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A typical shift

The call comes with a couple of hours notice. You get to the terminal, check the paperwork on your train, walk it, test the air brakes and confirm what you are hauling. On the road you handle the radio, read signals with the engineer and get off to line switches and set cars out at industries. Weather does not cancel anything. At the far end you tie up at a hotel and wait for a train back. In a yard it is different work: building and breaking apart trains, riding cars, endless switching.