Railroading in the Winter

And not just any winter, a particularly bitterly cold winter.  Facebook is full of posts about the freezing cold and how no one can believe how cold it is!  This really got me thinking about my childhood winter memories versus my absolute hatred of the current winter temps.

I can remember snowy winters and cold winters but never anything dreadful.   We bundled up and did normal kid things, sledding and snowball fights.  My aunt even had a snow mobile that we tied sleds behind and went flying off through barren snow covered fields, flipping off our sleds and giggling as we went.  I remember stinging cheeks and cold toes with a strange fondness.  We were always so tired coming inside from our fun that pulling our boots off seemed like a giant hurdle we may never overcome. By the time we finally got all of our layers off, someone always had a hot cup of cocoa or Ovaltine waiting for us.  I don't think I ever slept so soundly as I did coming in from those snowy winter days.

However, the sound sleep is about the only thing that hasn't changed.  I am sure that winter held challenges for my parents that I had no idea about,  and now I have to make my own cocoa, but wow! Railroading in the winter is a whole new challenge.  There are the things that can happen in any industry like busted pipes.  (Two separate terminals have had underground pipe issues causing a lack of water in the buildings)  But this industry depends heavily on equipment and anyone who has ever tried to start their car in the winter knows that equipment and cold weather don't go great together.

This winter has proved more challenging because of the extremely cold temps.  Frozen switches, broken rails, drained motors and of course all of the people that have to work out in this cold.  Add a little snow and ice, and now no one can get to work, or if they can the snow and ice cause more problems.  We all look like the kid from A Christmas Story who can't put his arms down and when it gets up into the twenties with a little sun we are all thinking spring is right around the corner!  The track and signal departments are working round the clock to keep us up and running and our conductors are trudging through snow and ice building our trains.  I think the only ones that don't mind are the engineers sitting up in the cab snuggled up to their sidewall heaters and even they might get a little cranky if this stuff keeps up much longer.

So here is to the ground hog predicting an early spring and to all the folks out there battling frostbite for their jobs.  CHEERS!

PS.  I know this post should be accompanied by beautiful snowy pictures and perhaps a few silly pictures of some people wrapped up like mummies but there was no way I was taking my gloves off to push the button!

Happy Holidays!

The holidays are over and it's time to get back to work.  I hope everyone had a great holiday season and not to many of you need another vacation to get over the craziness of the holidays.  Amazingly the railroad was kind enough to give me Christmas week off and I took full advantage.  Family came down and I cooked a huge meal.

No Christmas would be complete without a visit from the local PD and ours was completed thanks to my ex-sister in law.  She reported that her son, who was down at my house, was dying and very sick and we were neglecting the little man (because there are no doctors in Virginia you know)  The officer showed up to find a happy little boy playing with his new trucks.  No further action was taken, but as the good hostess I did offer him some brownies and coffee. 

The rest of the week was rather uneventful and I was only mildly exhausted by the end of the week.  The kids were a great help and did their share to keep the house up and took care of the dessert course for the big meal.  Two helpful teens in the house, yes God was smiling down on me!

I am of course back at work and have gotten a nice change of scenery, no more Ohio for me, I have been transferred to the Baltimore division and have been working right in Baltimore.  The people here are great and there are still a lot of industries in the area which gives me hope for both the railroad and the nation.  Baltimore is a huge port, much bigger than I ever thought driving through on 95.  It is great to see the amount of industry here and how much new or reused areas there are along the bay.

Speaking of the bay, holy crabs batman! If you are a crab fan you need to schedule a trip to Baltimore.  If you have ever seen Forrest Gump and heard Bubba talk about shrimp (shrimp scampi, grilled shrimp, shrimp salad, broiled shrimp.....)  that is how the people of Baltimore feel about their local crabs. They are serious blue crab fanatics   I am not a seafood eater, but everyone else seems thrilled with all of the options available here.