I was hoping that I wouldn't get called before I went on my rest cycle Monday morning at 7 am, but I got called at 3 am for a work train. The van ran us out to Truxton. (That was a long van ride). I had to drop the derail and thow the switch. Once my train was out of the siding I had to shove it back about 3 miles At the rear of the train they had a machine that can travel on both train wheels and regular tires. It looks like a big truck. I rode in the cab with the foreman of the work crew and we shoved back about 3 miles. I had to protect the shove. Once that was done I walked back to the front of the train. We pulled forward at 3 MPH, dropping rail. Later on we had to shove a couple more times. Most of the time we were puling ahead at 3 MPH. When the day was finally over we had to shove in the siding at Peach Springs. The work crew unoaded that machine fromt the rear of the train and drove it away. It was a long, boring day. It was so long that our van driver had to be releived. We swapped vans at the Maverick in Kingman. While I was there I got a chicken and rice burrito. It was deliecious! Finally we were back in Needles. I'm on my rest cycle and enjoying it.

I got called at 4 am for a stack train. On duty time was 6 am. It seems like lately I keep getting called around 4 am. I had been projected to go out much later so I was disappointed because I as not going to be able to run some errands that I wanted to run. I swung by Jack in the Box on the way to work. Our train had 114 crs, weighed over 5400 tons, and was over 10,000 feet long. It had 3 motors on the head end, so we were limited to 55 MPH. It came in at 6:30 and we departed at 6:39. They gave us the signal right off the bat. At first it looked like it was going to be a great trip. They kept giving us clear signals. Then they stopped us at Ludlow for 3 hours! (Boy, did I catch up on my reading). We stopped at Dagget with less than 2 hours to work. Our outbound came out to relieve us there. The van took us straight to the hotel. I checked in and went across the street for a burrito. I watched some TV and went to bed. I had a couple of dreams. One of them was that I was working at SAIC again. I got called for a deadhead at 5:30 am. I looked in my cell phone and it didn't say if I was gonig on a train or in a van. I wasn't lined up with an engineer either. That was strange. I got ready to go, had some breakfast when I got downstairs and got in the van. I found out I was deadheading back to Needles in a van. We had to wait two hours for it. I went back with 3 other guys. I requested a SMART rest when I tied up and I got it. I can't go out until late tomorrow morning. I ran a couple of errands when I got home. At least I won't have to worry about getting called at 4 am. I can look forward to a good night's sleep.

I got called at 4:10 am for a Q train going to San Bernadino. A long pool. I swung by Jack in the Box and got someting to eat. I had worked with the engineer before and I told him, "I stillhaven't yarded a train in the San Bernadino Yard. It turned out to be a moot uestion because we were dog caught at Dagget after being on duty for 6 hours. Wy? We didn't know. Maybe the dispatcher anticipated some trouble for us. When we got to San Bernadino the engineer was nice enough to give me a tour of the San Bernadino Yard in the van. I know it a ittle beter now. After tht he was also nice enoght to give me a ride to the hotel. I checked in and went across the street to get a burrito and a drink at a place called the "Rio Mexican Grill." It cost $20! Good old Calfornia prices. I slept like a log and got called at 3 am for the Z SBDALT. ON duty time was 5 am The same engineer gave me a ride to the depot. On the way I got a breakfast burrito. We had to wait a while before our train was ready to go. One of the good things about San Bernadino is that they build your train for you and the trainmaster give you your paperwork. Our train was at 14th Street. The van ran us out there and we releived the yard crew. It was a good trip. About 10 hours. I had to call on two form Bs. When I rolled my train by I reported that there were 4 containers open. Nothing was falling out and the doors weren't fouling the track. I tied up and I'm not shoiwng out until tomorrow afternoon. I hope that is the case. I need some time to run some errands. I have attached a picure of our leader, the 8578.

