There are a lot of things in this world that I hate when it comes to surprises. I don’t necessarily mind surprises when it comes to gifts; the biggest reason for that is because I usually badger whoever has the surprise until they eventually give me what I want. I also don’t much care for having surprise guests. That probably is something that I’ve developed over time. I enjoy having some people over mind you but not exactly when I’m not expecting them.
When it comes to work, however, I’ve learned that there are a few things that are more fun when they’re a surprise. Take for example today’s first run. I was told that I will be going to a point in Georgia to drop off a crew pick up another crew and bring them home. I ended up in Alabama at Fort Payne.
Even the guys that I had in the van with me weren’t exactly sure where we were going to be meeting this train. This is a process that I like to call “train chasing”.
Whenever I get a run to Emory Gap Tennessee I always end up having to ask them, “Are we actually going to Emory Gap or are we chasing a train?” More often than not, we end up having to chase a train.
Now the engineers and conductors all have software that allows them to look at their phones and see where the other trains are and which direction they’re headed, who is running the train, etc.
It would be really nice if we had access to that software. Because when we’re by ourselves, chasing trains is a lot more difficult. And it happens more often than you would think. I don’t think however that we’re ever going to have access to it.
Well now my trip is over and I’m number one on the board which means I’ll be the next person to go out. Rumor has it that they’ve got a lot of calls about to start coming in for Danville Kentucky. If that’s the case, I’ll be up the majority of the night.
I think I’ll go ahead and close this out for right now. My thought for the day is such:
“He who chases trains often does not know what to do with them once he catches them”