Over the last few years you might have seen my name from time to time in the pages of www.mymrq.com. I just love modeling my n-scale world, and also enjoy writing “how-to” articles so I can share an idea or two with you, the reading public. But eventually, writing articles and modeling just wasn’t enough. I needed an experience of “real railroading” to fill out my life.

This last summer my wife and I decided it was time to follow up on the idea I had of working for a real railroad. I applied for, and ultimately won a scholarship at the Modoc Railroad Academy in Sacramento, California. (www.modocrailroadacademy.com) This was a six-month program paced over an eight-month period that awarded me a certification for both Conductor and Locomotive engineer. Boy, was that ever a lot of work!

In conjunction with the scholarship competition, I started to chase a job with a railroad in Alaska called the White Pass and Yukon Route. For those of you who do not know these guys, they are a wonderful narrow gauge tourist railroad at the far North end of the Alaska Inside Passage. (www.wpyr.com) They pride themselves with the idea their railroad was born of gold and has survived over 100 years of service.

With some of the pieces starting to fall into place, I had to actually “do something” about my dream. As I found out, there is a tremendous difference between wishing for something, and actually going after it!

To fill in this story a bit, you might want to know that I’m a 57 years old guy who has been a boat captain for the past 35 years. This age isn’t “way-old”, but a bit “long in the tooth” for someone to chase a dream of working a job like this. In fact, I’m more than 10 years senior to the next younger brakemen. But sometimes when you go off chasing a dream, it moves you towards a future that was not even thought possible a short time ago.

Once I won the scholarship, and received some basic interest from the railroad, then came the hard part. Making it happen. A couple of months before classes started at Modoc, I made a “fact finding” trip down to the train school in Sacramento from my home in Alaska. Among other things, I wanted to see exactly what I was getting into.

When my wife and I drove up to the school we looked at each other and asked: “What am we doing here”? The school sits WAY out of town in the rice fields. It consists of a couple of out-building, an older passenger coach for a classroom, 3 small locomotives, and about a dozen different freight cars. That’s it….. Rather “Spartan” at first glance.

Come to find out, that’s really all you need to learn to be a trainman. You don’t need a fancy training facility, as you will be outside working in real life anyway. The big problem for me was housing and transportation. With nothing but rice fields as far as you could see, I was going to need a car!

As for housing, I decided to buy a small 19ft. travel trailer to live in, and made a deal with the school to park it on their property. Now, with a car and a place to live things started to look a bit “more real” to me. Could this whole thing really come to pass??

As time went along, I finished up my summer’s boat work and my wife helped me box up my stuff for the big trip South. I must take a moment and say what a wonderful wife I ended up with. She was more than a supportive aspect of this project, but rather a partner. Would your spouse let you go 2400 miles away from home to attend a school for eight months? What a gal!

Anyway, the next eight months proved to be interesting, but also a “grind”. There were endless hours of classroom, fieldwork, and study. There was certainly NO time for late night partying and running around. Work, work, work! We covered many subjects, but through it all there was a central theme of safety. Real trains don’t care who you are, or what you know. They will injure or kill you with no regard. You must remain ever vigilant for your own well being when you are out around the tracks.

The big day came and off I went to a new job at the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad. Yes, I was a little concerned about being hired on as a brakeman (the very bottom of the ladder on the train crew) rather than what I was trained to do. (In fact, if I was any lower on the pecking order, I would have to run behind the train!!)

But I need to start some place. And here I am, running around chasing switches and doing all the other things a brakeman does. (I have asked myself more than once if I’m too old for this stuff……)

I need to take a moment and make one thing very clear. There is a HUGE difference between Rail Fanning and Railroading. Many of the folks I know have the two all mixed together. Being a Rail Fan is fun and easy. You take some photos and go on fun trips. You build some models and collect some stuff. You read some books and magazines and dream.

Being a Railroader is a dirty, dangerous, and difficult job. You have to go to work in all kinds of weather, any time of day or night, if you feel like it or not. You never get weekends or holidays off. You are required to hang on the side of cars for what feels like days at a time. You have to run on uneven surfaces for long distances. All in all it’s a job, not a hobby.

Being a Railroader is the physically hardest job I have done in many years (or possibly ever for that matter). My knees hurt, my hips hurt, and I have fallen down twice (of course, right in front of people!!). Nothing too serious yet, but enough to wake me up to the dangers involved with the job.

You might be wondering if I still consider the time, effort, and money I invested into this project of becoming a Railroader worth it? My answer is YOU BET! I might be running around with aches and pains (and a few bumps and bruises), but I am actually working with real trains in an amazing location! What could be better than that?

If you have a dream in life, there is only one way to make it into reality. You have to grab hold of that dream and not let go. You need to eat, sleep, breath, and really want this dream to come to life.