I was wondering if anybody could give me some advice on the best way to get a railroad job. I’m 16 and still in High School. I have heard about the Modoc Railroad Academy and was wondering if anybody has attended that school or any others like it or knows anybody that did? I would like to be a conductor with NS, and have wanted to ever since I can remember. Almost all of my family on my dad’s side has or does work for the railroad, although not on the actual train. My grandfather started out on the PRR in the 40s working in the Juniata Shops in Altoona, PA and he retired from Conrail in the 80s. My great-uncle also worked in the Juniata Shops, welding boilers for the steam engines. My dad was hired with the Penn Central back in the early 70s but no sooner did he get hired but they laid him off, and he moved on to other kinds of non-railroad work. It is definately in my blood since I have been around trains all my life. Any advice would be greatly apprecieated!
wow that is very scary i came on the first time in about a month and this was the exact thing that i wanted to post is how to get a job with the local railroad but i am 17 and am looking to get a job with the wisconsin and southern or either of the canadian railroads in my general area i have experience iwth driving one of the WSORs (3807) engines and met many of the people (including Bill Gardner the owner) and chatted with talot of the people that were willing to help me out. would the experience that i have that would help out for a job right?
for some of the info for you as the first poster the modoc railroad academy is so i hear a generalization over railroads being the fact that not every railroad has the same operating ethics. But be ware of railroads that do not accept the school you should really think about checking with the railroad that you are applying for to see if they accept them first. otherwise good luck if you can also see if you can get an overview of what the railroad looks like if you can somehow get a tour of a shop and see how it all works it would really benefit you and is VERY INTERESTING i am 17 and i have done that myself with tthe Wisconsin and southern and it was one of the greatest times of my life to get to ride and drive a locomotive on a freight haul
if oyu can try to do that if at all possible it is really worth it
Not observing just passing judgemnet, you need a life, railroads dont care if you can spell they want safe people who can think with common sense and who wont panic in a emergency. and when you figure out that most people dont care about you and selectors english lessons and when you quit trying to change peoples words to fit what you want instead of what the want to say, I understood everything the person had to say, and so what if he misspelled a word with a few wrong key strokes.i guess your perfect so you haft to correct others all the time, Listen to some advice here stay out of the ghetto and any other black community, you have a stroke and break down trying to correct these people, how are you going to listen to your president talk or even read what he has writtten with out a heart attack,( yea i said your president cause i didnt vote for him) and if capital letters is what you want with sentance structure and periods and commas etc… remeber this is a web site in which we post our opinions and thoughts and questions on railroads and railroading not grammer class.
Now for his answer the Ns will train you no need to go to school to learn this as this will disqualify you from being hired, if you want a job with the railroads remeber this they dont want know it all to show up, if interviewed you know nothing about railroads but willing to learn and common sense to the questions ask of you. dress for the job dont show up in a suit and tie, for a conductors job but also dont wear sandals to the interview either. good work boots are a must not cowboy boots.
The spelling/grammar discussion is irrelevant, though the better it looks the more credibility I’ll give it.
Mango, in five years or so the economy should improve to the point that railroads are hiring again. At that point, just go to the website of your railroad of choice and see what they say. Meantime, stay in shape and keep your grades up.
[color=003300]I’m not picking on Wabash for this - I’ve heard it elsewhere as well.
If I want to be hired for just about anything else, a prior knowledge and interest in the field are almost mandatory. The railroads, on the other hand, seem to want people who may or may not be able to identify a locomotive 3 out of 4 times.
I understand the rationale of wanting a new employee to learn it “our way,” and I know from personal experience that a know-it-all can be a pain (and possibly dangerous), but one would think that an informed applicant would be preferable.
It would also seem that if the “Choo Choo U’s” of the world are next to useless, they’d be either out of business or seeking a partnership with the railroads so their training is relevant. [/color]
They are next to useless. Why do they exist? Because there’s plenty of people that don’t know better with the money to spend. Sure some smaller roads may hire people from the schools, but to spend thousands of dollars on something that you can learn in a few days on the job? This is railroading, not rocket surgery. The best teacher is experience. The reason they may not want railfans? Perhaps so many of them are just too nuts? Or will quit once they find out it isn’t the dream job they think it will be?
I don’t think attending choo-choo U necessarily disqualifies you from hiring with NS (we have a lot of people out here that came from other railroads). But you still will have to attend the NS school.
Other railroads do something similar, these are just a couple examples.
