I have seen various threads about what it is like to work on the railroad, however I do not recall seeing any on why one would go to work for a railroad. So, here are a couple of questions for those of you who work for a railroad. Besides working with trains and relatively good pay, what are the reasons you went to work for a railroad? What are some reasons you have heard from coworks that do not care for trains as to why they started? Thanks for any answers.
Working for a railway is one of the few careers left where you can work for the same company all your career, have benefits and collect a pension when you retire.
Those are a few reasons.
Can’t speak for anyone else, and macguy has given you the practical end of it, but here are a few other points.
I don’t do well sitting at a desk. I’m much happier when I’m outdoors. Yes, I know there are plenty of outdoor jobs, but that brings me to my second point…
I have a lifelong fascination with machinery, the bigger the better. Again, there are many other kinds of machinery, but most jobs that deal with big machinery either don’t offer steady work or require someone on the inside to get you through the door. I know that’s not always the case, but it IS a common scenario. I have to add that I’m not really interested in being on the water or in the air. There are some fascinating pieces of equipment in both places, to be sure, but I prefer good old terra firma. Now on to my last point…
Let’s get down to the nitty gritty here. The truth of the matter is, I’m a big overgrown kid at heart and always will be. I’ve loved trains since I was a little kid, and I never really wanted to do anything but work for the railroad. Many people out here will tell you that it’s not what it used to be, working for the railroad, and they’re not joking. They’re telling it like it is. csx engineer will tell you, for example, about the crap you have to put up with, and how it’s just just a job to him. I respect his honesty. For me, however, it’s still a fun thing. Sure it’s changed, but even after 36 years I have no desire to get out.
So there’s your bottom line. The best reason to work at any job is because you like it. That requires taking the good with the bad, and certainly not everyone can do that. Nor does everyone get the opportunity to do something they truly enjoy. Consider, however, that the most successful people are those who are doing something that they WANT to do, not something that they HAVE to do. After all, if you’re having fun, it ain’t work, and that’s the best reason there is.
–JD Nomad
I just love railroads and was lucky to keep from getting cutoff after many years.
My Dad worked for the railroad for 32 years and I’m on my tenth year. I was actually inrolled in college to a radiologist…oh well! It’s ok though because I met my wife, have two wonderful kids and another on the way and like someone else said, the benifits are great. Plus you won’t work yourself to death, at least not on the machanical side!
The big reason you should work for a railroad, eric, is because I will be retiring in a few years, and we can never have too many people putting their little donations into the Railroad Retirement Fund. :^O
skeets-- Amen to that one, brother! Even this big overgrown kid’ll retire eventually.
–JD Nomad
Nomad, The Silent Service of the U.S. Navy hs a similar saying, "IF YOU’RE NOT HAVING FUN. . . . . .YOU’RE NOT DOING IT RIGHT. Like you I enjoy my work most anywhere I have worked (Except the State DOT).
another question, what is the average pay for a starting railroad guy, I love trains, and wouldn’t mind running them if the salary was right. Thanks,
Brad
Because I hate being confined between four walls all day, I had much rather be outdoors even if the weather sucks. The wages can be really nice depending on who you work for and the benifits are a plus. I also don’t have to deal with people as much as I did in my previous jobs, and I get a sense of freedom(sorta) from working outdoors. The biggest and most important reason I hired on was the fact that trains drive the ladies WILD!
Why work for a RR ? Not qualified for adult films !
Randy
I’ve wanted to work for the railroad all my life ever since I was 10 I knew I was going to invest my career in railroads. One inspriation in my life was my great grandpop who worked for PRR for well over 35 yrs, he was a train entheusist; he ate, slept, and breathed trians. . … . I guess I’m like him sort of. I do not work for the railroad yet since I am 18. Unfortunitly, you have to be 21 to acheive the desired position of locomotive engneer. So, I’m in college to get my Associates degree in Automotive/ Diesel technology. I also work for a diesel servicing faciltiy. By the time I’m eleagable to aquire the position of freight railroad conductor, I’ll have some diesel experience to back me up. However, the railroad might ask me (Why didn’t I apply for a diesel machinest job?/).
Hey CSXrules4eva, I may be wrong but I thought 18 was the minimum age for railroad employees. if so, you should see about getting into one of CSX’s training schools(i’m guessing that’s who you want to work for) for conductors.
To start my Great Grandfather was a Horse Car Conductor, my Grandfather retired with 48 years 10 months of service, my father retired with 37 years of service and I am closing in on 40 years of service; so in that regard the steel wheel up the steel rail seems to have a genetic disposition.
I got started when I was looking for a temporary Summer job between sessions a College. When the College gig turned sour, I came back to work and later worked and continued College to graduation.
I find, outside the money and benefits, the most intriguing aspect of railroading is the simplicity of its complexity and the complexity of its simplicity.
