Yes, Virginia: Another big move for Brian, Marie and Xander

An unexpected change in Brian's employment means he, Marie and Xander will be making their home in Fredericksburg, Va.

Brian has started work as a conductor for Keolis Rail Services America, the new operator of Virginia Railway Express, the railroad that delivers Virginia commuters to Washington D.C. Keolis won the contract to operate the service -- outbidding its long-time operator, Amtrak -- and is scheduled to take over the railway in July.

Last fall, Brian was hired by NJ Transit and began its locomotive engineer training program. He was about six months into the program when New Jersey budget cuts caused NJ Transit to abruptly cancel the class and lay off the student engineers. That was obviously a disappointment -- but he soon heard from Keolis Rail Services America, a subsidiary of a French international company making its first foray into the U.S. rail market.

"The company came to Newark to scoop up the laid-off NJT engineer trainees and managed to net about eight of them," Marie wrote. Soon Brian was in Virginia training to be a Virginia Railway Express conductor. (He could not have qualified as an engineer in time for the Keolis takeover of VRE service.)

VRE has two lines to Washington, one from Fredericksburg and one from Manassas. Brian will be working the Fredericksburg line and has begun settling into an apartment there. Marie and Xander will join him around the first of July.

"We got the unit we wanted, and Brian's very happy with the place," Marie reports. "The move-in has been smooth and the neighbors he has met so far are nice."