Thursday, February 26, 2026

Railroader Retires After 49 Years With the B&O– Feb. 26, 1946

 

For many people nearing the end of their working careers, the idea of retirement is a no-brainer. They can hardly wait to retire, and will even quit working before reaching full retirement age despite the considerable reduction in Social Security benefits. Perhaps they are looking forward to enjoying some leisure time; traveling; pursuing some hobby; or just spending time with their grandchildren.

Other people enjoy their jobs so much – and working in general – that they delay their retirement long after they are fully vested.

George W. Ristine of Lorain was apparently one of those people. As noted in the interesting article below, which appeared in the Lorain Journal back on Feb. 26, 1946 – 80 years ago today – he had just retired at the age of 72 after 49 years with the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. 

"Beginning in 1897 as a fireman, the bottom at which all aspiring railroad men must start, he was promoted to locomotive engineer in 1901 and held that post with the B. and O. until his final journey on Jan. 31 this year," it notes.

That's a nice long career. 

So why did he stay on so long?

As the story notes, "Ristine has been eligible for retirement for the past seven years, but stayed on during the war because of the manpower shortage and because he was "in no mood to retire."
I love his comment about finding time heavy on his hands after retirement. "I'm not used to loafing," he chuckled.
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Mr. Ristine was mentioned in the "Log of Lorain" column on April 28, 1942.
Sadly, he passed away on August 14, 1953 only seven years after retiring.
At least he spent his life at a vocation that was the fulfillment of a boyhood dream. How many of us can say that?
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5 comments:

  1. Don HiltonFebruary 26, 2026 at 10:28 AM

    Being the engineer of a train or the captain of a ship? Heck yeah! I'd work until they forced me out. But I was answering stupid questions, creating and tracking thousands of computer accounts, and listening to people complain all day. Overjoyed to be done at 62.

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  2. BusterFebruary 26, 2026 at 11:24 AM

    One of my sons was a railroad engineer. He then became an inspector and now works in Washington, DC. He's like Mr. Ristine - always wanted to be involved with trains.

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  3. AnonymousFebruary 26, 2026 at 1:58 PM

    Sadly many of the companies of today no longer afford their employees the opportunity to retire.Take the UAW for an example.Back in 2007,the powers that be in the UAW gave up traditional pensions for anyone hired in after 2007.So technically nobody can ever retire.Oh sure they could still retire,but they will not receive the classic defined benefit pension of years gone by.UAW members hired in before 2007 will still receive a traditional pension when they do decide to retire.
    So the next time you see the outrageous cost of a new Ford or GM product and you can't believe how high it is and you decide not to buy,don't blame a UAW worker for the price increase because they are basically just working paycheck to paycheck without any future retirement to look forward to at all like Mr. Ristine had the pleasure of enjoying.

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    1. AnonymousFebruary 26, 2026 at 10:38 PM

      And, just for fun, here's a summary of top executive compensation at both companies for 2024:

      General Motors...
      **Mary Barra (CEO): $29.5 million total — up 5.9% from 2023. This included a $2.1 million base salary (unchanged since 2017), $19.5 million in stock awards, and $6.7 million in incentive-based bonuses. That's roughly 310 times the median GM employee's pay of $95,111.
      **Mark Reuss (President): $18.5 million
      **Paul Jacobson (CFO): $13.1 million

      Ford Motor Company...
      **Jim Farley (CEO): $24.9 million total — down 6.1% from 2023. His package included a $1.7 million base salary, $20.6 million in stock awards, and about $1.6 million in bonuses (which dropped 33% after Ford missed quality and EV sales targets). That's 253 times the median Ford employee's pay of $98,273.
      **Bill Ford (Executive Chairman): approximately $17–18 million range
      **Peter Stern (President, Integrated Services): $10.8 million

      Barra was the highest-paid of the two CEOs, a distinction she held for most of the past decade. Farley's pay dipped because Ford fell short on quality improvement goals and EV retail sales targets in 2024.

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    2. AnonymousFebruary 27, 2026 at 4:17 PM

      I agree with what you posted.The CEO's make sure they get their money.Meanwhile the workers on the line get the shaft.But the UAW International in Detroit was to blame for giving up pensions.They should've never agreed to go along with it.That is as strikable as anything is.But this was during the corruption years of the UAW.And the union used to go around and try to intimidate you into believing that the company wouldn't invest in your plant unless you agreed to certain givebacks.I retired from Ford so I was there and saw it all.And the UAW still has a Federal watchdog keeping track of what they do now.And he has reported that the UAW is still open to corruption with the ways they are operating to this day.With all the recalls at Ford last year Farley shouldn't have gotten any salary at all.

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