| When I took this picture, I was a young stallion about 23 years old and our son was 6 weeks old. I was a young sailor in the US Navy going to submarine school! I did not want to, but I did not want to be in the army in that place in SE Asia, where our underwear is now made! I'm now older than this caboose which was built in 1914 and I had no idea at the time that in about 6 and 1/2 years, I would be back home in St Paul, Minnesota going to dispatchers school on the Burlington Northern Railroad! The 2 cars in this picture are CN 546738 and BN 455990. Perhaps there are clues in life that can tell us ahead of time, where we are going and the things that we might do when we get there! At that time, I had no idea that I would retire with 30 years service as a trick dispatcher and over 40 years railroad service! When I started on the Milwaukee Road in St Paul after I hired out and took my first rules exam in La Crosse, Wisconsin--- I was only 19 years old and I had not yet a clue as to how and where that I would fit into that which James J Hill called, his great adventure! |