Saw an ad in a career tabloid - CN is hiring experienced loco engineers - 1 yr of Class 1 exp reqd.
Here’s the catch - they’re looking for help for Superior, Duluth, or Pokegema. Nothing against my brethern in the NW corner of my beloved Badger State, but when its cold over here by the Bay, its usually a lot colder along the big lake.
It said see http://www.cn.ca/about/careers/en_index.shtml
I’m surprised. I would have thought that the Union would require that the Carrier hire & train engineers from their conductor ranks.
Funny if you look at the openings one ad says two years experience and another says one year class 1 experince
The national labor agreements state engineers source of supply is from the craft of condr. If a engr training class is posted and there are fewer bids than the number of openings, the unopened positions are forced assigned from condrs working at that location. Now what CN is doing may not be all that bad, that will leave alone some condrs who don’t want go to eng school.
Quote from Doublestack (partial):
“Here’s the catch - they’re looking for help for Superior, Duluth, or Pokegema.”
Does this mean the qualified engineers must all be U.S. citizens? - a. s.
We aren’t under the national agreement. They are supposed to promote from within, unless it is an “emergency” situation, which is what they are claiming this is, which is crap because there are many many conductors here that want to take the demotion to engineer. Also we have openings in Fond du lac, Neenah and Stevens Point for both conductors and engineers.
You must be the only person who considers being an Engineer a demotion, unless it means working less-desireable hours, jobs, or locations.
Of course, being an Engineer means you have to actually stay awake while on the clock.
The reason for calling it a demotion has to do with giving up the seniority and going back to the bottom and moving all around from place to place every month or so. And for the record, some of us do stay awake, mainly to blow for the crossings the engineers are passed out/sleeping for.
How would I go about applying to hire out of Neenah?
Going from a condr to engr is a demotion. Even though you keep your ground seniority and can flow back and work as a condr under certain conditions, as engr you are under more rules requirements than a condr, w/auto scanning, pulling the tapes, etc, its almost impossible to hide anything done wrong. Also during engr training you are paid student wages which amounts to nothing for the 6 months you’re in class, the few wks spent in KS @ classroom training is a strain in itslf and just like said in an above post, you;re right back on the bottom of the roster, getting bumped and forced asigned throught the seniority districy one works in. Plus depending on the type of service a engr works in, the condr can make more on a daily pay than the engr. Many engrs I work w/have regretted their choice of going to engr service and wished they stayed on the ground.
I thought I was reasonably familiar with Midwest geography, but where in the devil is Pokegema? I tried asking Google Earth, and the only thing I came up with was a road in Rice Lake WI.
I talked to a CN conductor last night. He works out of a yard somewhere near Lake Winnebago. Got some good advice on what to do with my application. I’ll keep you folks posted!
Pokegama Yard is where the Duluth Winnepeg and Pacific (owned by CN) moved their Duluth MN yard to when the yard was taken for a interstate expansion project a few years back. It’s a CN crew change point, just outside of Superior WI.
For the record, the my weather bug says the current temperature in Duluth is 10 degrees and forecast to go below zero overnight. I’d guess that CN is screening out applicants from Florida.
Everyone Ive talked to is afraid to hire out on CN, for the simple reason that the only place any smart person would hire out of is Proctor, and CN may very well transfer them to Pokey and other points anyway, not to mention that the Missabe is getting screwed with the IC units that are not equipped for that type of operation.
It’s a yard in Superior, Wisconsin. Perhaps, and DW&P yard?
Do they assign the conductors with the most senority, or the least?
Interesting…you know I just checked the CN rail Canadian website and they quote the following in their “careers” section: "CN is presently building a pool of candidates interested in building a career as Conductors"
Does this mean that they are looking for a group of “candidates” to screen only to choose a select few, or are they hiring on mass?
Would someone with an engineering degree stand a chance even if they didn’t have someone on the inside like a relative or friend pulling for them?
Excellent questions, all. But I for one am thoroughly confused about the nomenclature. Does “Conductor” outrank “(locomotive) Engineer” on Canadian freight trains? If not, is CN trying to build its “pool of . . . conductors” out of people who will tenure-in at Conductor and can have no aspirations to Engineer (or anything else)? Corporate-speak can be so mystifying.
Is the po
This job description of a conductor straight from the CN website may provide some answers (mind you I’m still a bit confused since the conductor description sounds like the traditional brakeman job?).
Perhaps someone who works for CN Rail in Canada could quickly shed some light on this ?
http://www.cn.ca/about/careers/search_apply_jobs/typical_careers/en_Campus_Typical.shtml
Conductors switch rail cars, make or split up trains in yards, move cars between yards, sidings or tracks (often using a remote control device called a belt pack), according to instructions originating with yard and train planners. This requires good communication skills involving specific hand signals or radio to facilitate the safe movement of engines and cars. They work on-call with irregular hours, weekends and holidays.
Conductor trainees are provided with in-house training. The Conductor position can lead to promotion to Traffic Coordinator or Locomotive Engineer. Being a Conductor for a 2-3 year period is a necessary prerequisite to becoming a Locomotive Engineer.
Locomotive Engineers operate diesel-electric locomotives, rail diesel cars, interpret train orders, timetables, train signals, and railway rules and regulations to transport freight in a safe and efficient manner. Locomotive Engineers are promoted from position of Conductor.