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#1
11-21-2005, 08:42 PM
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My first day running trains
Today was my first day on the job (freight train conductor) other than 8 days of training center stuff. The 8 days was phase 1 and is mostly an instruction on how not to get killed and a little bit about air brakes.
They also taught us some of the basic signals, how to ride trains (on the outside) and how to operate switches. Today was the start of phase 2, which should last about 7 weeks. They put me with an experienced conductor + engineer and I'm supposed to be the conductors shadow until they put me with another conductor on a different job. I got to line switches and couple cars in the yard and then we went out onto the mainline to a job. I felt like such a kid. We went through a few tunnels and over some railroad crossings. What a blast! I still have two more phases after this one, each harder than the next. There's so much more to it than I ever realized though. Anyway, just mundanely and pointlessly gloating (for lack of a better word) I guess. 
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#2
11-21-2005, 09:47 PM
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#4
11-21-2005, 10:05 PM
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How cool to have a job that is like playing. It is almost like you're a baseball player. My son is only 5 and he would love to grow up to be a train engineer.
Congrats and good luck. I have to settle for an HO setup. Jim
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#7
11-22-2005, 11:44 AM
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My wife's sister's husband is a conductor as well. All that training made for some lean months, but now he's making some really great money at it, and he's working his way toward having some seniority, too.
The downside: not long after he started, two guys in his training class made an error of some kind, and at least one of them died. His wife freaked out about it for quite a while, because it really brought home how dangerous it still is to work for the railroad. But, he's no fool, so as long as he keeps his wits about him and doesn't slack, he'll be fine.
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#8
11-22-2005, 01:19 PM
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Yeah, In training class they showed us a few pictures of squished people and quite a few derailments.
I plan on following the rules until the day after I retire. They even tell you that nothing is worth your safety. "Take your time, open your pockets and let them fill them up". Of course that's after the peanuts we get for training pay. I was just as excited today as I was yesterday even though it was the same route. I hope I stay that way. Today there were two deer out on the track that scampered out of the way just in time. The scenery is awesome. I took a couple of pics when we stopped. I'll try to post them soon. No hamilton railroad watch but they do make US buy our own watch and set it to a wall clock every shift. This is the first time in my life wearing a watch, bleh! Thanks for the well wishes.
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#9
11-22-2005, 01:33 PM
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CONGRATULATIONS! My brother is a Trainmaster for BNSF out of Chicago. He used to work in Chino as an Asst Trainmaster. We come from a long line of railroaders-- my dad was a mechanic, my mom's dad was an electrician, my grandma was even a Harvey waitress for a while (long after it was a glamourous job). There were times when I'd think "hmmm, brakeman..." and then remember that I knock things over just by coming within 18" of them.
So two questions: 1. Which railroad do you work for? 2. When are you going to start "Ask The Railroad Conductor" thread?
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#10
11-22-2005, 01:54 PM
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norfolk southern. From what I can tell they're ptretty good to work for.
And I'll start that thread probably after I actually know something. Don't hold your breath on that one. 
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#12
11-22-2005, 02:39 PM
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It's not my job to run the train,
I cannot ring the bell, but let the damn thing jump the tracks and see who catches hell. Congrats., it's great to have a job that you really enjoy. My Grandfather was a bridge carpenter (wooden trestles) for the B&O.
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#13
11-22-2005, 03:47 PM
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That about sums it up. No I can't toot the horn. That's a bummer too. I'm stationed at a rail yard about 35 miles from home but there is one pretty close to my house. It would be cool to transfer there eventually so my kids could hear my train from the house as it pulls out. Plus it'd save me lots of time and gas. But so far I'm liking the people at my yard. There doesn't seem to be any pissing on the new guy syndrome going on yet although seniority takes care of that on its own. Some people do refer to the new guys as pumkin heads because we have to wear bright orange hats to distinguish ourselves from the rest of the crew.
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#15
11-22-2005, 07:30 PM
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That's so awesome! How long is the route your training on? How long does it take? Are there usually one or two conductors on the train? Maybe I should wait for the "Ask the Railroad Conductor" thread. Don't forget to post those pics!
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#16
11-22-2005, 07:50 PM
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You know I always wondred how someone becomes a train engineer. Any insight? College? What do you study? Etc.
I'd imagine that field of work is more generational.
