Latest / Grow Clinton Podcast / GCP262 - Partnering for Progress w/AJ Martin, General Manager at Burlington Junction Railway

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GCP262 - Partnering for Progress w/AJ Martin, General Manager at Burlington Junction Railway · Grow Clinton Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: You could say Greater Chicago has everybody, but definitely Chicago does not have everyone.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: It just depends where you go through.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: But you have this economical engine here.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: You're listening to the Grow Clinton Podcast.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: Grow Clinton is a 501c6 nonprofit, economic, community development, and tourism organization based in Clinton, Iowa.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: For more information, visit growclinton.com.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Again, that's growclinton.com.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Now, back to the show.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: What's happening, all you amazing people out there in Podcast Land?
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of You Know It, You Love It, You Gotta Listen to it every single time we put out a new episode, the Grow Clinton Podcast.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's right, folks.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Grow Clinton, a small economic development organization based in the eastern side of the great state of Iowa, right along the mighty Mississippi.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: As always, I'm your host for today's episode, Andy Sokolovich, president and CEO, joined in the studio by none other than Jenny Holm, our director of member in community relations.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: Jenny, what's happening?
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I got to do today?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: What did you get to do?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: Something I love.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: And that is we've just we've decided that now when we get renewals and reinvestment, I get to deliver and deliver myself the thank you note and our window cling.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, we have vinyl window clings.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I gotta tell Mike over there, tandem tire man, they're not stickers, they're window clings.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: You can put them facing out or facing in, but it drives me nuts when I go there, pick up my truck, and I just see the white on the back and then the actual logos facing in the inside of the store.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: I just had that debate with uh go over there and school that guy.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Derek Beckford.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Same thing?
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, same thing.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: But he figured it out.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, they're static clings.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: Not stickers, but he did a great job.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: He figured it out.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for doing that.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I love that they put them up.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we want everybody that continues to invest in Gro Clinton to be recognized, and it just speaks volumes when you walk into somebody's storefront and you can see a nice little cling hanging there on the window that says that they are committed to economic growth and community development in the community.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Am I gonna get am I gonna get mine?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, sure.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know where you're gonna put it.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Put it on your locomotive.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: On our locomotive.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Before we introduce that voice, you're here, and I want to say thank you to our sponsors, Citizens First Bank.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: This mic check is courtesy of Citizens First Bank, the bank that is always in tune with our community.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Find them at go cfb.bank.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Banking as it should be with Citizens First Bank.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Member F D I C At Craft Printware, Sully Sports.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: At Craft's been in the custom apparel game since 1974.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: Now a cutting-edge operation, providing top-notch customized printware, teams and companies all across the United States for all of your custom printware.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, Jenny, really anything that they can customize.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: We've used them for little military challenge coins in the past.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: And awards.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Love it.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: At CraftUSA.com.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Sully Sports.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: You can visit their physical location off of 19th Avenue Northwest here in Clinton for all your sporting good needs, or you can visit them online at SullySports.com.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to join the Sully Shirts Club.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Ooh, I should be getting a new shirt here coming up.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you want me to pick it up for you?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: $24.99, Jenny, is all I pay per month.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: That gives me an exclusive members-only shirt, a quality shirt.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: And 10% off everything in the store.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Can't beat it.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's amazing.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: Miles Communication, the original gangsta.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: They power the Grow Clinton podcast with high speed fiber internet.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Wicked fast high speeds ensure that our broadcast is crisp, clear, and consistent.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: If you're looking for internet for your place of business or your home, be sure to check out milestelephone.com.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: If they're not in your neck of the woods, they're on their way.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Lined Up Cell Clinton Complex, where they produce high density, low-density, polyethylene, plastic pellets.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Used to create a variety of products, including household industrial bottles, pressure pipes, food packaging, lots of good stuff.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Their turnaround for 2026 is coming to an end.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Did they extend it though?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's only was scheduled to go through, I believe, the middle of September.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like a little bit past.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: So no, this was extended.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Usually it's two months.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: But I thought they'd just never mind.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: You never know with these places.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Especially that big.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: 1500 contractors in the in the HISI, so uh lots of congestion out there along Animosa Road during shift change.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: But all in all, from what I've heard, which I haven't heard much, which is a good thing, it's gone really well.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: So lined up cell, thank you for all you do in our community.