Tales From the Railroad

Watchman said:
I like Chirssy's version better
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This one and her Xmas song (2000 Miles) are my favorite of her very melodic songs. When I worked in a cabinet shop we used to play this Chain Gang song of hers full blast and I can get pretty animated in my presentation of singing along. I would get a "G" for "song sung with enthusiasm and vigor" :ROFLMAO::LOL:
 
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Looks like I'll be on storm patrol until sometime tomorrow morning. Haven't done this yet. I'm already tired since I got up at 3AM to do tie gang. Then they shut us down at around 11am. We sat around waiting for a while. Hours. That's when they said they were splitting us up into teams to do storm patrol. They panic every time it rains ever since the floods.

I was thinking, wow maybe I'll get to sleep longer tonight since we aren't doing ties tomorrow. Nope. In fact, I won't be sleeping at all. Well, maybe I can sleep in the work truck after we complete our run ahead of the train. I'm not exactly sure if I fully understand, but I think we're riding in a hi-rail truck ahead of the train looking for dangers like floods or fallen trees, down power lines, that kind of stuff. Once we get to the top, we have to wait on the train to do its thing. During that layover I'll probably be able to sleep -- assuming I can sleep. I'm not that good at sleeping while sitting. Once the train comes back to town we need to follow ahead of it again, doing the same as before. Assuming nothing crazy happens, maybe I can sleep in my bed tomorrow morning. If you see me lurking the forums at crazy hours tonight, that's why -- assuming I even have service.
 
Just realized I'm traveling to Whitehall New York, where those Bigfoot sightings were. They have a museum. Mom would have loved this. I'm not a Bigfoot guy or anything but mom loved that stuff. I'm on the track, so no photos allowed, but here's a picture from Google of the museum.

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We been out here all d*mn night and it hasn't rained a drop. The other crews are experiencing torrential rain, washed out roads, search and rescue roaming the street. Meanwhile we got nothing. Not that I'm complaining. I don't want to deal with flooding. It's a little boring but the guy I'm with is highly intelligent. Dude knows his railroad stuff. But yeah, nothing happening so far. Oh here comes the train.
 
Jahrule said:
Just realized I'm traveling to Whitehall New York, where those Bigfoot sightings were. They have a museum. Mom would have loved this. I'm not a Bigfoot guy or anything but mom loved that stuff. I'm on the track, so no photos allowed, but here's a picture from Google of the museum.

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Blimey Jahrule. They’ve got a statue of you? How long have you been out there heaving rails!! 🤣
 
Jahrule said:
Looks like I'll be on storm patrol until sometime tomorrow morning. Haven't done this yet. I'm already tired since I got up at 3AM to do tie gang. Then they shut us down at around 11am. We sat around waiting for a while. Hours. That's when they said they were splitting us up into teams to do storm patrol. They panic every time it rains ever since the floods.

I was thinking, wow maybe I'll get to sleep longer tonight since we aren't doing ties tomorrow. Nope. In fact, I won't be sleeping at all. Well, maybe I can sleep in the work truck after we complete our run ahead of the train. I'm not exactly sure if I fully understand, but I think we're riding in a hi-rail truck ahead of the train looking for dangers like floods or fallen trees, down power lines, that kind of stuff. Once we get to the top, we have to wait on the train to do its thing. During that layover I'll probably be able to sleep -- assuming I can sleep. I'm not that good at sleeping while sitting. Once the train comes back to town we need to follow ahead of it again, doing the same as before. Assuming nothing crazy happens, maybe I can sleep in my bed tomorrow morning. If you see me lurking the forums at crazy hours tonight, that's why -- assuming I even have service.
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Siempre será un placer coincidir contigo en diferente horario hemisférico. A veces pienso en qué hora están los demás del foro cuando escribo, luego recuerdo que estamos de punta a punta y lo dejo. Aquí en España el verano es sofocante y la humedad torrida. Calientas el pollo del día anterior en la terraza al sol, queda perfecto, Jeje. No dormir y trabajar a 42 grados es...un preludio del foso de los leones, turistas con sed de hacerlo todo en una semana y llenos de quejas por estar de vacaciones y que la antena de TV no llegue bien en la playa, en pleno mundial de futbol. Me coloco una toalla en el cuello a lo Rocky Balboa cada vez que entro al trabajo, solo de saber lo que voy a sudar. Resistiremos querido mío!! Yo te ofrezco un cervecita bien fría al final del dia y uno de los que te gustan pero sin THC, los mios me los manda el médico y el CBD no deja resaca. Algo es algo!! 😘
 