The individual actions that take place in the operation of a railroad, by themselves are simple…the complexity is that the operation is made up of miriad individual actions that sometimes occur when desired, and at other times occur when not desired. The days work is always the same but never the same, Each day presents new challanges and new pitfalls with the goal being to avoid the pitfalls and conquer the challenges; the reality being you will succumb to some of the pitfalls and then have to devise a plan to overcome that pitfall and go on to the next challenge. The operations side of railroading is putting together and ever changing puzzle, where a lot of the parts involved don’t have an exact fit, but close enough is good enough most of the time. Operating railroads will never achieve perfection, there are too many independent variables that are beyond the control of man and the Gods. To turn a gridlocked railroad into a fluid moving operation in your tour of duty gives one a sense of satisfaction that is tough to beat.
I have 31 years of service in, 25 of them as an Engineer.
I never considered, and still would not consider a career in any other industry.
The Country has less than a half million of “US”, they have roughly 249 1/2 million of “THEM”, they dont need any more of “them”.LOL
Kidding aside, I do have one perplexing concern these days.
Railroading as a career does not offer the same SPIRITUAL REWARDS that it did when I was starting out. Morale in our industry has never been lower.
There was a time when you would walk down the street in your community and mothers would say to their small sons: “Look, little Johnnie, There goes Mr (x.y.z.), he works for the RAILROAD!”, or something like, “HE’S an ENGINEER!”
It’s all different now. These days, when somebody asks you your occupation and you reply:
RAILROAD ENGINEER or RAILROAD CONDUCTOR, even though you’re in a profession that’s existed for nearly 170 years, they just look at you with a blank stare, as if you just mentioned some obscure occupation that exists only on the othe side of the planet MARS! People are just not railroad aware anymore. If you wanted to be a folklore hero a generation ago, you could become a railroader, now you have to be a rock musician! LOL
That covers OFF the railroad property, what about ON the railroad property?
WELL, this negative spirit has infiltrated the ranks of us inside as well.
I blame this on the hiring practices of the Human Rescource departments. They seem to be rampant on a campaign to hire as many people who do NOT have the railroad in their blood as they can.
Railroading used to be a CHOSEN proffession, people were here because they wanted to be, and were proud to be here. I read recently that of a recently hired training class for train/loco drivers in England, many of them had bever before set foot aboard a train! HECK ! When i was a kid, railroadmen’s sons used to begin their apprenticeship UNOFFICIALLY when they were still in grade or grammar school, fre
G’Day, Y’all,
Do engineers still have to retire at the mandatory age of 65? Talking about children and trains, I met an elderly man whose father ran a wood-fired locomotive for a timber company line in the Florida panhandle. He said the most exciting thing he’d ever done was ride in the cab with his father who had told his wife to have the boy at a certain grade crossing where he would pick the lad up.
Jock Ellis
Cumming, GA US of A
If you can get by the first few yrs fighting your low senority, you’ll have it made. Even though the hours and conditions can be miserable, the pay and benefits all make up for it. The actuall work is not very hard–90% thinking, 10% phyiscal. Where else can you make $60,000-$70,000 doing blue collar work while most of the time sitting on your keystor?
In Canada the mandatory retirement age is 65, down in the states you can work until your doctor no longer gives you medical clearance.
First…The statements by BaltACD, and Penn Central Black ring true in the most vivid sense. Railroading is now a game of Simon Says that must be played flawlessly for eight hours straight in a tour of duty.
As far back as I can remember it was the culture of railroading that intrigued me as much as the trains themselves. I used to ride the IC Electric suburban trains into Chicago’s loop quite a bit. The enginemen always let me stand in the cab with them. Trainmen and Conductors, in their grandfatherly way, were the first adults to tell me dirty jokes. Their uniforms, watches, ways of doing things as if handed down to them by Moses were too much to resist. As early as my age 9, in 1959, IC trainmen would let me collect tickets with them. I developed “train legs” at an early age. I also noticed another thing. Girls rode the trains and they payed a lot of attention to younger trainmen.
I came to realize in the '60s that no railroad would hire you if you wore glasses. You could have them after 60 days but you couldn’t start out with them. So I felt I would have to live life as a commercial illustrator. During the Viet Nam era, railroads became quite short of man-power and the glasses restriction was removed. It was stupid in the first place and was eventually forced out by law. After a year in art school I found out that the CNW was hiring trainmen at a ferociuos rate. I went to the CNW depot in Chicago and hired out. There I was in my Kromer Cap, and big watch chain falling off of boxcars and being laughed at. I thought I knew stuff about trains until I hired out. It was a whole new different world. There was a 3 0’clock in the morning, and people were up and eating and working. This was the hardest thing I had to get used to. But…I was a real railroader. My family didn’t care for it too much but there was community respect. Once, a family friend asked me what school (read:university) I was attending. I replied, “Oh, I’m going to 2 universities. Chicago, and North Western.” My father s
ARTMARK:
You and I must be siamese twins, seperated at birth:
It is a shame we never worked a passenger train together.
We seem to be singing off the same sheet of music.
Actually, I was, for a time (1974), employed by C&NW.
If you have access to the C&NWRyHist Soc: NORTH WESTERN LINES, see my
lengthy autobio segment " CHICAGO DIARY - 1974", published in the C&NW PEOPLE issue about a year & a half ago.
Regards
D. F. Kydd
C&NW Ry emplyee # 120559.
p.s., your comment " those that should have never been permitted a PASSENGERS are now becoming hired as TRAINMEN" etc is right on the mark.