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Solutions for a better tomorrow.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Great show today, Jennifer.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: We have a Renaissance man on the show.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: A Renaissance, man.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: Renaissance.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: Just showing me how he from Shining Time Station.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Representing Burlington Junction Railway, AJ Martin, the GM general manager.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: How's it going, sir?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Very well, sir.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me on.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: So everybody's watching this show right now, either the live stream or listening to it after the broadcast, thinking, what is Burlington Junction Railway and how is that significant to the city of Clinton?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so uh founded in 1985, um, it's owned by the Hoth family out of Burlington, Iowa.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we've got about 20 locations across Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Tennessee.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we have a new one recently in Tennessee, kind of outlier there.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: But the reason we're in Clinton and why we're so excited about Clinton is because we have joined with the city of Clinton to run their industrial park from the rail aspect.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's my industrial park.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: You're in.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: Excuse me.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: No, it is a shared ownership.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: I just do everything.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: No, I'm not.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: So for those that are not aware, the Lincoln Way Industrial Rail and Air Park located on the west edge of town, um, just on the opposite side of Lyndale Basel, east of their complex.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: It is long early 2000s.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: A bunch of people went out there and stood in that space and said, this is going to be our next industrial site.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: And that was after filling up what's known as Manufacturing Meadows, which is where Nestle Purina is right now, MFTCKF, the Egging Company.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: So a long time coming to get that developed.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: We finally got ourselves to a point where we needed to contract with a third-party industrial switching provider, and that was Burlington Juncture.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we we do that for uh cities, municipalities across the Midwest.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we help them big uh build their base when it comes to the rail side of things.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: We have the connections with all the class ones.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of some customers we're bringing with us.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we've got two customers that have property out there that we're working with.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: One of them's a translator.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think I can say they're probably up.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Clausens, uh's and I think Super 8 Logistics, yes.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then also Atlas Roofing, uh, which I was telling Jenny that they're about ready to start shipping rail probably within the next month or two.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: So that facility is getting right along.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: For someone like me, yeah.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know a ton about this, but what what does a day look like out there for your crew?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um every morning we get the paperwork that we would need for which kind of rail cars need to leave, which rail cars have came come in over the night or the previous day, uh, placements of those rail cars, different products, different kinds of unloading platforms, stuff like that.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's it's mainly a uh uh it's a very high uh capacity of uh communication that is needed to know where these cars are going and going to from and stuff like that.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's the customer service aspect of that.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Working with the rail is a science.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you cannot be wishy-washy, you can't second guess.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Rail cars don't stop, you know, and if they do, somebody's losing money.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: And and that's includes the rail, uh the class one, which for us, for this in particular site is Union Pacific Railroad.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: And when the rail cars stop or they're not switched on time, somebody loses money.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why you contract with a third party, an industrial switcher, that can do all of that, because there's no way the city of Clinton or a municipal employee would be able to coordinate all of that.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: So that's where Burlington Junction comes in because that's their specialty.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, in a nutshell, the Union Pacific, they love taking things from point A to point B, whether that's Chicago to the West Coast.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now, where a third party such as Burlington Junction comes into play is that we will once a once the train is dropped by the UP, we do the customer service bit where, you know, like just like stocking shelves in a grocery store, this one goes over here, that one goes over there, and then we find out what needs to go here, what you need to change prices, stuff like that.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we're very customer service focused.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, like any business that is technically we're we're definitely not retail, but we like to think of it if the customer's not happy, we're not going to be able to grow our business and get bigger and help everybody grow in in the city of Clinton.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: I think sometimes we forget or maybe don't even realize how massive the rail system is.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's and the job that you do is is incredible.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's a lot of work.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: So tens of thousands of rail miles across the United States and how interesting and and beyond and believe it or not, that is actually a fraction of what it was, you know, let's say 30 or 40 years ago.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's been a lot of abandonment uh here, especially in the Midwest in the last, you know, couple decades, because of all the grain elevators that had rail access.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if there's not a huge um, if there's not a huge conglomerate of industrial locations on that line, then that line can't survive because you can't uh there's cost too much to keep it upgraded and keep it up to snuff.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why these industrial parks, like the Lincoln uh airway out there, is so critical to uh the infrastructure of the rail and the system of the rail that this is definitely something needed for long term.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's impressive.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when I got into this career field back in 2015, I knew nothing about rail.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: The only thing I knew about rail is when I would play Monopoly with my friends in the military, it was the Reading Railroad, not the Reading Railroad.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, really?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know that.