All Aboard!

My family is a railroad family. The railroad is "in the blood," so to speak, on both maternal and paternal sides of my family.

My mother's parents moved to Northern Kentucky for the railroad. My father's parents moved to Northern Kentucky for the railroad. My uncles worked for the railroad, and I have cousins who work for the railroad.

My grandpa Goff was a foreman on the Southern Railroad. My grandpa Webb was a yardman on the Southern Railroad. My father was a pipe fitter for the Southern and then the B&O Railroad, which eventually became the Chessie System, which eventually became CSX. My uncle, Buddy, was a yardman for the N&W Railroad, which later became part of Conrail. My cousin works for CSX in Jacksonville, Florida.

When my father retired from the railroad, he began building an N-gauge model railroad. It takes up half of my mom's basement! We don't know what to do with it. My dad loved the railroad. He used to buy video tapes of railroad history. I used to tease him that the train wasn't really moving; it was really the backdrop. He'd get really mad.

Many of my dad's friends were also railroaders, and they often travelled together to visit railroad museums and displays. Whenever I see a train, I think about my family - a true railroad family in every sense of the word.