My first posting to the Trains forum, so be patient with me.
First off, let me be clear, I work for CSX. I’ve been employed by CSX for 10+ years now in both union and managment positions. I currently work as a mid-level manager in operations. Overall, I’ve worked in the rail industry for almost 20 years now. Previously for the Soo Line/CP, and then for Amtrak. (I will save my comments on CSX for the end.) I am a lifelong railfan and modeler.
It seems to me that CSX is consistantly bashed on railfan blogs and literature. Some of it is deserved, I am sure. But some of it seems to be rooted in a deep hate for this company. I am not sure why. I have seen dislike for a rail company many times before. UP and Rail America come to mind. But the disdane seems light compared to information published on CSX.
BNSF, NS, and other railroads seem to get positive press in most postings and magazines. The NS Heritage program helps, I suppose. BNSF seems to do nothing wrong. CP/CN/KCS seem to go either way. And don’t get me started on the Florida East Coast or Amtrak!
I have recently given up my subscription to the railfan blog called Trainorders.com. I am most likely letting go of RailPace and The Railroad Photographer over thier CSX bashing. I am not going to financially support an orginization that uses thier pulpit for incorrect information and hate. (RailPace is really bad on this front). Trains, Railroads Illustrated, and Railfan and Railroad seem to be balanced on thier observations. There is a website, which I will not mention, that is devoted to bashing CSX. Of course a majority is current and former employees. (Which begs the question; if you hate your job or company, why not find other work?) It’s laughable to read what some will post and blame CSX for. (What!? You signed up for a 24/7 job and was not allowed to mark off for the weekend?)
My opinion is, that hatred is a core part of our make up. With the government intervening on so many fronts telling us what we are no longer “allowed” to hate, people determined to flaunt their hatred are ever more challenged to find acceptable channels. Corporations will seldom squander their time and resources to defend themselves on such a picayune level, making them an ideal target.
I don’t think that CSX is the sole target, even in the railroad industry. I hear lots of negative stuff about NS’s iron fisted management style, not to mention Amtrak’s inability to be all things to all people.
Perhaps you’re just overly sensitive to criticisms of CSX because you have your heart there?
I own stock in CSX. In addition, I have CSX bonds. I am hanging on to both because I have a favorable view of CSX. My view is formed largely by reading its financial statements as well as general news about the company.
I worked for the largest electric utility in the United States (generation) before retiring. It was a great company; I had a great career. A few employees, as well as a small minority of our customers, did not like the company. Unfortunately, as is often the case, the minority shouted their disdain for the company, which got attention, and people generalized it as widespread dislike of the organization when in fact it was just a very vocal minority of disgruntled people.
Of course, I don’t know the answer to this attitude (if it truly exists), but I can relate it to the bashing the post office constantly continues to get. Forty years ago or so, it was practically impossible to send a package by mail without it arriving all smashed up. They have really cleaned up their act, and I am impressed with their service lately. However, they still continue to be bashed by many, though that is probably in part due to the anti-government attitude that many people have.
Again, I don’t know, but if I recall correctly, about the time of the Conrail split, CSX was having problems with derailments and other problems probably in part due to lack of maintenance. I think it was run by non-railroad people for whom maintenance was an expensive nuisance. Once a little bad press gets out, it takes a long time to change people’s impression. This is my impression; others may correct me.
There was an article in TRAINS in the last year or two about the management changes at CSX. (Changes for the better.)
I could go ad nauseum on this subject, since people are a main interest of mine. But much to the relief of the posters, I will just say that if you like your job, then ignore the really biased negatives and go for the positive. You can help your company by being positive and pointedly staying away from nay-sayers as much as possible.
Whining didn’t start with your generation - trust me.
They could paint the engines orange and someone will whine - that’s me. [swg] But I will defend BNSF if it is unfairly criticized.
Just do your job and a little beyond if you can. Enjoy your job until you don’t or can’t. Then do something else that you truly enjoy. Make your small space the happiest and best you can. And just between the two of us and no one else - I am pleased there are still people out there that do really like their job! You can make a difference for your company.
I will leave the stated questions for the rest of the posters.
I live in south central Pennsylvania and everytime I run into a CSX employee, whether on a train or on the ground they are very friendly and courteous. I have nothing bad to say about CSX excpt that they will not fix their rail in New Oxford which is in bad shape. But that is another matter. All in all I will not bash CSX.
IMHO in the 1980s was especially hard on CSX and its predecessors. Revenue was down more and the operating ratio went up more than other RRs. In an a attempt to not scare off investors and maintain a semblance of equality with other RRs they may have not kept enough retained earnings to maintain their physical plant and eequipment. Then came the aborted take over attempt to soak it even more.
All that has made CSX a poor comparsion to the other class 1s with their better physical plant. I agree that employees now are on the whole a friendlier bunch than some other RRs. Having moved 30 years ago to CSX the attitude of employees has greatly improved. In the 1980s they were desperate to see more effort into locos and ROW. They still are not as much but CSX is still trying to catch up. I am aware of projects around here that are awaiting funds. Until about 1995 we had 112 # circa 1912 welded rail here that was rapidly failing. Once they can get these very expensive upgrades completed and spend more or other upgrades maybe they can be equal. The CR split up certainly caused a big infrastructure upgrade. The major intermodal and oil train upgrades has caused CSX to divert funds that could have been well spent elsewhere.