I got called bright and early at 4 am to be a brakeman. I thought I would be helping to put a train together, or do a Class I Air Brake Test, but when I got to the station I realized I had been called to be the brakeman on a set of helpers. (On helpers, there is no conductor, just a brakeman and the engineer). Usually we just go out to the roundhouse, grab two motors, and go help a train by pushing it or pulling it. But today the game plan was different. Another crew was supposed to take the DPS off of the Ambar in Barstow and start taking them back to Needles. We were supposed to get in a van, head west, intercept them someplace, and then go hel trains. But, as is often the case, things did not go according to plan. One of the 3 DPs on the AMSBAR died. They needed the other two motors to make it to Barstow. We wound up riding the van all of the way to Barstow. The AMSBAR was in R4. So we took the 3 DPs off of it. Since I can't go "in between" in Diesel Service " I disconnected the cable between motors 2 and 3 there on R4. (The dead motor was # 3). We brought it to the roundhouse, I tied the brake, we did a release test, and cut away. Once that was done we coundn't get out of Diesel Service! A crew was brinigng some other motors in. And the router said he had no place to put us. So we went into the "Diesel Spur. " I had to throw a handswitch and drop the derail. My engineer reported that there was some oil on the catwalk of the second motor. They blue flagged us and cleaned up the oil. It took a while. Finally we let Diesel Service know that we were ready to go but we had to wait. Finally they gave us permission to go. I had to line the switch again, we shoved over it, then I lined the switch back. But it took a while for the router to give us permission to get out of there. We had to go through the Receving Yard. I had to thow a couple of swithches. We went out the Auxillary Track to the East Barstow signal and waited aobut an hour. We finally departed Barstow after being on duty for over 7 hours! I doubted if we would be able to rescue any trains. We had to stop a couple of times because they were single tracking, and we got dog caught at Amboy after being on duty for over 10 hours. We didn't rescue one train. All we did was setout one motor and bring the helpers to Amboy. We wished the dog catch crew good luck. I don't know if they rescued any trains. I think they they took the helpers back to Needles. The van took us back to Needles and we tied up. I'm showing out tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully it will be a good trip and not a dog catch.

got called for an unsual job # the other night. It was the D KGMATH3. Since it began with a D I knew that it involved moving an engine or engines, but since I was going to wind up in Needles I knew it was a dog catch of some kind. When I got to the depot the dispatcher told me that we were to go to Walapai by van, take some motorsout of the siding there, then go to Athos and take a train out of the siding. The dispatcher said that the train already had a DP on it so if they wre running we wouldn't have to do a Class I Air Brake test. We knew it was a U train, but we did't know how many cars we had or how much it weighed. It was a cold windy night and it started to rain. When we got to the sidng at Walapai my engineer walked through the motors and he said they had "tacked on" one of the motors. The air hoses and the electrical cable were not connected so hwe connected them. It meant that we would have to do a Locomotive Air Brake test. I went out into the cold and the wind and did the locomotive air brake test When we got permisisino from the disptacher I droped the derail and and thew the swtich. I roled the three motors by. I restored the derai and the switch. On the trip to Athos it started to rain. Not only was it cold and windy but it was raining. We got to Athos and stopped by the DPs. My engineer got on them. He said they were running, but the handbrakes on them were set. That was unusual. As we went to the head end of our train we noticed it was mostly tanker cars. Loaded tanker card are heavy.. My engneer stopped by the derail. I got down to drop the derail. It was an unusual derail with a round wheel. I unlocked the padlco, but I couldn't get it out of the wheel. I went up to the locomotive, grabbed a hammer, and pounded the padlock out. I turned the wheel and dropped the derail. I left the hammer there inthe rain because I knew that I woudl need it again. My engineer ran me up to the switch and then went over the switch. I threw the swich and guided my engineer back to a hook. I laced the hoses. The "rapid responder " raidioed us and said he was almost there. We had been told that he would be there to help us. I relased the brakes. Since it was a heavy train there were a lot of brakes. How many? I lost count. I think there were about 25. Let me tell you, it's hard enough to climb up tose cars when wehn they are wet it's even harder. I had to really grab on to make sure I didn't slip. When all of the brakes were released the rapid respnder ran me back to the DPs. I released the brakes on the 2 DPs. I walked up 3 cars to make sure there were no handbrakes set on them. There weren't. The rapid responder ran me to the head end of the train. When the disptcher gave us authority to come out on the main I gotdown and rolled my train by. I locked and lined the swtich back to the main track and restored the derail. (I had to use the hammer again). I got in the rapid responder's truck and he ran me up to the head end of my train. All we had to do was take the train to Needles and hand it off to another crew. Our train was a Key Train and we were limited to 50 MPH. My hard work for the night was over, so I thought. We got to within one signal of East Needles and PTC did not read the signal ahead of us, which was green. It thought the signal was red and put us into Emergency. Since we were a Key Train I would have to walk the whole train to make sure that we were on the track.I got my flashlight, my radio and started walking. At least it had stopped raining. I was already tired and wet. I was almost to the end of the train when the rapid responder sowed uo. "Why didn't you wait for me?" He asked. "We've been told not to wait for the responder." He checked the last few cars for me and then ran me to the head of the train. We went the rest of the way to Needles and handed our train off. When I got home I was exhausted. I went to bed and slept for 12 hours! I was sore when I got ups and I wasn't sure If I could make it through another shift. I got up and was heating my supper when I got called for another dog catch. I groaned. I ate and went to work. We were supposed to dog catch a U train at Bagdad, but the dispatcher told us to dog catch a Z train at Fenner, so we did. After that we were told to dog catch another Z train at Ludlow. The van ran us there, and we waited for our train to come to the signal. We relieved the inbound and took the train to Needles. By now we had less than 3 hours to work and I thought we were going to go home. But the dispatcher told us to dog catch some helpers at Goffs. We went there and we releived them between switches at Goffs. We took them to Needles. It took us about a half hour to get down the hill to Needles. I had to throw the swtich to the roundhouse and then throw it back. That was the most work I had to do during the whole shift. I claimed 390 miles for the night. We tied up after 11 and a half hours. I am now on my rest cycle.

