Mr. Conductor... Finally!!!

Well, I made it here to Florida in one piece and after a fun week just hanging out at the hotel I started work and moved into my new condo this past Monday. After almost three years of trying and working Maintenance of Way for the majority of that time I've finally achieved my goal. I'm only about six months away from becoming a locomotive engineer! It's been a really fun week, I've learned a lot and had fun doing it. It really helps when you have someone to work with you get along with and also has the same warped sense of humor as me. Actually, most railroaders have the same sense of humor as me.

Curious.

Anyway, above is myself and "JP", another guy who was hired the same day as me. He was an engineer for CSX for quite a while and really knows his stuff... We worked together all week using that locomotive, shunting cars and putting together trains to ship out. It was mostly yardwork but did lay some ballast on the main line Wednesday and Thursday.

Here I am doing some conductoring... Throwing a switch to move some cars into the loading track. JP snapped this picture out of the cab of the locomotive. Yes, there are alligators in that canal to my left...
Now to my new digs. Here's the front of the place with my screened-in front patio. The company is not only reimbursing me for my moving expenses, they've also put me up in a condo for the entire sugarcane harvest season, rent free!

They had said they were going to put me up in an apartment, but I had no clue that the place they were going to let me use would be so nice. It's completely furnished too, meaning I didn't have to buy anything when I moved in. Dishes, flatware, pots and pans... Hell, I didn't even have to get toilet paper! The only thing I have to foot the bill for is my food, telephone and DSL.

Sweet deal, huh?

I'll give you the nickel tour now...

The living room... Not much on the walls but the couch is right comfy!

The view from the living room into the kitchen. The front door is to the right and there's a sliding-glass door that leads to the patio further right out of the picture.

Now the kitchen... Oh, the kitchen! Nice little island, the fridge has a Britta water filter and icemaker... Notice the dish washer?

Now for the master bath... Huge garden tub with jaccuzi and yes, that's a TV over the tub. I can watch Rescue Me on FX while I soak in the hot bubbles...

Another view of the master bath...

And finally where RT lays his head after a hard day of conductoring...

The place also has another bathroom off the dining/kitchen area with a washer~dryer combo and a shower so I can strip off the dirty work duds and jump right into a hot shower...

No more Laundromat!

It's a rough job, the railroad is, but someone has to do it!

Copyright 2006 Thomas J Wolfenden