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#17
11-22-2005, 08:01 PM
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#18
11-22-2005, 09:13 PM
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Foaming Cleanser, The Wal-mart casio I bought is keeping pretty good time so far. They don't really make us check them though. There's very little direct supervision. I bet all hell breaks loose when you do something wrong though.
World Eater, The engineer trainees I met down in training were all former conductors who are just filling vacancies from retirees mostly. Most of them don't have any formal college. The company does offer free online courses for whatever your career path might be though. A lot of these guys (and gals) have been conductors for five years or less. As a matter of fact by taking a conductor position I'm obligated to promote to engineer within two years if they need me to. But those engineers know their shit. Heart, my route (this week) is a short one because I'm with two high seniority guys. We headed out about 8:30 and were back by 12:00 this afternoon. The norm is more like close to 12 hours for a road job. Yard jobs (where you get trains ready) usually run in 8 hour shifts. There's normally only one conductor and one engineer but certain jobs require a "brake man" which is basically just another conductor. The brake man is used when a caboose is needed. They actually have remote controlled trains that are used for yard work and the operator controls it from outside the train. Freaky. Also, the remote has sensors in it so that if it's tilted within so many degrees it'll stop the train. That's incase the operator keels over and dies. Even the regular engines have alerters that go off like every six minutes and has to be reset by the engineer. If he doesn't reset it within a given amount of time the train will stop. I'm still trying to get the pics from my phone to my computer. Somehow it's not working.
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#19
11-22-2005, 11:36 PM
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Glad to hear they have so many fail-safes in locomotives these days! I got to listen to a lot of horror stories of "the old days" while I was working with steam engine restoration. Black Train Song, do you happen to know if N & W still owns #1218 and #611? Those were beautiful ladies and a pleasure to work on, but my understanding is the high cost of excursion insurance forced N & W to retire them.
Please stay safe - those are BIG, potentially dangerous toys you're working with. You are in a field where it definitely pays to listen to your elders - especially if they still have all their fingers!
__________________
Madness takes its toll - please have correct change.
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#20
11-23-2005, 01:34 AM
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My Uncle was a brakeman on the Illinois Central in northwest Iowa (until the 80s IIRC). I hope the ROW on your road is better maintained than the IC was. I think my Uncle actually quit because it was just too dangerous.
Anyone interested in trains should try to get a hold of a couple of recent issues of the New Yorker (unfortunately, I don't remember the exact issues). John McPhee did a two parter called Coal Train where he did a ride along with a couple of the coal trains that run from the mines in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and along the Union Pacific across Nebraska and on to power plants in the east. McPhee does his usual excellent job of portraying the people that make it all run.
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#21
11-23-2005, 02:25 AM
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Aussie Railway Song (Apologies for the non-US terminology):
The guard is the man Who rides in the van At the back of the train. The driver up front Thinks the guard is a c*nt And the guard thinks the driver's the same. Anyway, congrats on the job, you lucky bugger. Big, powerful toys, those. Be safe and have fun.
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#22
11-23-2005, 04:16 AM
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#23
11-23-2005, 10:06 AM
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At least NS doesn't make you guys sh*t in plastic bags anymore...
When I was in college, I worked for a tourist railroad. It was fun, dirty, and a lot of work. It did the job of getting the idea of working for a real railroad out of my mind once and for all. I've done the jobs of brakeman, gandy dancer, mechanic, hostled, and even hand-fired the steam engine on runs.
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#24
11-23-2005, 12:10 PM
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I read an interview some years ago about one of the first female engineers in NYS. She was quite a character, and at the end of the story she noted that she could do any damn thing a man could do, except pee out of the engine door.
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#25
11-23-2005, 05:41 PM
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#26
11-24-2005, 09:35 AM
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SnakescatLady,
There's no 1218 or 611 in our system locomotive tables so they're probably either not around anymore or they've been changed. Zag, yesterday was my first day going down an industry track. Bad track all the way. I thnk they'd rather pop a car or two back onto a track occasionally than pour money into tracks that serve only a few customers. Loadeddog, So far from what I've seen the engineers and the coductors get along quite well. Vunderbob, Um...they told us about the poop bags in class and I think they still do use them on certain trains. Not only that, they started numbering them because certain crews were out decorating trees with them. I haven't seen one yet. (in a tree or on a train)
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#28
11-24-2005, 11:39 AM
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One of the quicker ways for it to not work out (besides failing a background search and physical) is:
To fail the "hang test" on the first day. They have you hang from a ladder with one arm and give four different hand signals for about three and a half minutes. If you fall then you're out. If you step down they give you one more chance (i think) or If you fail three of the quizes in phase 1 or the final test and field evaluation or On our first day back to the training center (phase 3) we have to take a signal test. My region has around 62 signals. If you get lower than an 80% you fail and go home. I guess there are a million other reasons they can determine if you're unfit for railroad work. Mostly safety violations
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#29
11-24-2005, 01:46 PM
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[highjack]
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[/highjack]
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#30
11-24-2005, 10:59 PM
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I live less than 100 feet from a railroad siding.
