I have some questions.
Is it really a 24 hour job or do you actually get time for your family and stuff?
Is the pay good?
What do you do in training?
Do you have to go to college?
Anyone work for WSOR? (thats where i wanna work when i get older)
Hi I work for BNSF as an engineer and yes I am on call 24/7, and yes the pay is good, I have worked for BNSF for 5 years now I worked in a steel mill for 5 years and hated everyday that I worked their, I was in the US Navy for 16 years and retired early so I am used to the 24/7 part of railroading, if you aer seeking employment you must first hire out as a conductor.
Rodney
let me take a stab at this one too…
yes you can be oncall 24/7/365…
the pay… ahahahahaha…it sucks for all the crap we have to put up with…but considering that you dont have to spend years and thounsands of dollors on a college degree to do the job… the pay is about one of the best your going to find for just needing a highschool deploma
you learned learned learned … thats the point of training…to learn eveything you can about train handleing…opporating rules…and how to use the terrain of the terriroty to your advantage. (work smart…not hard)
the carrier will train you and put you through there engineers program at no cost to you…but you have to be working for that railroad to go to that railroads engineers program
and no…i work for conrails southern xtention…more commonly known as CSX…
csx engineer
Like the rest of the answers.
24/7,and not alot of family time.
Also answered correctly.Hire on as conductor first,than you’ll get your chance to go to Engine school.On the NS you have two chances (post 1985 hires) to pass the course,or you resign your job completly from the NS.And yes it does happen.
You will,in time get more time off due to the senority you will accumalate.
I’ll start 16 years (14 as Engineer),so I now have 3 weeks vacation,and 9 personal days.
I’m on a regular pool run,that gets called out in turn order (sometimes),meaning my job gets out when it drops on the list to first out.Iget a 1 hr 15 mins call to go to work.I reguest a 2 hr. call on account of the distance I drive,and get it sometimes.
It is getting better as to when I’ll know when my job is about to be called.Because the Voice Responce Unit (VRU) via the telephone or my home computer,having the capability to track trains coming to my terminal using the railroads scanners.
But I don’t have days off.And when I need off it’s ask for permission off,requesting 48 hrs in advance.Or mark off sick.And they keep a check on your work record.
It’s all sorta like being in prision,with a paycheck.
Then they chop your paycheck down about 40% before you get to cash it.
So does this sound like that job that I’m so lucky I have ?
It does pay the bills,it puts a roof over my families head,and food in their mouth.But like any job it’s what you make of it.
At times it’s a good job.But take this last trip.I had a good train/trip going to my away from home terminal.I laid in the hotel 18 hrs. Then I get called on a time freight “gig” (slang for a bad train).My conductor and I had to work enroute,setting off,picking up cars and a unit(in the pouring rain).Then we had cars to set over when we arrived at our home terminal.Total t
Great post Mack!
I agree with everything said.
Something else to consider…the pay for a shortline can be 1/2 the pay rate for a Class I.
Nick
This is quite a bit misleading don’t you think? It wasn’t just “They” meaning the company and it wasn’t just “chopped” either! Maybe you should break down what all of that 40% went to pay for! And was it really 40% as you say?
I will sort of agree with one point though, and it very well may be that everyone’s paycheck is affected the same way, I just don’t know. I disagree that lump sum payments should be “Flat Taxed” the way they are. These payments should be taxed the same as one’s regular paycheck! The old adage that “you’ll get it back come tax time” just doesn’t cut it!
The pay is good, but no means great. It makes a living for me and nothing beyond that. The retirement is outstanding. This is the main reason I decided to switch to the rr after yrs of working in a flour mill. One other comment about the pay…all of us have to fight for every cent we earn. Timekeeping will try to screw you out of correct pay miles or correct special claims submitted. It gets old having to bug your local chairman, the trainmaster or timekeeping account getting a claim paid or correct miles that you are due. Its part of the game. My viewpoint on the rr is that we are all here to make as much pay as we can and entitled to by our union agreements so we will have a good standard of living and hopefully someday all of us will reach an early and long happy retirement.
