railroad career--is 42 too late?

Trains Magazine General Discussion
21

Limited Clear:

Good point. I should refrain from offering advise on things I dont know!

Mack, as always you bring up good points. It is interesting that NS retires officials at age 55. I wonder why? Still lots of miles left on most 55 year olds. Let’s see, I am only 3.5 years from that age. That sure puts a different perspective on things.

Limited Clear…back to you. Is it a requirement to have a driver’s license to work for a railroad?

General comments…the workforce is changing. What used to be considered “old” isnt anymore. The demographics show us that a very large percentage of the workforce is in the baby boomer range and are beginning to retire. The wave of retirements will be huge over the next 10 -20 years. I think most companies are receptive to hiring folks based on their abilities and what they can contribute to the organization. This will mean more and more career shifts.

ed

22

The railroad is a job you’ll love to hate. It can be very difficult on a marriage. It takes a special person to tolerate the life of a railroader, especially for the first few years. It is a demanding and stressful job, but for me it is like no other job in the world.

As far as your age goes you should have no problem, as their are laws that prevent age discrimination. Your education could be a plus or minus when they consider you for employment. They may see a highly educated applicant and have bigger plans for you in the future, or, consider your education as a liability, as you may leave for different employment after they have trained you. I’m sure this will be discussed with you prior to your hiring. Their are some highly educated railroaders, so don’t feel you will be the only one out there.

As for promotions, age doesn’t play a part. Chances are you will be promoted to Conductor within several months of your hiring. If you look into engine service, thier will be a training program to become an Engineer, that will take longer.

Very best wishes to you and your family on whatever your future holds, and congratulations on becoming a dad.

23

Ed - The short answer is, no, you are not required to have a driver’s license (DLIC) to be employed by the railroad in T&E service. In reality there are few, if any such persons who are employed by the railroad, who have never had a DLIC. You will note that persons who have had a DLIC in any state must provide release of all driving records to the railroad under 49 CFR 240.111 as set forth below. I have italicized the portion dealing with persons who do not have a DLIC. (49 CFR 240.111(g))

LC

Sec. 240.111 Individual’s duty to furnish data on prior safety

conduct as motor vehicle operator.

(a) Except for initial certifications under paragraph (b), (h), or
(i) of Sec. 240.201 or for persons covered by Sec. 240.109(h), each
person seeking certification or recertification under this part shall,
within 366 days preceding the date of the railroad’s decision on
certification or recertification:
(1) Take the actions required by paragraphs (b) through (f) or
paragraph (g) of this section to make information concerning his or her
driving record available to the railroad that is considering such
certification or recertification; and
(2) Take any additional actions, including providing any necessary
consent required by State or Federal law to make information concerning
his or her driving record available to that railroad.
(b) Each person seeking certification or recertification under this
part shall:
(1) Request, in writing, that the chief of each driver licensing
agency identified in paragraph (c) of this section provide a copy of
that agency’s available information concerning his or her driving record
to the railroad that is considering such certification or
recertification; and
(2) Request, in accordanc

24

Thanks for the thought, but I want to stay as far away from Sacto as I can. Besides, sooner or later they have to start hiring in Reno/Sparks as there is only one track coming from Roseville, over Donnor and going east to Salt Lake City. If U.P. starts shoving trains with new crews down this corridor, sooner or later they have to start hiring like crazy over here.

Bill

25

True, only one track. In Roseville there are three different mains including both e/w (SP and WP) and the n/s (SP) plus the HUGE yard itself. There will be a LOT more openings there on a regular basis. Better opportunity to hold work and advance by seniority. I can understand not wanting to be in Sacto…but…

LC

26

I was 35 when I began. I work w/dudes who started in their 50’s. The rrs do hire people mid age & over as they want people who are willing to work the hours that railroading requires. Hard to find some 22 yr old willing to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a wk and staying marked up. 42 is a good age to start and i’m sure that is what many rrs are looking for–people who have experience in the working field.

27

Well, then NS can consider themselves lucky…this 22 year old who is single and will to live and breathe the railraod is going to offer his services to them soon.

28

Forty-two has never been late for anything! [}:)]

I have nothing but respect for anyone who successfully juggles a railroad career and a family.

29

Something else to consider is forced transfers. If they need you more in Roseville, or even Oakland, than in Reno, you have to go or quit.

30

Please don’t misunderstand and don’t take this in the wrong way but I’ve seen plenty of fellows who’ve essentially thought the same thing but learned that it was hard to practice what they thought would be easy and your post leads me to believe that you think that living and breathing the railroad lifestyle would be so great that it’ll be easy to live it because you want to do it so bad. Easy isn’t really the word I want but I’m struggling to find the right word. I hope you get my intended message, it can be disillusioning, humbling, even, when reality comes along. Don’t take this as discouragement, either, I’ve done this for a long time and can’t say I regret it but there are parts of it that would make me less than honest if I didn’t say I did regret some of it.

