Metro-North Conductor Shaw's "RAIL LIFE"

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This looks tremendous. I found out about a book that
I want to make sure I give a plug to.
It's called My Rail Life. It's written by Mike Shaw.
I went to high school with a couple of the
Shaw boys for a few years, Timmy Shaw and Bobby
good Lord. They are interchangeable men, all of them just

(00:22):
so ridiculously so nice, you could become suspicious of them.
But Michael has written a book. I used to see
him all the time on Metro North Conductor and he's
written a memoir. And I used to see him all
the time. And I don't mean in my backyard where
the train was idling, I mean taking the train back
and forth to New York. And he was always always

(00:44):
great conversations to catch up about names like Mike Rapp,
you know guys I haven't seen in ages. And he
would do me right too, And I wasn't even looking,
you know, be looking for it. I'd be with my kids,
you know, great trips into New York, and he'd say,
hold on to your tickets for your next trip. Just
a nice guy, no reason to do me right like that.

(01:05):
But I guess he's got a lot of tales to tell.
Like he once told passengers on the standing room only train, Okay, folks,
we're halfway to Grand Central. It's time for everyone who's
been seated get up, and the folks who've been sanded
standing get in their seats. That's one of the stories
he shares. Asked by a passenger boarding at Grand Central,

(01:25):
what time does his train arrive in Stanford, he said
usually about twenty minutes after the schedule. Says that's accurate.
On another train, he announced, folks, I have good news
and bad news here. You know the show on guy
they're he Love. You could tell Love the gig because
they're kind of quiet guys in school, in high school

(01:45):
that anyway. So the fact that he announced, folks, I
have good news and bad news. The good news is
that Metro North fixed the air conditioning you complained about
not having all summer long. The bad news is, obviously,
is you can all see it's winter. It is true.
How about the fact that the air conditioning on those
that was gone for so long and the stench of

(02:09):
the urine, is that acknowledged this? I remember one trip back, well,
one of my kids was on the brink of getting sick,
and it's like the place I would take you to
to be sick is what's making you sick. There is
no solution to this quandary. They even say in an
article about Michael Shaw's book My Real Life, which is

(02:32):
probably a hilarious read and good for him, that he's
They call him honest to a fault. He turned in
everything left by passengers on his train to the Metro
North Lost and Found, even once an envelope containing four
hundred dollars in cash. That's good, Mike, and that is
just like Mike Shaw and any of the Shaw boys.
But the fact of the matter is that four hundred

(02:53):
dollars went to the guy running Metro North's Lost and Found.
Kidding we I can't keep making out of these of
Metro Earth. I know too many people who got jobs
there and it's treated them well for a long time.
We worked there for thirty six years, probably a good
deal when all is said and done. You know, I
hear the horror stories about is Amtrak, the guys I
grew up with who wound up at Amtrak. But they

(03:17):
won't give them to They say, I got stories to tell,
but you have a big mouth and you'll tell them.
And it's like, it's not my big mouth that you're
worried about. It's I have a radio show that you're
worried about. But I never hear. There's a lot of
pride for Metro North workers there are They get mad
when I take Metro North to task, which I don't

(03:38):
really when I complain about trains in the backyard, I'm
not to sing I get them all. I never know
which one it is back there. If it's a til Con.
I used to know the names of all of them.
That fight's getting exhausting it and I don't want it
to get in the way of what should be tremendous
sales for my real life by Michael Shaw. You know
a lot of guys in East Tavian can talk about

(03:59):
doing right. I mean a different books. Those would be
different books, I think from Steven Earth. He says. It
says here too that lost money wasn't claimed, so he
actually got it back. Oh wow, it's an interesting ending.
On several occasions he'd find a lost briefcase itself on
personally what and personally return it to the owner's home

(04:23):
the same day. I could honestly say, only a Shaw
buy this book.