It’s mind boggling that even in the last years of operations, there was a great amount of machinery that was made available for the Pacific Division Gang of the Milwaukee Road. As nothing more than a bunch of kids fresh out of high school, we knew how to work hard, we just didn't know how to work smart. I'd like to say there was some serious passion to be there, to be part of an industry....there is nothing more powerful on earth that moves on land. Not to sound bitter (!) but I'm not convinced that the Stagger's Act was the greatest piece of paper to be signed, especially for the Pacific Northwest. To use a sports metaphor, Duke and North Carolina can only suit up 12 kids each for the court and basketball. Might had been interesting hiring out in '75 on UP or BN instead of the Milwaukee. But now that can be only speculation. But thanks to the Staggers Act, only a handful will enjoy working a Class One, pulling over 100K a year, and a healthy retirement. The rest suffer the indignity of bullshit shortline tactics, making half the money if lucky, and a retirement that reflects that. And that's just the employees perspective chances. The poor railroad shipper, IF HE STILL HAS A CHUNK OF TRACK by his business in the state of Washington, has been dictated to like the ugly redheaded stepchild in the back of the classroom. There’s dozens of grain elevators in several counties of Washington state that don’t even have a choice for transportation. Now in recent history, numerous shippers in the Quincy area have been given the cold shoulder by the BNSF in regards to shipping hay overseas, and fruit to elsewhere. And most recent, again the grain elevators that still have track on the ex GN line are told to go pound sand, having to truck their grain to the ex NP line if they want rail service! You know, for the most feasible mode of transportation on land, there’s a handful of people that make it damn hard to play smart ball. Just a testimony of the wrong people in charge at the wrong place at the wrong time. We suffer the nonsense of ridiculous gas prices, and the 40% taxes included. Shall we wait until bread is $10 a loaf, when bing cherries are $10 a pound before we focus on smart transportation? I can now use the cliché… "Not my monkeys, No longer part of that circus"…but I still like to eat…and the END ALL result of these repeatedly stupid mistakes of a handful of people have a nasty affect on my wallet for the rest of my life…and yours for decades to come, especially if you don't get the opportunity to "fit in" a Class One operation.