You might find a local community college or technical school that offers courses. We have one here in the Twin Cities that has their own railroad cars and track to learn on, plus has you intern on real railroads as part of the training. According to their info, their hire rate for grads is quite good.
yes i actually have driven a train i did it for a school project for a job shadow for my employability class and they let me as long as i had signed a liability waiver and they let me no problem and it was under the watchful eye of the engineer
but why pick on my grammar skills if i am trying to type fast
Since you ask, I will respond: if what you type does not make sense, it does not matter how fast you type. When we follow the rules of grammar, it is much easier to communicate. Of course, the reader (or listener) has to understand the rules of grammar also. Above all, we should endeavor to communicate either our knowledge or our desire to learn a particular subject. It is better to concentrate on learning to communicate effectively first and then improve your speed in typing.
[color=green]Reminds me of the letter from “Mom” where she writes that she knows the addressee doesn’t read well, so she’ll write slowly.
WSK - One of the nice things about a forum like this is that you can re-read and edit your submission before you hit the “Post” button. I pride myself on being a decent typist, and on my spelling and grammar, but when I re-read a post I’ve written, I invariably find something that needs correction.
As has been pointed out - the interest on the job is doing it safely and correctly. As long as you can read and understand the rules and other written items, you’re golden. But good writing skills are important - and you will need them - maybe the railroad thing won’t work out, or maybe you have the chance to advance your career. Call it the Jeff Foxworthy effect - you know, where something said by a person with a southern/hillbilly accent isn’t taken seriously, no matter how important or factual the information they are presenting may be.
We’ve mostly gotten to know the folks here and know who we can trust, regardless of how they write. But presenting your case in a litera
Easy there racist. The reason I was concerned is because I see this ALL THE TIME. Kids that are obsessed with trains and have no friends, think they play MSTS and know how to run/operate (pet p
Get a college degree! Give yourself options! (And I am not referring to choo-choo U – I’m referring to a 2-year or 4-year college degree, and 4-year is better).
And besides, these days you might need one. It’s virtually impossible to get any job other than driving a truck without one, because you’re competing against tons of people that have them and are desperate for a job that will feed a family. I am hiring young people who are smart with college degrees for jobs paying $10/hour – because I can. They’re beating down the doors.
If I have 100 people applying for 10 railroad jobs, and 50 of them have college degrees, I can just throw out all the applications from people without one, and know that I have already have picked people who have enough guts, brains, and persistence to put up with the college-education nonsense. They may not be any good at railway jobs,
I really have to doubt if the rr training schools are really worth it, after all, they can’t promise anyone a job. I work w/ dudes who came out of these schools and found that they spent nearly about 10,000 bucks to go to school. That much money for about a 3-4 wk course? There is no need to spend money like that because for whatever rr one may be hired for, they will train you their way and you’re being paid as a probation employee anyway while you learn. As others have stated already: check the websites for hiring information, then go from there. What I would strongly suggest is to make personal contact w/ the local rr office and talk face-face w/ the sup ops, rd frmn, trnmstrs. Let them get to know you & vise versa. Keep in touch w/ them. That is the way to get a job–knock on doors and keep knocking. Thats the method I used in 1997 and into 1998 until I was finally hired late in the yr and it didn’t cost me a single dime in going about it.
As someone who has hired and fired railroad employees, I can offer a little insight, regardless of what others may say.
If you are truly interested in being hired, remember these points:
Show up for the interview dressed appropriately for a job interview. I always had a better initial impression of someone who showed up in a suit as opposed to dressing for the type of job they were applying for. Remember, the railroad managers have the jobs, you don’t. You are applying to them, not the other way around. They will offer jobs to those who they feel can best do the work and who will more appropriately represent the company. Proper dress does indicate this.
Spelling and grammar ARE important. Many railroad jobs, if not all nowadays, require excellent written and oral communications skills, and many railroads test for these very things, among others.
A first impression that you will make is how neatly your job application and/or resume are filled out, how good your spelling is and whether you know your grammar and punctuation.
Knowing something about the position you are applying for indicates to the railroad that you have an interest in that particular job and are/have been willing to learn about it. Showing an overactive interest in trains in general, and rattling off locomotive model designations and such will turn off most employers, not because you appear to be a railfan, but because you seem to be immature and do not take the position seriously.
Answering questions in a direct way, looking the interviewer(s) right in the eye and being honest will gain points for you. I was always able to tell when someone was blowing sunshine up my backside.
Gaining an education at a railroad college depends largely on how railroads feel about the colle