Railroader Spotlight: Justin Bell
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Every railroader has a story about how they got in. Most of them start sideways. Justin's starts with the strangest job interview of his life.
I sat down with him for twelve minutes (about eleven more than he wanted) and asked him about the railway, the people who shaped him, and why railroaders looking after their own matters. This is mostly in his words.
"This isn't an interview."
Justin's first job was a paper route in Jasper when he was eight or nine: "I wanted to buy mountain bike stuff, and Mom and Dad said I had to earn the money." By 12 he was working in a shop, and before the railway he was in the oil patch, working on heavy equipment out in the woods.
Then he applied at PNR in Cochrane.
"Got called in for an interview, which was the strangest interview ever. Kent Douglas and Jack Fuchko walked me around, and they both looked at me and said, 'This isn't an interview. You already got the job. Yes or no?'"
Kent showed him a few things and asked if he could do them. Justin said sure. Jack was the foreman at PNR Cochrane, and Justin went to work under him.
"He sent me to a tamper that was down on the Wainwright sub, and I happened to fix it, not knowing anything about it."
What the job actually is
Ask Justin to explain his work to someone who has never seen a railway and you get the short version first: "I fix the machines that make railway construction happen."
Then you get the real one.
"A lot of it is getting a million phone calls saying a machine broke down, with people trying to explain what the issue is. With a lot of operators, it's like listening to someone at Canadian Tire saying the car doesn't go vroom vroom, or it shudders when it brakes, and they make the noises. You have to decipher what they're trying to say from what's actually happening."
"A lot of the time you don't get to see the machine, so I'm blind. If they FaceTime me, I get seasick, because they're moving so fast and can't hold the phone straight, or they lose reception."
Most days he's diagnosing one machine over the phone while driving to the next one. "And usually it's dark by then."
Self-taught, mostly
Nobody handed Justin a manual. "The railway stuff was self-learned. The oil patch stuff was self-learned too, because we didn't have great phones when I first started. They'd send me out and say, 'Don't come back till it's fixed.'"
The person who taught him the most was Gary Stookes, at the shop where he started at 12. The lesson stuck:
"Don't let the machines get you so angry that you throw tools. And I've worked with lots of tool throwers, and that's not cool."
3 a.m. between Lac La Biche and Conklin Corner
Every mechanic and railroader has a callout they'll never forget. Justin has many, one particular night welding way out in the woods.
"About 3 in the morning. I'd just chased away a black bear. I had my helmet down, welding away, and I saw a shadow coming in hot. I turned around with the hot stinger about to stab what I thought was the bear, and there was a lady standing there asking if I was going to town anytime soon. I told her no, and she just carried on into the dark like that was normal. It was so black you couldn't see anything."
The part nobody sees
From the outside, the railway is trains. From the inside, it's the hours.
"The long hours. The demand to be in four places at the same time. Nothing happens to plan. It's all go, go, go. A lot of long hours."
Asked what has changed most since he started, he didn't have to think about it: "The railway doesn't change. Just the people do."
When it counted
Mechanics like Justin mostly work alone, "lone wolves," as he puts it. But he's quick to say the people around him are what make it work: "Operators, crews, everyone's been there for us."
When his truck was stolen, he found out how true that was. People came out of the woodwork to help, especially the customer he was working for at the time and their whole crew.
"Everybody stepped up to the plate. It was amazing."
Building Ratchet
What's he proudest of? He didn't hesitate.
"Running my own company, and getting a great name for ourselves through the hard work we do."
That company is Ratchet Wrenching, and across MOW it's what he's known for.
Advice for those starting out
"Get out now while you can. You'll be trapped here forever."
So why does he stay? "I'm trapped now. It's what I know." Railroading is just different and that lifestyle sucks you in and keeps you. And if he'd never found the railway? "I'd still be in the oil patch working on heavy equipment. Still in the woods. Just different machines."
On his sayings ending up on a shirt
Justin's one-liners are the reason the Sh*t Justin Says collection exists. His full review: "Cool. Just cool."
His most popular one-liner
"Machine is ready to f*ck"
Al Graham and the RX-8
Justin first worked with Al at PNR, then again at a company where Justin contracted and Al was on staff.
"We just worked really well together. I respect Al 100%. He relies on us, and I rely on him when we're out in the field."
Ratchet Wrenching is partnered with Ballast & Steel/RSR on the RX-8 project, which is in support of Al's family.
Why railroaders supporting railroaders
I asked Justin why this project matters to him. This is the answer I'd put on the wall.
"There's really nothing out there that does that for railroaders. People don't know much about the railway. I didn't know anything about it until I worked at PNR. It's its own secret world. We're a tight-knit community; everyone knows everybody. People you see retire or quit always pop up somewhere else. That's why I always say you can't get out."
"There are so many great people in this industry, stories that should be shared. This gives people recognition where it's due, across the board, whether they're high up or low."
Asked if there was anything else he wanted to share with the world, Justin said, "No."
Fair enough.
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