Railroaders place to shoot the shit.

Eugene police said they are investigating the death of engineer Ronald Leo Langlois, 44, of Springfield, Ore., as a homicide. Langlois' body reportedly was found by railroad conductor, who was not identified.

It is not clear, from initial reports, whether Langlois had been operating the locomotive adjacent to where his body was found. Police have not indicated how many times Langlois had been shot, or whether there was a suspect.

Portland & Western operates some 520 miles of former BNSF and Southern Pacific (now Union Pacific) track along the Columbia River between Astoria and Portland, and south from Portland to Eugene. It is a Genesee & Western subsidiary with BLET representation.

Langlois, who signed on with Portland & Western as a conductor in 2003, was later promoted to locomotive engineer. He leaves behind a wife and three children, one of whom is a U.S. Navy sailor based in San Diego, according to news reports.

(The following is the article on Langlois's killing from the Feb. 8, 2010, edition of the Eugene Register-Guard.)

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. Alicia Langlois met her future husband on a blind date on Dec. 22, 1989. The two went to a corporate Christmas party together. Ronald Lee Langlois sang to her on the dance floor, in front of a room full of people. She doesnt remember the name of the tune.

Two years later they were married, and theyve spent the past two decades building a family; a family thats shocked and grieving today in the wake of Ron Langlois fatal shooting Saturday morning at the sprawling railyard in Eugenes Bethel neighborhood.

Alicia was worried, she said, because the Springfield railroad engineer had stopped responding to text messages she sent from their 16-year-old daughters cheerleading competition in Salem. Alicia Langlois arrived home to find a message from police on her answering machine.

She returned the call, and two officers came to her Springfield home.

I knew something was horribly wrong, she said. My husband works in probably one of the top 10 most dangerous industries there is. Big equipment, small fleshy human beings.

She never expected to learn that her 44-year-old husband had been shot to death.

I must have asked the officers 30 or 40 times. Shot? Langlois said. Just the one word. Shot.

Police released no new details about the investigation Sunday, other than Langlois name. His body was found by a co-worker just before 5 a.m. Saturday close to the railroad tracks near West Second Avenue and Cleveland Street, where Langlois worked as an engineer for the Portland & Western Railroad.

Police have told her little about the circumstances of Rons death, Alicia Langlois said, which she understands because detectives need to make sure they dont compromise their investigation.

They couldnt have possibly asked for a more hard-working employee, a more dedicated man. He certainly was really significant, really important to us, Alicia Langlois said. Were trying to figure out how were going to survive without him.

Langlois had come to the railroad business not because he was educated for it. The Massachusetts transplant attended Springfield High School, then went to work at the Echo Spring Dairy in Eugene as a milk bottler and processor, staying there a decade before moving on to a completely different career at Monaco Coach Corp. in Coburg and Country Coach in Junction City, as a painter.

Langlois became a railroad conductor only because he needed a job in 2003, and Alicias mother, a dispatcher for Portland & Western, heard the company was hiring. Langlois training was on the job, his wife said.

When you dont have a high school diploma, and youre good with your hands, you work like a mule, Alicia Langlois said. He always worked at jobs where you worked like a mule.

In 2005, Langlois moved up to driving trains in the region after passing the tests he needed to become an engineer, she said.

Engineers typically are responsible for running the locomotive, and conductors manage the rest of the train.

Langlois loved working for the railroad, his wife said.

I think the big toys for big boys was his favorite of all, she said.

The couples children the 19-year-old Navy sailor flown home on the governments tab by 10 a.m. Sunday, the 16-year-old varsity cheerleader, the 9-year-old third-grader are desperate to know what happened.

I have girls who are not going to have somebody to walk them down the aisle, Alicia Langlois said. Were a sad family, taking it in waves of shock, grief, disbelief, and in this house, a little bit of humor; were looking for bright spots, things to smile about.

Make no mistake, though, the grieving widow added, her children want to know who did this: They want someone to pay."

The surviving family of slain locomotive engineer Ronald Langlois: His wife Alicia, with 19-year-old son and two daughters, ages 16 and 9.