Civil War Story: Chapter Three - Runaways

“These workers are all free men.” I said to the Confederate Officer escorting the group of Mercenary Agents searching for runaway slaves.

“Do they have papers?” Asks the leader of the Agents trying to catch my eye but I am still addressing the Army Officer hoping he can save me the trouble.

“We worked together in Martinsburg last year. You remember us don’t you Sir?” I am looking right in his eyes hoping that he will remember me though he may not and why should he if I can’t remember his name either. I pulled my hat off in respect along with a hope that the red hair might jog his memory, or mine.

“I can vouch for this man and those are his workers. They helped us dismantle and move the railroad engines we now use out of Petersburg.” Maybe he didn’t remember my name but at least he remembered the event. What was his name again…McKinney, McDaniel, McDonald?

“Officer MacDougal” I suddenly remembered. “Thank you Sir, for remembering us and the work we’ve done for General Jackson.” The Agent man was patient but unimpressed.

“You two can vouch for each other but the original question remains and that requires papers. Well, Sir?” In spite of his previous vouching Officer MacDougal had nothing more for us as shown by his shrugged shoulders and I had to admit that our previous cooperation with regard to the engines was mostly a matter of us staying out of his way than anything else.

I knew the papers would be the only solution now but also knew from experience that those who asked for papers rarely accepted them. I took one last stab at avoiding the paperwork by pointing out to the Agent directly now, “Could any runaway slave work as hard as that?” At this the men made the dirt fly even higher in the air and some of the Agents seemed to get the point but the leader didn’t even turn to look so I proceeded to my lock box.

The lock box is four layers deep. Accessible from inside or outside the wagon, it has an iron box on the outside with a wooden box inside that and finally the leather suitcase that holds all our papers. Mostly this is track charts and contracts but in a special section are the papers we use to prove who our people are to doubters like these.

Having papers is only half of the job. Presenting them properly and giving the other fellow something in return was the only way to get this situation resolved. I dug out the papers with a bit of a show and my lead foreman Rocky instinctively pulled the canvas over our heads to protect the contents of the box. Even though there was no chance of rain he still looked up for any potential threat. “Birds…” he offered as a possible suspect.

I started with my favorite offer, “Here is my contract with the State of Maryland to operate in this area along with my Reference from the Commissioner of the Transcontinental Railroad.” It didn’t always work but some people were impressed at the official document and my obvious excitement at the idea of a railroad to California. He handed them back and held his hand out waiting for what he had requested so I swapped him for the other papers and he took several minutes looking up at the workers in between pages.

Just then I turned to see a commotion in the distance and could vaguely make out one voice shouting above the others yelling "Runaway!" At first I thought it was another reference to the workers but this was no human runaway, it was a string of loaded rail cars we had moved up to the spur track earlier to make room in the rail yard. There's Ray Smith riding his horse as fast as he can stretching to his full length to wave his hat and get our attention but there is no way he can catch the cars and also no chance the army can move all the men waiting down at the station.

We took off fast as we could to the nearest point on the track with the intention of derailing the cars before they could run into the waiting troops at the platform and the explosives sitting on the loading dock. I grabbed some tie tongs from the tool car and hooked onto a wooden crosstie and headed out with Rocky pulling on the other handle of the tongs so we could both face forward. As we got close to the track I could see Charlie heading the other way on a course that will take longer but then I remember, we just worked there the other day and the gravel is loose, easier to jam the tie down between the tracks for the best chance at preventing disaster. Good old Charlie is always thinking ahead like that.

When we get to the spot I am surprised to realize it is a rail and not a tie that Charlie was dragging but then it made more sense of course; the tie alone could snap, and the rail by itself would bend but the two together would be our best chance. I shoved the tie in, saw the rail in place and turned my back to run knowing the derelict cars were only seconds away when I look back to see Charlie swapping the tie and rail from one side to the other to force the cars away from us but I am sure he is too late as the cars disappear in a cloud of dust. One thing for sure, those cars did derail. It wasn’t until the dust cleared that we could see Charlie still standing there with a dumb grin on his face. For an uneducated pig farmer he sure does come up with some good ideas.

