[milwaukee-electric] Meet KERy Motorman Tim Neuens.

[Louis Rugani]

Snapshot: City streetcar driver enjoying the ride
BY BILL SIEL bsiel at kenoshanews.com

Tim Neuens offers some insight about operating streetcars in downtown Kenosha. He’s relatively new at it, with two years of experience.

Q. Is it a trolley or a streetcar? 

A. Streetcar. I said trolley once during a conversation with the mechanic and he never let me forget it.

Q. Is there a difference? 

A. Yes, a streetcar runs on rails. A trolley is like a bus, and it’s also electric powered like a streetcar, but you can steer it. You don’t steer a streetcar because is runs on rails. If something gets in your way and you can’t stop, it’s going to get hit. There’s no way you can avoid it.

Q. What attracted you to this line of work? 

A. Good question. I was out of a job. I went to the city and they steered me toward being a bus operator. I started off part time with routes in the morning and afternoon. They trained me to get my CDL (Commercial Drivers License).

Q. What’s your favorite part of the job? 

A. Variety. I’ve met people from all over on the streetcar, people from the West Coast, East Coast, Canada, Europe and the Orient. They all came here to ride this thing because they either have one where they’re from or they used to.

One guy came in from West Virginia this past winter. He didn’t even know about it until he was in Milwaukee and someone mentioned it to him. On his way to Chicago he made a detour to stop here and ride the streetcar. I thought that was kind of cool that he did that. It’s an attraction that gets people to come into town.

Q. What are the biggest challenges of this job? 

A. Watching out for traffic, and on really busy days, staying on schedule and watching who’s back there and making sure nobody’s going around the route over and over.

Q. Does the weather affect your job? 

A. Yes. In the winter time you have to look out for ice. The ridership declines in bad weather too. When it’s a beautiful day, you’ve got cool breezes coming through the windows. The passengers are happy and enjoying the weather.

Q. How long do you intend to stay with this job? 

A. Until I retire. I’m no spring chicken. I like doing this. It’s different, and I’ve never done anything like it in my life.

Q. What’s your favorite streetcar story? 

A. A lady was getting off with two little boys and she was helping one boy and the other was walking up the aisle and says to me “Byyeee!” and blows a kiss. How can you think that’s not something special?

Snapshot is a weekly feature introducing a Kenosha County resident. If you have someone who may be a subject for the feature, e-mail the Kenosha News photo staff at photo at kenoshanews.com.

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