I was career surfing for jobs in the engineering dept.(for NS), along with searching careers in the industry. I was wondering if a Roadmaster and a Track Supervisor positions are the same job? I looked up the definition of a roadmaster and it seems the same as the Track Supevisor position for NS. However NS requires a 4 year bachelors degree (preferably in civil engineering), but the position of roadmaster is a position that takes years of experience to obtain.
BT CPSO 266I was career surfing for jobs in the engineering dept.(for NS), along with searching careers in the industry. I was wondering if a Roadmaster and a Track Supervisor positions are the same job? I looked up the definition of a roadmaster and it seems the same as the Track Supevisor position for NS. However NS requires a 4 year bachelors degree (preferably in civil engineering), but the position of roadmaster is a position that takes years of experience to obtain.
Track Supervisor = Section Foreman
Roadmaster is the Track Supervisor's boss.
I though the Division Engineer was the Track Supervisor's boss. How much territory does a roadmaster cover then? Does NS even have roadmasters?
A friend of mine is a Road Master for Norfolk Southern at the Enola yards. He is responsible for supervising the road crews and giving the qualification tests to them. He also rides along and grades the engineers and conductors on their yearly road tests..
igoldberg A friend of mine is a Road Master for Norfolk Southern at the Enola yards. He is responsible for supervising the road crews and giving the qualification tests to them. He also rides along and grades the engineers and conductors on their yearly road tests..
How do you grade conductors on a road test? And if someone came on my engine claimng to be a road master I would throw him off the engine then have the police called on him for treaspassing, On the NS we dont have Road Masters,
What is the title for a NS locomotive engineer's supervisor to ensure compliance with best locomotive operating practices? What is the title of the officer insuring compliance with the rule book?
Division Engineer - Top engineering official on a Operating Division
Asst. Division Engineer - Responsible for part of the division - reports to the DE.
Roadmaster - Responsible for a defined segment of the division - reports to the ADE & DE.
Track Inspector - Responsible for a defined segment of the division - reports to the Roadmaster - is normally a contract employee.
Track Supervisor - Responsible for a Section of the division - Contract employee that reports to the Roadmaster
Trackman - the bottom of the chain of command.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
I think Track Supervisor is what NS calls a Roadmaster. Basically a Roadmaster/Track Supervisor is responsible for care and feeding of a given territory of railroad track. Typically (on BNSF lines) the Roadmaster supervises one or more track inspectors (use a rail wheeled pick up truck to inspect track) and one or more section gang foremen with laborers and truck drivers ( who repair and maintain a portion of the Roadmaster's territory. The Roadmaster may also have specialized gangs who surface track, weld rail, etc.
Historically, some eastern railroads seemed to favor the term "Track Supervisor." In the 1957 Pocket List of Railroad Officials the following had "Track Supervisors" (and no Roadmasters): Boston and Maine, Chespeake and Ohio, Central of Georgia, Jersey Central, Erie, Florida East Coast, Gulf Mobile and Ohio, Lehigh Valley, Louisville & Nashville, New Haven, Southern,
Some railroads called the job Supervisors of Track: Illinois Central, New York Central, New York, Ontario & Western, Pensylvania, Reading, Wabash, Western Maryland
The B&O called the job Supervisors of Road.
Now to thoroughly muddy the water -- 40 years ago the Northern Pacific had Track Supervisors who functioned as track inspectors and who reported to Roadmasters. Come the merger they were re-labeled Track Inspectors.
bobwilcox What is the title for a NS locomotive engineer's supervisor to ensure compliance with best locomotive operating practices? What is the title of the officer insuring compliance with the rule book?
Road Foreman of Engines or Trainmaster
Could your fried be a Road Foreman of Engines Your description sounds more liek that position.
beaulieu BT CPSO 266 I was career surfing for jobs in the engineering dept.(for NS), along with searching careers in the industry. I was wondering if a Roadmaster and a Track Supervisor positions are the same job? I looked up the definition of a roadmaster and it seems the same as the Track Supevisor position for NS. However NS requires a 4 year bachelors degree (preferably in civil engineering), but the position of roadmaster is a position that takes years of experience to obtain. Track Supervisor = Section Foreman Roadmaster is the Track Supervisor's boss.
BT CPSO 266 I was career surfing for jobs in the engineering dept.(for NS), along with searching careers in the industry. I was wondering if a Roadmaster and a Track Supervisor positions are the same job? I looked up the definition of a roadmaster and it seems the same as the Track Supevisor position for NS. However NS requires a 4 year bachelors degree (preferably in civil engineering), but the position of roadmaster is a position that takes years of experience to obtain.
Not true. A Track Supervisor is the equivalent of a Roadmaster on many roads. This included Conrail.
LC
This article may be informative on this point - it was written about an ADE in the Boston area of Penn Central, so it would have used NYC/ PRR nomenclature. I have it at home - maybe over the holiday I'll pull it out of storage and read it to see if it illuminates the point.