Remember when the SP portion of the UP merger was melting down they hate for UP came from all directions
I lived in Georgia for a number of years. I got to know a number of CSX employees there. Several crews used to come into a restaurant where I worked. In addition the special agent for the area was a customer at a store were I also worked. All were friendly and from what I saw liked the job. Even in the heat with no air conditioning. Thx IGN
The CSX ‘plant rationalization’ program during the 80’s & 90’s was rather agrssive and in addition to pruing unproductive branch lines also eliminated a number of Main Lines. The rationalization affected a great number of now former employees; former employees don’t speak of their former employer in glowing terms. Couple that to Senior Managements pessimissim for the continued viability of railroads as profitable transportation mode and a lot of bad attitudes were generated.
Making John Snow Chairman brought the bottom of the barrel in view - Snow was a politician at heart, not a railroader, not a businessman, not a financier - everything done was done for political effect, not for the continued benefit of the railroad as a ongoing business concern. When Snow was made Secretary of the Treasury by President Bush and extracted $70 Million from CSX as a ‘severance package’ employee disgust ramped up exponentially.
Michael Ward had a large disfunctional organization on his plate when he became Chairman, succeeding John Snow. From my viewpoint he has been doing an admirable job of fixing deferred maintenance and building the physical plant to meet the growing transportation needs for a growing US population - all the while increasing shareholder value. I have seen more plant improvements in the past 10 years than I saw in the 38 years of my experience that preceeded them.
First welcome to the forums. Have been watching B&O,chessie and CSX all the time. We know a lot of CSX traincrews and Mow people. We like how CSX is a parade of other railroads power at times. I don’t want to make this topic go down the negative road so I won’t.We will keep watching.(you can message me if you want).
The criticisms or even “hate” you mention directed at CSX should not matter so much to you, as long as you feel good about the way the company operates, in general, and the way it treats you, in particular are positive from your perspective.
BaltACD is right on. Ward has had to deal with the notion of pay me in the past or pay me much more now. He has done a great job IMHO> . Balt do you have any way of knowing the amount of slow orders ( # or distances ) vs 10 - 15 yrs ago ? However one has to wonder how much has been lost due to spinn offs ? BBrRR is one example ?
Today’s Class 1 railroads are very large organizations, organizations that are entwined in many highly technical and involved areas of knowledge and responsibilities. Operation of the physical plant to satisfy customer expectations in manner that gets the most efficiency out of equipment, motive power and crews. Maintenance of the physical plant so as to keep the plant well maintained and not seriously disrupt the service to customers and at the same time doing it with the most efficiency from the equipment, materials and manpower. Maintenance of the motive power and rolling equipment to keep the equipment and power in service and on the road hauling customers products with minimal breakdowns and doing so efficiently with the minimum of facilities and manpower. The business of ‘selling’ service to customers - devising services, schedules and pricing that solves the customers transportation ‘problem’. The understanding that not all business that exists on line has profit potential for the company. Pricing the services that are provided to customers so that the carrier can make suitable profits and the customer feels he is paying a fair price for the services received. These are that aspects of the business everyone thinks they know more about than those that are actually involved in doing these jobs.
Beyond what I have just described we get into the worlds of finance, business forecasting and strategic planning. Planning for what is anticipated to happen tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Plant improvements take time, money and materials to implement - trying to make the same improvements as everyone else when everyone else is making the improvement escalates the cost of the improvements as everyone is bidding against each other for a relatively finite amount of materials. Financing ongoing business operations and funding capital investments in plant and equip
I’ll keep this brief. Hate for CSX? Well, it probably comes from some (certainly not all) railfans who have the misguided notion that railroads exist for their entertainment, not to move cargo and make money.
If a 'road decides to have a steam program, a heritage program, or any other kind of “whoop-de-doo” program railfans have to realize it’s for a perceived benefit to the company, not to keep the “foamer” with the “Fallen Flag” patches all over his camera vest happy. I realize that and I submit most posters on the Forum realize that as well.
If CSX doesn’t do any of these things, well it’s their 'road and their choice. End of story. I can live with it.
By the way, when I’ve got some dead time on the job I like to park by the CSX tracks here in Richmond and watch the parade. It’s the best show in town, and it’s free! And it’s not all “blue and yellow”, you never know just what you might see!
By the way, the last few issues of “RailPace” I’ve seen didn’t have any articles ripping CSX. They WERE ripping the begeezus out of New Jersey Transit and their handling of Superstorm Sandy, and rightfully so! Maybe I’ve missed some issues.
“Hate CSX”? Nah, I save that for Penn Central. [:o)]
But I will say that I of the remaining seven Class I’s, I think the least of CSX out of any of them. Why? Well, I’m in New England, and CSX can’t seem to get out of here fast enough to suit them. Already, they’ve retrenched from Boston to Worcester. How much longer before they retreat to Springfield or even Albany? It’s kinda hard to like a railroad that doesn’t invest much into your area.
