is driving trains a good job?

[RooRocz]

more...........

You WILL be an extraboard employee when you are first hired, and may be for many years to follow. In fact, you might NEVER stand for a job that has regular hours and regular days off, but even if you do, it will probably be several years before you do. It took me 3 years before I stood for a regular job of any kind and another couple years before I stood for a daylight job close to home, then just as soon as I got used to that...they sent me to engineer's school and once I'm done with this training, I'll most likely go on the engineer's extraboard, and start all that over again until I stand for a regular engineer's job some 5-10 years from now, if not longer. Also, once you stand for a regular job...it may not be a job that has regular hours...it may be a mainline pool service job where you're still on call around the clock, but you just know where you'll be going rather then being subject to being sent anywhere on your seniority district. If you've only worked 9 to 5 daylight jobs with weekend's off...then you are really not a very good candidate for employment from the railroad...trust me! I think the fact that I'd worked in the grocery business for about 10.5 years, on all kinds of different shifts, spent about 6 months working night stock at K-mart, and just prior to the railroad worked a 12 hour 7pm-7am factory shift with a rotating schedule that had me work all weekend one week and off the next, helped me a lot.

Factory work! That's another positive thing that you can mention on your application if you've done it! Anything to do with heavy equipment, heavy machinery, etc. If you've run presses, extruders, assembly lines, drove forklifts, operated cranes, construction equipment, or anything of that like...it reflects positively toward getting hired. If you've driven a bus, semi-truck, delivery vans, tugboat, airplanes, etc...this will all help. If you have ever been in the military, this is a HUGE plus! A LOT of my co-workers are prior military, and some are still in the reserves. All this will HELP you get a job with the RR. We have a lot of people who were former truck drivers, construction workers, factory workers, pilots, etc on the railroad.

Anything of this nature you can mention on your job app is great...just don't mention any prior interest in railroading, unless you are a former RR employee!

If you make it past the application and get tested...most RR's have two tests...the personality quiz and the reading/math comprehension test.

There's an art to taking the presonality quiz. First of all, they'll ask you the same question two or three ways to see how you respond. You don't want to seem to "dangerous", but at the same time you don't want to seem like a "wuss".
They'll have questions like "would you go bungee jumping?", "would you drive a race car?", "would you go skydiving?" It should be obvious that the answer to these is NO, even if all three are your favorite hobbies. They don't need to know this!
Other questions which may be on here (or on the job application)..."do you have any noisy hobbies?" Again, the answer is no. Whether you like to skeet-shoot, ride a noisy dirt bike, drag race, play in a rock band or whatever, again, they don't need to know this. And by the way...I used to play in a rock band, but I did not mention this! If your ears pass the hearing test at the physical they'll have you take...then why do they need to know this...this question is only for THEIR protection should you suffer hearing loss down the road, they'll try to blame it on your former hobbies prior to working for the railroad...so be careful how you answer...use common sense on these questions.

Also...they'll ask questions like "do you take instructions well", then they'll later ask questions like "are you good at taking charge?" or other similar questions. Again, these should be very obvious! They are looking for people who are willing to take instructions from superiors but who also have enough leadership skills to make on the spot decisions and get the work done. In most cases, there are no set ways of doing things on the railroad. If you work at an outlying terminal on a local road switcher and are given a yardlist and asked to "straighten up" the yard, most of the time it is left up to the conductor on the job to figure out HOW to do it. If you are in a major classification yard, then most likely every move you make will be at the direction of the main tower yardmaster or trainmaster on duty.

Basically the personality quiz is looking for SAFE employees who take direction well but have leadership skills. In a nutshell that's it.

 

[RooRocz]

and yet more....

Now, on the other test...I can't help you there...it's dependent upon each individual. Norfolk Southern gives a test that contains reading and math questions. Some of the reading questions ask you things like which of the following 4 words does not belong together and might have examples such as Bird, Tree, Cloud and Airplane. Obviously the only one that does not "fly" in the sky is a Tree. Another question might be which word best fits in the sentence, or other similar questions. A lot of the math questions are identifying a pattern or sequence, or doing simple math skills, etc. Again...this is up to individual intellect, I can't help you here.

