Hi, I would like to know what a railroad trainmaster dose? Dose he supervise crews, agents, and yard masters? Finally do most hire off the street or promoted from with in? Please let me know thank you.
Well, I suggest that you input “trainmaster and sectionid:111” - that’s the Trains.com ‘code number’ for this General Discussion Forum - into the “Search our Community” box over in the right margin, and you should get about 119 pages of 1,188 referenced posts that contain the word “trainmaster” - such as -
My posting from the above referenced link, as well as, two other links to treads discussing trainmastering…
New to the Industry
Trainmastering
wslc8:
First, what is the primary responsibility for the Trainmaster? Does it vary depending on the Railroad?
The 1st or 2nd level field supervisor (depending on how you define the Yardmaster). You are usually the lowest level company “officer” The Trainmaster is responsible for EVERYTHING that happens on his territory during his tour of duty:
- On time departures
- Right car Right train
- Crew performance
- Locomotive utilization
- Customer service
- Crew starts and overtime
- and anything else you can think of
What skills are needed for a Trainmaster?
- the ability to lie (say what you want, the Trainmasters primary duty is to lie)
- you need to know the Rule Book inside and out
- know how switching is preformed
- good communication and interpersonal skills
- big shoulders - because everything is your fault (from both the crew side and the upper management side.
What situations can a Trainmaster find themselves in? What are the day-to-day operations of a Trainmaster?
What don’t you find yourself in:
- giving rules classes
- diffusing crew conflicts
- handling customer issues
- responding to derailments, injuries, trespasser strikes, etc
- monitoring performance metrics
- making sure you have enough locomotives and crews to run