QUOTE: Originally posted by kpac I have an interview in Chicago with Union Pacific for a train service position. The job I have now pays about what the railroad does, I'm not subject to lay off and I have some seniority in a union environment. It ia a 24/7 type operation so even though I have a regular set schedual odd hours are not unusal. Trouble is I don't much care for the job and it's 25 years till retirement. Do I leave a secure job for life on the railroad? I would appreciate anyone's opinion.
QUOTE: Originally posted by dgwicks Well, I am only about 15 months from retirement, and looking back I wish I had at least seriously investigated some other lines of work. So, if you can afford it monetarily, try it! Otherwise 25 years from now you may be in the same place you are now wondering "What if ...." Good Luck! Dennis
QUOTE: Originally posted by csxengineer98 are you ready to work evey 8 hours...working on call at least 6 days aweek....and are you married or have a faimly...keep in mind...this job is very hard on the family life... not knowing when your going to work..or when your going to be home.... you ready to work in all kinds of weather with no way out of it untill the job is done.....you willing to traval to differnt terminels for work....you think you can stay awak on a train at 3am after only getting a few hours sleep in the first place...this job can be a nasty one at times.... im just giveing you some of the bad points up frount... working for the railroad is not all get on the train and ride..and get off and come home... it dose beat the hell out of sitting in an office for hours..and working in some kind of manufactoring job... hardly ever any managment looking over your shoulder...but sping on you in the weeds.....but every call is differnt..evey train is diffent... you might be going over the same railroad day in and day out..but its never the same trip... but you have to ask yourself the questions i put to you..and you have to awnsere yes to them all....especily the family and wife one if you have one... i was somewhat lucly...my wife met me while i was on the railroad..so she knew what it was like befor we got married... not saying that we dont have problems becouse of work once in a while...but it is realy hard for someone that comes from one field into the railroad workforce that has a family and/or a wife....one guy i work with his wife told him ..i dont care what shift you work...but find a reguler shift yard job...or find yourself a new wife....this guy worked 20 years in a mechinshop and it closed up and moved to mexico...so going to the on call never knowing when your home lifestyel was to much for his wife...and it is for alot of them.... if you want to talk 1 on 1 about the job..feel free to talk to me on Yahoo IM ..my handle is csxengineer2001 csx engineer
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
QUOTE: Originally posted by ericsp QUOTE: Originally posted by csxengineer98 are you ready to work evey 8 hours...working on call at least 6 days aweek....and are you married or have a faimly...keep in mind...this job is very hard on the family life... not knowing when your going to work..or when your going to be home.... you ready to work in all kinds of weather with no way out of it untill the job is done.....you willing to traval to differnt terminels for work....you think you can stay awak on a train at 3am after only getting a few hours sleep in the first place...this job can be a nasty one at times.... im just giveing you some of the bad points up frount... working for the railroad is not all get on the train and ride..and get off and come home... it dose beat the hell out of sitting in an office for hours..and working in some kind of manufactoring job... hardly ever any managment looking over your shoulder...but sping on you in the weeds.....but every call is differnt..evey train is diffent... you might be going over the same railroad day in and day out..but its never the same trip... but you have to ask yourself the questions i put to you..and you have to awnsere yes to them all....especily the family and wife one if you have one... i was somewhat lucly...my wife met me while i was on the railroad..so she knew what it was like befor we got married... not saying that we dont have problems becouse of work once in a while...but it is realy hard for someone that comes from one field into the railroad workforce that has a family and/or a wife....one guy i work with his wife told him ..i dont care what shift you work...but find a reguler shift yard job...or find yourself a new wife....this guy worked 20 years in a mechinshop and it closed up and moved to mexico...so going to the on call never knowing when your home lifestyel was to much for his wife...and it is for alot of them.... if you want to talk 1 on 1 about the job..feel free to talk to me on Yahoo IM ..my handle is csxengineer2001 csx engineer The advertisement for the UP job I applied for said the person is on call 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. csxengineer2001? Sounds like an upgrade. Why do we get the older version? [:D]
QUOTE: Originally posted by kpac Thanks for the advice csx engineer. I do have a wife and family,am in my 30's. The irregular hours shouldn't be too much a burden on the family, I already work weekends and holidays often returning to work after 8 hours off. Of even greater concern is pay day, from what I gather a conductor with a couple of years on makes about what I do now. How long would I endure a reduced salary? Likely hood of furlough? And how would operations differ in Chicago as to other parts of the country?Thanks again for your replys.
QUOTE: Originally posted by csxengineer98 QUOTE: Originally posted by kpac Thanks for the advice csx engineer. I do have a wife and family,am in my 30's. The irregular hours shouldn't be too much a burden on the family, I already work weekends and holidays often returning to work after 8 hours off. Of even greater concern is pay day, from what I gather a conductor with a couple of years on makes about what I do now. How long would I endure a reduced salary? Likely hood of furlough? And how would operations differ in Chicago as to other parts of the country?Thanks again for your replys. weekends and holidays are only part of the issue.... you might work 12 hours on the road...get home and be right back out the door on your rest agin... with only a few hours at home.... keep in mind..its being called for duty at any time...1 am..1 pm... makes no differance...the phone will ring at any hour of the day... and railroad work is funny... it might be booming for a few weeks..lots of trains running..and then all of the sudden..drop off to next to nothing for a bit too..its feast or fammon on the rail road... as far as telling you how long you will indure a reduced salary..that is imposable to tell... you might get lucky and work like mad and work as much as you want..or you might be kicked around from job to job trying to make a paycheck.... its not uncommon for some of the younger emplyees to mark up on a job..only to get bumped off if it hours or mintes later after takeing it...it has happend to me a few times over the years too... the higher you are up on the senority roster the better you sit... but no way to realy gauge that untill you get the job... life is a gamble..and the railroad jobs are no differnt csx engineer
QUOTE: Originally posted by M.W. Hemphill Wow, what a tough problem you have. Do you follow your dream, and accept an enormous risk? Or stay where you are and minimize your risk and wonder for the rest of your life what you missed? Either way you assume risk -- not changing is JUST as risky as changing, it's just a known risk vs. an unknown risk. The unknown risk might turn out to be larger or smaller, and until you make the plunge you have no way of knowing. It's easy for me to say "Go for it" to a 21-year-old with no family and no real investment in a job, because he has nothing to lose. But you -- well, you've got security and seniority, and you'd be pitching those out the window in trade for a vast unknown. You may well discover you hate railroading just as much as your current job, and then you'll have received zero, nada, zilch for your loss of security and seniority. I've faced a number of similar decision points in my life. I'm into, now, my sixth separate career, and my ninth state. It gets harder every time, both because I have more invested in what I was doing, and because I'm more fully aware of the consequences of both staying and going. I'd like to say that every time I took the big leap, it all worked out wonderfully. Or, that every time I took the big leap, it all turned out terribly. But in fact, it always been some of both, both good and bad, a big equivocation. I've given up a lot of good things and bad things each time I changed careers, and gained a lot of good things and bad things. But the columns balance: there's NO pattern! No track record that would indicate what I -- or you -- should do. Perhaps you should look to who you are. Do you want security, predictability, and a stable life at home with your family? Or do you want excitement, adventure, new things? Adventure ALWAYS is expensive, and if you recall the pioneers that explored America and settled it, you'll recall that a lot of them ended up rotting on the prairie with a chest full of arrows. I've chosen adventure, but I often wish I hadn't. If you're a religious man, ask God what he wants you to do. If you're married, consider your wife's needs first. I ought to note that I'm here in Arkansas because my wife asked me to be -- she got a job she really wanted -- a big promotion for her. I had to ask myself what was more important -- her or me, and I chose her. It wasn't easy to do, and I wouldn't have done it for just any woman. Just ask my ex. Like I said, you have a tough problem in front of you. Do what's right, and you'll be fine.
QUOTE: Originally posted by kpac surely some railroad men must occasionally enjoy a beer or 6, how is that accomplished with a telephone call always looming
QUOTE: Originally posted by M.W. Hemphill To add to all that -- there is no such thing as a holiday, weekend, or night. It's just another day, and it all pays the same. So forget holidays. If you're low seniority, guess when you'll be working. Also, holiday/night/weekend pay differentials don't exist, not in my experience. Time off is not guaranteed unless you really have a lot of seniority and can bid some great job. I didn't know for sure I'd have the day off for my wedding until the day before -- and I worked the midnight shift that night, then drove six hours over to Fort Worth for the wedding in a 110-degree heat in a car with no A.C. I was like a zombie, and to this day I cannot remember ANYTHING about the marriage other than that I was really, really tired, and afterward all I did was go to sleep for about 12 hours. So much for that day. My wife is still vexed about that, but she understood -- she worked for the railroad, too. The constant fatigue of going to work "on your call" is deadly -- figuratively and sometimes literally. Earlier this year I got a sobering e-mail from a very good friend who's a hoghead. He and his conductor -- both top-notch railroaders -- had fallen asleep at 3 a.m. and woke up doing 40 mph through a 25 mph curve. The lead units rode it out, but most of the train plunged over a cliff. They had perfect records up to that point, so they only got 30 days, but they could have been killed. Talk about a sobering e-mail: "Oh, by the way, I almost died last night. Most of our train is down in the bottom of a ravine smoldering." I was just glad he and his conductor weren't hurt, and the 30 days was more than fair, IMHO. It can happen to you ... just ... this ... easy.
QUOTE: Originally posted by ericsp I am guessing all of this is class 1, how about short lines?
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