During the time that I was trying to get on with NS, I also applied to attend a conductor's college locally that CSX hires out of...they had me come in for an orientation, testing and interview with CSX officials. The CSX test did not have any math questions...it was all reading comprehension. You'd read a couple paragraphs about some subject then they'd ask you a dozen or so questions about what you'd just read, then you'd read about something else and answer questions about that, and so forth. NS finally called me back, so I never had to go through the conductor college for CSX...thank God...because I really didn't have 4000 dollars to pay for the class anyway. I've been told that CSX now has their own school like NS has that THEY pay to send you to instead of hiring out of these colleges...I don't know if this is true or not. Other railroads may be doing this as well now...but at one time NS was the only RR in the country with their own conductor school. All the other's hired out of the conductor colleges or former employees or other railroads.

The interview portions of the CSX and NS were similar. They go over the application and ask you specific questions about some of your answers. If you are trying to hide anything such as a bad driving record or an arrest record, you might as well hang it up...they will do a background check before you are hired and if you are caught hiding anything, you will be rejected. You might as well go ahead and tell them about anything on your record. Fortunately I had no arrest record, and my only driving record problem was getting a ticket for failure to come to a complete stop at a stopsign, which I told them about up front and the recruiter said it was no big deal. If you've had a lot of tickets or accidents, it could be a big deal though! That gives them the impression that you are reckless and unsafe. But don't hide it, because you will be rejected if you do. Might as well find out at the interview that you are not going to get the job, than to find out later on. If you have had drug or drinking problems, you better be up front about that as well, and if you are still having those same problems...find another job, don't waste your time and the railroad's time either! Also something else...NS tested me for colorblindness at the actual physical they later sent me for, but CSX tested that day when I went to the conductor's college. There was one guy in the class who was rejected because he failed. He swore to them he could see colors on signals and traffic lights, but they told him point blank..."if you fail the color blind test...you fail, period!" So if you are color-blind...they will NOT hire you.

While being physically interviewed, again, do not make any comments about being interested in the railroad. When they ask you why you want the job, tell them you want to make a better life for your family and earn more money. If you've been working indoors a lot, such as in a factory or office, tell them you want to get outdoors more. That'll perk their ears up! Because that's exactly where you'll be working 100% of the time...outdoors! Tell them things like you want to get into a job where you can get more exercise...and believe me...a conductor/brakeman gets a lot of exercise, walking the brakes on trains, climbing up and down from equipment, tying and releasing handbrakes, throwing switches, changing broken knuckles or busted airhoses, etc. You get a lot more exercise working local road switchers than you do mainline jobs though, as there's a lot more riding involved.

Once you've made your hiring recruiter and interviewing railroad officers happy at the hiring session and they call you back for a job, then they'll do 3 things...

1. You'll have to take a complete physical
2. You'll be drug screened
3. You'll be background checked (police records, driving records, and personal life)

If you have a physical condition that you think may limit railroad employement, you might as well ask at the hiring session so you don't get a shock after they give you the physical and reject you. When you go to take your physical, you should do just like you do when you go to your family doctor for a yearly checkup. Don't eat or drink anything after midnight, except water. You may be inclined to eat breakfast the next morning, but I suggest you don't. The first time I went for a physical I drank a soft drink and ate a pack of those little coconut crunch donuts on the way to the medical center. My urine showed positive for diabetes! The nurse didn't know enough to ask me if I'd eaten or rank anything with high sugar content, but one of the doctors standing nearby when she tested my urine with the litmus paper did know better and he asked. He told me to drink about 12 to 15 cups of water and then come back in a few minutes and they'd take another sample. The 2nd time, it showed clear. Another guy I know who was hired failed because they thought he had a kidney problem, because they found an abundance of albumen in his urine...this was because he'd been going to the gym and started a body building program drinking protein shakes every day...he stopped drinking them and retested and passed. You have to be very careful what you consume before going in.