31

That’s controlled by the union agreement. At least where I work, you can’t be forced out of your senority district and there’s mileage limit as to how far they can force you to go with-in the district.

However, if there are no jobs at your location, you have to move or find other employment. So that is a de facto force assigment.

Nick

32

You can volunteer to “borrow out” somewhere, but UP can’t “force” you to go somewhere else.[#ditto]

33

i say go for it. don’t put yourself down thinking '‘well i’m 42 and will someone consider me?’'you are never too old to fallow or chase your dream.if this is what you want,don’t think about it twice.go on and chase your dream.you will enjoy your life more since it is something that you’ve always wanted.and by the way congratulations on a soon to be dad.

34

I agree with alot of the sentiment that has been expressed here,regarding your question.I too

made a career change later in life,that put me at the age of 38, when I hired on with the U.P.

As with anything in life,if the will to succeed is greater than the desire to fail,you’ll do just fine.

Just remember one little thing,something they “don’t teach you in GCOR”,that could make or break

you in your R.R career.Just because you are fresh out of class and up on the rules,doesn’t auto-

matically make you a railroader.There is sooooo much stuff that they couldn’t begin to cover

in class,I just don’t know where to begin,that for an individual to feel like they can do the job

is false.All the people you work with (Engineers,switchmen,other conductors) are the ones

that are going to teach you,not the GCOR instructor.Soooo,be prepared to be extremely

humble in the first 365 days after class,because,you’ll soon gain appreciation for the

fact that most career railroaders have "forgot more than you’ve learned " and have had "more

miles in reverse than you’ll ever have going forward !" I really do believe that if you are up

front with your co-worker,regarding your lack of experience,he (or she) will respect you alot

more than if you try to bullshit them.It is so easy to get fired on the railroad,and most (if not

all railroaders) carry job insurance,but,that’s not the point.The job can be dangerous and

demanding as well as fun.But it will be far worse if your co-worker incorrectly asesses your

abilities and something happens to where somebody gets fired,loses limbs or ultimately pays

with their life.

Railroaders by and far are a good group of people.Once you earn their trust,you join

a fraternity unlike any other in the world.It’s just getting to that point

35

We were told about forced transfers by an MTO at the hiring session I went to. Perhaps the Roseville agreement has that as part of it.

36

Alot of those MTO’s like to use imtimidation as a tool to “weed out” people aren’t willing to be a team player. And alot of them also don’t know and don’t care what the agreement reads.

37

Scott,

I say go for it! As the others have said here if you health is good, and you have a good record, you have all the chances like everyone else to get in. Being a violinist has its merits. This has given you the mental dexterity that a lot of other people don’t have. :wink: Just remember to take care of those hands and fingers!

In some ways the long weird hours are not unlike those you’d find in Information Technology should you have chosen that career path. This is where I ended up instead of going to New England Conservatory as a piano major 28 years ago! In IT, just like the railroads, we miss plenty of family gatherings, holidays, and other special events because these are the times when work needs to be done. I’m on call 24/7 365 days per year. I’ve gotten calls at 3am, for example, because a sales guy in Hong Kong can’t log in due to the VPN not working. To be honest, I haven’t seen a Thanksgiving weekend, Christmas, or New Years in probably 12 years. I rarely get the holiday off, but have to work the next day anyway, including New Years because of system obligations. New Years for example, spells end-of-year and new-year database work as well as a good PM time on the down systems. The only difference besides the heavy lifting (well sometimes we do lift heavy laser printers, and in the old days the hard drives weighed about 80 lbs on their carriages!), we don’t have forced transfers to other work locations.

Career paths have a way of changing over the years. Where I am now at a small company, I wear multiple hats as a traffic manager coordinating international as well as intranational shipments of materials and equipment, customer service administrator handling orders, and IT network technician/manager. In my previous life I was computer operator, and before that a hardware technician fixing video terminals and printers. To me this is all experience, and I’ve learned a ton in the process.

So having said all this, take

38

Valley X, I think you may want to reread my post. I certainly never said, and never will say, that railroading is easy or simple. I know when I spend 12 hours in a switch yard during a blizzard at night, take an 8 hour break, then come back and do it again, I won’t be thinking anything there’s anything easy about that. When I get promoted to loco engineer, I don’t I’ll find anything easy about getting a big, heavy coal train down a mountain on some slick rainy/snowy night. When some boss is screaming at me for my train being late due to congestion, I won’t find anything easy about standing there listening to that. I know it’s a tough job and requires good physical condition and endurance, and I’m willing to do it. I’m aware of all the requirements, and I even watched NS’s video and made sure I could compare myself to that guy in every way (the coupler carrying will be tough, but I can do it). So, I’m ready to hire on. Thanks for the input though, and I agree that many people don’t realize the toughness and commitment required for the job.

39

Good luck, let us know when you get hired.

40

On the UP they can’t force you out of your seniority district. They can force the youngest (senioirity wise) person to any point on the seniority district if there is a need for people and no one voluntarily goes.

Jeff