So You Want To Be A Locomotive Engineer

I think the party profiled within this New York Times article had wished he found another vocation - even if such was that of his Father.

While likely hardly as true today, "back in my day", hiring into the crafts was quite, to say the least, "nepotistic":

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/202 ... d=em-share

Fair Use:

American workers are losing ground, and one group of workers has an unusually clear view: people who do the same jobs as their parents.

We asked Times readers who have followed in their parents’ footsteps to tell us what has changed over the course of a generation. Almost 100 people responded, many sharing stories with a common theme: Jobs that were once a reliable path to economic stability have become increasingly tenuous.

It would appear the gentleman held seniority along the CB&Q lines of BNSF within Wyoming.

BNSF? Could the railroad have been the UP?

Think BNSF; note within the article the references to North of Cheyenne and "coming down to Cheyenne".