Retiring locomotive engineer celebrated on last trip on Falls Road Railroad

Neal Keirn relished ‘dream job’ past 18 years, especially train excursions for Medina Railroad Museum

Photo by Brody George, conductor: Neal Keirn of Middleport waves from the engine as he passes the Medina Railroad Museum on Friday, his last day as engineer before retirement. He began his dream job exactly 18 years earlier on Jan. 17, 2007.

MIDDLEPORT – Neal Keirn began his dream job with the Falls Road Railroad on Jan. 17, 2007.

On Friday, exactly 18 years to the day, he climbed into engine #2035 for the last time.

Keirn has had a passionate infatuation with the railroad since he was a little boy, growing up across from the tracks in Middleport.

“As a kid I hung around the railroad,” Keirn said. “I’d be watching them switch cars and the engineer would let me climb in the engine with him. I got the idea that would be a fun thing to do.”

As he grew older and reached his teens, he began to understand how the railroad worked and about becoming an engineer.

“But in the mid ’70s, Penn Central had gone bankrupt, four other railroads that served the area went bankrupt and the other railroads weren’t hiring,” he said. “Conrail was the major railroad, made up of seven bankrupt railroads.”

Realizing a career on the railroad didn’t look promising, Keirn went to work for Middleport Lumber (Rhinehart’s).

“I was happy working there,” he said. “I eventually delivered coal for them. I ended up there for 20 years.”

When GVT took over the Falls Road line, Keirn got to know the guys through Rhinehart’s, he said. When the train would be switching cars for Barden Homes, Keirn would go out and talk to them.

Engineer Neal Keirn is shown at the controls of Engine 2035 last summer when he was featured on WKBW Channel 7 by feature reporter Mike Randall, shown here blowing the whistle as they went through Medina.

A couple of years later, Keirn met the general manager of the railroad, Matthew Ronski, who said he wanted to see Keirn.

“How would you like to come and work for the railroad,” he asked Keirn.

Keirn’s reply was, “Let me think about it,’” followed by an immediate, “yes.”

About two weeks later, Keirn was at the engine house in Lockport when he was told there was going to be a big increase in traffic on the Falls Road Railroad, which goes from Lockport through Orleans County to Brockport.

“We are going to need more help,” the manager told Keirn. “Get your training going.”

Keirn started his engineer’s training and received his license when he turned 40.

A short time later, Keirn learned what the increase in traffic was when the announcement came out that Western New York Energy was building an ethanol plant in Medina. That would end up requiring as many as 65 grain cars brought in and out every week and a half. Tropicana’s expansion in Brockport now requires 15 to 18 tank cars in and out every week. More business resulted when Helena Chemical relocated to Allis Road, just east of Medina.

“When I first started, we ran on Falls Road two days a week, now we’re running three days,” Keirn said. “The other days, we are in Batavia. The way it sounds, more business is coming for Falls Road.”

He has loved nearly every minute of his job, especially being engineer for Medina Railroad Museum’s excursions. Praise from Rick Henn, Museum board member and head conductor on train excursions, has meant the world to Keirn, he said.

“I tried very hard to do a good job, starting slowly and stopping smoothly with all the young passengers,” Keirn said. “It was very rewarding to hear I was doing my best.”

“We can always tell when you’re running the train,” Henn once told Keirn.

Photo by Ginny Kropf: The sign on the front of the locomotive signals Neal Keirn’s last day as engineer on the Falls Road Railroad, before he begins retirement.

For 10 years, Keirn has trained locomotive engineers and numerous conductors, in which he took a lot of pride, he said.

The only downside to his job has been four incidents at grade crossings, Keirn said, none of which were his fault. Two occurred on Hulberton Road; another was when a woman skidded onto the tracks in Batavia on a snowy day; and another last June when a truck stalled on the tracks on Fancher Road. Fortunately, none of the incidents resulted in any serious injuries.

Keirn is married to the former Roberta “Gilly” Blount of Medina and they have two daughters.

Keirn turned 67 last July and he began to think about retiring at the end of the year.

“I was exploring my retirement options when the representative from the railroad’s retirement fund asked me how firm I was on that date,” Keirn said. “He told me if I stayed into 2025, it would mean more in my retirement.”

That’s when he realized if he stayed until Jan. 17, he would have completed exactly 18 years on the job.

He has lots of things planned for his retirement, not least of all is working on his model trains. His wife does all sorts of crafts and he helps her when she needs something built. In September they are planning a family wedding in San Diego.

“I’ve enjoyed what I accomplished with the railroad and I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” Keirn said.

On Friday, one of his daughter’s made him a sign for the front of his engine, which read, “Last Run, Engineer Neal Keirn, 1/17/2025.”

He had a special whistle which he blew, along with the traditional warning blasts at each crossing along the way. In Medina, he slowed the train and waved out the window to well-wishers who came out to give him one final goodbye wave.