“Oh man,” my Dad came in quietly by back door in the kitchen. Once he saw us he asked, Where’s Mom?”

“Upstairs,” answered my sister who was cooking.

“Oh ok,” my Dad acknowledged this in sign. “What are you cooking?”

“Country Home Chicken.” My Dad smiled and listened to her attentively, brushed his finger to my sister’s nose and then her chin and she smiled back. He dropped his work gear and joined us in breakfast table tiredly seated. My older brother Marvin popped up a question:  ”Working overtime?”

“Yeah, it is bottlenecked again. This time, it was new coal unit train comes down from Dakotas unexpectedly. It should be route to B.N.S.F. but they won’t take them in when we dispatched them. All up to headquarters, our and theirs.”

“Why can’t Burlington Northern Santa Fe take the coal run?” Marvin piqued.

“Trajan, want some more?” my older Anne called out and signed same time.

“No I am stuff.” My Dad looked around between me and Anne and chuckled. “So, what lurking them to give Union Pacific a hard time?” I asked.

“I don’t know. That is the exact question that has been asking down in the district. Antonio Yard was first to filled up by sunset and cannot take more of extra eastbound traffic by a-special one-85 railcars auto and two extra container train units picked up from California and Carolinas. Immediately, we ordered 5 mile per hours slow down way back and try to stop all other traffic but two trains had came in and passed our district line and one has to come in because they left El Paso and cannot move slow in the middle of panhandle. It was too late to remedy that. Those six trains that our two yards can handle from each direction at a time; six and six to twelve top, no more for four hours period. So you know we are on watch from Surface Transportation Board because months aftermath of the merge, that both lines feed to one district when the higher up decided too close down the other yards away of us, and the miles of trackage has been removed before S.T.B. probation. We are in central of all Texas Triangle. It was a huge mistake a year late after two Pacifics become one Pacific.

My Dad drank the grapefruit juice that my sister Anne brought down. Anne spilled cool water onto the pan and it sizzled; she enjoy to see the action while hearing nothing. It is scientific interests of her. Marvin and I continued to listened to my Dad about railroad business and his reason the company switched his working hours from ordinary early night to all night shift.