Working for the railroad

[Anonymous]

a friend of mine works for the railroad and sells real estate. his life is centered around that telephone "on call". he spends a lot of effort trying to be at the right place at the right time in order to maximize both careers.

he is a kind of nervous go getter type, and it works for him. he loves working for the railroad, and he has a full real life at home. he appears to be prosperous and doing well.

[Anonymous]

Wow, interesting stories! I guess the railroad can be just as bad as the trucking industry, working excessive hours during the week and very little hometime. Great salary, but at the cost of being gone so much. But I am sure with the kind of money one would make doing whatever job was assigned, they wouldnt have much problems saving up for different things. I've always wondered what/how the engineer's workflow would be like, running those big locos on a regular basis.

Chris

[Anonymous]

The BEST thing I've ever done in my life is work for the Georgetown Loop in Colorado. I started as a brakeman, then moved up to conductor. My primary interest since I was a little kid was to work with steam engines and at the Loop, I finally got my wish. I became a fireman and they also trained me as an engineer! I also worked on the track crew three days a week. We replaced almost 200 ties one summer with no machines to help, (not to mention leveling track, repairing bridges, etc.)--all at 9,000 ft. above sea level. Sometimes the job was just plain back-breaking and horrible, but then the train would pass by and all those happy, safe people on it would make it all worthwhile! Of course, I LOVED the engine service--it's an experience I'll never forget. Lindsay and Rosa Ashby ran a great railroad--someday I'll check out their new venture, the Royal Gorge Route and probably I'll get a cab ride out of it for old-time's sake!

Bob Blomberg

[railfanespee4449]

I am 13, but because I started the trains for kids program (guess what we do!!!!), I had a meeting with UP execs at the job fair.
They gave me a lot of cool stuff including light up pens, a hat a slinkie, and A SD-40-2 in HO scale (athearn, $65!) for free. I know my job!!!!

[mackb4]

dougdagrump you hit the spike on the head ! I've worked on the RR for 15 years now and at times it really sucks,to say a few descent words on here.I'm on call 24/7, 365 days a year.Yes the pay is good,could be better for the mental stress,but it has a wonderful retirement.I have been working as engineer since 1993,and I still fill like I'm on an extra list instead of a regular pool run.They call all the time (after proper rest) to fill vacancies that the younger extra board engineer's are suppose to fill. But one things for sure,it's not the same job everyday,and you get to experience what alot of people *THINK* they would like to do.It doesn't only take the special type to work on the RR ,but it takes a special type of wife and family.I miss alot of baseball,football and school functions that my kids are involved with.You really get to know the families of the people you work with too.All in all it's not bad,but it's unlike any job I've ever had,or what most people have.I really don't know if I could work a job with set hours now.It also gets hard to plan a layout like I've been doing.You just can't get everything on a layout like your used to seeing,or at scale to be real as I see everyday.Heck I've made so many changes to my design,I may never get it built.GOOD GRIEF [banghead] !Oh one more thing.I hate the sound of a phone or pager anymore.[2c]

[dougdagrump]

It really only sucks until you have sufficient seniority for bidding/bumping rights for the better jobs. When I first started with the B&O you got the jobs that no one else wanted, I learned earlyon to sign-up for the extra-board. This meant you were on-call every other eight hours, sometimes you got a good one sometimes not and every once in awhile you got a road job. The best part was if you were called for a crappy one it was only for eight hours, and man could you rack up some serious coin with the time and a half and double time.

[Anonymous]

I'm gonna add my 2cents worth - I worked for the Passenger Dept (some of us might remember them) of the Great Northern, as a Psgr Service Rep - On board the Western Star, from St. Paul to Seattle - 5days on the turn, one day,2nights at home in St. Paul, and back to Seattle again. Loved every mile of it, and due the equipment rotation I lived in the same roomette, same car, with the same flat spot on the wheel for 11 weeks that summer!! Unfortunately that was the last summer of that job on that train, the full-time city ticket agents had to do the same duty, but they got to ride the Empire Builder....to sample (and savor) what they sold.....
Granted, it was summer only, and it was college, but it was fantastic!!!! and it opened my eyes to the bigger travel industry, where I've spent the last 40 years in one shape of fashion, and I'll still ride a train when I can!!

[Anonymous]

As the old saying goes, been there done that. It takes a special person to be a railroader, so I guess I'm not special although I do have some good memories of it. If you are a family oriented person or have a loved one that requires special health needs, a railroad career may not be for you. Those great salaries come with great sacrifice.

[phillyreading]

Working for the railroad may be too much for most people but have you tried working at a railroad museum. You can see what used to run on the rails and not have to be away from family all the time, also some railroad museums have indoor displays.
Lee.

[Anonymous]

I used to work for EMD as a field service engineer doing preservice inspections on new locomotives before they were turned over to the particular railroad. I rode in the cab of UP #4000 SD-70 (this was the big 1000 unit UP order iin 2000 or so) on the real shakedown run to Clinton Iowa and back before they ran the units to Seattle for the official first run. It was funny, UP put a GP40X in the consist withour two SD-70's.........There was a grand impromptu photo op at Rochelle as the engineer was on his cell phone to all his foamer buddies keeping them informed of the trains progress. We left the UP yard late on Saturday night.

Fun times........

Why on that very run we were stopped in a block behind a auto rack train going west. We had sat waiting for what seemed like a few hours. The rack train had blown a brake hose and the crew was having difficulty changing the hose. On rack cars with the cushion underframe there are two sections of flexible hose with a short nipple between. the nipple is chain linked to the end of the underframe. The outer hose had blown and the guys couldn't wrestle the wrenches to get the hose loosened fromthe nipple since the whole assembly was flexible and could move all over heck. I took a shot at it and with a little trickery got the fitting loose so they could replace the hose. We were finally off.

I suspect that kind of stuff is a regular occurance.

While we were all standing there in near zero cold that fast moving coal unit train came zooming by, and buddy thats when you realize how close those tracks really are!!!!! You have to really back away or you would surely be sucked under.

Trains are soooooo cooool!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Odd-d]

Getting a job with a real railroad is the best way I know of to cure your interest in trains. Many years ago I took a job with the Illinois Cental RR at the General Freight Traffic Office in the main headquarters office in Chicago as a Rate Clerk. I was bored out of my gourd. It was all paper work and filing and writing mindless form letters. My interest in railroads went limp and disappeared not to return again until after I quit and took up teaching. Model railroads are fun but they exist mainly in your imagination, but real railroads require lots of dull chores and tiresome long hours in sometimes inclement weather. Take my advice...get a real job. Odd-d

[CNJfan]

I have a friend that started working for CSX a few years ago as a conductor. He has now finished school, became an engineer and runs a train every day.
Not to squash your thoughts, but it has now just become a job. The "coolness" of being a train engineer has worn off. He works 70+ hours a week and hardly sees his family. Granted, the pay is fantastic but the personal time is not there to spend with his family.
I imagine it will get better as he puts in more years but for now it seems to suck.
Tim C.

[Anonymous]

Wouldnt it be cool to work for the railroad industry? Working with the very locomotives and cars that we run on our layouts on a regular basis? I know that the chances of getting a job in the railroad are pretty slim, but for those who actually work in the field, I wonder what a typical day would be like? I am sure the pay may be quite good, and the job can get right down dirty too. Any thoughts?

Chris