Burlington Northern Santa Fe's nickname is Best Not Start a Family. I'm a college railroader, how I payed for skool. But I never really left the game, kept my RR friendships and things now, for those still in, is ugly. No rest, no family time, no support "out there," it's just a total and utter grind and the job itself is no fun any more even on the good trips.
Oh, and you've got cameras watching every second, too. Don't tell any dirty jokes or give some kids by the tracks an extra toot on the horn, air costs money.
Wall Street latched on to this thing called "Precision Scheduled Railroading" that does just great as long as NOTHING EVER GOES WRONG. And with infrastructure better than it has ever been (truly), most of the time, you can get away with it. But the tiniest glitch? There's nobody around to fix it, no spares, no fallback.
And with working conditions so bad, railroads can't even recruit from all the experienced people they tossed out on the street when Covid cut traffic.
So I hope the unions win this time. While Wall Street lusts for an automatic train set that spins out cash like clockwork, our train set is out on the porch and runs across the neighbor's property. Someone has to keep an eye on things (awake) and fix stuff (brains and skill) or nothing runs at all.
