Business View Magazine - May 2016 59
for the day,” he says. “Sometimes it’s four, sometimes
it’s two, sometimes we’ll only have a train, one day,
till noon, and then we’ll go and do some track work or
clean engines. And we don’t work Saturdays or Sun-
days, unless needed. Our busy time is, obviously, har-
vest, because that’s when the elevators are getting
full, so we might work a Saturday here or there . . .
but we’re ‘as needed.’ If it’s not needed then we try
not to take the trains out, because then you’re burning
money for no reason.”
Stroo also seems to prefer the KBSR’s small, tight-
knit staff. Including the Stroo brothers, there are five
other engineers and conductors, two “track guys,” and
an office manager. Two student engineers were just
brought on board who will be trained and certified.
“We’re basically a small family,” Stroo says. “You’re
working with the same guys every day. You know their
kids; you know their wives; you know what they like to
do. It’s actually pretty nice.”
So, as long as there are farmers, and as long as they
grow corn in the cornfields of Illinois and Indiana, the
Kankakee, Beaverville & Southern Railroad, a small,
family-owned and operated short line, will be there to
carry that corn to wherever it needs to go.
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