Caption: Welcome to CN. "Why the hell would they start a course when people are still laid off" I overhead in the A building at Mac Yard as I began what to be my life's dream job. 3 weeks of classroom writing out the rule book(to appease the lawyers, no doubt), with tours of the yard, fam trips, and so much more. Questions of why 40-50 GP40-2's sat wrapped like this in L yard during the lingering downturn would lead to an 18-month layoff halfway through my 25 training trips where I was an extra body on a yard crew learning more than could ever be taught in a classroom. More layoffs, a brief stint and Bridges and Structures before being loaned to the Western Divison; just as their traffic collapsed, before being recalled in Ontario in November of 1984......and working 56 straight days in a row when it happened. Such is how quickly traffic can pick up on the railroad. It was a short career, ending in 1988 having discovered that life on the railroad wasn't quite what I dreamt it would be. But there are moments, memories and stories; some hysterical, some not so much that I will never forget. Inspired by Bram Bailey's shot https://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=50740