I was in bed the other night, and I may have slept for an hour or two when I was called for the train that nobody wants- the " KCKBAR." It weighed over 21,000 tons! That is the heaviest train I've ever had. On duty time was 13 minutes after midnight. Our train had 3 motors on the head end, 3 in the middle, and 2 on the rear. It was also a key train, so we would be limited to 50 MPH. With our 5/50 throttle limit our HPT was only 1.6, so we barely had enough power to get up the hill. There was a lot of traffic ahead of us, and my engineer ad I doubted that we would make it to Barstow. But, to our surprise, they gave us the signal as soon as our train came in and they kept us moving. We got to Barstow in under 7 hours. So we had plenty of tme to put our train away. The router said "Receiving 6 and 7." So as we nosed into Recevng 6 I called for a van. Our van was waiting for us when we got to the end of R6. I briefed with her. I told her that I would ride the shove and for her to meet me at the east end of R 7. My engineer pulled ahead. It was cold! On cold mornings like this I ponder my career choice. Finally the DPs were in front of me. I told my engineer to stop the train, tied 3 brakes behind the DPs, and made the cut. I rode the motor over the swtich, When we were over it the router threw it, and I guided the shove into R7. The front half of our train fit easily into R7. We were to take our head end power to the "Balloon Pocket." I had my van run me to the head end of my train and told her to meet us in the Balloon Pocket. I made the cut, shoved us over the switch and when the router threw the switch I guided the shove. There is a switch to the balloon pocket that the router throws, but there is a manual derail that I had to throw. I got down and threw it and guided my enginee into the balloon pocket. I had the van run me back to the derail and put it up. The van ran us to the depot. I left my grip there and we went to our DP on the rear of R6. I released the van. I made the cut. We shoved over the swtich, and went back to our other DPs. My engineer said to just lace the "big hose," or the "pipe" as we callit, and not connect the electrical cables and the MU hoses. One of the DPs was a Canadian motor and it had a hose like I've never seen. It wanted to fight me. I finally managed to get the hoses laced. and made the cut. The yard crew was aleady kicking the cars that we had left on R6. The router said, "high low." We would go around the crew kicking our cars . We went out the east end of the yard, down past where the WJ signal was, (they removed almost all of the singals in the Barstow Yard), and then went forward under the bridge. My engineer was in the lead motor, and it was facing the right way, so I didn't have to shove any more. Diesel Service told us to put the motors on track 14, and when we got there we were lined in. I didn't have to get down and throw any switches. I was done for the day. By the time I got to the htoel it was too late for breakfast. I had to wait for a room so I went across the street and grabbed a burrito while i was waitng. My room was ready when I got back. It was around noon by then. I went to bed, woke up around 7 to watch some TV (I saw President Trmp meeting with that man that was released from Russia) then grabbed another burrito from across the street. I was not showing out until the next morning, and I was wondering if they were going to start deadheading people. I got back to sleep and I got called for a stack train at 2:40 am with a different engineer. It was the "S LBELPC," going from Long Beach to Logistic Park in Chicago. We had 101 cars, weighed over 8900 tons, and we were over 9400 feet long. We had 3 motors on the head end and 2 on the rear. We waited a long time for our train to come in, and departed from the steps at 5:40 am. We had a 13 mile Form B from mile post 700 to 687. They are replacing the ties. We were restricted to 25 MPH for one mile. It was a good trip, but things started to fall apart when we got closer to Needles. The train ahead of us went into emergency, and we went around them. Then they held us at West Needles for nearly 2 hours and let two Z trains run around us. We got in around 12:54. I took a SMART Rest. I'm projected to go out tomorrow afternoon. The extra board has been turning like crazy. I have attached a picture of our leader the 6910.

