a little struggle with homework she’s not familiar with she returns to her cold greasy chicken & cold crumbly biscuit. Mom was supposed to go to her regular computer class this evening, but with you on some train she’ll miss it. Again. She knows her car needs an oil change, so she heads out to the garage. Your 12 year old son tries to help, but mostly just gets in the way. But that’s OK:

Mom can take care of it…

1. UP 6888 on an eastbound blade train waits for its Salina, KS crew. Both train & crew will arrive in Kansas City deep into the wee hours of tomorrow. It will probably be 36 hours or more before they get back home. Most likely, some wife (both wives??) will be left at home to handle anything that comes up during that absence…
(Photo date: October 8, 2017)

Let’s hear it for the RR wives & Moms!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/17 20:43 by santafe199.

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Yup, that"s how it's done. My wife has done an awful lot of things due to the phone ringing or the pager beeping, or my oldest son answering the phone as we were sitting down to a Christmas dinner when I was 10 times out."Dad, the railroad is on the phone for you".Luck was on my side it was just a deadhead and I had time eat with my family.It was a two hour call and I only lived 12 miles from the yard.

Thanks for the post ... the image is fantastic with
both the lighting and the reflection ... well done!
And the story line is also a nice piece of reality ...
it ain't easy out there!

Odyssey
Evergreen, CO

Well stated. My wife did an outstanding job of rearing our son as a single mother. Not in reality but in actuality. I'm all to familiar with the second scenario. When son was born I was on an engineer's extra board. This was an improvement from outlying jobs, but was still unpredictable,it just paid more and lodging was provided on said outlying jobs. Before you got the call you didn't know if you were going to be gone 8 hours or a week. Retirement now is wonderful and I didn't have to put up with the foolishness of the rr.

Hooray for the moms!

I always tell people 2/3 of my money was made in the dark, and half of that was on weekends.

While I never worked for a railroad, I have the utmost respect for you due to the horrendous hours...I feel that many wrecks are/were caused by sleeplessness...I sorted mail 30 years ago for the Post office on letter Sorting Machines, working 11pm-7 or 930am depending on OT, and at 3am, after lunch, the sound of the machines would lull you to sleep, esp. after eating ...And I was young then, and had regular bid meaning those were my work hours every day, not working one shift, going home for 8 hours, and coming back refreshed?? The Money at RR is good, but brutal on your body and homelife...I don't have to tell you, but many people don't have any idea of how RRs staff their trains, the hours involved...They prob. think you atleast work same hours every day...My Pennys worth... Steve

Thanks for sharing Lance. Not to change the subject, but then there are those in the military the way I grew with my dad. He was gone a lot and Mom had to take care of it. I remember one time spending some rare quality time with dad fishing when that was interrupted by a "red alert" informed to us by the wife of a friend who was fishing with us. She had got the phone call and knew were we were. Dad and Allen had to get back and load up on a plane to some foreign country. This was long before cell phones, pagers and the internet.

I have a lot of respect for you railroader guys and gals. Question: Do your spouses network with other railroader spouses and family to help each other out? I know my mom would have probably divorced dad if she wouldn't have had that kind of support.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublicatons.com

Yes, a big HOORAY for all railroad wives and moms!!
They shoulder all kinds of burdens, and to me they
are all heroes! (Home life? What home life? You
guys and gals are married to the railroad!) I do
very much appreciate all the sacrifices your
families make over the years, all so trains can
get where they need to go. THANK you!!

And that is a beautiful photo, Lance! Love the
colors and the lighting and especially the
reflection. Very well done!

That's why I tell my wife she earned every penny of the RRB pension she draws each month after raising two daughters and running the household!!

Steve Panzik
Retired Locomotive Engineer

Well put Steve