Ceres: If you could change something about your job, what would be?
Kathy: The hours. I work long hours. Actually, right now I'm on a short job. It’s only 11 hours a day, but I'm used to working and being away from my family 14 to 15 hours a day. It’s something that just comes with the railroad, and we have to do it. Especially being in passenger service where the peak hours in the morning are 6 to 8. So, if the passengers need to be at work at 6 o’clock, we have to be at work at 4 o’clock.
Ceres: Any good stories?
Kathy: The other day, I was running the San Gabriel line, and we pulled up to the platform. There was a group of women at a little bistro. They were having lunch with a couple of glasses of wine. I could read their lips, as they were wondering if it was a woman driving the train. So, I opened the window, and I said, “Yes, it is a woman driving the train.” About a group of ten women started clapping; they stood up, cheered me, and gave me thumbs up.
Also, there is always something good happening on the railroad. You meet people. A simple wave, a simple smile to those passengers who ride day after day, year after year—and they spend a lot of time on the train—and you get to know them. A good morning, a good afternoon, and by the time you know it, you are invited to their children's birthday parties. You make a lot of friends, out here, whether it be Metrolink employees to passengers, passengers to passengers, or just fellow coworkers.
Once, a really nice woman made a drawing of me driving a Metrolink train, and gave it to me. I still have it, up at my house, and every so often, when I walk down my hallway, I'll tap it cause I remember exactly the day and the person, and the smile it brought to my face. The drawing is pretty much right on point, to the conductors, the passengers, and myself, the engineer, you can tell it's me driving the train. [Laughter]
Another story is about a little dog. I’m an animal lover. This little dog was trapped on our tracks, between the 10 Freeway. There was really nowhere for him to get out, or he couldn't figure out. Every day I go by, I see him there, at the same spot, day after day for weeks. And, as I would go by, whatever I had for lunch, he would get half. If I had a chicken sandwich, he had half a chicken sandwich. One day, on my day off, I went to the freeway to see if I could find him. I did. We put him in the car, and took him to a friend, washed him up, and now he is living very happily with a friend of mine.
Ceres: What would you say to all women out there who would want to be a train engineer?
Do it! If you want to do it, if you think about it, and you have any desire to do anything whether it be a train engineer, conductor, working for the railroad or working for freight or any job in this world, try to do it because you can, we can. As women we are strong individuals, we’re smart, we’re funny, we can do anything, anytime, but you just have to try. Never let anyone discourage you, or say you cannot. Obviously, here I am, 22 years later, driving trains. Who does that? [Laughter]
"As women we are strong individuals, we’re smart, we’re funny, we can do anything, anytime..."
Al Mohymont for Ceres Magazine
16 - Ceres Magazine - Winter 2016