By Dennis Wilmot
Starting Out on the Railroad
On my first day on the railroad, I had no idea what awaited me. My assignment was at a place called the Yard Office, so I showed up dressed in what we’d now call business casual—sport jacket and all. I quickly discovered I’d be spending my day walking rail yards, exploring steel mills, and climbing railcars. Let’s just say my attire was the source of much amusement. By day two, I swapped the jacket for steel-toed boots and work clothes. Lesson learned.
Transitions, and New Beginnings
In less than a year, I bid on and landed a new position: Cost Accounting Clerk. It was still a union job, but now I worked in the office. That role exposed me to every department. At one time or another, I handled demurrage, car records, mail duties, and even janitorial work. One of my key responsibilities was preparing Switching Settlement Statements for the trunk lines—a handwritten process that left significant wear on my writing finger.
Within three years, I had been laid off, returned, gotten married, and started college at night and on weekends. When U.S. Steel announced the closure of its blast furnace, my boss encouraged me to seek new opportunities so I could continue my education. That’s when I joined the Cuyahoga Valley Railway (CV), then owned by J&L Steel, as a freight accounting clerk. It would become my professional home for the next seven years.
Life at the Cuyahoga Valley Railway
At the CV, everything was still done by hand. Calculating demurrage from handwritten cards, filing Rule 5 and Rule 14 claims, and preparing Switching Settlement Statements—all of it required meticulous attention. Our office sat in the middle of the steel mill, giving me the unique chance to explore the blast furnace, hot strip mill, pig machine, and slab yard during my lunch breaks. It was a firsthand education in steel mill operations.
About a month after I started, the CV held its annual management golf outing. I’d never swung a club before, so I played a few practice rounds with my old boss using borrowed clubs. At the outing, I hacked my way through the day but found myself in the final round of the reverse raffle. To my utter shock, this non-golfer won the grand prize: a brand-new set of Arnold Palmer Professional clubs.
Expanding Responsibilities and Learning New Skills
Though our office wasn’t unionized, I soon moved into a payroll position, keeping my hand in the freight department on the side. Curious and eager to innovate, I taught myself COBOL and wrote a program to streamline freight department duties. Eventually, I returned to freight as supervisor—a role traditionally called Freight Agent. This new position allowed me to join the Cleveland Freight Agents Association, where I met seasoned professionals who had been railroading since long before I was born. Those monthly meetings were like a masterclass in the business of transportation.
During this time, I finished my associate’s degree at Cuyahoga Community College. As I weighed my next step, I found myself at another crossroads. At just the right moment, an opportunity arose to attend the College of Advanced Traffic—a respected two-year program focusing on freight management with a heavy emphasis on rail. With this hands-on education, a growing family, and two young children at home, I knew it was time for a change.
A New Chapter Awaits
What came next? Only God knew. But as He always has, He opened doors when I needed them most, leading me to the next chapter: managing rail, truck, barge, and ocean shipping for the next 15 years.
To be continued in our January 2025 issue...
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