Jon Whaley is in marketing and communications with a major manufacturer
of locomotives in North America. From the outside, says Whaley, a locomotive
mechanic's job looks like a tough one. "It's dirty, greasy and hard,"
he says, "because you're up inside of a locomotive! You're tearing
engines apart."
Whaley says that being a locomotive mechanic is kind of like being a car
mechanic. "But this thing's 70 feet long and weighs 400,000 pounds. You
can't move it [so] you've got to move. It's highly physical."
According to Whaley, there's a lot of pressure on mechanics to get
the trains in operating order as quickly as humanly possible. "If a locomotive
sits for a day, it costs thousands of dollars in lost revenue. So, they're
turning these things out 24 hours a day. They're in these shops working
all day and all night."
Sounds tough -- and the physical demands of the job may be part of the
reason why so few women work as locomotive mechanics.
Joe Bracken is president of a nonprofit agency that provides training for
railway related careers. He says there are plenty of women working
in railroad industries. However, very few of them actually repair the locomotives.
"Female workers that are in the operation side of things are in network
management centers or rail traffic control crew dispatching."
Bracken adds that the railroad industry tends to have an "old way of looking
at things." That is, a traditional way of looking at things. Most often, says
Bracken, women are found in sedentary office positions, rather than getting
greasy under a train in the yard.
He adds, however, that "where women are making some inroads are in locomotive
engineer operations."
Programs such as those offered through the Center for Rail Transport and
Technology may help to broaden the horizons for women in the railroad industries.
"What we're hoping is that, through schools like this, we start to
develop a full suite of programs and...expand the diversity of the workforce,"
says Bracken.
Linda Stanley is an instructor in a truck and diesel mechanics program.
Stanley says that the mechanics industry, as a whole, has lost the machismo
that characterized it in the past. This is good news for everyone involved,
since it has resulted in safer conditions for the workers.
"The industry prided itself on macho and danger and then we grew out of
it. We realized that no amount of money is worth your eye or your back," she
says. "Now, you've got safety glasses, you've got earplugs, you've
got knee pads. I don't think, nowadays, people look at the trades the
same way."
Martha Heimberg works for a rapid transit company. As a media representative,
she doesn't fix locomotives or rail cars. However, she stands as an example
of the growing number of women working in the industry.
"I came to my job...five years ago, when the agency needed a writer and
communicator to help launch the 20-mile light rail system," she says.
With 20 years of experience as a journalist and college English professor
under her belt, Heimberg was initially hired to help launch the agency's
news magazine, called Inmotion.
According to Heimberg, urban stations are bustling with activity right
now -- a sign that the rail economy is healthy. A healthy economy in any industry
means more jobs. "The introduction of light rail lines has generated a great
deal of economic activity around stations," she says.
While the growth in popularity of light rail calls for more electro-mechanics,
good old-fashioned diesel mechanics are by no means obsolete in the railway
industry.
"Commuter rail [diesel-powered] remains a popular option in linking cities,
since there are fewer stops and you can share a line with existing freight
traffic. They both have their place, but light rail is making a big hit with
many people because it's clean and quiet and people find it less intrusive
running near residential neighborhoods," says Heimberg.
No matter what kind of mechanics you do, locomotives of all kinds are going
to stick around for a long time to come. And, as Whaley points out, there
is no shortage of railroad companies to work for. "There's over 500 railroads
in North America that people could work at," he says.