If you call Jim Lucas today on his cell phone, don't expect an answer.

Not today. Not ever. Lucas retired Tuesday afternoon from the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Company. All told, Lucas spent 42 years working on the rails -- starting with the Norfolk & Southern.

Lucas was honored with a luncheon Tuesday in the WLE's business car on the tracks under the Linwood Avenue bridge.

When the party was over, Lucas took his watch and cell phone and put them on the rail. When the train took off, it wiped the two off the tracks.

Lucas found what was left of his phone and just laughed. All that remained of his watch were the leather straps.

"It means a lot. You can't believe how fast the time goes ... the kids are all grown up and it's here already," Lucas said while sitting in the main chair of the car, overlooking the tracks and Benedict Avenue.

Lucas said ditching the phone and watch was symbolic of a railroader -- who is never really away from the job.

"Had to have somebody by the phone 24/7," he said about the old days. "That's the way it was."

Lucas said you spent more time on the job then you did sometimes with your family.

"They are your family," he said. "When we started it was 16 hours a day, seven days a week."

What is next?

"I don't even know where to start ... I like to hunt and fish and I like to garden ... anything outdoors. It's going to be a little bit different. But I can always come back and say 'Hi.' That's the main thing."