Kick in the butt
Posted by Lou on Feb 19, 2009
Well, here we are again. Sometimes you have to learn the hard way. Sometimes you have to find out that goodness is not with railroaders.
Yesterday again I got a call from the Crew caller that my application was finally accepted and an open spot would be filled with my little body. Yep, I was happy. Another chance to work – that sounds so great. My last work day (not counting the rules classes last month) was in September 2008 for ONE day and before that I was able to work a few shifts in March 2008. Don’t ask me how we managed it to get through all the time but somehow we did. Now after yesterdays call I was first out, a very good chance close to 100% to get out and work. Watching the whole day the boards and train lineup. Several Trains were re-scheduled so the waiting time for my train got longer and longer. I had a slight bad feeling that is not a good sign – every minute counts. Every minute you can get bumped. But hey, I was first out, so what could happened ? My working boots were positioned in the doorway next to my grip, just to jump in and get out. According to the train lineup I supposed to bring a train to a big harbour in North California. Nothing big, I have done that before. But it could not hurt to check again the Timetable and the Rules that changed every week. Hard to be on top of it if you don’t have to deal it on a dayly basis. 8pm was my train scheduled. Now it’s 3pm – time to go to bed and take a nap. About 6:30pm got up and grabed a snack – want to be fit for the trip. Just finished my last bite the Crew caller gave me a phone call. Fine, I tought, they are telling me to get ready and be at the train station in 90 minutes. That’s the time they give you to get ready. Luckly my drive to the station is only about 10 minutes. I had other times where I had to drive 3 hours to work so you have to watch closely the boards. But instead of getting the train news I got the Girl on the phone telling me that I got bumped. Silence. Long Silence. “But I am first out and my train should leave in a few hours” was my response. Like a robot she tould me I was bumped and if there is anything she could do for me. “But I was first out” my response again. “Is there anything I can do for you ?” her response again. There are Thousands of things you can do for me, but not this one. Let me do what I am supposed to do and what they called me for in the first place. “Have a good day sir”. Yeah, how good can my day be after that. Bumped again with a kick in my ass. I feel like one because again I believed the Railroad needs me and cares ‘a little bit’ about me. Because I am willing to work and I can work.
The nicest feeling is to get bumped first out. Why can’t they wait to bump you after your turn ? Just one day will expland my medical benefits, will give me a little bit self respect back, will bring a few dollars into my life. All that was printed on the Boots that kicked me was “NO. NOT YOU.” As a bitter pill : got bumped by someone who was in my hiring class. His birthday is just a few days before mine. Thought he would understand the ‘not spoken rules’ and the codex between railroaders. But things changed and changed people. This times brings out your real character. If you are tough and mean, don’t care about others only about yourself, you are a winner in this game. If you are try to be nice and care about others, you are the looser here with a Boot sticking out of you rear telling you what a fool you are. Since I am not going to change, nor I will not turn to the dark site, I guess I will not get out to work. The closest to be with the railroad will be sleeping under the bridge watching trains go by – without me.
Update: See my wifes blog about how hard it is to be a railroaders wife. Find it under www.myheartvoice.com.
Some History of the Tracks at Roseville Road
Posted by Lou on Jan 4, 2009
I found this interesting story about the Railroad Tracks in Roseville and though I would share it with you.
Note: This story is not written by me, Lou. I found it on the Internet at angelfire.com. I’ve tried to contact the author, but he left an unvalid e-Mail. If you are the author, or know him, let me know it’s ok to publish this story on my Web-Site. I will remove it if you wish so. Lou, Admin on Lou’s Point
Roseville Railroad Line, Citrus Heights, California, near Roseville, located in northeast Sacramento County, The railroad track is the main east-west corridor between Chicago and San Francisco. Around that area near the track where Antelope Road and Roseville Road meet, there are many sub-division homes built within the last 35 years. However, during World War 11 – before the suburban houses were built -, the area was used as a main stop-over by railraod trains. The trains contained human cargo. They were Japanese-American internment camp citizens that were to be shipped from California to internment camps in Nevada. When the trains made the stop-over in the area, hundreds of Japanese-American families were forced by the U.S. government to settle in temporary camps on the open fields, adjacent to the railraod tracks. Then, after, the families would be shipped off to the permanent camps in Nevada. During this dillema, there were exterme misery and hardships for the Japanese-American families.
Now, over 50 years later, the psyhic impression still lingers on in the area. My aunt, uncle, and 2 young cousins live in a house very near the railroad tracks in the area. A few occassions in the last 5 years, my aunt and uncle would witness, for only a few moments, images of Asian-looking people – mainly, Japanese – in the living room, kithcen, bathrooms, rooms, the garage, and the front and back yards, of the house. They were the images of men, women, and children – like families. Their neihbors, too, also had similar experiences in and around their homes, upon talking to them about this stuff. Me, personally, since my aunt and uncle, and even my little 5 and 7-year-old cousins told me about their experiences, I have looked at it with an extreme amount of scepticism. I felt this way because I don’t believe in ghosts, and I didn’t have any such experience when I come to visit in their house. Also, I have never experienced anything out of the ordinary in my life. However, just recently, a little less than 3 weeks ago, on October 12, I was driving home from work in the nearby Hewlett Packard facility in Roseville, CA. I just got off the evening shift. Sometimes, I take one of two routes when going home from work. This time I took Roseville Road along-side the railroad tracks. It was just before 1:00 A.M. When I was driving down the road, about 75-100 feet ahead of my car, along the side of the raod, I saw what appeared to be a woman and 2 girls – perhaps 3 and 5-years-old – on both sides of the women, holding the girls’ hands. They were walking at my direction. From the distance that I first encountered them, they looked of Asian decent and they looked real! However, as I was driving closer to them, the “figures” seemed to get to get blurred and becoming real “smokey-like” through my headlights – which were the only bright lights along Roseville Road. I was probably driving 50-55 mph before slowing down to about 30-35 mph, to get a better look at the “figures.” Before I was about 15-25 feet from them, the women and 2 girls seem to just fade away and then vanish like “foggy-mist” – right before my very eyes! As soon as I passed-by exactly where they would have been located at, I suddenly felt this extreme chill run down my spine, and the ends of my hair were, actually, standing straight up!! I then slammed my foot on the throttle to get the hell out of there. I was, then, probably going about 80-90 mph until I reached the traffic light to Antelope Road. In my 25+ years of living on this earth, I have never been so frightened in my entire life!! I have always been sceptical about the paranormal because I go to college, and I major in geological science. Since I study science, I feel that there should always be a practical scientific explanation in everything that goes on. Well, maybe I was hallucinating during that incident. Because maybe that the thought of what my aunt, uncle, and cousins told me – about their experience – was on my mind when I had that “paranormal” experience.
Can anyone please help me out on what I really experienced?
Note: This story is not written by me, Lou. I found it on the Internet at angelfire.com. I’ve tried to contact the author, but he left an unvalid e-Mail. If you are the author, or know him, let me know it’s ok to publish this story on my Web-Site. I will remove it if you wish so. Lou, Admin on Lou’s Point
