Found this job posting on the UP website for a Track Laborer:
(And I thought my job was rough answering the phone all day here at our Help Desk helping people with their computers!!!)
Duties:
A track laborer’s job consists of repairing and rebuilding railroad track, using hand tools to do so. Specific duties will include, but are not limited to, removing and replacing ties, pulling and driving spikes, shoveling rock ballast, loading and unloading equipment and material, and various other tasks, as assigned.
OBSERVE THE CONDITION OF TRACK, TRACKBED, AND TRACK RIGHT-OF-WAY FOR PROBLEMS OR DEFECTS. Make quick visual inspections for broken rails, defective switches and signals, deteriorating trackbed, track obstructions and weather related problems; check switch points; observe right-of-way and passing trains for shifted loads and spillage.
PERFORM TRACK MAINTENANCE, REPAIR, AND INSTALLATION. Drive spikes into ties and spike maul; pull spikes with claw bar; install and remove rail anchors; slide, place, and aliqn tie plates under rails; cut in rails; plug spike holes; with assistance, lift rails using manual track jack; broom off dust and snow from movable track parts or switches; set up switch heaters.
HANDLE AND MOVE TRACK MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT. With assistance, load/unload equipment weighing 85- to 100 lbs. (air hammer, rail drill) from back of cart or truck and carry to work site; without assistance, load/unload equipment weighing 50 to 75 lbs. (track jack, rail saw, jitterbug); with assistance, remove and install rail using rail tongs, with assistance, remove ties and slide new ties into place using two-man tie tongs; with assistance, move debris away from work site (spike cans, anchors).
MAINTAIN TRACKBED. Remove and replace ballast; tamp ballast; unload or assist in unloading ballast from cart or truck.
WORK WITH EQUIPMENT. Safely and effectively operate the following: an air hammer to drive spikes; air or gas powered wrenches to loosen or ti
Those HR people make it sound so easy !
What they didn’t tell you is about hand shoveling snow from several miles of track after a derailment, running from lightning and tornadoes, having much of your blood sucked by various insects, it’s just not as glamorous as the UP H.R. description.
Randy
I agree with Randy. Track work is VERY HARD work. I have done a limited amount (as limited as possible) and it will tire you out cause you to twist, turn, sprain, strain, hurt and abuse your body to limits you can only imagine in your darkest nightmares. Also, lets not forget wearing heavy protective clothing all the time (particularly bad in the summer), being around all sorts of things that can and will burn you (welding crucibles, torches, grinders, rope match, switch heaters, etc) shock you (generators, live wires, etc), cut you (chain saws, track equipment, motors, drills, track saws, etc), pinch you (rail, hand tools, switch points, frogs, switch stands and machines), and lets not forget freeze you (plows, jordan spreaders, switchstands, shovels and anything metal in the winter).
Darn, almost forgot about the danger of working on or near live tracks. Even with working limits and flagmen it is not fullproof. I still remember the day when I was running west near the site of a new highway bridge over the tracks and the river parallelling the double track. I reached the flagman a MOW foreman on the radio and received permission through the work area and was advised “come on through, make some noise, everybody is in the clear”, only to round the curve at 40 with my three widebodies (Dash9s) and see the boom of a track hoe swing across the tracks about 100 yards in front of me. Next thing I heard was a thud as my conductor hit the floor and the rush of air from my full service application on the 80 car mixed freight coupled with the blast of the horn I was holding down with my other hand from my kneeling position on the floor of the cab. Luckily the idiot operator saw us about the same time we saw him and kept the boom moving. We cleared it by inches as we sailed by at about 35 mph…whew. Time for an underwear stop after that…and you wondered what we keep in those grips…lol…
In short, it is still a miracle to me that anyone volunteers to do it. I love giving track guys cab rides
Man and I thought my job being a diesel mechinest was difficult. I do agree w/ most of the people here track work isn’t easy, some people think it is because they think " the MOW machines do all the work for ya" Well, that doesn’t happen. Than again any job you get on the railroad isn’t easy. I wander what the position of lococmotive engineer has in store for me???////
Also, if anybody is interested in serving partime in the army and in a railroad capacity then the Transportation Railway Operating Battalion and Company are for you! Click to view available jobs and it appears that they are looking for just about any experience level. They are even after junior officers.
Just realize that while the weekends may be fun for most of us on this forum, these are still soldiers, and understand that it is not the same as working part time at a rail muesum. That said it looks like a great place for anybody on here that is interested in trains and wishes to serve![:D]
Oh, and they have some pretty interesting pictures that you guys should checkout.
Your job as a machinist is difficult, alot of injurys and fatalitys have happened even in the safety of the engine house or car shop, the SOFA report for Oct included a locomotive shop fatality.
Randy
Wow!! That is a really cool unit of the Army. If I were ever drafted or it looked like I was going to be I’d try to run over there and join. I’ve always been interested in working on a locomotive in the mechanical aspect, as well as learning about track maintenance, etc. It’s funny to watch at my terminal, but there is a respect that the rail operations crews have for the maintenance crews and vice versa.
I guess u could say my job is difficult. I mean I’ve had many of times were I had to climb on engines and pressure test them and burn myself on the coolant resivors. Just doing a simple oil change (well not that simple) I’ve burn myself. Exhaust manifolds I’ve been burnt. You can’t win. Today for instance I had to figure out why this 4 stroker diesel I was working on didn’t have any compression thus wouldn’t turn over. Sometimes I stop sit and stare at the engine and think the ultamite question “WUT IS WRONG???”
I could do that. I try to be nice to the employees though unless they try to take me for a fool than I play hardass with them. One moment I’m Santa with the elves and than they go to far and I’m Rockefellar with the employees of Standard Oil.
And then you can get a job which offers the ultimate experiance… The shortline railroad. Where you will be the engineer, conductor, machinist, carman, track laborer, and manager all at the same time.
The only benefit to this kind of work is you get to do something different all the time.
Don’t forget that you need to handle the car accounting, accounts payable and receivable, purchasing, employee relations and benefits (assuming you want things like health insurance) and all the other functions needed to keep the short line running…
we are lucky enough to have managers to handle HR and pay the bills. But my official title is Manager of Operations, and that entails everything from odering the part to installing it, to running the locomotive I put the part on. I am also responsible for all of the FRA records and paperwork, and also do the training.