RIDING THE RAILS: RAILROADING HAS CHANGED OVER THE YEARS

With a puff of black smoke, a loud whistle and a mighty chug, the steam engine of yesteryear made its way across the country.

Today's diesel-electric engines are heavier, can move freight easier and require fewer people to get the job done.

Don Venable of Scott City retired after 40 years of train service. He hired out as a fireman with the Frisco in 1956, later securing a position with the Southern Pacific at Scott City.

"I wanted to hire out on the railroad," he said. At the time money was a big draw. Working on the railroad was a preferred job.

Americans have long had a love affair with trains. Movies depicted great train robberies in the early wild-west days. Casey Jones will forever live in infamy and many a young man has run to see if he could catch the caboose at the end of the train.

At the time Venable hired on with the railroad, brakemen, firemen, conductors and engineers were all a part of the train service.

These employees were responsible for the safe movement of the train from point A to point B. They were frequently found climbing ladders to board standing or moving cars, operating hand brakes, coupling air hoses between cars, operating track switches, inspecting cars and using hand and lantern signals and radio communications to control the movement of the train.

The responsibility of the safe movement of the train fell on the shoulders of the conductor who rode in the caboose. He gave directions and signals to the engineer and other train crew members and saw to it that the orders (list of work) was carried out.

"By the time I hired on, the job of the fireman was basically over," said Venable. We were mainly just another set of eyes in the engine.

Venable went ahead to train as an engineer and was promoted to the position after passing the "book of rules" test as well as a mechanical test.

His job didn't change all that much.

"I just moved to the right side of the cab and was away from home more," he said. Moving to engineer did grant him one other privilege, he could blow the whistle.

In the steam engine days there was an art to blowing the whistle. It is said you could tell who was on the train just by the way the whistle sounded.

"Today you just pull the cord," said Venable.

Railroading is not a nine-to-five job. Saturdays, Sundays and holidays do not exist on the railroad.

Trains run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Many train service employees have no set schedule and work on an "on call" basis.

Scott City was at one time a hot-bed of activity in the rail industry. Crews boarded the trains there and a full round house was in operation for many years.

The number of trains passing through this small town is still great due mostly to the fact that the Scott City tracks connect to the only rail bridge crossing the Mississippi between Memphis and St. Louis.

Another Scott City veteran of the rails, Bob Hamil, retired from the Southern Pacific in 1993.

He too began as a fireman and progressed to the position of engineer.

The worst part of the job as he remembers it is seeing something on the track and knowing you're going to hit it.

"People just don't think," said Hamil.

With engines weighing more than 400,000 pounds each and empty cars as much as 35,000 pounds, a mile-long train including three or four engines pulling loaded cars isn't easy to stop.

"You run with your heart in your mouth about half the time," he said.

Hamil worked on local yard engines but also made a few "long hauls" to Pine Bluff, Ark.

"The hogs got us a few times," he said. Train crews are limited to the number of hours of service they may continually work. When their time is up, the train stops -- wherever it is. When that happens, the trainmen say the "hogs" got them. After questioning several railroaders, the name "hogs" still remains a mystery.

Railroading used to be a family business. Nobody left their job until retirement and fathers, brothers and sons often worked together.

What was once an on-the-job training experience has given way to schools that teach the art of railroading.

Major railroads have begun to turn to college-based programs to train employees as railroads expand into the technological age.

That friendly wave from the engineer and the blinking light on the caboose are remembrances of days gone by. Many cabs are air conditioned and cabooses have been turned into playhouses and museums.