Ana said:
Siempre será un placer coincidir contigo en diferente horario hemisférico. A veces pienso en qué hora están los demás del foro cuando escribo, luego recuerdo que estamos de punta a punta y lo dejo. Aquí en España el verano es sofocante y la humedad torrida. Calientas el pollo del día anterior en la terraza al sol, queda perfecto, Jeje. No dormir y trabajar a 42 grados es...un preludio del foso de los leones, turistas con sed de hacerlo todo en una semana y llenos de quejas por estar de vacaciones y que la antena de TV no llegue bien en la playa, en pleno mundial de futbol. Me coloco una toalla en el cuello a lo Rocky Balboa cada vez que entro al trabajo, solo de saber lo que voy a sudar. Resistiremos querido mío!! Yo te ofrezco un cervecita bien fría al final del dia y uno de los que te gustan pero sin THC, los mios me los manda el médico y el CBD no deja resaca. Algo es algo!! 😘
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Definitivamente extraño mi THC. Ni siquiera puedo hacer CBD porque hay una pequeña posibilidad de que aún así falle la prueba de drogas. Tal vez pronto consiga algo real. Entonces podré guardarlo en caso de que la sociedad se colapse. Si el mundo se acaba, definitivamente me fumaré uno. Y con respecto al calor, probablemente no sea tan malo en Nueva Inglaterra, pero hace suficiente calor en la pista. Espero la nueva vida. Estoy seguro de que todavía tendremos estaciones, pero dudo que haga mucho calor o mucho frío. Seguiré mostrando una actitud de espera, pero estoy más que listo para el mundo de Jah. Deja que tu reino llegue, Jehová.
 
Ana said:
Siempre será un placer coincidir contigo en diferente horario hemisférico. A veces pienso en qué hora están los demás del foro cuando escribo, luego recuerdo que estamos de punta a punta y lo dejo. Aquí en España el verano es sofocante y la humedad torrida. Calientas el pollo del día anterior en la terraza al sol, queda perfecto, Jeje. No dormir y trabajar a 42 grados es...un preludio del foso de los leones, turistas con sed de hacerlo todo en una semana y llenos de quejas por estar de vacaciones y que la antena de TV no llegue bien en la playa, en pleno mundial de futbol. Me coloco una toalla en el cuello a lo Rocky Balboa cada vez que entro al trabajo, solo de saber lo que voy a sudar. Resistiremos querido mío!! Yo te ofrezco un cervecita bien fría al final del dia y uno de los que te gustan pero sin THC, los mios me los manda el médico y el CBD no deja resaca. Algo es algo!! 😘
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Cuando en Puerto Rico nos advirtieron que no tomáramos el sol; ¡Un marinero bebió y se quedó dormido bajo el sol y tuvieron que quitarle quirúrgicamente su chaleco de hilo dejando ampollas de diamantes!
 
So after a lot of flooding we've been out of town doing restoration on the track. Here's one of the big ones. We been working all week. Lots of overtime. Thankfully they letting us off for the weekend to relax. We'll get to this one next week. We haven't left yet. Gotta refill the heavy machinery. Then it's a two hour drive home. Then some much needed R&R. Hope everyone is doing well. Just because the world is falling apart doesn't mean we can't have fun.


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Hang in there, everybody.
 
I know working on a railroad is a tough job. Takes a lot out of you. Is it true that many railroad workers are on drugs as a way to cope in a tough work environment like that?
 
Jahrule said:
So after a lot of flooding we've been out of town doing restoration on the track. Here's one of the big ones. We been working all week. Lots of overtime. Thankfully they letting us off for the weekend to relax. We'll get to this one next week. We haven't left yet. Gotta refill the heavy machinery. Then it's a two hour drive home. Then some much needed R&R. Hope everyone is doing well. Just because the world is falling apart doesn't mean we can't have fun.
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Great photo. Theres nothing like working hard and relaxing after. And your work benefits society.
 
Soul Sage said:
I know working on a railroad is a tough job. Takes a lot out of you. Is it true that many railroad workers are on drugs as a way to cope in a tough work environment like that?
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It's possible. Most of us just drink. A lot of people take unnecessary risks with drugs, but I guess when you look at our work it can be pretty risky as it is so I guess they're used to it. Personally I wouldn't do it because I don't want to have to look for another job. I've kind of got used to that railroad money now.
 
This time on *Tales from the Railroad*, we were way upstate New York—everyone just calls it "the Nog." I think we passed a place called Tupperware Lake, though I was so tired I might be remembering it wrong. Anyway, there wasn’t much to report. We were just moving equipment to prepare for laying ties up there soon. We might head back next week or the week after.

We finished up our local work and are now wrapping up the season in New York, just below the Canadian border. They said it’s about a mile from Canada. The trip from home took around five hours, so after unloading, we turned right around and headed back. I just got home an hour or two ago. I’ve also recently switched trucks. Initially, I worked with one guy, then with another. Now, I work directly with the boss.

You might think that would be the worst shift, but actually, I really enjoy working with him. If I ever disappointed him, it would break my heart. He’s probably one of the coolest people I’ve ever met. For privacy, I’ll call him Bosley. When I first started, I didn’t know Bosley at all; he mainly worked with his son-in-law, whom I’ll call Samson. Samson, a young man in his twenties, was married to Bosley’s daughter, so they always worked together. But Bosley was the main guy.