By the time we got turned around again it was too late, the Agents were gone along with their soldiers and all the workers. Colored, Indians, Mexican and Chinamen alike were loaded up and taken away during the commotion. I had tried to be reasonable in dealing with these Authorities but now there was no choice left except to send word for the Commissioner to come from Baltimore and make the case to get those workers free again.

Hi-Tech Series: Chapter 8: The Business of Lifecycles

There are several stages to the business lifecycle. If you search for Business Lifecycle there will be sites with 7 stages, 5 stages, 4 stages but I am here to tell you there are only three. The typical lifecycle goes from Change to Containment followed by Consolidation. Any given company may get stuck at one stage and never move on while others go through the whole cycle every year. Every company has to go through the cycle sooner or later, like taxes. Technically there are 5 stages if you include birth and death but only the other three keep recurring in a never-ending loop.

Change is the first stage of the business lifecycle. If there is no change, there is no lifecycle. Change is always the result of some disruption that caused the change. We like to use the catch phrase Change Management but it is a contradiction in terms when management is all about stability and predictability while change is not. There was a time we tried to manage the change but now we accept that Change is in charge and we never will be able to manage it.

Here are some of the telltale signs that your company is suffering Change.

• Lower Standards: It’s much easier to change if you don’t have to follow the rules.
• Increased Budget: Change always costs lots of money.
• Increased Headcount: Someone has to take the blame. There is always plenty of blame to go around during change, and who better than new hires.
• Buying other Companies: Sooner or later there has to be a good one.
• Bad News: Scandals are inevitable.
• Good News: Here comes the microscope.

After a period of Change companies must evolve into the next stage; Containment. It should be obvious that this includes layoffs, reduced budgets and all the other money saving efforts of cost containment but it goes even further where they try to contain the workers and products from leaving. When things get bad companies will do anything to contain the disruption that caused the change. Contain the bad news… contain the competition… buyout the competition.

Another branch of the Containment bureaucracy is Reorganization aka; re-org. It can go by other names; retool, retrofit, right-size and smart-staff are some of the insulting euphemisms in current use but in the end it amounts to musical chairs. It can be as simple as a name change or a complete shake down. My computer services department has been moved from the original place in the Engineering department, to the HR group, then Facilities, then Financials and finally to the current location under the Operations department.

Finally comes Consolidation. If you didn’t die then you must be stronger. Things either get back to normal or you get bought out by some other company that is in another stage of the life cycle. Consolidation brings a period of stability that can lead to productivity and worst of all profitability. That’s just the kind of thing that can start the ball rolling again. If you are lucky enough to survive all the way through the lifecycle to the Consolidation stage then you know it’s only a matter of time until the Change will start again.

Blind Deaf and Happy

It was Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg talking on TV recently so I was respectfully listening as she clearly stated that the best advice she ever heard was to sometimes be deaf. I was shocked that she agreed with that philosophy even after I heard it was from her Mother-in-Law on her wedding day and meant as a personal motto not a way to run the Supreme Court. It is true that Justice is blind, we have all seen that Statue, so maybe being deaf is also good.

After a while I cooled off and thought it over and decided she was right. We should filter everything we hear to decide if we should get mad or not. I can tell when my filter is broken and I over-react to little things and other times it is nothing but filter and I end up missing the fire drill. It is good advice with loved ones to let some things go and not hold others accountable for every little outburst. And if it makes sense for our loved ones then maybe it is good practice in general.

This advice is along the lines of turning the other cheek, so now we have to also turn a blind eye and if needed we turn a deaf ear. That’s a lot of turning of the other cheek so to speak and we can even practice turning a tasteless tongue and a numb finger if that will help to keep the peace. That leaves us with nothing but our noses to properly judge the world. There are plenty of stink jokes that will fit nicely here, please fill in the blank with your favorite: ________________________.

If we can learn to selectively turn our senses on and off at will then we should never be offended again. The trouble today is that everyone is too sensitive, always getting their feelings hurt by something that could easily be shrugged off. Come on America, show some backbone and muscle through the insults and ignorance of others. It’s all part of the game, just staple it together and call it bad weather, as Jack Johnson would say.

If someone or something offensive is about to hurt you, don’t let it land. Even if it does land don’t admit it, go blind and deaf. It’s easier than you think.

