City Boy

It was a beautiful spring morning as I hyrailed down the track in the piney woods of East Texas on the Santa Fe's Longview District. I would be patrolling track as a Track Supervisor for the next two weeks between St Augustine and Longview, Texas. It was an enjoyable job because the track was in pretty good shape, the train traffic was not that heavy and the scenery was beautiful. The stress level is a lot less when you're not dodging a train every few miles and you are able to make the necessary inspections and still take time to enjoy the natural beauty of that area.

This was the third day on this particular job and it had been pretty uneventful. As I hyrailed just north of Beckville I came upon a rather large pine tree that had fallen across the track. I checked with the dispatcher and determined that there wouldn't be a train for a couple of hours, therefore, I would have time to remove the tree myself. A chainsaw was a vital part of that job. After about forty-five minutes or so I had cut the tree in small enough pieces to remove them from the track and was on my way again.

I had only gone about half of a mile when I came upon animal remains scattered across the track. It wasn't a pretty site. It was almost as if the large animal had exploded into small pieces. I got out of my hyrail truck and began to walk the area and had determined it had been a cow. As I continued my inspection, trying to find a brand or ear tag in order to identify the owner, a man crossed over the right-of-way fence and approached me.

"When am I going to get paid for my two cows?" he asked. I told him that I thought that there was only one cow involved. He then said, "No, two cows. See, there is one heart here and another heart over there--two hearts, two cows. You city boys don't know much about cattle.''

I responded, "Well, I see only one cow. See there are only four hooves, one, two, three, four. Even in the city, four hooves usually indicates one cow."

He smiled briefly and said, "Well, when am I going to get paid for my prize cow. Poor thing was like a member of the family."

So, that is how the first half of my third day on this assignment went and the railroad education process continued for this "city boy".