Is somebody pulling your leg? Considering that there were at least two, if not four (depending upon the route), railroads involved in San Francisco-New York passenger movements, the only employees who would have gone all the way would have been Pullman employees. Such employees did not have an easy life since they had to be on the ground at every station stop; if there were two or more Pullmans, porters could take turns in being on the ground during the night–but Pullman conductors did not have such relief.
Also, each road involved in such a move has divisions–and road service employees do not work on more than one division.
Almost nothing you have said is even close to the truth. Other than to expect to work a lot because new people usually can only hold an extra board. Even then, you get 10 hours* undisturbed rest between runs. And that’s a minimum, you might have more time off depending on traffic requirements and how many vacancies occur on the assignments the extra board protects.
Jeff
There is a provision for a engr or condr to be given only 4 hours rest. But that would be considered within one trip/tour of duty. Afterward you don’t have another 12 hrs available to work, only what remains when you were tied up for 4 hrs rest. You also have to be told you are being given the 4 hour break. You can’t tie up and 4 hours later they are calling to use up any remaining time. It happens, but is rare. I’ve only done it once in 20 years.
I’d say someone has been reading too many “railroad man” stories from fifty years ago.
My youngest son has been a Class 1 conductor for about 13 months now and, while his diet may not be the best when he’s working road service; that’s more his personal choice than a necessity.
He has never complained (much) about the quality of his away from home lodging although, being qualified on three different districts he has noted lodging is better in two of his away from home terminals than the third. In any case; he has found the rooms to be clean and comfortable.
And in terms of his hours; as others have noted the current hours of service provide for ten uninterrupted hours of rest and after working six consecutive days HOS provides for two days off.
It is true you can be called for a train at just about any hour of the day or night but; he knew that going in and seems to enjoy the variable hours.
I’ve noticed that the non-local UP track crews have mostly moved to the Tehachapi Fairfield Inn the past few years, as opposed to the older Best Western two lots east. That’s definitely an improvement. I’ve also learned that when a bunch of UP vehicles are parked there at night, the train watching will be sparse the next day, like none at all until an hour or so before sunset when the parade (usually of westbounds) starts.
The old Railroad YMCA lodging facilities were all closed down in the mid to late 80’s on CSX and lodging facilities were established at local motel/hotels - my understanding is that those that are selected are required to have 24 hour housekeeping staff (and while they may have such at the time they are selected - some will stop it if it suits their needs). They are also ‘supposed’ to be within walking distance of a source of hot food.
A second issue that happens (or at least happened in the mid-Atlantic towns where the crew bases I worked with) when there is a ‘event’ in the area that will permit
I seldom look at the history of those who have posted, but I did look at his–and most of posts were concerned with model railroading, and I did not bother to find them.
From his statements, it seemed to me that he had little knowledge of 12 inch to the foot railroading, and was depending on guff that someone had fed him. As all of you regulars know, I have never worked for a railroad, but over the years have picked up a little understanding from the many who have been in the industry for years.
I am used to seeing the work of trolls on political sites, but cannot imagine why such a creature would even visit Kalmbach, much less post nonsense.
I tried to be nice to him in explaining some of the facts of life–but it may have been a waste of time and keystrokes.
There have been a couple on here, most notably that guy from Ohio who went through about a dozen accounts in 4 or 5 years, and that Hunter Harrison fanboi who was spouting nonsense over on Frailey’s blogs for a while (I think his screenname was ‘railroadsaregreat’).
Well yeah, think of the taxi ride to and from the yard in city traffic, what a nightmare. And the company is so cheap that you have to pay for your own room service, what a rip-off!
And to top that off, you can’t take advantage of the honor bar fridge because you may have to give a urine sample after somebody tries to beat you to the grade crossing in their soon-to-be-totaled vehicle.
We’ve run into that problem before. Our old lodging facility was a locally owned motel. When the College World Series was going on in Omaha they would run out of rooms. With every other hotel/motel filled up, sometimes crew members would end up going a long way from Fremont. I only had to go as far as Missouri Valley, about 30 miles. Some had to go to Lincoln or Columbus. I remember some being sent to Sioux City. Sioux City to Fremont is one crew district.
The Baymont Inn in Fremont was originally an Oak Tree Inn. That chain had ties to the UP (It was said one of the people on the board of directors started it.) Almost their entire locations were UP crew change locations. There were a few on other lines, BNSF and a couple in CSX territory. Rooms are better sound proofed and the curtains are heavy and have magnets to help keep them closed. The Penny’s Diner restaurants were built in many locations that didn’t otherwise have 24 hour food service within an easy distance.
Within the last year Oak Tree was sold to Wyndham. The Oak Trees have either become Baymont Inns or Travel Lodges.
Railroaders complain about their lot in life, and I am sure truck drivers do like wise. How about seafarers? Came across the following YouTube Channel published by a Chief Engineer on the high seas and explaining the life of a mariner.
