Out of all the replies here I only saw one that mentioned the choice every railroader must make. You either choose money or lifestyle. If money is most important to you, then choose to work the road. If lifestyle is most important, then choose to work the yard. I choose to work the yard. I have a fixed schedule and 2 days off a week. It took 14 years but I finally work Monday to Friday, but I earn less pay than a road engineer.
I tell all new hires. You pay your dues in the first five years. No life. No choice. After five years you will begin to get some choice and with that a better quality of life.
With any type of work, if you put in an honest day’s work, you will be treated with respect and the trainmasters won’t bother you. As with managers in any company, they know who is dependable and who is not, and the trainmasters have a large rule book they can use to make your life miserable.
It’s a lifestyle and most people wash out. My class had eight green vests and now we are two. Our current class of green vests started at twenty and now they are at nine. This is not a career for everybody.
Zug, is it the job? Or the company you work for? Not that the grass may be any greener on the other side of the fence. Plenty of crab grass everywhere you go.
I love railroading, but don’t always love the railroad.
“Is it the people, or the organization* ?” (as my high school history teacher used to ask us - *though he used the word “institution” instead, but that might have another implication here . . . [:-^]
Bid a Yardmaster or Train Dispatcher’s job when they are advertised…whole different perspective than T&E - of course if the NS makes those positions available to T&E. CSX does.
Every terminal will be different as far as training and work schedules. I spent 6 weeks in Atlanta at REDI, then almost 6 months training before marking up. My terminal has a lot of locals, and 3 yard jobs. With mainframe access at home, and by getting to know your territory, you can get a good feel for when you will get called to work. Sometimes you get surprised, but generally, I know if I am going to turn on my rest, or if it going to be a while. I can see who is ahead of me, who has taken a day off etc, etc. Its not as bad as it sounds. The extra boards here are guaranteed, a new hire will make over $900.00 a week minimum, assuming no days off board. I have been here a year, and love it. Sure, rainy nights suck, 0200 calls suck, sitting home next out on a Saturday night sucks(thank god for Netflix), but overall I have no regrets.
I worked for Seaboard Coast Line out of Miami for 2 years and Waycross for 6 months back in the mid '70s and I really loved it! the best job in the world (until I found an even better job!). from what I have heard and read in the past few years, and in this thread, it seems that what is gone now is the camaraderie of your crew (4 to 5 men on a local or road switch crew) working together. a stuck switch, or a knuckle changeout? you always had someone to give you a hand. a drawback to railroading back then is NO cell phones. I only worked the extra board (I loved the diversity of working something different every time) and when you are near the top of the list, you HAD to stay home to wait for the phone to ring. working out of Miami, of course we had no worries about working in freezing conditions. I can’t imagine how railroading would be in Winter conditions! also, the idea of ‘training’ for the job is laughable. there was no training at all. you learned only what your fellow crewmen told you while you were on your ‘student’ trips. after a week or so, you marked up and you were expected to know everything!
Ah, the good old days. I got started in transportation in the mid 1980s, and it was very much the same as you describe it. No formal training…you just picked it up as you went. I remember my first time at the wheel of a tractor trailer… no licence beyond a class 5, and my training consisted of someone shouting “be careful when cornering”. But we survived. Nowadays a course and a license is required for everything…even for a forklift. That’s probably a good thing though.
The difference between then & now is what you mentioned about ‘crew’. With 4 or 5 men on a crew back then, the newbie didn’t NEED to know much of anything beyond being able to follow simple direct instruction from the crew’s Conductor. Today, when the newbie makes his first day on his own - HE IS THE CONDUCTOR in most all cases. While with a 2 man crew the Conductor doesn’t supervise anyone, he also doesn’t get the help of a old head in pointing out obvious mistakes he is setting himself up for.
Back then, entry level jobs in the industry were just that entry level jobs where one had the opportunity to learn the job before being placed in a responsible position. Now at all levels, all ‘entry level’ jobs are to positions that have real responsibility. The Conductor, especially in Local Freight and/or Road Switcher and Yard service has the responsibility for mapping out the moves required to get the job done and in many cases in Yard service the Conductor is also a RCO (remote control operator) operating the locomotive from the ground to do the job.
It is a culture shock to, in short order, go from an non-railroad individual off the street to having to be a productive Conductor. This form of ‘forced feeding’ is being used in virtually all Contract (Union covered employees) positions, from trackman, carman, signalman, Train Dispatcher and all the other crafts required to operate a railroad. The on call nature of being hired to the Extra Board just adds to the culture shock for most people.
[quote user=“cudjoebob”]
I worked for Seaboard Coast Line out of Miami for 2 years and Waycross for 6 months back in the mid '70s and I really loved it! the best job in the world (until I found an even better job!). from what I have heard and read in the past few years, and
I need a bigger wallet to carry all of my certifications…but then again…when was the last time someone asked me if I was certified to handle a propane tank. Can’t remember the last time anyone asked me for my first aid certification either… All those cards should at least be good for a free coffee somewhere…
We have a small group who went into TE&Y service in the early 1990s. There was an engineer shortage at the time. They finished their conductor’s training on a Friday and started firing (engineer’s training) the following Monday.
Most of them, but I don’t think all, were transfers from other departments (clerical, MOW, etc) within the railroad. Now I think you have to have at least a year in train service before entering engine service.
That is what it is supposed to be; however, when the numbers don’t add up vs. retirements and those getting 1 year of Conductor service - shorter times happen.
Quite often team work today means people are out there working by themselves, and that seems to be the way it is on the railroad as well. That’s usually ok, but can present serious problems when things go wrong and there’s no help immediately available. We’ve had a couple of cases over the years where someone has died on the job and we didn’t find out about it until a day or more later.
They warned us that would happen . . . It happens not just to those employed in Train, Engine & Yard service by an actual railroad, but in the associated service businesses, too - in my case, it was a trackwork contractor [sigh] - too many days from 4 or 5 AM to 7 to 9 PM plus Sat. in the office, and sometimes SUndays. too.
I can relate to that…not so much these days but earlier on in my career. I still prefer working really early in the mornings…not sure why that it is… just do.