Alainia Tucker trains conductors at Metro-North Railroad, after being one herself.

She recalls the advice her grandfather Robert Tucker gave her when she followed in his footsteps at Metro-North.

What You Need To Know

  • Alainia Tucker, a Metro-North employee, says her grandfather Robert Tucker called himself the "Jackie Robinson of the railroad"

  • Robert Tucker is the first of three generations of Metro-North conductors

  • Railroad jobs were historically segregated, and the MTA railroad workforce today is largely white, while subway and bus workforce is Black and Latino

“Don’t take things personal and again just have fun with the job," she said.

It’s how he approached a job he held for nearly half a century, with this distinction.

"He was the first African American conductor for Metro-North. He calls himself the Jackie Robinson of the railroad and he did 42 years on the railroad, and people call him a legend," Tucker said.

The MTA says it cannot say from its records who was the first Black conductor, but that Robert Tucker was among the first.

Local railroad jobs historically were segregated. Even today, the Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road workforce is more than 60% white. While the MTA's subway and bus workforce is 21% white.

Robert Tucker began working for the New Haven line in 1962 and became a Metro-North employee when the railroad was created in 1983 from the old New Haven, Harlem and Hudson lines. 

Being a trailblazer, he faced the ugliness of racism.

"He said when he first started with the rail road, how an Irishman told him that he didn’t need a locker because he wouldn’t last two weeks and he always laughed about it. He said look at that, I wound up lasting 42 years," Tucker said.

Although it's a regional railroad, Metro-North took him to places where he felt unsafe.

“One time, he was in Danbury, a fellow conductor, a white conductor, had to walk him to the store because they feared for him walking through Danbury as a Black man," Tucker said.

Robert Tucker is 81 now, lives in the Bronx and suffers from Parkinson's Disease.

Among his three children, two worked at Metro-North.

Tucker and her cousin are the third generation of Metro-North conductors.

What Tucker remembers most about her grandfather's work is his dedication and how much he enjoyed it.

"Every time I seen him, he was in the blue uniform, very rarely did he not work," Tucker said.

And how much he enjoyed it.

He imparted that to the conductors who followed him.

"He taught us how to be good with people, how to communicate with people -- you know, smile," Donald Sawyer, Metro-North conductor, said.

"It brings me joy that there people who are still here and know who he is," Tucker said.