Of course, there are many people above him, but he’s still the key figure on the team. Throughout my time working there, I made a lot of people laugh. You might not know me well, but I’m a bit quirky. Imagine that quirkiness magnified tenfold in person. From the way I talk to how I walk or run, I’m just unusual. Unbeknownst to me, people were betting on how long I’d last. I showed up on my first day in a business suit, and the initial reaction was skeptical. The first guy I worked with reported, “I don’t think this guy is gonna work out.” Even Bosley said, “I give him two weeks tops.”

Despite not being the fastest or strongest, I somehow proved everyone wrong. For some reason, people just liked me, even though I was odd. Eventually, Samson left to go back to school and start a family. I respected him greatly; he was always chill and never got mad. His departure shocked us all. I had imagined he might eventually take Bosley’s place. Although he was about 15 years younger than me, I genuinely respected him.

When Samson left, a spot opened up in Bosley’s truck. Many people wanted that spot. I didn’t ask to move; another employee, who also started riding with Bosley before Samson left, came up to me and said, “Hey, you’re riding with us now. Get in before one of these other guys does.” I’m still not entirely sure why that happened, but Bosley agreed, “Yeah, you’re with us now.” By then, I already admired Bosley. He reminded me of my old boss from Greenway, the one who passed away—a person you respected so much that you wanted to earn their approval. So being offered a spot with the main guy felt like a promotion. Part of me thinks it’s because I’m a source of entertainment, but who knows? All I know is I feel blessed, and I try to share insight into what might happen in the future. They know I'm a JW. Of course, railroad guys aren’t always the most receptive to my enthusiasm, but at least I’m there. Maybe things will change someday.
 
My boss ran into cart witnesses the other day. I had told everyone I post here under the name Jahrule. They all know I'm a Jehovah witness. One time on a trip I saw some ladies. Immediately I recognized them as JWs. I said those are JWs.

The boss was like, that's weird. I never seen just women before. I explained they always travel in pairs. Then I mentioned there will be others close by. Then we saw a cart with more JWs. My boss laughed, and it must have stuck with him because he recognized another group last weekend. He just told me the story.


My boss passed them and said, "Hey, you guys know Jahrule?"

He said they appeared to be extremely confused. If they tell anyone they'll probably assume he was talking about the rapper Jarule. I don't know if he mentioned e-watchman. Lol.
 
Jahrule said:
This is hilarious. You ain't built for it. You soft as elevator music. Honestly, I didn't think I was built for it either.

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Now THAT is what I mean about watchtower “do more” and their form of negative “encouragement” and “instruction”. You cannot understand it, it doesn’t make sense, it’s a drawl that says nothing of hope but only of despair in unworthiness. Are you sure this guy is not a “helper” to the GB?…..sounds like a conversation winder might have had with his father. 🤣 “ ah ain’t got no reesun t’ apologize fur it neever!”
 
BARNABY THE DOG. said:
Now THAT is what I mean about watchtower “do more” and their form of negative “encouragement” and “instruction”. You cannot understand it, it doesn’t make sense, it’s a drawl that says nothing of hope but only of despair in unworthiness. Are you sure this guy is not a “helper” to the GB?…..sounds like a conversation winder might have had with his father. 🤣 “ ah ain’t got no reesun t’ apologize fur it neever!”
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I bet that old man's a steer drivin' hog jockey, though. He be puttin' on the cloud reefing like a mug 24-7. Ain't no modern cake boy built for that.
 
Jahrule said:
I bet that old man's a steer drivin' hog jockey, though. He be puttin' on the cloud reefing like a mug 24-7. Ain't no modern cake boy built for that.
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Haha, cake boy! I'm using that.
 
Lost my vape on my last trip to Canada when we were putting in a siding. It was almost as disappointing as watching the Tyson vs Paul fight. It is probably somewhere in the middle of the road between Whitehall and Tupperware lake. That's the same vape I dropped during last winter, and it waited in several feet of snow for several days. It never worked right after that anyway. I did order a replacement. To cheer myself up I also ordered some of those chicken skin snacks I keep seeing on FB. My next impulse buy will definitely be those carnivore snacks I keep seeing. The rib-eye snacks definitely look good. Aw. It's already 7 o'clock. It's almost time for bed. These weekends sure go by fast. Okay. Goodnight, everyone.
 
Jahrule said:
Lost my vape on my last trip to Canada when we were putting in a siding. It was almost as disappointing as watching the Tyson vs Paul fight. It is probably somewhere in the middle of the road between Whitehall and Tupperware lake. That's the same vape I dropped during last winter, and it waited in several feet of snow for several days. It never worked right after that anyway. I did order a replacement. To cheer myself up I also ordered some of those chicken skin snacks I keep seeing on FB. My next impulse buy will definitely be those carnivore snacks I keep seeing. The rib-eye snacks definitely look good. Aw. It's already 7 o'clock. It's almost time for bed. These weekends sure go by fast. Okay. Goodnight, everyone.
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Paul indeed. Let's put them in the ring and forget about the bell and see what happens. I didn't watch it but I heard it came down to a decision. If dude thinks he's that jiggy now let's see him jump in the ring with the current heavyweight and not an old boxer who should have known better.
 
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