Using a flashlight to guide her way on a cold, moonless Saturday night, locomotive engineer Kathy Guy of Pekin walks away from the train she has just parked in the Crescent yards south of Pekin. | Photo gallery

"I guess that's it," she says as her brakeman, Howard Crawford of Springfield, pulls up in a company pickup truck to return the Illinois & Midland Railroad crew to the warmth of the Powerton yard office.

On Jan. 31, in her final hour of closing out a 34-year career as a locomotive engineer, the 69-year-old Pekin woman is a rarity in a male-dominated work force.

Guy is a third-generation railroader. Her grandfather, Dolph Guy Sr., father Dolph Guy Jr., and two brothers, Dolph Guy III, and Mike Guy, were all locomotive engineers.

In November 1975, after five years as an elementary school teacher in Springfield, Kathy Guy went to work for the railroad.

"My father kept pushing me, I didn't want to work for the railroad. I put my application in just to shut my father up," said Guy. My father, Dolph Guy Jr., started working on the railroad on Nov. 17, 1936.

"I started exactly 39 years later. I always thought that was so unusual,'' she said.

Kathy began her career working as a locomotive hostler for the Chicago & Illinois Midland Railroad in Springfield. A hostler services locomotives before and after runs, adding fuel, water, sand for traction and supplies such as drinking water. The railroad was looking for more engineers, so she applied within the company.

"I was in the right place at the right time,'' Guy said.

She had to make several student runs with other engineers during her training.

"We didn't get paid for them. We had to do them on our own time,'' she said.

Each engineer had his own style of handling a train.

"I'll never forget my first student trip. It was with an old head engineer, Tony Racci. When I walked out to the engine my heart was just racing. By the time I sat down in the cab, I was calm, cool and collected. He was just a real laid-back, easy-going guy - he made me feel at ease."

Her family helped her settle into life on the railroad.

"I learned how to handle a train primarily from Dad but learned a lot of the mechanical things because Dolph (her brother) was there to explain the basics to me so that I could understand all of it. My family gave me the inner strength to keep going back every day." Dolph Guy III continues to work as the road foreman of engines on the I&M.

"Some of them didn't talk to me," she said. "At first there was a lot of resistance. I was an oddity … I was a woman working in a man's world."

Breaking the mold

She was the first woman working on the Illinois & Midland Railroad. A few have worked at the railroad since, including one other conductor.

"I think it would be wonderful if more women considered this for a career," Guy said.

The 121-mile railroad is based out of Springfield, with a line that runs south and east to Taylorville and another North to Petersburg, Havana, Manito and Pekin. It is a main route for coal trains that feed two large electric power generating stations that serve Central Illinois. One is the Powerton Generating Station southwest of Pekin; the other is at Ellis, southeast of Springfield.

"I've worked every job on this railroad, in all kinds of weather," she said. "It started snowing one morning on a New Years Day a few years back. I worked the night job and we probably had a foot of snow on the ground when I went to work. After going off duty, my conductor followed me home and helped me get the car in the driveway. The snow was probably 24 inches deep by then. I got called on my rest. Eight hours later and the phone rang. The engineer out of Springfield couldn't make it, so I went back to work. The plant needed coal; it had snowed for over 24 hours that New Year's Day."

Over time, she's come to feel more connected to the railroad and its work crews.

"Some of these guys have been real good to me. Now they treat me like I'm their older sister."

"I'm going to miss the people the most. I've seen some beautiful sunsets and sunrises, and wildlife and scenery that you would not get to see on any other job. I won't miss the crazy hours, though.

"When you work on the railroad, it's not a job, it's a way of life. You get called when the cars are ready to go, so you're on call 24/7.''

Back in the warmth of the yard office, the radio crackles and the building's windows vibrate as other crews and trains move freight on the Illinois & Midland Railroad. As Guy cleans out her locker, she pitches a pair of worn work boots into a garbage can, saying "those can go."

She gives bear hugs to both Crawford and conductor Ed Hibbs.

"You be safe out here," she warns Crawford.

"I'm going to catch up on a lot of things around the house that I have been putting off too long," she said.

"And I really want to ride a passenger train. Can you believe that? All these years running a train and I've never been on a passenger train!''