Unstoppable -- new train movie

[nachoman]

All of this -- i.e. trying to depict a "gritty, real-life" railroad situations in a movie -- has reminded me of another related question.

I've been wondering what an accurate railroad atmosphere -- and workers -- are really like? I've heard some pretty "interesting" stories (from former railroad staff and those connected with railroads) about workers boozing it up and also fudging their time sheets so that they would be paid for more hours or for work they didn't do, etc.

Is there any truth to this? Guess it depends on the era and the railroad ?!

Rob

My brother works in the shop for a tourist railroad, and tells me a few stories. While I have no doubt most of them are decent guys, many have a vulgar nicknames, more than one has a mail-order-bride, most either smoke or chew, and only a few aren't found in the bar on the weekend. That's pretty much true in most industrial environments. I worked with plenty of well drillers and I would say the majority of them have prison stories .