 Blog PostsFriends         | Those dirty menI think I should qualify the reason I posted some of these men in my pictures:I worked and lived with these men, part of the true definition of a man is is captured in these images. I am proud of having the opportunity to lead and labor alongside these men. These men were some of the toughest sons of mothers I have ever had the privlege to meet. They asked for nothing but a paycheck, from that they purchased everything they would need. Food, clothing, quarters, transportation, enjoyment, recreation, and yes, even love. The purpose was survival, never a complaint about the day to day problems that we all experience. Never a whine about the nintieth or hundreth hour that week. Never a b#@y@ about the four A.M. wake ups, These were men that found pride and humor in cooking on the manifold of a Cummins 750 manifold, (best damn mushroom stuffed cornish game hen I ever had}. These were men one could count on, men you could ask just one more thing from. When I look at their pictures, I may see something other than what others see. I see men I depended upon. men I trusted. Yep, damn right, I laugh as well,,,,,,,dirty son of a bi.....es, got lots of funny stories about that stuff as well,,,,,,,about the time in Cordele, when one of these men couldn't buy his beer, because of a dirty face, racial confusion, by the way was corrected immediatly, once the truth was known.........shame on them.......... The key to clean, was Dawn dish soap, used to use it in the shower every time. This was the first thing one learned. The key to sleeping, get it when you can, those power naps were a survival tactic. The key to survival, push the envelope as far as you can, push it one step over the edge,,,then you know just when to pull back an inch. Oh yes one more thing:,, If ya got it, Piss it away!, and make some more tomorrow       Mandolyn_wind: Countries were built by men like you and your colleagues, the world should respect them and their sacrifices and be grateful for their endeavours.  (Post deleted by staff )  sabrinalilypup: hott...that is what the RR is about, you grind with the dirt. The grinder is one of our most expensive equipment. I can say I am most fortunate to be a woman who knows these men, what they do and who they are. They love their job, dedicated to their jobs. Because I am in charge of all the equipment used in the maintenance of the RR tracks, my bosses introduce me to all the equipments...and the men who works on the tracks. I still have my made to order steel toe shoes, and my made to order hard hats . I am so darn small nothing fits me so everything I wear are made to order for me, including my coverall. I walk the tracks miles of tracks along with these men. Surprisingly enough I earn their respect and taught me everything I know of the Railroad. When the job is done...I am the only woman in the entire RR who is seen with the engineers riding Hy-rails. Just to make sure that track allignment is perfect before the railcars starts rolling on them. I'm right along with all my bosses on the rail tracks and these "dirty men" because these men that you are talking about and are so proud of are men that does their job without errors. They took care of me every steps of the way, matter of fact, I am the darling of the gad dang track maintenance crew. Inside and out....I know the RR by heart. Inside the office I am power to reckon with, outside is equally the same. I know how to push those paper works for the benefit of those who are outside ...that much they all appreciate it. I am proud to say, I am a Railroader by heart. sabrinalilypup: hott, when I find my operating book, I will look that up. Honestly, up to now I have no idea what my bosses saw on me that prompted them to push me on the job I did for the railroad. Amazingly enough men do not accept women in your crafts or in the transportation industry as a whole. I am the minority out of the majority. I'm non-white, a woman, and gad dang so petite among all these towering men. Men are my constant companion doing the job I did. I might be with all these men but one thing I can tell you I am highly respected by these men and no one and nobody ever made any advances or any pass as you might say with me. Even the wives of these men loves me with such candor. Not only that I made friends with these men, even the wives too became my friends. I remember when SPRR merge with DRGW, the VP took me to Denver in a maintenance site and boy! did I laugh when I saw the DRGW really cutting ties manually. I nearly died laughing. I could not believe they have not heard of the equipment Tie Cutter. VP told me to cool it, otherwise I would be sent to the next flight back to SF. I saw a whole lot that were done manually...the reason I was brought up there is because I have to ship some of our modern equipment over to DRGW, I needed to know schedule of their maintenance, locations, and number of training crew needed to train operating crew. DRGW, cowboy as they are wanted to replace me on the job with a man from DRGW. The big bosses of SPRR put up a big fight over this. sabrinalilypup: Continue..... I run the maintenance with exactitude, I have the experience and the only woman in the entire RR industry (and that includes other RR as well) who graduated with a BS in Transportation. Men and women of the RR has degrees in engineering and other discipline but not the kind of degree I had. The only reason I resign my position was when I was transferred to Denver it was taking them a long time to transfer my husband and my family. I got tired flying back and forth between SF and Denver every week end. The only reason they accepted my transfer back to SF is when I agreed to train 5 people on my job. No one can do my job alone, none was knowledgeable enough to know the work process. I got paid big bucks for the work I did, but they still got me cheap. I went back to SF and push paper work at the Operating Dept. The entire Engineering Dept. was already transferred to Denver. I miss the field, but office work was a reprieve. Before I retired, all my bosses retired before me. One of my boss before he left told me that when I left, fun was over with, it was all work. What he meant was, they got it made when I was there, it eases some of the pressure on them. When I left, they were also left the responsibilities I use to do for them. sabrinalilypup: It was while it lasted....I did it for 8 years. Like the men in your crew, I too was dedicated as they are. RR was a fun job for me...lots of things to learn and most are of dead line situation. Like an orchestra, we did our jobs in harmony.  |
to the working class! 
For you hard working guys, God Bless!
Thank God for the hard working middle class!