Damn We Can Be Bad To Each Other in Tales of the Jointed Track

Bob Roberson-Engineer:

Bob came out of La Junta,CO , in a seniority swap, with another Joint-Line engineer, who wanted to return back to La Junta. I liked Bob, he could be brash and a trash talker. He could puff up and utter “I’m gonna kick your ass or I’m gonna kick their asses, LOL no asses were kicked. Maybe “short man’s disease”, but whatever.

Bob’s nickname was “Spud” or “Football Head”, one or both followed him up from La Junta. Yes, he did have an odd shaped head, and he did wear a baseball style cap most of the time. Bob, too, as we age, was losing hair. God Bless him, he opted for hair plugs that didn’t take or were inadequate. So after that trial, he opted to being challenged and wear a cap.

Bob lived in Pueblo, and worked the pool. If and when seniority was good he took the yard in Pueblo and or the Pueblo Engineer’s Extra Board. I was the one man band on the old Pueblo Engineers extra board. Then vacations and extra Comanche Coal trains to the X-Cel Energy utility. They put two of us on the “board”, but that too, was taxed, and a third man entered. That man was Bob.

I was called for 1559 pm Comanche. We may or may take it up to the utility, or the inbound crew ran it up there. We had our assigned driver from Rensenberger to assist during the unload. Around Midnight, the last car was unloaded, and I was told ease the DP’s through the dumper. The outbound crew was calling saying they are at Southern Jct. We’ll change out there and take our assist van back to the yard office.

My switch crew was Eddie Garcia, foreman and Roger Herrera, fieldman. We are heading back, and our driver, a gal in her late 20’s to early 30’s, pipes up. “I had Mr Roberson, last trip up here. He took his hat off and Oh My God!!!” Eddie says, “We call him Football Head”. Okay these two are setting this poor gal up. Roger says “Yeah, or we call him Spud”. The driver responds, I never saw anything like that. I wonder where he gets his hats?” Roger bluntly states “Idaho”. We all burst out laughing at her expense. She’s a little embarrassed and is quiet, till we get to they yard office.