John's career started as a fireman, moved on to switchman, and promoted to engineer for the Southern Pacific/Union Pacific railroad at exactly the right time - early enough to start training on steam engines and retire running 6,000 horsepower computer-controlled General Electric diesel locomotives.

 

His career spanned 45 years with just under 2,000,000 compensated miles.

 

John is passionate about sharing his real-life stories - what it was like to work for the railroad and how it felt to run and control some of the largest equipment ever built.

Did you know that one locomotive can weigh up to 260 tons and one train can weigh up to 20,000 tons?

Did you know that it takes about one mile to stop a loaded train running at 60 miles per hour?

Imagine if you are the engineer on a train that has to stop before hitting someone. What would you do?

He has experienced it all ... and more...

 

• Some people want to know if he had a steering wheel.

• Some want to know if locomotives have a stick shift or an automatic.

• Everyone wants to know what it's like to run the 'Iron Horse'.

 

John's stories place you inside of the cab, seeing what he saw and feeling what he felt.

 

Make sure to view John's speaker sheet.

THANK YOU!

​