"My wife and I work about 80-85 hours a week hauling coal for people to have electricity. Yep, It pollutes the planet and you know what, Leonidas, I could care less. The Southern Powder River Basin provides low sulphur coal, that's why it's so popular. The powers that be allow for coal fired power plants to provide electricity for the masses.Heaven forbid we are now hauling to Utah and Nevada.
I am not sorry that my wife and I bleed Union Pacific for what they pay us to do this. We both do the same thing for them. She just went to work at 2215 and will be going to Jacobs Ranch Mine. Thats a 245 mile trip plus a 45 mile van ride back to the hotel. For this she gets paid about $450.00 for hauling a mile and 3/4 of train and running 4 locomotives...two up front and two remotes on the rear. Same thing coming home only it weighs about 21000 ton. There is nothing out here that is flat ground. It does take some talent to do it right. And Good Golly, All that "big pay" for complying with a myriad of FRA regulations that even our managers can't understand."

"Leonidas, I think thats fair pay for what is involved. I realize you are anti-union. Well, so be it. We get no Holiday Pay, We have no sick days. But, you know what, it's kind of something that gets in your blood so you do it. I've been doing it for 38 years. Tomorrow night is a full moon and I'll get to see it in the middle of the night from the windshield of a locomotive in desolate Wyoming. I'll also probably get to see a perfect clear sky as the sun comes up. Temperatures are supposed to be around 15 below zero on Sunday morning out here. Hey, stand outside and breath the clear COLD air. That's a job benefit to me."

"I was right short of taking my bar exam when I lost the fire for saving the world, but weren't we all, now we strive for medriocty. I think it was the correct decision."

"I'll retire in a few years and I'll have almost a million and a half miles on the rails. I have seen stuff that you can't believe and I have no regrets."

"As for what I have been paid I make no apologies and I don't think the company that pays me does either."

Just trying to crunch the numbers here. $450 for a 245 mile haul + a van ride to a hotel. How long does that one job take to complete? Who pays for the van ride? Who pays for the hotel? Is the $450 for one shift after the costs absorbed or deducted by the company for health insurance, unemployment insurance, FICA, workers comp and per diems (the van ride and hotel, and maybe food)? For some reason, I can't see the railroad charging you for everything that it costs them to employ you and your wife, so, just for argument's sake, it looks like both of you are clearing more than $100k/year. Given your longevity within the occupation, you should have made millions of dollars in an industry that requires you to live in a region of this country that has a relatively low cost of living overhead (unless you are hanging out with the movie stars in Jackson Hole).

It really doesn't matter what you are transporting in the overall picture. When labor costs drive up the price of the end product, apologies aren't expected from a greedy workforce, and a redirect to labor costs by the company as to the reasons for high costs for the service are real and true. That doesn't help the end consumer, it just explains a higher cost of living. But, when you put this all into the context of delivering a commodity that everyone must purchase to survive (energy to heat their homes and fire power plants), a disregard for the consumer of the end product is common. I'm getting mine is all the matters. Just ask OPEC.