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'm from Reading, Pennsylvania.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Ah, so you would know that.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: I would know that on the Reading Railroad.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: I learned something today.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: See, you you taught me on rail.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: That was the extent of my rail knowledge.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: But then I got involved in the certification process of the Lincoln Way Industrial Rail and Air Park, which is an extreme review of everything in the park.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: Not to not just logistically, how you're gonna get rail cars from point A Boy B, what your desired companies are to fill the park, but you have to know about archaeological studies, wetland delineation studies.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: You have to determine if there's any uh you know, Indian burial grounds, if there's any historic significance out there to something that we could potentially unearth that would be have to be saved, then all sorts of things, underground contaminants, soil borings, things of all that nature.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not you just don't stick it out there and say, go on a flag and say go here.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're you're you I mean you're digging, you could be digging 12, 13 feet.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: It just depends on the table, the the gravel table that's on there to make sure that it's it's flush.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: And the good thing about it is, and and I am in no way, shape, or form an expert in that.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: I know a little bit about everything, which makes me not an expert in nothing.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but there I have have an incredible team.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the Burling Junction team is essential to how we work in that customer service sphere, all the way from design to moving the first rail car.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there the the maintenance away team was on site with Atlas today, uh talking about a few things and kind of, you know, just working with them on some things.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just that integral part that I get to stand on the sidelines and watch happen that just makes me so proud of what we do.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: It is cool.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: Luckily, I was able to be introduced to a gentleman by the name of Ben Guido way back in the day.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: And Ben at the time had some flowing locks that he wear back in a ponytail.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: But through Professional Developers Bio, I met Ben Guido, and I looked at all these historic documents from the start of the rail park till present day, and Ben's name's on a lot of them.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: And he and his team are rail engineers, so they help with the um, you know, the grade of the rail, the construction of the rail.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: And what I've been blown away by is just back then, I think I have an email from Ben quoting about$150 per linear foot for rail construction.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: That has far surpassed$150 now.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're way up there with the cost of labor and materials, but learning from him and his son really helped me identify how rail works and what makes our prior our rail park attractive.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of it's due to the fact that the topography is gently sloping.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so there's not a tremendous amount of dirt work that needs to go in to get the rail at grade to put uh cars in there.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: But there's just the logistics in working between Burlington Junction, class one, and the end user.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then, like you mentioned, when you're serving a third party or customer, their property is their property.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: You're contracted to work with the city of Clinton on their property.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: So anytime a rail car crosses over, liability changes hands, and there's a lot of communication that has to happen there.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: So when I first started in this business 20 years ago, um, the contracts and liabilities was about three pages.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I think environmental is now up to 35 in itself.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it it takes a lot of behind the scenes work uh with customers to make sure that both we feel comfortable and they feel comfortable with what we're doing, uh, which is goes back to that communication portion of what we're trying to do with everybody, is just make sure they understand what they're getting into.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because some of these customers, yeah, they may move rail, but they know nothing about how the rail system works.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so we I absolutely love talking to people that know nothing about rail because that gives me an opportunity to uh not necessarily change an opinion, but give them the resources they need to have an opinion on the situation.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Just because there's a lot of communities that don't know.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: You mentioned 20 years ago you started.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: What got you into it?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: I needed a job.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: I needed a job.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's how I got a job.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: I needed a job.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh at the time uh when I started, I didn't know if this was what I wanted to do.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't think it was something I wanted to do.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: And just over the years, I became more and more in love with what I do.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: And and again, you sound you surround yourself um with people that you really do care about, you know, their well-being.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: And and the people, like I said at Burlington Junction, all the way up to the owners, are phenomenal people to work with.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: What was your starting position then?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I was a we we loaded drywall onto um center beams, rail cars, and then cabled them down.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: That was my very first job.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I was a laborer.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: You started as a laborer.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, did that for two or three years and became a forklift driver and then then became a switchman engineer and then kind of just moved in from there.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's nice.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: What's the gentleman's name that that is uh he's is he the chair of the board?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Peter Hoth.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Peter.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: So this is funny.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: I was thinking this isn't Peter's first gig.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, prior to this, Peter is an MD.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: He's a doctor.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: So he left medical to run his family's rail business.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: So his father, uh Steve Hoth passed away in 2017.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, was you know a big asset, and we lost we lost the knowledge that was there.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh Peter kind of stepped in and then you know became president CEO of Burlington Juncture Railway.