 

[RooRocz]

next is the last....

As mentioned, they will drug screen you, for alcohol and all of the major drug classes. If you've been using, you will be losing...I guarantee it. Also, if you do get hired, expect to be periodically and randomly drug/alcohol tested. In my 6.5 years on the railroad, I've been tested about 10 times. Sometimes I'd go a couple years and not see the "****** man" as we call him...but I remember once getting tested twice in the same month on two different jobs. And if you happen to be working on a regular job with someone who the railroad suspects is abusing substances, then you can expect to get tested more often! We've had quite a few that have had to go through rehab in my few years on the railroad. Fortunately I made decisions long ago to leave alcohol and drugs alone, so I never have to worry about either. I haven't taken any recreational drugs in over 15 years, and during the 6.5 years I've worked for the railroad I have drank ONE beer, and only drank it to keep from throwing it away, as someone left it in my fridge while visiting and never came back to get it. I found that I simply don't have the taste for alcohol at all.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of casual drinkers on the railroad, but they are smart enough to know when they can and can not drink. If you are on the extraboard and potentially due to be called out at any moment...then DON'T drink period! But if you are on vacation, taking personal leave days, on a regular job that is off tomorrow, or such...then sure have a beer or two. But don't jeopardize your job for an alcohol buzz.

I think it should be pretty obvious that you should not drink the night before going to either a hiring session or a physical. I wouldn't even take any nyquil or cough syrup or anything of that nature. Do yourself a favor and get plenty of sleep before going to either one of the above. Be well rested, get up extra early, show up early and be alert.

As I've said, they will check your background. I had to go to downtown Atlanta to the main office and sign off on a waiver so they could do all this with the NS Police Dept. They check with the DMV to see if you have accidents, DUI's, speeding tickets, moving violations, etc. They check with the state and local police departments to see if you've been arrested, have warrants against you, etc. I don't recall if they checked my financial history/credit rating or not, but I do know that these days, in many industries it is common practice for employers to check all this and often you are rejected if you have bad credit or financial problems. I don't totally think this is fair, but I can halfway understand some places not wanting to take a chance with people who can't manage their own personal life. I don't remember signing off for anything of this nature, but I may have, or it may be something that has been started recently...so you might want to expect this too...and if you have black marks on your history...it could affect you. I DO remember being asked to supply about a half dozen personal references, which I used people I'd known atleast 5 years for all of those. After being hired I spoke to all of the people on my reference list, and NONE of them said they were contacted by the railroad, but that may not be the case in every situation. Other than going through a divorce, which happened right after I was hired by the railroad, I've led a fairly uneventful life, with no major blemishes on my personal history...so it may not have warranted any further investigation, but if I'd ever been arrested or had any kind of drug/alcohol history or poor job history or such, they may have dug a little deeper into my past. I would imagine after some of the events in recent years, they may dig a little deeper than they used to...so be prepared for this as well.

 

[RooRocz]

last one... I think...

If you make it through all the hoops an hurdles and get through conductor school and divisional training, then congratulations! It takes a lot, trust me! It will also put a hell of a damper on your family life, especially if you are in a divorce situation and your children are moved 100 miles or more away. You'll rarely get to see your children, and when you do your time will often be limited because they are involved in activities that cut into YOUR time. If you manage to stay married happily or otherwise, you'll still miss out on a lot of family activities. Your friends won't understand why you can't give them a definite answer as to whether you can come over and watch the superbowl with them or not. Your in-laws will think you don't like them because you only come over once ever 5 or 6 weeks, instead of every weekend like you used to. Your own parents will call you stranger! You WILL be tired much of the time! When you are off, often you'll only want to sleep or hang around the house, because you won't feel like going anywhere else. You'll be at home a lot by yourself, because your spouse will be going to work just about the time you get home from work, and your kids will be going to school, soccer, or wherever the same. You'll often be sleeping during the daytime, and working all night. You may have to buy dark curtains and blinds to put in the "guest room" and you'll have to sleep in there by yourself, with nothing but an alarm clock and telephone to keep you company. You'll have to make sure to keep your pager and/or cellphone charged and fresh so you don't dare miss a call, because if you do, they'll take you out of service for missing a call and you'll miss more than one day's pay because of this, they may even make you go to an investigation before they'll put you back into service or take some other disciplinary measure.

