(Newhouse News Service distributed the following article by Joe Malinconico on December 9.)
MEADOWLANDS, N.J. — In the clockwork world of the sprawling railroad maintenance yard in Kearny, the mixed breed Labrador Retriever and Dalmatian seemed to live according to the train schedules.
Day after day, for seven years, the white mutt showed up right on time to meet the morning trains that brought the railroad yard workers who fed her beef jerky, chicken and an occasional pork chop.
They called her “Yardly” and considered her the unofficial mascot of NJ Transit’s Meadowlands Maintenance Complex.
But Yardly has been missing since last Thursday afternoon. Employees say she became startled by some noise and scurried away from the building where she was napping.
Since then, workers have gone out on their own time, canvassing the outer fences of the railroad yard, walking along the web of tracks, trying to find the dog that had become part of their crew.
“Everybody is heart-broken over this,” said Joe Cavuoti, a foreman at the maintenance complex.
“She was a good old dog,” said John Moran, the yardmaster. “This whole place was like her backyard. She was always here. Now she’s missing in action.”
Old-timers say some dogs just seem to take to the railroad yards, loud and hectic places where big metal trains are constantly on the move. Yardly was one of those dogs.
Yardly had lived at the complex since she was a puppy, a stray found on the premises.
“She knew every train, every movement, every engineer,” Cavuoti said. “She was yard-wise. She was very careful around the trains. She observed all the safety rules.”
Railroad employees fear someone may have taken the dog. A security guard at the complex’s front gate saw someone drive off with a dog in a car. But the workers are not sure that dog was Yardly.
They are sure, however, their mascot would be miserable anywhere other than the railroad yard.
Every morning, she would wait at the platform for certain employees to come to work.
On the 6 a.m. train, foreman Cavuoti was good for some beef jerky. On the next train, she would meet Paul Bauer, the man who first found her. Yardly would run alongside Bauer as he drove a motorized cart from the train platform to Building 10 where he worked. There, Bauer would feed Yardly seven cans of Mighty Dog she had every day.
Eventually, the mutt would make her way from Building 10 to the workers’ parking lot, where she would meet Moran, who gave her another snack.
Railroad workers are asking anyone who with information about Yardly to call Bauer at (201) 955-5875.