Some engineers sneak through so quietly I hardly hear them coming. They know that at 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning or 11:30 on a Tuesday evening there is little traffic on the quiet streets in my neighborhood and little kids might be sleeping, so if they blow their horns at all it's just a short blast for the idiots that blow through the signals. Some engineers start blowing their fucking horns half a block before the fucking street and don't fucking stop until they're half a fucking block past the street. Since it's a 5 mph track that's one fucking loud, long horn, and one day I'm going to find an arms dealer to sell me a black market sniper rifle with scope and silencer and start shooting. Please don't be like those guys.
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#31
11-24-2005, 11:24 PM
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My First Day Runing Trains
Ok, I can't be the only childish pervert who giggled when she saw this, right...RIGHT? And yeah, definitely cool job.
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#32
11-25-2005, 08:06 AM
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__________________
The day we stopped being "citizens" and started being "consumers" was the beginning of the End of Western Civilization.
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#33
11-25-2005, 01:21 PM
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#34
11-25-2005, 03:59 PM
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Who's in charge of what? Does the conductor outrank the engineer? Can he/she tell the engineer what to do?
Also, if the engineers can't poop in bags anymore, how do they go? BTW I've seen ladies pee forward occasionally, but knew better than to ask how they did it. 
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#35
11-25-2005, 04:24 PM
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#36
11-25-2005, 06:30 PM
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The conductor is lower paid (not by much) but he is responsible for the entire movement of the train. That being said, if something goes horribly wrong they pretty much investigate everybody. Both can get taken out of service. Also the trains have black boxes. That's why, Chique, they are supposed to blow the horn at crossings because it's all documented and if he doesn't and hits a car then his ass is grass. (long-long-short-long until the front of the train occupies the crossing.) I think the idea is that the conductors job sort of overlaps the engineers in that if the engineer disregards rules it's the conductors duty to address it and if all else fails he's to stop the train. This is also the case if the engineer happens to drop dead while operating the train. But the conductor's main job is to operate swtches, read signals and guide the train when it's making a shove movement. A "shove" is when the train pushes the cars ahead of the engine and the engineer could be 100 cars behind the movement and not be able to see anything. The conductor is his eyes and counts off in car legnths how far he needs to go. He's also the one who's responsible for getting the right cars to the right place. Oh, and conductors also piece the trains together in the yards and perform airbrake tests among other things. I guess the reason the engineer might feel a little higher up the totem pole is because he pretty much is. They're usually promoted up from conductor so they know both jobs.
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#37
11-25-2005, 06:31 PM
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Ooh, and the pee thing is out of my area of expertise but I think they just sort of pull back their....well. That sounds like a good GQ question!
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#38
11-25-2005, 08:35 PM
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#40
11-25-2005, 08:56 PM
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#41
11-25-2005, 09:59 PM
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For probably the next couple of years I'll be getting all the extra jobs which means I'll get to see a whole lot of the region (tri-state area) But so far I've seen two deer and one fox run off the tracks as we aproached. I'm a city boy and don't get to see much of that stuff. 
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#42
11-25-2005, 10:07 PM
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Be careful of that wildlife if you're off the engine! I laughed my butt off at a story about a conductor (in Canada if I recall correctly) having an ernest discussion with a wolverine that badly wanted to eat his boot.
By the way, #1218 and #611 were steam engines - only used for railfairs and excersions - so I doubt if they would be on the regular locomotive rosters.
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#43
11-25-2005, 10:26 PM
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Train fans a nuts. Coming home of San Bernardino in a cold rain one time I saw a couple of guys at Cajon summit standing around a camera tripod in the rain, holding a plastic sheet over the camera to protect it while they were soaking wet. They were filming a freight coming up the Cajon Pass grade. Nuts I tell you.
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