A "Mule"

So you ask hey dude what's a mule?Well hold on and I will tell you.A mule has effectively taken place of the now antique locomotive.The mules are used to move rail cars over short distances around shipyards,canals,railroad depots.Called a mule for its use,it "carries" things over a certain distance without complaining m,much like a the animal.In the Panama Canal the mules are heavily used by the canal authority to essentially guide ships,tugs and barges through the lochs so as not to bang and beat up the sides of anything.They mainly run on diesel fuel however some newer mules run off of electricity.They are most always on fixed rails and even though very small can tow or control with cables extreme weight.Walking around the shipyard here next to the old Domino Sugar plant I discovered this older style mule at work pulling some of the fertilizer off loaded from our barge down the rail.We are preparing to go down river a few miles to Buck Kreis shipyard to have the barge cleaned aka another midnight maneuver my least favorite of all.