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.
Neat. My father’s uncle was a locomotive engineer on the Illinois Central in the steam engine days. My goal was to be a locomotive engineer on one of those great, big steam engines.
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.
Did you have to buy a Hamilton Railroad watch? My father did (in 1952) and had to be prepared to show the conductor when asked. If their watches weren’t in synch - immediate loss of job.
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.
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!
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?
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.
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!
I heard (so it must be true) that quartz watches dug a mass grave for railroad watches, that even the bargain-basement variety are far more accurate than the once-required, very expensive railroad timepieces. Do you know whether this is accurate?
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.
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!
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.