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: And he's he's helping lead that next generation.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: What's what I really like about them is is you know, some owners, especially in the rail business, the egos can get in the way.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, with with the Hoth family, it's they can't do it.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Joelyn is involved.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh she's she was in the office yesterday just asking how things are going, you know.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um some of the nicest folks you'll ever meet.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_02: So that's like being a superhero.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a doctor, and then I needed to be.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: Do it in front of Peter because the chance is pretty good he'll be able to help you out.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to give a little background on Joel and people around here may not know her very well, but she is very well known in the Burlington area because she was uh in the medical field for over 50 years as an MD.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: She was one of the first uh women uh to become a doctor this side of the Mississippi.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um so she she's a pioneer in that aspect.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: So she's very smart, that whole family.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: Achievers.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, achievers beyond.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: Do you live in Burlington?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I live in Mount Pleasant.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'll have to give you a jingle because we'll be in Burlington at the end of the month.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'll be there.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're uh a sponsor at that uh economic forum.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Professional developers of Iowa at our fall conference.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I think it's national, is it a national thing this year or something, or is it just Iowa?
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: No, PDI is just Iowa.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know, but I think that's something there's something else going on.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Big party all's gonna be fun.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, so it's it's very interesting.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: And when we sat down, I mean, we did the official like we put out an RFQ or an RFP request proposal, and we got all these RFP responses in, and it came down to several contractors, many of which do this on a national scale.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: And why they're very talented at what they do, they do it, uh their system is designed to do it everywhere across the nation.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: So there's not a lot of local contact.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so when we narrowed it down to the top two, uh Burlington Junction really stood out as somebody who could not only get us to where we need to be from a switching component, but also to help market the park to future users because they do have an economic development professional on staff in Eric.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: So it was a really cool, easy decision to make.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: And ever since they signed on the dotted line, now we have an actual engine out there, correct?
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, two, two engines.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and uh if I'm not mistaken, this is your high school colors.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: That is, and so the locomotives are high school colors.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: All right, Royal Locomotives.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: Well, if it says anything about uh accessibility, I mean having AJ here.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: Oh you know, if you call another place and say, you know, hey, you want to meet with me?
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: And he met with me and then you know, come to do a podcast.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: Better AJ than his colleague out there, Kevin.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: I told Kevin, I said, come on the podcast.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: He said, No, I don't want to do that.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this could be your big break, dude.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, don't do that.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: I I can't lose him.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: You got a great team.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Eric was nice enough to invite us, Matt and I, out to the uh Chicago, was it Traffic Club of Chicago?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Traffic Club Chicago.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's a phenomenal organization, and they do a really good job.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: So and it was it was swanky.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Matt and I felt like we were out there with like Julia Roberts and Pretty Woman.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because that Navy Pierre wasn't at the end and area.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: It was really nice to go out there and we met so many different individuals from all over the logistics industry, and uh, and even though it's held in Chicago, it's a national thing.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, so it was really cool to be able to network, trade business cards.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Matt met with a guy that I think he had, I can't remember how many trucks he had in his fleet, but it was like jaw-dropping the amount of trucks, yeah.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, and that the so that organization, they do stuff all year round.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: We're obviously part of it.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think they just did a uh a Cubs outing.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, well, Eric was the outgoing president.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: He is the president this year.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think at the end of December, I think is when he's his is up.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: So it's coming.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's definitely coming.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: What's your favorite part of your job?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: The the people that I work with, the the customers I get to work with, and just the it's never a dull moment.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it yesterday, um, I was I was actually supposed to be in Chicago at a meeting.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but and and when I say should have, but then I got the opportunity I had to needed to go switch rail cars for a customer because coming off of a holiday is kind of like um uh Black Friday, yeah, you know, in the sense of that it's a bad rush to get things at a certain time.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Everything's so everything's already late, everything's you know, class ones do the best they can, but they have holidays just like everybody else, too.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I was I was helping um uh it definitely wasn't the only one, but I was definitely I was helping uh break down a unit train and then build a unit train.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Unit trains uh more than a hundred rail cars.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: So uh trying to get that done in 24 hours is is which we have a ton of unit trains that roll through our area.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: Just explain to people that aren't familiar with the rail, like how beneficial it is for Clinton to have access to not one, not two, but three class ones in the now the CP, the UP, and BNSF.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so uh from a from an economical standpoint is you look at across the board of the municipalities that have that advantage, there aren't none.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: So you could say greater Chicago has everybody, but definitely Chicago does not have everyone.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: It just depends where you go through.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: But you have this economical engine here in rate competitiveness by having three different ones that is just phenomenal.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's why you've got big companies like Lion Dale Basel that are here because they know what they can they can get out of it.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: So this is only gonna grow this area.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously, you got to have the people to do that, and you're you guys are well on the way to working that out, but it's just getting the class ones now, okay.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: So you have this park.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, let's get this, let's grow this, let's make this like central United States for them.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot of people that really want to see industrial parks grow because, especially on the class ones for time frame, because they'll just drop off the train and then some have somebody like us take care of it, and then they just come and pick up the train.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's none of these onesie twosie things that they have.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what the class ones want to do.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean the days of the class ones actually going into an industrial park, dropping off the cars, that's those are over because it's time and time costs the money.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: So they depend on third parties like Burlington Junction to move those cars around.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, yep, yeah.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a phenomenal uh like I said, we barely scratched the surface here, but we we we've we've had an enjoyable time working with you guys and then uh an immense amount of time with the city trying to get that all figured out, and so it's been nothing but great.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_02: What I like hearing about Burlington Junction Railway is um it seems like what you're saying, it's a family company, it's a great company to work for.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: You talk about all of the other interests you have, and I imagine a lot of other companies, if you're in your position, it just overwhelms your lust.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's like I said, it's it's a team thing.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: If we and here's a little so in the office, if if we have a sick kid, we have no place to go.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: We just bring them into the office, and everybody knows each other kids, and we we we work with each other.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's like I said, it's like the entire company is a family.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so you know their kids, you know, you know what they do, you know, you know that they got a football game coming up.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: You don't even have to ask if they're gonna leave because you said, Yeah, you leave.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: We want you to leave because we we want you to have that home life.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: But we know that they're gonna pick up that that other part when they can, you know, because we don't we have a lot of trust and they and they have a lot of trust in us.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: That's no joke.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: I mean that culture is oh culture change, you know, huge in a business.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so um I I'm really interested in exactly you know the different positions that you have there and the hiring.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Are do you are you doing any so yeah, we actually uh in the other room, Jenny, we're doing uh some interviews today for conductors in Switchmen.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: We had three today, but uh I think we'll be hiring some more in the future.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, I encourage people to apply it at uh bjry rail.com.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh then there's uh there's you just put in the notes that you for Clinton and then we'll get you put in that stack and we'll have a phone call and get that set up.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, the the culture is is is huge.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, safety obviously is number one, culture comes second.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, if you if you care truly about what you do on a daily basis, and I wake up so thankful for what I am able to do.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's everything.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love it.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: I absolutely love waking up and say, okay, what am I doing today?
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I look right at my calendar and I say, okay, I'm going to Clinton today.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, I had I had a I had a uh 48-8 reminder for this for this podcast, a 24 hour because I didn't want myself to go.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: And you're better than I am.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: I have like a Jenny texts me and says, We're on a podcast today, and I'm like, oh crap, that's right.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I I was just like, okay, I gotta make sure that I'm I'm there on time.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm ahead of time to talk to Jenny and make sure I I don't I'm what I'm you know, what am I doing?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I guess because I think I walked in here when I first met you, Andy, and you showed me this, and I was like, okay, hopefully he never asked me to do this because I don't know if I'm supposed to say what I'm supposed to say.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: That goes.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: At least you did it, Kevin.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can't get Kevin in here, but that's okay.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: I I asked him if you wanted to join.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: He said, I don't want to do that.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's a big baby about it.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get him.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he owes us both a beer.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, one of the things you just mentioned real quick as we kind of close out the show is safety.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I do feel people do not often recognize about rail.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: Oof.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: Because you're talking about tons and tons of cargo and steel that's on a set of wheels.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's the gravity works on those things, uh, inertia works on those things.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: You have to know what you're doing.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: And as an industrial switcher, that's uh that takes a lot of skill, talent, and awareness, but safety is your number one goal.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, so luckily, you know, when we start in a community like this, one of the big advocates we do is we put start putting up signs, you know, of especially in the area that we work, um, and kind of doing an advocacy towards the safety side of things so people understand what's going on.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, trains make a lot of noise.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously, the citizens of Clinton will know that because of all the trains you have run through here.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, it in the same aspect is advocacy towards understanding what could be, right?
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't know how many times, and this is for all the photographers out there, uh, please do not take photos on train tracks.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: That is one of the biggest scaring uh ways to scare us as an engineer switchman.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a lot of people think that that's kind of like a cool thing to do, but uh, I would advise please don't do that.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Stay off the tracks.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Stay off the tracks in any way, shape, or form.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it would be appreciated if you know, if anybody has any questions on rail, you can always go to our website at bjryrail.com and there's a comment section there.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: They can always ask us.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, on the safety side of things, you know, uh that that is a that is a hundred tons of rolling steel and product in there.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: And without the proper air pressure, there is no brakes or the proper manual pressure, there is no brakes.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, it is it is it's meant to stay on the rail.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, some of your viewers may and listeners may have heard about the East Palestine uh wreck that not happened uh several years ago, but it's still being brought up.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: It is um that is a rare situation.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I know there's some folks that when they see tracks, they think East Palestine, right?
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how many millions and millions of rail cars go through this community on a yearly five-year basis, whatever it is, that did not derail.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that one derailment, yes, very bad, but it could have um it it could have been worse in the sense that there were some things that were done to make it make it not as bad, but at the same time, you know, the the worst of the worst always gets the biggest news.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, rail does not have a perpetual lifespan.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: So these guys go out too as part of the services they offer and you inspect rail.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes, what does that look like?
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we have physical people on the ground that walk the tracks uh on on a monthly basis.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's not a lot in steel that moves in that, you know, with heat, there's a little bit of expansion, kinks in the rail, stuff like that.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, on our side, it's 10 miles an hour, so we're not moving very fast.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're going from the yard to the customer, back again, or running a train to wherever.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: But the class ones, yes, they may go 70, and this is more of an advocacy for rail in general, is that they may go 70, but they're inspecting that track way more than once a month.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: They may be inspecting that track once a week and with with X-ray vision or you know, X-ray systems and all that stuff.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they have meter cars now that that run behind trains that will take pictures or or run schematics on on like gauge and stuff like that.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they're actually working on some new technology that the X-ray system will go on the back bottom of a locomotive.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so every single locomotive will be doing telemetry uh stuff to measure tracks and to make sure that everything is safe.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: This this did some of this did come after East Palestine, but the notion that uh taking the human error out of it is is gotten broader and bigger in the sense that they can do a lot more with AI in that in that sense.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, everybody kind of looks at trains and thinks, well, that's old technology.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: No, we're doing stuff with AI too.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: Oh gosh, I always think about my mom's dad, my grandfather, I never met him, but um, he was a yard master here in the house.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, sure.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: So he was a switchman and then a yard master, but she said that was a stressful job.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: Very stressful.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: It can be, it can be, but it it's one of those things where you look at it and you feel pride for what you do because it's it's definitely something that you can go home and talk about.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: As an air traffic controller in the in the air force, we were always recruited by the railroads.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, really?
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: When we come out, because very similar to organ, you know, putting planes in the right place, uh, they don't stop in the air, right?
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: So you can't just say, hey, hold your spot right there.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: Hover, just hover.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: Same with the rail is they would bring us in, they want us to basically serve as controllers for the rail line.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: So scheduling dispatchers, yeah, which way that rail car is going and coordinating all that.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: So there's never an opportunity for two rail cars to be traveling opposite directions on the same trek.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: So very interesting.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: I love learning about rail.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: I geek out over this stuff.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, now I can go out and and look at a rail tie and tell you the weight of the rail tie, yeah, it was manufactured, and it's just really neat to know, and just the historic significance of the rail industry in Clinton, Iowa is massive.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you have a lot of new rail too.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's that's what the industrial park is all brand new.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, that you've got, you know, you've you've got rail that's gonna last longer than us that's out there.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it's phenomenal.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: And people will complain, like, you know, with the crossings and stuff and the horns.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: And we did work with the CP several years ago to get quiet zones put in so they do not have to blare their horns all the way through our riverfront corridor.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, at the end of the day, though, safety is the number one concern for both the class ones and the smaller operators like Burlington Junction, as well as the municipalities.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: So all that stuff happens for a reason.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: But my point is, but for the rail and access to these large rail class ones, we wouldn't have the industry that we have today.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: Not at all.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: Meaning, just think of the billions of dollars of wealth that would not be flowing through this community without that rail.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_02: Shit stays.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry, go ahead.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm sorry.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but I I wanted to kind of point out to the to viewers and listeners is that you think about every single rail car that goes through this community, every single rail car weight wise is four trucks.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: So would you rather have hundreds of rail cars going down the line on one train or 500 more trucks on the road right next to you?
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: And what would that what would that road look like after the fact?
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: So rail's been long around longer than than automobiles have ever been.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, there is a kind of a fluction point right now where trucks are easily accessible and some of the and that's part of what some of the railroads are trying to work on.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, can you imagine if every single one of those rail cars didn't exist?
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you may not have crossings, but you know how many more semis would be on the road.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: You think congestion's bad now in Chicago?
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta take 80 westbound over to to uh Des Moines here in a few weeks.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I know my wife in particular, when she worked at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital, she can recall two times, which is too too many, where she was traveling in inclement weather, and it was a light dusting of snow, and she was there in her small little car.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: And the one time the tractor trailer in front of her locked up his brakes, she slammed on her brakes, quickly glanced at her rear view, and the truck coming behind her did not even slow down.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: And luckily she was able to get off the road, and that truck did try to apply the brakes but slammed in the truck in front of him, and she would have been sandwiched in there.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: And she's often been she's been knocked off the road.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just, I mean, there's a good there's a lot of good things that happen in the logistics world regarding trucking.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's not about being bad, yeah, but it's just about we have to take consideration the amount of trucks, percentages, percentages, and what that looks like to people that are driving you know their personally operated vehicle.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_02: Well, not only that, but I mean that trains are I don't think we'll ever be without trains, they're never going to be antiquated, but also the amount of employment they provide.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it kind of depends on you know your outlook of of what a train is, right?
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I I mean we this podcast could go on hours because I just love it.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: I love this.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have hours extra.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: I know, I know, but that's me.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: I love talking about trains.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: But but it's really cool to see the technological advances like that are happening overseas right now with the magnetic systems that they have that are not touching the ground.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's eliminating friction.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, yep, and and and there's no wheels or nothing.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: Imagine telling my grandfather that.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, no, don't tell me that.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't okay.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_02: So here's uh this is a family discussion, and it may not be the biggest issue in training.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_02: What is the name of the arms that come down at the crossing signal arms?
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, but do is there another name for them?
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: Signal arms?
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: Is there a slender?
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_02: What do you what's the what's the my mother says they're called wigwags?
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: Never heard of that before.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: Mom! Never Dolores, Mom, wig wags, wig wags.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: Wigwags.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'll have to ask MOW about that, but I've no idea.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: You're fired.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: Don't know what a wig wags are.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's on the test.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Let's see.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: As we close this out, I just want to thank you guys for all the work that you continue to do uh for our community.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, you came in here to serve a purpose, but that purpose has expanded well beyond just industrial switching.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you guys have become close partners and friends, and and we're very excited to see this partnership continue to grow and blossom as we look work to attract more industry into the park.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: So anything you guys need, never hesitate to let us know.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate it.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: Jenny, what's today?
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: Wednesday?
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm all screwed up.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_02: I know it.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_02: This week is a good one.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: I took yesterday off to kind of extend my holiday to get some things done.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: Good intentions.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna do stuff on Saturday.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: That did not come through to fruition.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: Sunday, I was like, okay, well, I'll do that.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: Then I decided to try to groom my dog on my own.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, two pups.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: I have a Bernie Doodle and a Labradoodle.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: The Labberdoodle hair is kind of fine.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: It went through, no problem.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: The Bernie Doodle is like uh shearing a sheep.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of hair, what happened?
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, my floating locks.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what happened?
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: It was a midlife crisis or something.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna join a boy band.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what I was gonna do.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm done.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_02: This was it.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I knew so like I was doing more of the before when I the hair was getting long, it was like the hair flip was like, you know, cool.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, Bay watch.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, oh, was that what that was?
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: You did bay watch before.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: But uh so he had the bay watch.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: Then it became like I was trying to vacuum the carpet and I'm hair flipping and stuff.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then I went out to visit my mother at the end of July, and she was not super excited because growing up, uh, I swam uh competitively, and I always had a buzz cut.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: And they used to call it the Andrew Cut.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: I would go to a place called Mike and Joe's Barber.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in I think it was I can't remember what the name of the street was, but it was in Reading, Pennsylvania, and there was two Mike and Joe were both very Italian, like very Italian.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: And they would always say, You want the Andrew cut?
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I would all it was was a buzz cut.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: My mom make a big deal about it, but every time she'd see me, she's like, uh, I don't like it.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: I don't like the long hair.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: I miss the Andrew cut.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: Listen to your mom.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll do anything to make my mom happy.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: You guys know that.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she's the number one fan of this podcast, and Jenny's number one fan.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, I'm her number one fan too.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so my mom will now be your number one fan too.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: I jokingly say, if my mom could cut this podcast out and put it on the fridge, she would.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: She still saves everything that I have ever made.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: My mom does the same like pictures that I colored in the it's like ma.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, throw it away.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, Well, I don't know, do you want it?
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: Then every once in a while I'll get a package at my front door and I'll open it up and it's like stuff for my childhood.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, Did you send this to me because you want me to have it for like nostalgic reasons, or you were trying to get rid of it?
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_02: And you couldn't bear it.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_02: That's my problem to deal with.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: That's it.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I moved, and I got I was sending pictures to my kids saying, Would you like this?
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_02: No, we don't want it.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I complain, but then I go into my basement and I have this whole little string I put up with clothespins for all my kids' yeah still things to hang there.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: But you just can't bear to throw it out.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I mean that's it.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_02: You might not need it, but you can't bear to throw it out.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's back when they were all sweet and love their father.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: They do.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, I need money.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: No, you will not DJ my prom.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: I won't go if you're there.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's like, what the heck happened?
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_02: I went to Hobby Lobby over the weekend.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_02: No, I went to Hobby Lobby at the beginning of the week, and I turned around.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_02: No, it was on the weekend.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody cares, Jenny.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, you will.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: You've heard it here.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: You've heard it here.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: She had a good weekend, she doesn't even remember.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_02: I I walked in, and this beautiful little face turned around and smiled at me, and it was your daughter.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she sure came from that.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's probably she's definitely so that's very, very uh interesting.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, like in the Serbian, but like is what I my last name is.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: So we have ear, we have earbumps.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: So on the back side of our ears, we have like a little cartilage bump on both ears.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: Very unique.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, AJ, you cannot touch my earbumps.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: So you read my mind.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, but it's very, it's like, so I have them.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: I have them, my father has them, my grandmother has them.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but my kids now have them.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: Addie does not.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: Addie does not, but Drew does, and Emery, my youngest, does.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the quick way to identify like they're like, oh, you sure that one's yours?
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, who else's earbumps?
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: The only way my wife says that she knows that they're all well, obviously they look a little bit like me, but they they all have floppy ears.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: I have no cartilage.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so she's always like, is this one yours?
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, that one is yours.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: My son's a little doppelganger, so it's hard to like he his attitude just like mine.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: His nonverbals are just like mine, his gait, the way he walks, is just like mine.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: So there's no denying that.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: All right, everybody.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Grow Clinton Podcast.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: If you want more information on Burlington Junction Railway, again, you can go to bjrail.com and find out some more info.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: Again, if you're looking for a job, they'll be hiring some switchers here in the near future.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: And you can go to their website again, Burlington or BJR Yrail.com and check that out.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you as always for listening.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: If you're not subscribed, please do so wherever you get your podcast.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: Until we speak again, folks.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: Stay classy.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: See ya.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to the Grow Clinton podcast.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to subscribe and follow us on all your socials.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, see ya.