Calling all railroad men!

[RustyRelics]

I am currently 17, and looking to get a job on the railroad as soon as I am done with school (18-19). I've been wanting this job for a long time, so it's not just a spur of the moment thing. I am not going to college, (socialist generating, indoctrination facilities) for several reasons, one being the aforementioned reasons in parenthesis, and because no one can afford it. Anyway, the job I am looking for is to be a conductor. I actually have several rule books and such that I've read, one being as recent as 2007 (and no I ain't tellin' ya which railroad!). I am familiar with the job, as I've been around conductors and brakemen for a good chunk of my life, but I never thought to ask, how do I get hired? Do I just waltz right into the office and say, "Hey, I wanna job" ?

Any questions, please ask them, and please, the more advice, the better.

 

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[gunsil]

Socialist generating indoctrination facilities? There wouldn't be any modern trains if it weren't for college/university taught engineers to design better engines. There would be no metal detectors, they are also deigned by folks with higher education. You couldn't watch TV if it hadn't been for college educated people. NOTHING in our modern electronic world would be here if not for higher education and we'd all still be dying off in huge numbers by the time we were forty if not for the advances in modern medicine by folks with many years of college. People who study hard and pass tests get scholarships as do some athletes, there are ways to get a college education without a lot of money. Most states have reasonably priced community colleges. I don't believe college is right for everybody but to call colleges socialist generating indoctrination facilities is beyond belief. If you have been around conductors all your life why not ask one of them? My father worked for the railroad, you may not be able to get a conductor job right away, you may have to work your way up to such a position. My dad had to start as a janitor for the RR and worked his way up to mailroom duties before he completed his college and got a better job. Again, ask the conductors you know.

 

[RustyRelics]

Socialist generating indoctrination facilities? There wouldn't be any modern trains if it weren't for college/university taught engineers to design better engines. There would be no metal detectors, they are also deigned by folks with higher education. You couldn't watch TV if it hadn't been for college educated people. NOTHING in our modern electronic world would be here if not for higher education and we'd all still be dying off in huge numbers by the time we were forty if not for the advances in modern medicine by folks with many years of college. People who study hard and pass tests get scholarships as do some athletes, there are ways to get a college education without a lot of money. Most states have reasonably priced community colleges. I don't believe college is right for everybody but to call colleges socialist generating indoctrination facilities is beyond belief. If you have been around conductors all your life why not ask one of them? My father worked for the railroad, you may not be able to get a conductor job right away, you may have to work your way up to such a position. My dad had to start as a janitor for the RR and worked his way up to mailroom duties before he completed his college and got a better job. Again, ask the conductors you know.

The reason I don't ask them, is because we moved away from the places where I could talk to them.

By the way, not every inventor had a college education...

I'm also talking about modern day colleges and schools infested with political bias, just my two cents.

 

[piegrande]

Bill Gates changed the world by developing personal computers. He dropped out of college. So did a lot of other important people.

Students in the USA I know assure me that their college campuses are indeed socialist indoctrination facilities. A majority of young people today support socialism, even though those systems destroy their societies 100% of the time.

I agree with #2 only to the extent they should not be what they are, but that's all.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Ethan, found this on the web, and it seems to provide a fairly
decent overview of the job.

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-does-a-railroad-conductor-do-1361526

I'm yet another believer that college education is not an absolute requirement
for success. Always believe that I could learn anything I wanted to..all I had to
do was apply myself. Found this to be true..until it came to higher level math.

Don't forget your local library, as they likely have access to all manner of books
that relate to the needed training.

Best movie line ever:"..you'll figure out you dropped a hundred and fifty thousand
dollars for an education you could have got for a buck fifty in late charges at the local library."

 

[releventchair]

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-does-a-railroad-conductor-do-1361526

 

[mikefromIllinois]

My son is a conductor for BNSF. He went to six weeks schooling in Overland Park KS. 14yrs. ago. He was on the road up till 2yrs. ago. When he was on the road he was making between $80,000- 110,000 a year. He now works in the yard still as a conductor but makes $63,000 a yr. but he's home every nite and has 2 days a week off. He said when he got ready to get out of school all of the major railroads were there trying to get the guys getting out to go to work for them. I think it cost him $6,000 to go then ,but you pretty much had a job when you got out,providing you passed your classes. This might be something for you to look into.

 

[releventchair]

Note the decline in job availability in the link below (link is from prior post's link.)
You're biggest hurdle might be in convincing the train/rail owner(s) why they should hire you...

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/transportation-and-material-moving/railroad-occupations.htm#tab-6

 

[controlfreq]

The human mind is amazing. Once you recognize the indoctrination process, you are then free to immunize yourself from it. My nephew just graduated with a construction degree and may be to the right of me on some issues.

Some companies offer education benefits and higher education does help with career goals. It does take all types though, educated men/women push the designes but we still need skilled craftsmen to build the designs and make them work... and there are a lot of skilled craftsmen earning more than some college grads.

Me personally, I dropped out of college, joined military, grew up a little, then went back and finished the degree. Now working in a very specialized field in a technical engineering position. Know a couple of other guys that worked right out of HS and got degrees at night school later on (not easy but can be done). Know a guy with a two year Air Conditioning tech school degree managing 40 engineers, and a few are PEs... and at 50+ he is trying to get a BS. Don't let current political idiocy sell you short.

Flip side, a good friend of mine that's smart enough to have been a Dr and a lawyer, choose computers as a career because they fascinated him. After 35 years he hated every minute of every day at work but was earning too much money to even consider a career change.

FWIW, I saw in the news the Ft Worth TX rail yard is looking for help.

... and if still unsure, the military has a lot of good careers you can try on for size. Just don't close your mind to opportunity befor it presents itself. Good luck.