The Assistant Division Engineer Trains, April 1972 page 20 in charge of 1000 miles of railroad ( GLOSSARY, MAINTENANCE, "MIDDLETON, WILLIAM D.", PC, RAILROADER, TRACK, TRN )
During my career I worked for/ with 3 former PRR Track Supervisors, 1 of whom was an Asst. Div'n. Engr. in the Phila. Region when he left - it was right at the time when PRR was merged into PC. All 3 graduated from 4-year colleges with Bachelor's degrees in Civil Engineering in the 1940, 1944, and 1950's time frame - the first 2 from Penn State, the latter, who became the ADE, from Purdue. They were essentially mid-level managers - were responsible for several track gangs/ crews and their foreman who were the 'direct reports'. They were usually the tie and sport-coat types - though not afraid to get their hands dirty and kneel down to sight a rail, or to grab a track inspector's combination gage/ level and walk a few miles with a section foreman or personally look at a problem area. They would usually go to several different locations during a typical day. But a good amount - maybe even most - of their time was spent in the office, either in meetings, preparing and reviewing and updating budgets, personnel matters, approving timesheets, writing reports and explanations for derailments, requisitioning materials, scheduling the system gangs and special equipment or operations such as rail trains and crews, work trains, etc., etc. They relied on the section foreman and track inspectors to be the 'field people' who spent all day on a specific job or project site.
Methinks that there is no single answer. One hundred years ago, when there were, what, 100 Class 1's?, I would suspect that it was pretty much a personal call by the road how they referred to their various positions. It's entirely possible that names were inflated (custodial engineer anyone?) in some cases, meaning the the same function on a half dozen railroads might have a half dozen names.
No sense arguing about it.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
What used to be roadmasters on Norfolk Southern became track supervisors a good number of years ago.
As for the friend mentioned examining road crews, I'm certain he's not a roadmaster, he's either a trainmaster or a road foreman of engines.
First - The engineers and conductors know who their boss is, so you do NOT throw him off the train when he comes on to conduct a road test. Second - Conductors have to call signals and supervise the engineer on the road. He also has to complete his paper work correctly. These things are graded by the Road Master. . Both are also graded on following the rules and special instructions for the section of track which they are qualified for.
igoldberg First - The engineers and conductors know who their boss is, so you do NOT throw him off the train when he comes on to conduct a road test. Second - Conductors have to call signals and supervise the engineer on the road. He also has to complete his paper work correctly. These things are graded by the Road Master. . Both are also graded on following the rules and special instructions for the section of track which they are qualified for.
Easy, easy. No, in today's megarailroad world, the conductors and engineers don't always recognize a supervisor as such, believe me, some times it changes with alarming frequency. They might have to ask for ID before they recognize him (or her) as such.
Secondly, it would be a trainmaster or a road foreman, roadmasters supervise track and M of W workers. And, on the western roads, UP, I believe, they're MOP's (Manager of Operating Practices).
First- Yes I know who my trainmaster and road forman is, I said if someone came up and claimed to be a roadmaster he get thrown off and yes i will throw him off. Now if a strange trainmaster came on and said im trainmaster so and so He has to show me ID if he does not do this guess what he gets thrown off. I have no idea what a road test is you speak of so ill leave that alone
Now we get to a interesting part, Just where does it say that the conductor will supervise the engineer? Most conductors dont even know which end of the engine to get on much less supervise me, and just what are they going to tell me to do? I can see it now dont go in notch 8 we might get there to fast stay in notch 3 and dont worry about slack.... yea right when conductors haft to take the heat for a knuckel because of poor train handling then they can tell me how to run. I guess they better send me to choo choo school to learn how to do paper work cause i havent been doing any .
How are these things graded a-b-c-d-f ? incomplete? just want to know so i can study up for my next test.
Wonder where he's getting his railroad education?
Wabash, you've got to learn to let your opinion be known, all of this restraint you show is just modesty, isn't it.
Never had any problem figuring out who the Roadmaster is. It has become a more or less generic term for the person who meets the description on the old poem that starts--
It's not my job to run the train
The whilstle I can't blow.....
I've always been one of those people.
ValleyX Wonder where he's getting his railroad education? Wabash, you've got to learn to let your opinion be known, all of this restraint you show is just modesty, isn't it.
PROZAC..................... One of these days Im going to let it all hang out.
Thorazine works. I am learning how to speak new TM. Now that my road is part of a Canadian Family I am learning to say "eh alot. But do I say the eh before or after over when talking on the radio?So confused.
Yes we are on time but this is yesterdays train
ValleyX igoldberg First - The engineers and conductors know who their boss is, so you do NOT throw him off the train when he comes on to conduct a road test. Second - Conductors have to call signals and supervise the engineer on the road. He also has to complete his paper work correctly. These things are graded by the Road Master. . Both are also graded on following the rules and special instructions for the section of track which they are qualified for. Easy, easy. No, in today's megarailroad world, the conductors and engineers don't always recognize a supervisor as such, believe me, some times it changes with alarming frequency. They might have to ask for ID before they recognize him (or her) as such. Secondly, it would be a trainmaster or a road foreman, roadmasters supervise track and M of W workers. And, on the western roads, UP, I believe, they're MOP's (Manager of Operating Practices).
On Union Pacific, MTM=Manager of Track Maintenance = Roadmaster...MTP=Manager of Track Planning = Division Engineer (sort of, more like a General Roadmaster)
Some of the reasons for changes in nomenclature involve changes in pay grades and job descriptions. The remainder has to do with the influx of Yuppies and non-traditional employees into the railroad workplace management who never could get the traditional/military nomenclature because they had never been exposed to it, so they changed it to something they understood.
route_rock Thorazine works. I am learning how to speak new TM. Now that my road is part of a Canadian Family I am learning to say "eh alot. But do I say the eh before or after over when talking on the radio?So confused.
first you haft to get that stupid attitude of thiers then after every statment you say that, then if they get one up on you then you haft to be bolder and more profound til it gets to a shouting match. slam your fist a few times and act like a ape.
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