BigJim.Maybe a little but not much.
I had a $3000.00 half here while back.With all the r.r. tiers taken out,union dues,401k contributions and BRCF insurance and state taxes removed,I cleared a little over $1800.00,or a roughly 40% cut.That was a total of $1200.00 removed.
And brother SFbrkmn do I know what your talking about.Here lately the payroll has been taking until the next pay half to pay penality claim timeslips that are good [%-)] .
Regardless we pay alot out in all this money we make,and we have to learn to manage our money.But I hope I make it to 60 and the old world is still turning by then.Because if I don;t get to spend it,someone else will.Hopefully not some other hairy leg [(-D] !
Well, I suppose I could offer what he is looking for…
Most of our jobs do not require a layover. The Chicago job and the PDC run are the only ones that do.
As it is set up now, the guarantee extra board works 5, off 2. If you don’t get used on your work day, you get a guarantee day. This helps avoid starving. You have bid rest days. You could mark up to work on your rest days, if they run out of guys. Two hour call, that is, the phone will ring, then you have 2 hours to get to the terminal.
Get paid per start. New hires are around $132 a day. If you work consistently over 10 hrs for the half (two-week pay period), you get overtime penalty. $75 to $400, depending on how much you worked. For a single guy with the 80-20 plan, nothing out-of-pocket for health insurance. Family plan with the good plan, $25 a half. Plus Railroad Retirement.
First, you hire on as conductor. Get trained, classroom and OJT. Learn the rules, how to do the job, how to spot customers, make up trains in the yard, etc. After a year, you could get put in engineer’s class. Learn about rules, engines, train handling, etc. Get some seat time with an experienced hogger, to show you what to do (or not to do 
)
No college required. However, I would not recommend hiring out right at 18. Take some time, do some other stuff. Learn how to deal with all sorts of people. Once you get into the lifestyle, you won’t be doing much else. Forget going to the bar, until you have some senority. You will be working. Helps keep a guy out of trouble.
One thing you did not ask about: do we like our jobs?
When I was young, I thought that being a train engineer would be the coolest job in the world.
I was right.
Sure, it gets old waking up to the phone every day, being away from home for so long, not being able to have much of a social life outside of the railroad, and the stress of being subject to so many rules–both Federal and Railroad. At least those were the reasons that I decided to ‘retire’ early.
Sure, plodding along at 10mph, working a switch run at 3am in the rain, or switching cars in the yard was less than thrilling. But being in control of 18,000 tons and 10,000 horsepower, blasting through towns at 50mph with the whistle screaming was a sensation of power that I found to be very enjoyable.
Appparantly we’s hired you without you obtaing yours high scholl deploma first.
But he’s earned our respect around here for knowing what he’s talking about and telling it like it is. We’re willing to accept the imperfections…
Once I couldn’t spell Engineer…today I are one.[(-D]
But you know.Sarcasm is the best measure of intelligence .[:P]
i dont know you gp40…but something you should know about me befor you go off and pass judgement… i dont use spell check and my typeing skills arent that good… i type it and post it… bad spelling…grammer and all…so if you dont like it…then dont bloody read it… let alone comment on it…
that said…i bid you good day…
csx engineer
[#ditto] [bow]
So, are you this sloppy on the job? Do you rush through safety issues in the same way? If you want to call yourself “csx engineer” in a public forum, then show some pride in yourself and the company.
Trust me, if you screw up on the job because you like to rush through things, I’m the last person at CSX you want to know. I have absolutely zero tolerance for sloppy employees.
Have a good day yourself.
GP40-2 are you having ground relay problems?
[(-D] Ha,ha,ha,that’s funny !
This is a slightly off topic question.
Which do you (engineers) prefer to operate the EMD’s or GE’s?