BNSF conductor Mike Smith worked the route from Bakersfield to Needles for 39 years until his retirement Nov. 25, and it was a treat every time he looped around the famous Tehachapi Loop, the Tehachapi News reports.
(Smith is a member of Local 1581, Bakersfield, Calif.)
It was just awesome, Smith said. Going up and down the hill night and day... the Loop is a wonder. It's an engineering feat.
There are always people waiting and waving at the Loop, he said, and to be part of that is exciting.
Any job will get old, he said, But it was still kind of a thrill. Especially with the new guys. I would tell them 'We are under the rear of our train.' It remained awesome for me.
Smith, 60, worked the route from Bakersfield to Barstow or Needles and back.
On the day of his last run prior to retirement, groups of well wishers and neighbors gathered at several locations to hail him as the train rolled by at 14 mph - one at the Bena Landfill at Bakersfield, one at Marcel Siding near the Loop where he lives and one in Tehachapi at the Green St. crossing by the rebuilt depot.
The train actually stopped in Tehachapi so Smith could get out and trade a few hugs.
We had prior permission to stop the train, he said. I didn't know it.
At the BNSF yard in Bakersfield, Smith's job was to make sure the train was laid out with the legal tonnage for the [Tehachapi] hill -- not too much on the head end, and empty platforms in the right place.
If it was not correct, we would have to switch it out. It had to be in the right order to qualify to make the mountains, he said.
Blocks of cars destined for New Mexico, Chicago and New York had to be in the proper order and hazardous loads well away from the engines.
Smith started with the railroad in 1969, working summers while attending Bakersfield College and the University of California at Santa Barbara, from which he graduated in 1971 with a degree in math. He returned to UCSB in 1973 to earn a teaching credential.
In his railroad work, safety was always his top priority, he said.
He worries, even in retirement, that with railway company downsizing, safety will be compromised.
When I hired out there were five people on a crew, he said.
Trains also included cabooses, which are no longer needed, as the engineer can access information from the entire train via computer and does not need extra eyes at the end of the train.
Today the crew size has diminished to two - the engineer and the conductor - and even number that may be in jeopardy, Smith said.
He is adamant there must be no fewer than two people in that engine.
We need two sets of eyeballs and two brains working, he said.
The railroad industry will try to put one man or no man on the engine once the technology [enables it] in five to 10 years, he said. They will try. It's not safe.
Trains carry the nastiest stuff known to man through every town that has a railroad.
The nastiest stuff, like ammonia and flammable liquid propane, goes right through Tehachapi every day. If it got into the air it would wipe out half the town. We are trying to make it safe for the public.
The we is several unions that represent railroad employees - the United Transportation Union for conductors, yardmen and some engineers, and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
Investor Warren Buffett's recent purchase of BNSF (Formerly Burlington Northern Santa Fe, now the company uses only the letters as its brand) has invited speculation as to what lies ahead.
We'll see some changes as a result, Smith said. I like to think this guy bought the railroad just because he wanted a railroad and he'll let it be. The young guys wonder what is going to happen.
So far he said he is staying out of the running and allows the current management to operate it.
Smith said that because of the economy, the company is 20 percent less busy than it should be at this time of year.
The Union Pacific Railroad owns the 70 miles of track from Bakersfield to Mojave, and BNSF has a contract to use it.
The series of tunnels that were constructed in 1876 when the Southern Pacific first laid the track over Tehachapi Summit have been adapted to double-decker container loads.
In addition to lowering the track, Smith said, They cut pieces of the tunnel out [at the dome], creating grooves that run the full length of the tunnels to compensate for the movement of double-stack containers.
The cargo is not all nasty.
Intermodal containers carrying Christmas presents and all the retail goods that stock America's stores originate -- for the BNSF route -- in Oakland and Richmond in the Bay area and may end up on the east coast.
BNSF also carries manifest loads of lumber, oil, coal, wheat, steel and grain.
The container trains are put together in Stockton.
The destination for the trains is Willow Springs, outside Chicago, Smith said. From there, the cargo containers are trucked or railed to their destinations.
Smith said he has experienced few accidents in his 39 years on the tracks, but he has been on trains that derailed.
Smith grew up in Bakersfield. He and Linda have lived for 20 years on Marcel Road above the track just three miles from the Loop. Linda is a teacher at Valley Oaks Charter School.
Their son Nicholas, 30, works as a conductor for BNSF in Texas.
Son Alexander, 27, is working and studying for his teacher's credential. He plans to teach math.
Daughter Cassie (Catherine), 22, a graduate of Wagner College on Staten Island, New York, is an art administrator trying to survive in the city, Smith said.
The Smiths hope to do some traveling.
By train, perhaps?
We may, Smith said. It's not out of the question. The train is fun.
(This item appeared in the Tehachapi News Dec. 22, 2009. Additional information added by UTU editors.)
