Railroads have constant ups and downs depending on the economy. When I hired on the WP in 1979, a coworker told me was hired in 1957, worked three months and didn't work there again for five years. I was cut off the railroad for six years in the 1980s during that recession. Due to economic factors and work-rule changes, most railroads didn't hire anybody from about 1980 until the early '90s. And so it goes...