(The following story by Dug Begley appeared on the Press-Enterprise website on May 28, 2009.)
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — When most people say they make the trains run on time it’s a cliché, but when Joe Dickerson says it, he’s describing his job.
As terminal manager for the BNSF Railway intermodal train yard in San Bernardino, Dickerson, 31, spends a lot of time thinking about how to get railcars in and out of the sprawling 4th Street site faster. Despite a decrease in the number of railcars he’s rearranging, there’s still a lot to do.
“We always want to get better,” he said during a recent tour of the site. “It’s looking at the process and trying to see how we can improve efficiency.”
Usually five trains come in and three trains go out of the intermodal yard each day, all loaded with domestic goods. Other BNSF yards handle cargo coming from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Most of the televisions, clothes and other items coming Dickerson’s way are either headed to Southern California stores and warehouses, or out of the area. Sorting out what goes where and getting them there as quickly as possible is the goal.
After two years as terminal manager, the Bakersfield native says he has settled in with his wife in the Inland area and found a welcome routine shifting stuff. That regularity and the culture of the railroad is what drew him to it eight years ago after a stint in the Navy aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower as a flight deck safety observer.
“They are similar,” Dickerson says of the railroad and Navy. “When you come to work, you know what you are going to do.”
Camaraderie among the workers is also similar, he said. As the second in command of the sprawling train yard that employs 1,100, treating workers with respect and dignity is crucial to getting the team to work together, and on time.
Working around ships and trains are also alike because they require a commitment and focus on getting the job done, he added. Just like his time in the military, Dickerson says he’s always on call and needs to handle whatever happens at the train yard.
Though cargo is off 16 percent at the yard — and 21 percent across BNSF’s 32,000-mile system — Dickerson says there is still plenty to do and many shipments to track.
Unlike other train yards that handle cargo, the San Bernardino site is a collection point. Trucks are constantly rolling to and from the site, picking up and dropping off trailers and shipping containers.
Keeping things on time bleeds into Dickerson’s routine.
“I’m normally early,” he says. “I was always told if you are on time, you’re late.”
Working in an industry whose public image is sometimes steam engines and hoboes doesn’t affect Dickerson, he said.
“Nowadays it is more of a business,” he says. “We’re moving things for all kinds of businesses, so we’re another part of the system.”
Lately the system has been slowed. BNSF spokeswoman Lena Kent says the economic slowdown that’s led to less freight hauled on trains has led the company to idle 900 locomotives and 43,000 railcars nationwide.
“When it does come back, it is going to come back strong,” Kent says of the freight business.
By 2030, some officials predict freight traffic in Southern California could double, largely because of increased port cargo.
But Dickerson isn’t intimidated, he said. Looking down at the large silver watch he wears on his wrist — yet another indication of how big a role time plays for him — he smiles.
“It’s a lot of moving parts,” Dickerson says. “And they keep moving.”