Railroad Series Chapter 6: Derailments

Derailments are the number one disaster on the lines. There are plenty of other more dramatic catastrophes such as Tunnel Fire, Bridge Collapse, Washouts and Landslides but they are rare compared to the nearly daily occurrence of falling off the track. When you get called out for a derailment you never know what to expect.

Derailments come in all sizes; sometimes just one wheel on one car is off the track and can be put back with a simple frog device. The frog is a 300lb flange that fits over the rail with a channel to guide the wheel back in place. There are two flavors of frogs; inside and outside so if more than one wheel is off you will need one of each. Other times the whole car comes off but is still upright and can be corrected with two frogs. A whole string of cars can be re-railed in this way, all that is needed is the engine to pull the cars over the frogs. There is no better feeling than watching the wheels magically jump back on the track. That is an example of an easy derailment.

Sometimes the whole train comes off the track and falls all the way over clear down in the ditch with broken rails everywhere, no easy access, and you might not get back home for a few days. They bring a special Work Train accommodated with sleeper cars and a cook car where you can get all you can eat and best of all; free cigarettes. The workers would be fed three squares during 16 hours shifts on duty and 8 hours sleep until the disaster is over. That is an example of a bad derailment.

Derailments come in all different locations. The most common place is on those little spur tracks that go into the mills and granaries along the line, where the maintenance is lax. In the railroad yards along the way there are lots of old side tracks where it is common to have simple derailments but the trains are never going very fast so not much can happen. They never work late in the yards, it can always wait until the next day. Out in the field along the line the trains go faster and the derailments are more dramatic and the repairs more urgent. Derailments also happen at all time so it was a running joke that any good weekend or holiday will be sure to get interrupted with a call from work.

When the wheels are too far away for the frog to reach but still close enough to save, then the car has to be lifted. If the car is empty or lightly loaded in can be lifted one end at a time with the Big Boom Truck. There was a little boom truck for little lifting jobs but only the Big one could lift a car. If the car is fully loaded, or for lifting an Engine the only thing that can handle the load is the Hook.

The Hook is a work train specially designed for functionality and not beauty. To look at the hook you would think the boom is too short to get any work done at all and the overall appearance is one of more wreckage rather than the solution. But that ugly monster was amazing at snatching the heaviest loads even though it was only a few inches at a time. It could take up to 20 minutes to set the blocks needed to stabilize the hook but we had to be sure, after all, we wouldn’t want it to fall off the tracks too. After all that setup the Hook would take two minutes to move the loaded car or engine another 6 to 10 inches closer and then we had to reset the blocks again.

My first derailment was also the first time I saw a worker get killed. That is the next chapter in the Railroad Series, Chapter 7: Fatalities.

You Can’t Comprehend One Million

I can’t even remember his name but I sure can remember my high school algebra teacher acting like Jack Nicholson in a Few Good Men telling us we couldn’t handle a million. He had a reputation as a “Bonehead Math” expert and his recurring theme said the human brain cannot grasp the number 1,000,000. We were ignorant 10^th graders still stupid enough to fight back with grains of salt on a table, stitches on a tablecloth and stars in the sky, but in all cases he insisted we could not look at them all at once, or count them or ever know them all individually.

That was enough to get us started in an ongoing conversation outside the classroom as each student admitted their personal limit for comprehension, many liking the number 1,000 , some less but none more than 10,000 except the stubborn few who insisted we could make it all the way to the forbidden million mark. That was how I began my journey to prove I could get to one million by first counting up from 1 (always got lost somewhere in the 5,400’s,) then down from 1,000,000 (nightmares with flying 9’s) so I finally switched to writing on a page.

I started with the notion of writing all the numbers clear to a million but it didn’t take long to see that would be too much work. That’s when I realized I only needed a million digits and started over again with just one number repeated over and over again. I first used the number zero but I could only get about 5,000 per page and it is easier to write ones which almost tripled the output to around 12,000 numbers per page but when I went to the period I was able to get 20,000 characters per page which translates to only 50 pages as compared to 80 or 200 for the others. The period is not a technically a number but it is the decimal point so that’s close enough.

I will have to give that teacher credit for making me think big after all these years. but I still won’t admit he was right. We should all be allowed to think to a million and beyond. I can lay out those 50 pages of dots and visualize a million now and am ready to begin on a billion. It will take a while but at least I have something to look forward to.