 

[Force_of_Iron]

Hardest part about the RR was that it is union. If you start as a conductor on most roads you will get put on the board. With most RR's you get the worst runs for about 8-10 yrs. You get stuck and held over all over the line map nonstop at all hours. Maybe its gotten better as the seniority situation has changed from when I knew it 15 years ago but it used to be grueling on most lines.

I knew several people that quit and I was always surprised because I was under the impression that it was a great job growing up. The difference in youthful romanticism and reality I suppose.

 

[Duckshot]

Nobody ever made a dime sitting in the classroom except for the professor.

Whoops! Was that politics?

Good idea looking into it now at your age Rusty Relics. I don't know anything about working railroads but what I do know is that it is good to have a plan #2 and a plan #3. Sometimes plan #3 can become plan #1.

Also IIRC you are home schooled. Statistically home schooled kids do less well in maths than even public school kids, never mind private school kids. If you want to be successful you need to focus on the kind of math most kids hate the most - word problems. Don't worry about getting the number answer so much (not that that isn't important), as focusing on the process of figuring out how to convert the questions to equations. Don't worry about not being able to solve your equations, so long as other people can read and understand them.

i don't know about railroad engineers but crane engineers need to know a library full of math. Operating machinery is all about cause and effect. So is math, and math is what you use to foresee the outcome before it takes place in the physical world.

Hope that helps you Rusty Relics. I hope you find a career that not only suits you but something you enjoy.

Oh, one more thing. About most kids hating word problems- They won't hate them so much if they discover that solving problems is how the big money gets earned.

 

[Jbabycsx]

Take my advice as someone who went through the exact same thing as you. Stay away. I gave them 10 years of my life. They control your entire life from the moment you are hired. Not only that, you will not know from one day to the next if you will have a job or not because from day one they will try to build a discipline record against you. You will miss your kids birthdays, christmases and most other major holidays. No ball practices or anniversaries either. You want to drink a beer with your buddies on the weekend? Better call and mark off sick. Do that a few times a year and it starts the attendance policy against you. Just trust me, the money is descent but there are much much better opportunities out there.

 

[Jbabycsx]

If you need any specifics though, send me a message and I’ll text you the details of what to expect as far as the school part of it. I’m assuming if you are in Kentucky it’s probably CSX which is the same one I was with.

 

[mikefromIllinois]

Take my advice as someone who went through the exact same thing as you. Stay away. I gave them 10 years of my life. They control your entire life from the moment you are hired. Not only that, you will not know from one day to the next if you will have a job or not because from day one they will try to build a discipline record against you. You will miss your kids birthdays, christmases and most other major holidays. No ball practices or anniversaries either. You want to drink a beer with your buddies on the weekend? Better call and mark off sick. Do that a few times a year and it starts the attendance policy against you. Just trust me, the money is descent but there are much much better opportunities out there.

My boy has been there 14yrs. and says if it wasn't for the money and insurance he would have been gone long ago.

 

[Jbabycsx]

The benefits are (or were) great while I was there. The downsides I mentioned before outweighs that to me though. I started out as a conductor in 2003, went to engineer school in 2005. I loved operating trains. We hade one of the only triangles in the country which meant we had a pool that ran south out of Savannah. The trains either went go waycross ga or Jacksonville Florida. Once you got to Jax or waycross, you went to the hotel for 10 hours. Get a call and take a train back to Jax or waycross. Go back to the hotel for anywhere from 10-36 hours then take a train back to Jax or waycross. After that they would either drive you back home or you would bring a train back home. It was a nightmare for me not being able to control my own time at home. Caused a divorce, depression and lots of bad times for me!

 

[Mackaydon]

Some lines send prospective railroad conductors to a six-week training program before assigning them to some additional form of training. This training can be done either on-the-job or in community college classes. In those lines you may have to endure the "socialist generating, indoctrination facilities" until you graduate.
Don....

 

[Ryano]

17 and already an expert in things never seen or done..

 

[RustyRelics]

Take my advice as someone who went through the exact same thing as you. Stay away. I gave them 10 years of my life. They control your entire life from the moment you are hired. Not only that, you will not know from one day to the next if you will have a job or not because from day one they will try to build a discipline record against you. You will miss your kids birthdays, christmases and most other major holidays. No ball practices or anniversaries either. You want to drink a beer with your buddies on the weekend? Better call and mark off sick. Do that a few times a year and it starts the attendance policy against you. Just trust me, the money is descent but there are much much better opportunities out there.

Sign me up!

As wacky as it sounds, that's right up my alley, on the move, and working. I don't have a girlfriend, nor do I plan on having one, so kids/spouse are null and void as of now. Basically the only complaint I'd have is no metal detecting time, but that's about it.

Norfolk Southern was the one I was looking at (arch nemesis of CSX if I recollect), because of the locale. I'm done with wooded mountains, so South or west is where I'd be headed.

 

[davest]

are you aware that although CSX owns the railroad, they are not responsible for any accidents on their tracks/crossings or grades. If that ain't socialism(profits to them, losses to the citizens) what is.

Please don't take the job. No sense working in an area or company you despise.

 

[Jbabycsx]

That’s not true. The railroads in America are sued more than any other industry. Most lawsuits come from injuries (mostly faked) by their own employees. The industry was so dangerous back when the railroads were being built that the government removed the caps on the maximum amount the railroads can be sued for when it comes to deaths and injuries. Recently in my area a small film company asked CSX for permission to film next to their tracks. CSX told them no in writing. The film crew went and did it anyway. One of the film crew was hit by a train and killed. Even with written evidence denying them the right to come on to CSX property, they were still able to sue and collected big. When Norfolk Southern derailed In granitville S.C. a few years ago and leaked chlorine everywhere, there were millions of dollars paid out to local people. My grandfather was one of them as it happened within sight of his house.