Deer, Derailments and the Dead of Night

     Lets start with the deer, they are huge here!  I am working in mid-Ohio and if anyone is looking for a good place to find a trophy buck, they should look no further than mid-Ohio.  One of the guys here showed me a picture of a buck he shot locally and it scored a 179 on the Boone and Crocket scale.  The antlers were as big around as my wrist!  I have not seen any that big but there is a beautiful 8 point that hangs around the yard and a few smaller bucks as well.  The sheer body size is amazing, even the does are the size of a small pony.  I guess that's what they mean by "corn fed"

     Now to the derailments, we have had two in the past two weeks here and the damage this equipment can do always amazes me.  One truck comes off, grabs the rail next to it, and pulls the whole track over for about 300', ties and all.  The rail looked like spaghetti when the conductor finally stopped.  It is one of the things that we need to remember out here, this is dangerous work and one small "oooppps" can cause major damage and major injury.  I know we preach safety but sometimes I think we forget just how powerful this equipment is.  In the above example the cars were moving at about 5mph.  At 5mph we can bend steel and rip ties out of the ground, it's not the speed that kills out here, it's weight.  One of our road engines is around 350 tons, that's 700,000lbs! This is an unforgiving environment and I pray to God that I never have to deal with the death of a coworker out here.  I know a lot of stories, but I don't want to be the one that has to knock on someone's loved ones door. 

     And finally, the dead of night.  I have been working all overnights mostly 12 hour shifts.  For my first part of training I was always with someone, but now they have turned me loose on my own.  This gives me a lot of time... in the dead of night....to think.  This is never a good thing, and I am sure every married man that just read that went "uh oh", yea I know.  It seems 4am when the crews are in lunch and I am sitting alone in my truck is about the worst time.  I have started reading my Bible, which helps, but I am starting to be a pro at worrying about my life.  Trying to figure out what you are supposed to be as a wife and mother while working 400 miles from home in the middle of the night, well lets just say, I am pretty confused.  On one hand I like my job, my husband is proud of me, and he is pretty big on the income that I bring in, on the other hand I haven't seen the man in 3 weeks, my house is a wreck and I haven't cooked a real meal in 6 months.   Here's hoping that they keep me busy at 4am. For my sanity and probably my husbands to.

Sorry no pictures of the deer or the derailments, but working in the dead of night does not make for great pictures.  For my foamer friends, Canadian National has been sending some beautiful brand spanking new engines through Ohio, they are dead in tow, but they are very shiny!