Ex-Conrailers - Did you make the right choice?

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

Limited Clear and I touched on this subject in the Cab Rides thread. So any Ex-Cons out there, who did you go with and are you happy there?

I have the distinction of being the last man on the pre-split Conrail roster in Philadelphia. I wanted to stay with SAC, but was informed I didn’t have enough seniority. So, on the advice of serveral highly placed railroaders, I repect greatly, I went with CSX. In the beginning, CSX seemed to be the better choice, most of the top Conrail people (that didn’t take the buyout) went to CSX.

Well, CSX wasn’t Conrail (CSX was and in many ways still is a backwater railroad compared to Conrail), and the CR operating people fell flat on their faces. As a result, most of the CR operating people left or were fired. Some cynics believe that they were set up to fail. The Blue (CR) Team vs. the Gray (CSX) Team - shades of Penn Central’s crippling Red-Green management difficulties.

So in comes Tony Ingram from the NS. And with him comes NS style discipline. About this same time, I was promoted to Yardmaster. Because of this, I saw first hand and continue to see the maddening ineffiencies of CSX’s operating practices.

As I move through the world of front line railroad management, I believe I made the wrong decision 7 years ago. The NS may be a facist organization, but they know how to run a railroad. The NS runs on-time and according to plan. There is no Blue vs. Black, only Black.

CSX, now also facist, is still floundering about trying to find itself. Thanks to Mr. Ingram, we have a plan, but not everyone is playing off the same page. CSX is still suffering from Blue vs. Gray mentality.

And lastly, with CSX I’m locked into working in Philadelphia. With the NS, I could work out of Abrams (King of Prussia), Reading, Lancaster, Allentown or Harrisburg. While not a big deal,

2

Facists?

3

It is amazing. This railroad with great potential just can’t seem to find which way is up.

It’s been that way for decades. I was in competition with their predicessors. Now, my ICG was not much to brag about, but…

I once had a customer say that a CSX component (the L&N) “Still hadn’t figured out what they do for a living yet.” We were short of equipment in New Orleans. We had no TOFC trailers available. If a customer offered business, we couldn’t handle it because we had no equipment to put the frieght in.

So, you gotta’ figure the shipper’s next option would be to run it L&N to Chicago instead of the ICG. Didn’t happen thata’ way. The L&N just gave us their empty trailers and we hauled the loads north and billed the revenue. I asked our terminal manager in New Orleans how he got the L&N to do this. He kind of danced on the answer. Maybe $100 did the deed. There would be no personal benifit to the L&N guy if his railroad moved the loads. That $100 would have went in his pocket tax free. I don’t know

4

I recall a column by the “Potomac Pundit” (anyone else here remember that name?) during the N&W/SOU merger wondering whose management style would prevail. While they both had military style chains of command, the Southern was likend to “a cocky Green Berets” outfit while the N&W was more akin to “a grim Foreign Legion” outpost.

Ah, it’s the same in many companies big and small. If they are making enough money, they pay little or no attention to the employees. When it’s a company short on money, they take ideas from everywhere they can find them, including-surprise!-the people actually doing the job that can see what needs to be done. Then they get bought out by someone that doesn’t listen and fouls it all up (witness the UP’s C&NW and SP meltdowns?)

Argh, but I’m getting cynical in my old age! I shouldn’t write about this stuff immediately after getting home from work.

5

Yes. NS was the better choice. Although I must admit my choice was based quite a bit on the desirability of living in Atlanta vs. Jacksonville.

But, remember that I am just a staff geek and not subject to the ill winds that blow (blew?) out in the field.

I’ve enjoyed working here, been given lots of freedom and ability to take initiative, and had almost no worry about layoffs. There are very few ex-Cons still walking the halls in Jacksonville.

I also had the great fortune to be working for an up-and-coming, progressive director. It didn’t hurt that my dept head was one of the few ex-Cons NS picked up.

Since I’ve been here, there’s been a pretty heavy turnover in the operating dept. I can’t speak for what it’s like in the field, but in the staff positions, the current crop of middle and upper middle managers is a much more enlightened bunch that the “traditional style” bunch that was here when I arrived.

NS was definitely behind the curve w.r.t. culture change compared to Conrail. Credit Hagen for the big push at Conrail. Conrail was a lot more collegial and team oriented than NS was at the start. Also, Conrail was much farther ahead in trying to manage the RR as a network and measure the results than NS was at the start. But, NS has made great strides in the past 7 years and their great strength compared to Conrail is their stubborn ability to stick with things until they get them right. Conrail had a tendency to lose interest in projects or appoaches to problems if they didn’t happen fast enough.

Now, if we could just get’em to paint those locomotive some color other than black! How about tuscan red with dulux gold logos and black trucks and roof?

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Back in the early 80s i knew a Conrail yardmaster with lots of whiskers. Chessie System aka CSX would try at least once a year to recruit him offering him a nice salary increase.Each time they offered he would turn them down. I asked him why his response was “i will not work for those hillbillys” they only know coal and nothing else. So maybe CSX still only knows coal.

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How about Apple Green and White, with gold stripping? Black trucks are ok!

[8D][8D][8D][;)][:o)]

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That would be too, uh, too, uh, too much like, uh, um, uh, BN!

If there were anyway tuscan and apple green would work together, I’d be all for it. But that would make the “barf bonnet” look good and, with tuscan, it’s 2 to 1 on the heritage score.

9

As a retired PRR/PC/Lakefront Dock and Railroad Terminal , Dock Agent)/CR/CSX clerk I’ve seen it all. I did not go with the NS because I blamed them for the rape and pillage of Conrail. The old Norfolk & Western was a subsidary of the old Pennsylvania Railroad that had to be disposed of for the New York Central merger. The N&W was where the PRR sent it’s new management trainees for training before they came over to the big road. The NS is run alot like the old PRR, which they now own most of. I don’t know how the CSX ever got as big as it is, the way it is run…to many chiefs and not enough indians. So to make a long story short, I guess I did make the right choice. It was either that or Shared Assets in Detroit.

10

Interesting topic.

I have heard the “facist” term, as I have NS referred to as Nazi Southern. I would like a little more discussion on that if possible.

I am just a fan…never worked for a railroad, and probably wouldnt want to at this point in my life, but as an observer I cant help but notice NS pretty much runs according to a plan. A couple of weeks ago they got off plan and the schedules started to stretch a bit…but they snapped right back.

What changes have Mr. Ingram made to the company?

Examples, please of how CSX keeps stumbling.

ed

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I’ve pretty much said everything I can think of in the other topic. I’m happy with my decision. Staying with the NS worked out well for me. Although many of my Conrail colleagues went to CSX some went and came back. All hold good jobs now.

LC

12

I know of some who came to NS because they didn’t have the seniority to stay with CSX but quit at their first opportunity, early on, and rehired out with CSX. Then, it wasn’t long before guys were running into them and they were crying about not working very much and the seniority they’d lost, meanwhile, the guys who ended up with NS were working all they could want and weren’t having any special problems.

It would be interesting to see a survey, not that it would mean anything or dod anything for anyone.

13

NS or CSX? I thought you also had the option of getting a Harley dealership!!