I personally dislike the track condition that I see. When CSX took over CR, the one story I heard was that when the new CSX track maintenance boss came to Massachusetts, he was heard to say to the former CR (now CSX) employees, “You guys really over-maintain your track around here.” Sad to say, this less than auspicious start has proven itself out with barely passable track in the area. I once saw a track joint that I could stick my thumb into…and both rail joiner plates were broken at the same spot. There was nothing holding the rails together other than the spikes in the ties and the bond wire. And this wasn’t just a freight siding, this was a CSX-owned main line that hosts passenger trains. On NH/PC/CR, this was 30mph track. On CSX, it’s 10mph. It’s kinda hard to like a railroad that puts passengers at risk due to a lack of track maintenance (see also: Amtrak Auto Train & Capital Limited derailments in 2002).
Then there’s the customer experience. I have a friend who works for a large shipper of loads out and he has since the mid-1990’s. He’s explained to me that back in the CR days, about once a year, they’d get a car back to them still loaded. When CSX took over, they were doing it every month. It’s hard to like a railroad that can’t manage to consistantly ship loads to their destination.
For the historic preservation perspective, I know the pre
As a former UP and CNW employee, I watched a CSX predecessor go into the abyss. I was enough of a C&O fan and supporter to edit the C&O Historical Society’s monthly newsletter from 1971 to 1978. In 1972 I rode the C&O main line on Amtrak, and was impressed with the smoothness of the track, the way trains kept moving on a two-main-track-CTC main line, and looked at it all in glowing terms when compared to the track of my financially-beleagured employer.
1974: I rode over portions of the same line, hoping to impress my wife with a real railroad. What I got instead was mainline trackage being ripped out, signals turned sideways, trains waiting for us to clear, us waiting for other trains to clear, and so on.
Two more years, and another trip on the C&O. The track was noticeably rougher, and there were points where sudden jolts from the roadbed would be enough to startle one. This was also the point when the C&O was one of the railroads on which Amtrak’s SDP40Fs were developing a bad reputation. And this is when the chairman was making statements that Chessie had “no deferred maintenance.” Right.
A trip, in the late 1970s, to Raceland Shops. Refurbished cars looked very bad coming out of there–no preparation whatsoever before slapping a new coat of paint on them–the paint blistered and rusted in no time. This practice was defended by the people in charge, but I could compare it to the CNW shops in Clinton, Iowa, which were doing things properly.
By the next visit to Raceland in the early 80s, the hopper-production line had been
I believe that the matter may be as simple as the fact that the Southern and N&W had well run operations before forming NS. Their properties and finances were the crown jewel of the east and south. When NS was formed, the rationalization of the system was not nearly to the extent that CSX experienced when bringing Chessie and Seaboard together. NS also did not have the management missteps that CSX experienced in the early decade of its existence. About the biggest misstep NS had in this time frame was the failure of acquiring Conrail on their first attempt back in 1985.
In comparison, CSX appeared to be the heartless company operating at the whims of the accounting department while NS had already accomplished these “heartless” decisions back when deButts/Brosnan/Claytor ran Southern and Saunders/Fishwick/R.Claytor ran N&W.
I believe BaltACD and Carl also hit on some good points. The best way to sum it up may be that CSX is a little low on the Good Will side of the equation. Personally I have no issues with CSX. I know employees in both operating and management postions and all seem to be happy with the company. I believe the railroad has or is a long ways down the road to getting its act together.
From the railfan perspective, it is like the cool uncle and boring uncle scenario when comparing NS to CSX. For example, the Office Car train for CSX has F40PHs(I personally like these) while NS has classic F units in SR tuxedo paint(I personally like these too), however which OCS train would fans chase if both were out running the same day? Another example is the Heritage Locomotives for NS while CSX busies itself putting something as forward looking as keyboard boxcars around the logos on its locomotives. True, if CSX came out with a heritage locomotive program, they would be called copycats, yet NS basically copied UP but found a way to effectively trump the UP program–I have yet to hear a bad comment about the NS program.
I deal somewhat frequently with CSXT; and a number of years ago, some members of a loosely affiliated group of railfans asked me if I could look into a problem that one of them was having with the company. One of its officials had noticed photos of CSXT equipment that the railfan had posted on the Internet and threatened, on behalf of the company, to take legal action against him.
I happened to know the official who had supposedly threatened the railfan; and that approach didn’t seem typical of her. So I contacted her and asked what had happened. She was totally puzzled by the situation. She had never communicated with the railfan, had never even heard of him, didn’t know anything about his Internet photos, had never threatened him about anything; and was generally well disposed toward railfans who showed an interest in the company. I learned, after I passed that information back to the railfans who had contacted me, that the scenario that they had described to me had actually never happened. The railfan’s story about having been threatened was a total fabrication.
I don’t know why the railfan made up his story. I suspect that he, like Eric, observed the frequency with which railfans criticize CSXT and that he decided that the best way for him to fit into the railfan culture would be to claim that he had been treated badly by CSXT.
After that experience, I ceased being concerned about how railfans view CSXT.