My rest cycle extended into Sunday morning, and if Ihad take the whole rest cycle maybe I could have watched the Super Bowl. Instead I decided to "Take one for the team" and marked up early on Saturday. I got called for the H GALBAR. It's ben a while since I yarded an H train in Barstow. On duty time was 3 pm. We had 92 cars, weighed over 9100 tons, and we were over 6100 feet long. We had 3 motors on the head end and 1 D P on the rear. There was a lot of traffic going west. I didn't think we would make it. We departed at 3:46 pm. They stopped us a few times. They stopped us at West Pisgah for over 3 horus. I doubted that we would make it before we went DOL. Of course, they brought us into the yard with just enough time to put our train away. We went into R9. I made the cut, we took our 3 motors ahead, and I shoved us back to Diesel Service. They told us to put it on track 13. I had to wak ahead and line 2 switches. We had about a half hour left. We grabbed a van, went to our DP, and I made the cut. We brought it to Diesel Servie and put it on track 13. My engineer and I tied up right at 3 am. Exactly 12 hours on duty. I got in around 4, slept a couple of hours, went down for breafkfast, and then slept until 2 or so. I grabbed a burrito from across the street, and got called for the Q LACPEA . On duty time was 5:05 pm. Our train came in before we were on duty. I went u the steps to meet the inbound as soon as I was on duty. The inbound thanked me for coming to relieve them as they wanted to watche the second half of the Super Bowl. They informed me that it wasn't much of a game as the Eagles were ahead at the half. It was a good trip back. We got in around 1:24 am. It looks like I will go out in the wee hours of the morning .

Lately the extra Board has been turning fast! I marked up early Tuesday morning adn I got called 10 minutes later. I got called for the ALTLBE, a stack train going to Barstow. It was a small train and they ran us pretty good, but then when we got to Barstow we had to wait at the Barstow signal for two hours before there was a track for us. My engineer said that just tying the brakes on the 3 motors should hold it, so I went back and I tied the brake on the last motor and isolated it. It held. We got to the htoel in time for breakfast. In the evenng I got upand went across the street for a burrito. I expected to be called any minute, but I went back to bed and slept for a bout two hours. I got called for the "H BARKCK" at 9:30 pm. I wet to the depot and the yard crew was still putting it together. We waited over an hour and then went out to the Amtrak station to get on our train. We epared at 1:05 am.Our train had 217 cars! But most of them were empty and it only weighed 9700 tons. It was a good trip. We arrived n Needles ust after 7 am. I roled my train by and tied up. I enjoyed a good day at home, and then I moved up the line up and it ooked like I was gong to get called in the middle of the night. I got called for the "NEENNE." ON duty time was 1:39 am. We were to dog catch a Z train. But when I got to the depot the disptcher told me to call him back in 3 hours. That was unusual. He called my engineer 3 hours later and told us to dog catch the "S LBELPK ." We had our own van and got on at the last signal before I bis. It took us an hour to get to Needles. After that we were told to get an X train, the X HNCTI. It had 3 mtors on the head end and 115 empty hoppers. We got on at East Goffs and took it in. We arrived at 10:35 After that we were done. I tied upand I am now on my rest cycle. I have attached a picture of the 4668, the leader on the KCKBAR. I've been enjoying my 57 Chevy.

I got called for a trip to Barstow. My engineer and I got on our train at Franconia. Our train was the "V CLORIC," a vehicle train going from Clovis, New Mexico to Richmond, California. On duty time ws 6:05 am, Pacific Time. We started moving at 8:13 am. They stopped us quite a few times. We went past the Barstow signal at 5:04 pm. They told us to take our train to the Mohave connector and we would be releived there. I heard that a woman walked out in front of one of our trains a day or two before that and was killed. Our day was over 12 hours. I went to the hotel, grabbe a burrito from across the street, and went to bed. I slept like a log. I got called for the S LBELPC. On duty time was 6:55 am. Our train was going from Long Beach to Logistic Park in Chicago. It had150 cars, weighed over 13,000 tons, and was over 13,000 feet long. We got on our train at Lenwood. We arrived at 2:49 pm. The card on the DPs needed to be signed so we assisted the outbound. We had the outbound pull the train ahead and I stopped them when the DP were infront of us. My engineer signed the cards. I tied up and got called off my rest. I was called for the "S LPKLHA." On duty time was 4:11 am. I gulped down two cups of coffee and went to the depot. Our train had 3 motors on the ehad end and 3 in the middle. I t weighed over 10,00 tons and was over 13,000 feet long. We departed at 4:38 am. It was a good trip up until we go to the signal just before Pisgah. They were single tracking, and we waited there for over 3 hours. We finally got to the East Barstow signal at 1:09 pm and were told to tie our train down there. I had to tie 7 handbrakes. The van took me to the hotel. I grabbed a burrito from across the street and went to bed. Boy, did I sleep! I slept unti I got my call at 2 am. I was called for the "Q LACATG," going from Los Angeles to Atlana, Georgia. On duty time was 3:30 am. We had to wait A while to get on our train. We got on our train at Lenwood and waited. We stopped a West D yard and waited. We got to Minneola and sat there for over 3 hours. They told us that there was a relief crew on the way. We got releived at the crossing at Pisgah. It was a 12 hour day. I took a SMART Rest. I have attached a picture of the 7733, our leader on the S LBELPC.