Since it is a 50 mile short line - you won’t be faced with an away from home terminal. For the most part you will be involved in switching industries and interchange cuts. Observation is that short line personel get some training and practice from most all the aspects of railroading down to and including swing a spke hammer in anger from time to time. You will be covered by the application of the Hours Of Service law, which will limit your on duty work hours to 12 - deadheading after 12 hours constitutes ‘Limbo Time’ that does not constiture rest time.
This is such a huge crock of manure, particularly the part I bolded. Mr. geomodelrailroader, a railroad employee works for a single railroad; they are NEVER sent to work on other lines (except in the rare cases of trains being temporarily detoured over other railroads; but even in that case, they are still employed by the railroad that hired them, and simply on foreign trackage for a while, under the supervision of a host-road pilot-engineer). Even on one’s own railroad, a typical train service employee will spend most of their time working only on a single didvision or subdivision of a road (unless they put in for a trasfer to another area).
If I’m not mistaken, most regular-job road crews go back and forth, back and forth on a single stretch of line stretching about 200-300 miles. Extra board personn
It is a hard life once you become an enginner or conductor you will never see your home or family again. You will live a boomers life 24/7 in the cab of a locomotive, no food, no rest, no vacation, no sick leave, and no benafits. Once you sign on you are there until it kills you or you retire. Once you step on that engine you go 12 hours until you reach the end of your shift, but guess what you only get a few hours sleep then you are back in the cab and back on the road. It does not end when you get to an interchange town like Chicago because management will just transfer you to another railroad and you keep on going non stop. You go from the west coast to the east coast Canada to Mexico and every railroad in North America. Once you board a train say goodbye to everything you know and welcome to the life of a boomer on the road. The only guys who get a break are the local crews and the shortlines everyone else is a boomer they live on the road.
This is such a huge crock of manure, particularly the part I bolded. Mr. geomodelrailroader, a railroad employee works for a single railroad; they are NEVER sent to work on other lines (except in the rare cases of trains being temporarily detoured over other railroads; but even in that case, they are still employed by the railroad that hired them, and simply on foreign trackage for a while, under the supervision of a host-road pilot-engineer). Even on one’s own railroad, a typical train service employee will spend most of their time working only on a single didvision or subdivision of a road (unless they put in for a trasfer to another area).
If I’m not mistaken, most regular-job road crews go back and forth, back and forth on a single stretch of line st
One territory I worked had a crew agreement that was confusing to the max.
Savannah - Waycross - Jacksonville - Fitzgerald, GA - Home terminal at Savannah.
Away from home terminals Waycross, Jacksonville, Fitzgerald.
A crew called out of Savannah could be called to Waycross or Jacksonville; a crew called to Waycross could either be tied up for rest or put on another train to tie up in Jacksonville. All crews arriving Jacksonville were tied up for rest.
At Jacksonville crews could be called to move trains to Waycross, Savannah and Fitzgerald. Crews called to Savannah were home when they tied up. Crews called to Waycross could be rested or put on another train destined Savannah. Crews called to Fitzgerald would take rest at Fitzgerald to away trains destined Jacksonville. All crews at Jacksonville were called first in, first out - without regard to the destination of the train
It was possible for a crew to fall into the ‘wrong slot’ and make more than one round trip to Fitzgerald. Note - to get to Fitzgerald all trains ran through Waycross. There were separate pools that operated trains betweeen Waycross and Fitzgerald and another pool that operated between Waycross and Manchester. Trains that were operated from Jacksonville to Fitzgerald were normally destined to Atlanta or beyond. There was a separate pool that operated Fitzgerald to Atlanta through Manchester.
Crews (engineers especially) must be qualified on the territory. They can’t just be assigned willy-nilly to any route the railroad wants to send them on. Some old heads may have many miles on which they are qualified, but normally crews will work certain trips, as has already been described.
Hours of service laws are pretty specific on hours worked and required rest. A crew that works 12 hours will see at least 10 hours of rest, which I believe includes 8 hours of uninterrupted rest.
Disclaimer - I volunteer on a tourist line. It’s rare that we run into HOS issues due to our short runs and regular schedule. I’m familiar enough with HOS to stay out of trouble on our railroad, but when you get out on the Class 1’s, things can get more complicated, with deadhead time, limbo time, and a host of other such considerations.
Current HOS law requires 10 hours uninterrupted - which, if the crew was not notified to report on their 10 hour expiration means that they will then get a 2 hour notice to report for duty AFTER the 10 hours has expired.
Deadheading to an assignment counts as work time for HOS purposes. Called on duty at A at 0100 with a two hour taxi ride to B to go to work, crew now has 10 hours to work from B. Getting on the train at B to go to Z, train gets to W and is tied down at 1300 on their HOS time. Transportation for the crew arrives at W at 1400 and
Without asking for specific dollar amounts, when an engineer or conductor is assigned to a district or terminal, are they guaranteed a minimum income, or do they get zilch if there is insufficient traffic for them to get a trip? And what benefits do they get? Medical, Dental, Vision, Life insurance? Vacation? Also some short lines don’t seem to have enough traffic to have more than 24 hours a week like a part time job. How does that work? Also, if one gets fuloughed, is there any income and/or benefits? Are they eligible for unemployment?