Speaking of discipline...there is a possiblity that you could be "fired" (which on the railroad doesn't necessarily mean permanently, but often for a specified period of time, such as 30 days, 90 days, etc) for something that wasn't even your fault. Say for instance you are on a 3 man crew, and you are the conductor and on the north end of the yard to watch a shove movement, the engineer and brakeman are on the south end. The brakeman misaligns a switch and the engineer runs through it and splits it, then backs up and shoves toward you. A cut of cars derails and turns over and causes a ton of damage. There is a great likelihood that you could be fired along with the other two crew members eventhough you were nowhere near where the rule violation occured. Hopefully you could go to investigation and get yourself cleared because you were 50 car lengths away and had no way to see the switch was improperly lined, but even if you do, you will be held out of service for a time leading up to the investigation and you will miss paydays because of that...and they will NOT reimburse you for time lost. It's pretty much every man for himself on the railroad, but often the whole crew goes down with the ship, so to speak. This is not fair by any stretch, but it's the way it is. There will be certain people you'll dread being called to work with because of their past histories. Everyone on the railroad eventually does something wrong and gets caught. It might be something simple as being caught getting off moving equipment, or you might split a switch, or run an cut of cars into another or whatever...and most people wind up having a file folder with a few incident reports in it, but there are some people on the railroad who have their own drawer in the filing cabinet! It's amazing how some of them keep their jobs! Of course they stay "run off" a lot of the time. Some guys have had to work beyond their original retirement date to make up for bad time when they were run off just to get their full 30 years in. Do yourself a favor and set it in your mind that you won't be one of those people, and hopefully you won't be dragged down by someone who is. And whenever in doubt, STOP THE MOVEMENT however you have to...whether it's telling the engineer to stop over the radio or if you're on the engine itself, pull the conductor's emergency handle! You'll be surprised how lucky you'll get sometimes, avoiding a catastrophe.

Eventually you'll be called up to go to engineer's school! You don't have a choice...all the railroads now expect you to be engineer qualified when the time comes. If you fail to promote to engineer, they terminate your service entirely...you don't stay working on the ground. We had this happen to a guy not too long ago...he failed his engineer promotion twice. They give you a 2nd chance to pass, but that's it. He now works for Home Depot or Lowe's or one of those home building supply places, I'm not sure which.

Well, I guess I've said about all I have to say on the topic. I can't think of anything in particular I've left out, but I may have. I hope I've saved someone out there the 40 dollars they might have considered spending on that book. If someone out there thinks what I've said is worth 40 dollars, or even 40 cents then by all means, send me a check! Ha ha! Seriously...I hope this information is valuable to someone.

Link to original post: CLICKY

(just to clarify: not actually my experience, just relaying it so that peeps here can see)

 

[bl4882]

Reality

Hello RooRocz,

Your experience mirrors mine with the Western Pacific here in California some decades ago, except I withdrew immediately after I learned the truth.

Being a railroad man has always been a vocation, not a job. The whole rest of your life is secondary to it. It's tough. Thanks for putting out the dose of reality.

Bernie

 

[Truemac]

I know if you have family members who have worked on the railroad, that is also a plus. My dad is a conductor for UP and one of my uncles is a CSX engineer. I hope to use that to my advantage once I graduate from high school.

just my 2 cents.:wave:

 

[JimDep]

RooRocz,

Good info! Thanks for sharing.

 

[laika]

Hi,

I,m a traindriver in the Netherlands and i like my job. But it also depends in what country you will work. But ofcourse there are also some dislikes about it. First you need to work on different times. So with shifts. Then you have the accidents(suicide), and you are on your own and that means when something is going wrong most of the time the traindriver has a hard time to get his rights and to prove his unguilty. But afther all its a great job and i realy don,t know what else to do.

greetz:wave: