Railroad Jobs

[Trainnut484]

QUOTE: Originally posted by edblysard

Timberwolf and Trainut,
The time frame UP gives is intended to give you a idea of how a career railroading can go. The extra board is where new hires for brakeman, conductors end up, because they are lowest on the seniority roster. The higher your are on the roster, the better job you can hold, often a regular scheduled job with set days off. The "older" you are, the better job you can hold.

Get some wiskers, you can get on a regular job.
After 7 years, I am in the upper third of the senority roster here, but we are a small railroad.

And they do warn you right up front, you will not have a social life, you will miss every one of your kids birthdays, every holiday.
But if its what you want to do, you will know within a month of hiring on, and it real hard to quit!
Stay Frosty,
Ed

Ed,
Apparently, you misread or misunderstood my last post. The point of my original and last posting is that the AMDG recruiter is not suppling potential students with the full truth about how railroads work with new employees, and on top of that is charging a big chunk of change to train them for the railroad. I knew that the students would be on the extra board at least ten years. Also, I'm fully aware of railroad life. My late father missed some holidays and birthdays. He was third in senority on the Santa Fe, a class 1 road, before he retired with thirty years of trainman service in the late 1980's. He earned his full beard from the whiskers he grew through the senority rank and file.

I have a friend who hired out on the BNSF as a conductor back in 1996. He was furloughed twice, but now starting to be on road assignments.

You might not have it so rough on your small road, but on bigger roads you'd be just getting started in railroad life.

Take care[:)]

[edblysard]

Timberwolf and Trainut,
The time frame UP gives is intended to give you a idea of how a career railroading can go. The extra board is where new hires for brakeman, conductors end up, because they are lowest on the seniority roster. The higher your are on the roster, the better job you can hold, often a regular scheduled job with set days off. The "older" you are, the better job you can hold.

Some guys like the extra board.
Down here at the PTRA, some of our guys make $4400.00 to $5600.00 per half, (15 day pay period).

But they are walking zombies, working 8 hours, off 8, back to work for another 8, so forth and so on.

Get some wiskers, you can get on a regular job.
After 7 years, I am in the upper third of the senority roster here, but we are a small railroad.

And they do warn you right up front, you will not have a social life, you will miss every one of your kids birthdays, every holiday.
But if its what you want to do, you will know within a month of hiring on, and it real hard to quit!
Stay Frosty,
Ed

[edblysard]

Timberwolf and Trainut,
The time frame UP gives is intended to give you a idea of how a career railroading can go. The extra board is where new hires for brakeman, conductors end up, because they are lowest on the seniority roster. The higher your are on the roster, the better job you can hold, often a regular scheduled job with set days off. The "older" you are, the better job you can hold.

Some guys like the extra board.
Down here at the PTRA, some of our guys make $4400.00 to $5600.00 per half, (15 day pay period).

But they are walking zombies, working 8 hours, off 8, back to work for another 8, so forth and so on.

Get some wiskers, you can get on a regular job.
After 7 years, I am in the upper third of the senority roster here, but we are a small railroad.

And they do warn you right up front, you will not have a social life, you will miss every one of your kids birthdays, every holiday.
But if its what you want to do, you will know within a month of hiring on, and it real hard to quit!
Stay Frosty,
Ed

[Trainnut484]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ironken

Trainnut, somebody gave you some bad info. The RRs don't hire specific for a certain board, i.e. extra board. They hire for a certain craft, then you can bid/bump/be forced to the jobs that your seniority will carry you. I don't have alot of seniority and hold pool turns from time to time.
Ken

Ironken, I was at the job fair where AMDG was recruiting here in KC, and the recruiter said that new UP conductor hires here would go to the extra board, and should expect to be on the extra board for the first five years, but that wasn't a guarantee (could be longer). He wasn't sure about what AMDG was training UP new hires for in St. Louis the following week. AMDG also charges ALOT of money for a training program. Of course you would only go to training IF UP hires you. I don't like the aspect of PAYING someone to be hired [V][V]

My late father was a trainman for the Santa Fe for over thirty years. Before he retired as an engineer in the late 1980's, he was third in senority. I know he enjoyed that [^][^][^]

[Trainnut484]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ironken

Trainnut, somebody gave you some bad info. The RRs don't hire specific for a certain board, i.e. extra board. They hire for a certain craft, then you can bid/bump/be forced to the jobs that your seniority will carry you. I don't have alot of seniority and hold pool turns from time to time.
Ken

Ironken, I was at the job fair where AMDG was recruiting here in KC, and the recruiter said that new UP conductor hires here would go to the extra board, and should expect to be on the extra board for the first five years, but that wasn't a guarantee (could be longer). He wasn't sure about what AMDG was training UP new hires for in St. Louis the following week. AMDG also charges ALOT of money for a training program. Of course you would only go to training IF UP hires you. I don't like the aspect of PAYING someone to be hired [V][V]

My late father was a trainman for the Santa Fe for over thirty years. Before he retired as an engineer in the late 1980's, he was third in senority. I know he enjoyed that [^][^][^]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TARGUBRIGHT

Mr. Voss, I do not know how legal this is but, numerous members have asked about railroad jobs.
In the Chicago Tribune jobs section on page 17.
AMDG is training Conductors in the Chicago area for the UNION PACIFIC R.R.
Requirements;
Valid Drivers License
No Felonies or Misdemeaners in the last 7 years
No drug or Alchol convistions in the last 3 years
Outside and Shift work Preferred
Interviews will be held at Daley College
7500 South Pulaski
on June 30th at noon and 6PM
Call 866-300-5198 ext. 201 or 203 for more info.

David I hope I did not break any policies [?][?]
TIM ARGUBRIGHT

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TARGUBRIGHT

Mr. Voss, I do not know how legal this is but, numerous members have asked about railroad jobs.
In the Chicago Tribune jobs section on page 17.
AMDG is training Conductors in the Chicago area for the UNION PACIFIC R.R.
Requirements;
Valid Drivers License
No Felonies or Misdemeaners in the last 7 years
No drug or Alchol convistions in the last 3 years
Outside and Shift work Preferred
Interviews will be held at Daley College
7500 South Pulaski
on June 30th at noon and 6PM
Call 866-300-5198 ext. 201 or 203 for more info.

David I hope I did not break any policies [?][?]
TIM ARGUBRIGHT

[Anonymous]

Trainnut, somebody gave you some bad info. The RRs don't hire specific for a certain board, i.e. extra board. They hire for a certain craft, then you can bid/bump/be forced to the jobs that your seniority will carry you. I don't have alot of seniority and hold pool turns from time to time.
Timbrewolf, where I am at on the BNSF, I get a 2hour call, and average 12hrs-plus each way. I usually am gone 40hours or more. If the board is spinnin', I will usually get back out on my rest (if I was on duty 12hrs...10 hrs rest, less than 12hrs...8hrs rest. I can request 10 hrs rest if I want by local agreement)
Ken

[Anonymous]

Trainnut, somebody gave you some bad info. The RRs don't hire specific for a certain board, i.e. extra board. They hire for a certain craft, then you can bid/bump/be forced to the jobs that your seniority will carry you. I don't have alot of seniority and hold pool turns from time to time.
Timbrewolf, where I am at on the BNSF, I get a 2hour call, and average 12hrs-plus each way. I usually am gone 40hours or more. If the board is spinnin', I will usually get back out on my rest (if I was on duty 12hrs...10 hrs rest, less than 12hrs...8hrs rest. I can request 10 hrs rest if I want by local agreement)
Ken

[Anonymous]

Hey, It beats knocking off all night liquor stores.

Well OK, maybe the liquor store thing has a more reliable schedule and you would be able to spend more time with the family. But the railroad offers Insurance!!
TIM A

[Anonymous]

Hey, It beats knocking off all night liquor stores.

Well OK, maybe the liquor store thing has a more reliable schedule and you would be able to spend more time with the family. But the railroad offers Insurance!!
TIM A

[Anonymous]

I applied as a freight conductor but put the application on hold when I found out that I'd be on call 24/7 for 15-20 years, according to the HR guy from UP. That seemed like social suicide to me. They only give you 3 hrs. from the time they call you to get to work and you can be called 5 hours after you finish a job. What I wish I knew is a) how many hours/week you work in an average day?, b) how often you get called back within 16 hours of finishing a job? and c) if the person responsible for making the calls can give you an idea of how likely / how soon you will be called back at a given time? Right now I don't understand how any conductor can have any kind of life at all. Any railroaders out there (especially UP conductors) who know?

[Anonymous]

I applied as a freight conductor but put the application on hold when I found out that I'd be on call 24/7 for 15-20 years, according to the HR guy from UP. That seemed like social suicide to me. They only give you 3 hrs. from the time they call you to get to work and you can be called 5 hours after you finish a job. What I wish I knew is a) how many hours/week you work in an average day?, b) how often you get called back within 16 hours of finishing a job? and c) if the person responsible for making the calls can give you an idea of how likely / how soon you will be called back at a given time? Right now I don't understand how any conductor can have any kind of life at all. Any railroaders out there (especially UP conductors) who know?

[Trainnut484]

AMDG was recruiting here in Kansas City recently, and the UP jobs available were for the extra board only.

[Trainnut484]

AMDG was recruiting here in Kansas City recently, and the UP jobs available were for the extra board only.

[cabforward]

america's job bank [ajb] has listings by state & nation-wide for r.r. jobs.. listings average 160-200 each week.. unfortunately, employers do not care whether the entry has anthing to do w/r.rs.. there are listings for cab drivers, ups drivers, etc..
this slows scanning down a little, but titles are e-z to read..

r.r. jobs are plainly titled conductor, switchman, etc..

listings can be arranged by one or more states, one or more kinds of r.r. jobs or nation-wide..

[cabforward]

america's job bank [ajb] has listings by state & nation-wide for r.r. jobs.. listings average 160-200 each week.. unfortunately, employers do not care whether the entry has anthing to do w/r.rs.. there are listings for cab drivers, ups drivers, etc..
this slows scanning down a little, but titles are e-z to read..

r.r. jobs are plainly titled conductor, switchman, etc..

listings can be arranged by one or more states, one or more kinds of r.r. jobs or nation-wide..

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by zardoz1

Tim-
Thanks for posting this.
Could you please confirm the date and time of the classes.
[/quote
I made a mistake on the date!!
Corrected date is July 30th at noon and 6PM
It also states that no one will enter the course unless Union Pacific makes contingent job offers.
Sorry for the mistake
TIM ARGUBRIGHT

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