yes behind the men who run the trains are many men who help to keep them running no one works alone for each man's work depends on others work others like the shopmen the modern conception of maintenance is to locate trouble before it happens and then keep it from happening shopmen call it progressive maintenance every locomotive steam or diesel passenger or freight is checked and serviced after every run a laboratory man can take a tiny thimble full of lubricating oil from a diesel and turn that or oil into a truth serum which reveals the personal secrets of the locomotive trouble foreseen is trouble stop before it happens what might have developed into a major overhaul becomes a routine minor repair to a delicate engine or a set of rugged wheels wheels where out of true from the study grind of study  shopmen control up the wheels without even taking them off the engine it takes quite a machine to handle the job and quite a man to handle the machine is a man with know how the tools and machines and there is no limit to the percentage in work they can turn out from maintaining engines to rebuilding the cars those engines pull to the men in the shops like those at houston texas rebuilding cars is an every day story one by one old wooden cars are dismantled march through the shop assembly line and transformed into all steel cars better than before yes it's the shop men who hate them rolling we couldn't provide good service to our passengers and shippers if it weren't for these men the passengers and shippers never see visors passengers and sells the tickets handles baggage and manages shipments and looks after the needs of our customers and shippers he knows more about the railroad than anyone else in town and more about the town than anyone else on the railroad he's the man who keeps the railroad how many and who keeps that human in the larger cities it takes many people to do the many jobs but the human side is just the same to the passenger who knows only what he sees with his own two eyes the railroad is the red cat the man who prepares his ticket or the clerk checks his baggage it is all the men and women with only deal in stations or on the train to a passenger the railroad is a ticket home or a ticket to adventure to new scenes passing by the window or two places well remembered the charm and romance of the s the majestic sweep of the great southwest the color and beauty on the shores of the pacific it is beauty in unexpected places beauty that changes with the seasons spring is the gentle season as fragile as the season of the burning bush gives away to the season of the silver mant winter brings the silence snow the mu the cloak lies heavy on the land the soft white snow that sparkles in the sunlight and turns the mountain into a fairyland of white the soft white snow which drives before the wind until it becomes deep enough to bury open the trains must go through when a new storm blows into the sierra you can be sure of just one thing a battle is about to begin a battle fought by man's mind as well as muscle by a powerful and complex organization that gained skill and knowledge through the years as the storm bears down upon us the power of the railroad is mobilized to meet it extra crews are called to duty track cr train and engine crews grounds for the snow fighting equipment railroad men who are mountain men men who have fought snow all their working lives these men and their always on the railroad when the chips are down the man with the shovel gets to work switches must be kept clear they must be kept increasing the trains must keep moving somewhere on the mountain a wire is down a slender wire that holds the battle lines together we fall back on our radio but we need that wire when the brake is located by radar and then goes out to it now fixing it becomes a personal matter between one man and the s the fight goes on if the storm won't quit then neither will we when the blind whites duration mothers are attacked there is only one way to beat it outlast it sometimes when the going gets tough enough we may have to to surrender one track to the storm and concentrate on our work and on our equipment to keep the other track open show we do we put our backs into it we keep on punching and the trains keep rolling through at last the clouds begin to break the wind dies the storm has spent its anger the snow once more as oh quite in silence see gleaming in the sun the battle is over but not the work our buried wires must be dug free to safeguard communications of another arms loss comes on the open lines of track fast moving flames yours clear the snow from between the rails but on the second the park cars open by the rotaries is dynamite by the spreaders we can push a little when we set our minds to it move over snow we've got a railroad here and the men who know how to run this is my railroad and i'm proud you can tell what railroaders are made of when the going gets really tough yes there's something about a railroad and something about the railroaders will keep it running through sun and storm in summer and in winter in order to carry the people and the product of a nation a road is more than road bed and rolling stock more than yards and shops and offices a railroad is real real people men and women working together each one doing one job proudly whatever that job may be men and women working together and sharing a common pride knowing how to run their railroad a heritage from the past a service to the present a dream for the future