.

My dad is a loco engineer out of Memphis w/ BN. I remember when he first started & for the first few years we didnt see much of each other. Now he flip flops every so often to change his schedule. I dont blame him there cause working 3rd like I am for a year & half now is old.

Working for BN, UP, CSX or any of the railroads as a grease monkey would be a job I would jump on with very little thinking.

 

Well, finally got the radius arm bushings put in on my '82. Drove it around for a while trying to decide if I want to get tags today or not. Ended up getting them so I can drive around with out worrying about county mounties.

I guess what driving I did earlier today loosened the junk keeping the front end tight. Its loose as a goose. I know the kingpin on the driver side wiggles. The rearend is killer over the smallest bumps. a previous owner was a welder & welded some coil springs on the spring plates in the back then some channel & angle iron on the frame for a top mount. Im sure I will cut then off before to long.


Edit: What would cause brake fluid to come out from under the cover on the MC?

 

Is it Friday yet?That stinks...waiting on someone to show up so you can go home. And I thought we had it rough waiting on a crew van when we get to KC. As far as the company card...it's a debit card they issued us. The limit was $750 when I got here last Monday. I've spent every dime of $200 just eating; besides I'm out of here in in 63 hrs...I think I can hack it out for that long.I don't know about the mechanical forces as far as their training...but I'm sure there's some class room time before you actually work for any railroad. The nearest shop to you is NLR...Union Pacific (UP) who has a huge shop just off the river that's capable of completely rebuilding a locomotive from the rail up. There is a shop in Springdale...and they do allot of the same kind of work...but without the deep pockets that UP seems to have. I talked to a guy a couple of months ago and he claim's UP buys more diesel fuel than anyone else in the USA. As far as working for a railroad...if your willing to deal with the crap (getting bumped around from terminal to terminal) you can hack out a nice living and an excellent retirement. The best part about our retirement...if you have 30 years in the day you turn 60 you can retire that DAY! We're not on Social Security so we don't have to worry if there money is going to be there when the day comes. The down side is it's a dangerous industry & the hours/weather stinks. But if your an outdoors type and don't like to be micromanaged it's a career field to think about. Besides, where else can you "play with" 4,500 hp diesel engines?Blocked port or kink in one of thee lines? Last thought is a blown check valve allowing the fluid back into the reservoir instead of going down the line. If it's that last one...it's been my experience it's cheaper/easier to put a reman in there versus rebuilding it yourself. And brakes are something I don't ever take a short cut on.

 

Gees today stunk...I don't think y'all realize just how happy I'll be when that flying coke can lifts off out of Orlando on Friday afternoon. I've had rough days on the RR, but I don't think I've ever bombed a test like I did this afternoon. Talk about feeling like a moron. And the said part is...it was a conductor's level test, not engineer. There's allot more calculations & processes on the engineer's version. Keep telling myself that I've only got 46 more hours and I'm out of here....give me a little bit and I think I could rough guess the minutes. But then I'm assuming Continental will pull out in time. (insert your own joke here)

 

6 hours and I'm out of here But who's counting? Got my fingers crossed that all of my flights are on time and we don't loose one of the GE's on landing like we did coming into Orlando two weeks ago. I do not want to see the airport rescue trucks sitting at the end of the run way when we land at anytime.

 

And folks wonder why I refuse to fly

 

How'd you like to find this slithering across your yard? He didn't quite make it

 

Looks like he had a unfortunate accident!

 

Yep! he accidently crossed my yard

 

holy hell!

Is that a copperhead?

 

Timber rattler.

 

Got home right on time last night...thankfully the next class I have to attend is in KC and I'm driving there (4 1/2 hours from my house); so I'm done with flying & rude TSA folks for a while. While I was in Houston I was reading about this business opportunity in a recent issue of Stars & Stripes:

A former Marine officer retired a few months ago and has started his own business making land mines that look like Islamic prayer mats. He reports that business is booming and prophets are going through the roof.

Anyone interested in buying some stock?Holy chit Batman...thats a snake!I was thinking more of a case of lead poisoning.
Joe asked:To which Jeff replied:To which I'm going to add that I'm pretty dang sure it was a Timber rattler...with extra emphasis on WAS. At almost 5 ft that was a big'n.

 

From the other OT thread that someone else managed to

I remember you saying something about working for a Chebby dealership a couple of weeks ago...or at least it seems. It was about the time you uploaded the video from last year's ice storm. I'm just wondering...do you get Federal benefits since you work for Government Motors?

 

You betcha!

 

Well I got some new to me tires for my 82. Traded a code scanner for GM trucks & a couple mattress for 3 265/75/16. Spent $20 to have them mounted & new stems put in. Then went to a friends place to look for another rim for a spare, which I am still looking for. Ended up dropping $50 on a pair of 235/85/16 & to have them mounted. Got to BSing & ended up with another transmission for the truck cause I said something about it singing a good tone in 1st, 2nd & 3rd gear.