changing railroads

2 years of seniority is nothing compared to the rest of your career... Did you find out what type of work is available in that area? What are the runs like? Whats the management like????

CN is the best paying class 1 but I have heard (granted this is from an engineer whose friend is a conductor so not verified) they run much different than most class 1's. He said they basically they have you for 12 hours regardless of what job you are called for. For example he told me if you are on a road train and make it to your terminal in 6 hours, a trainmaster may come hand you a switchlist and say we need these tracks pulled, etc. DISCLAIMER, I don't know if this is true, just what I was told. I do know that we cross the CN on the ST. Louis sub main I run on and everybody says they make quite a bit more than we do. We have had a few guys from Indy jump ship and run over to work for CN on the old Illinois Central they bought and I have heard anyone regret it.

supernova1972 wrote:CN is the best paying class 1 but I have heard (granted this is from an engineer whose friend is a conductor so not verified) they run much different than most class 1's. He said they basically they have you for 12 hours regardless of what job you are called for. For example he told me if you are on a road train and make it to your terminal in 6 hours, a trainmaster may come hand you a switchlist and say we need these tracks pulled, etc. DISCLAIMER, I don't know if this is true, just what I was told. I do know that we cross the CN on the ST. Louis sub main I run on and everybody says they make quite a bit more than we do. We have had a few guys from Indy jump ship and run over to work for CN on the old Illinois Central they bought and I have heard anyone regret it.

That's correct on CN/IC you're theirs for 12 hours. Make a run in 5 hours get back on another run in 4 hours then mabey 3 hours yard switching. It eliminates the distinction between road & yard service. The hourly pay rate is what makes it work. It's a guarenteed 10 hour day with OT after 10. CSX BLE&t tried to get a similiar agreement a few years back after those on the CN/IC ratified the 2nd contract of this type. The other Class 1's don't seem to want to go in this direction. It nearly eliminates a need for a Labor Relation department seeing the contract did away with nearly all claims & disputes. One LE I spoke with stated there is good & bad in everything if a crew on the road goes under the HOS waiting on a ride for 2-3 hours while on OT at a rate of $60 an hour how bad can it be. Gone is milage it's all hourly rate.

I changed railroads after 3 years. The change got me closer to family too. The up side it that I met my wife and had my son. The down side was that it took a long time to be able to hold a regular job. There was more opportunity with the former company.

Just look at the facts, and don't make a hasty decision.

I changed railroads this past spring, with two years seniority at my prior employer. As someone else already said, two years is a small sacrifice for the rest of your career! Personally, I think it was a smart move. I make the same as I did with my previous employer, but I am closer to home and enjoy a better work schedule and better benefits. Seniority can be hard to give up, but it may be worth the sacrifice if you think you will be happier at a different employer or location.

I left the CN/j when the contract was about to start.Sorry but it does not eliminate labor relations, as you have to have spread time and a few other rules to deal with. Its the dumbest damn thing in my opinion. BTW I made the same at BNSF as some of these CN guys are and didnt work half as much.But I am more quality of life minded.

Also the Yardmaster can tell a yard crew if they can go to beans or not. Tell me how great that is? 12 hours on a lead and no break? I think not.

Is the entire U.S. part of CN this way or only the IC part? Is there any difference between the other parts of CN in the U.S.?

Thunder wrote:
Also the Yardmaster can tell a yard crew if they can go to beans or not. Tell me how great that is? 12 hours on a lead and no break? I think not.

The yardmaster has always told yard crews when they can go to beans on the former C&O/CSX. If they're late claim the time.

Still a valid claim on Amtrak in the Yard. Beans has to be given between 4.5-6 hours into the shift. If not you claim 20 minutes.

COEN77 wrote:

Thunder wrote:
Also the Yardmaster can tell a yard crew if they can go to beans or not. Tell me how great that is? 12 hours on a lead and no break? I think not.

The yardmaster has always told yard crews when they can go to beans on the former C&O/CSX. If they're late claim the time.

I've got 2 1/2 years with CSX now and I've never heard the phrase "Go to beans." What's it mean?

TotalLamer wrote:

COEN77 wrote:

Thunder wrote:
Also the Yardmaster can tell a yard crew if they can go to beans or not. Tell me how great that is? 12 hours on a lead and no break? I think not.

The yardmaster has always told yard crews when they can go to beans on the former C&O/CSX. If they're late claim the time.

I've got 2 1/2 years with CSX now and I've never heard the phrase "Go to beans." What's it mean?

In all my years with CSX and with all the rest they swallowed up I never heard it used so I'm also curious.

Freddy wrote:

TotalLamer wrote:

COEN77 wrote:

Thunder wrote:
Also the Yardmaster can tell a yard crew if they can go to beans or not. Tell me how great that is? 12 hours on a lead and no break? I think not.

The yardmaster has always told yard crews when they can go to beans on the former C&O/CSX. If they're late claim the time.

I've got 2 1/2 years with CSX now and I've never heard the phrase "Go to beans." What's it mean?

In all my years with CSX and with all the rest they swallowed up I never heard it used so I'm also curious.

Lunch.

On the ATSF side, the yard agreement states: First penalty (20 min of pay) 5 hrs 40 min on duty. Second penalty on the 7th hour. 10 hrs on duty, the crew claims 56.0 yard miles. No lunch the entire shift, the engineer claims 100 mile - basic yard day. I cant tell you how many times I worked 12 hrs, no lunch and went outside of switching limits (another days pay)

COEN77 wrote:

supernova1972 wrote:CN is the best paying class 1 but I have heard (granted this is from an engineer whose friend is a conductor so not verified) they run much different than most class 1's. He said they basically they have you for 12 hours regardless of what job you are called for. For example he told me if you are on a road train and make it to your terminal in 6 hours, a trainmaster may come hand you a switchlist and say we need these tracks pulled, etc. DISCLAIMER, I don't know if this is true, just what I was told. I do know that we cross the CN on the ST. Louis sub main I run on and everybody says they make quite a bit more than we do. We have had a few guys from Indy jump ship and run over to work for CN on the old Illinois Central they bought and I have heard anyone regret it.

That's correct on CN/IC you're theirs for 12 hours. Make a run in 5 hours get back on another run in 4 hours then mabey 3 hours yard switching. It eliminates the distinction between road & yard service. The hourly pay rate is what makes it work. It's a guarenteed 10 hour day with OT after 10. CSX BLE&t tried to get a similiar agreement a few years back after those on the CN/IC ratified the 2nd contract of this type. The other Class 1's don't seem to want to go in this direction. It nearly eliminates a need for a Labor Relation department seeing the contract did away with nearly all claims & disputes. One LE I spoke with stated there is good & bad in everything if a crew on the road goes under the HOS waiting on a ride for 2-3 hours while on OT at a rate of $60 an hour how bad can it be. Gone is milage it's all hourly rate.

How do you get any overtime running like that, given hours of service rules ? From the outside looking in, it looks like it would be difficult to make any decent money with that deal. Do you also get OT after 40 as well ?

Marnos wrote:How do you get any overtime running like that, given hours of service rules ? From the outside looking in, it looks like it would be difficult to make any decent money with that deal. Do you also get OT after 40 as well ?

it's not a bad deal at all because like COEN said, it's O/T after ten. Doling out quits absolutely pains the bosses to death so that is pretty rare. To avoid quits they'll double a crew back out at the other end (send em back toward home), or else swap crews with another train enroute to "maximize efficiency". All this really does is maximize $$$ because once you count in all the inevitable delays, neither of these two crews ever make it to the intended destinations on their hours. So you sit there another hour or two waiting on the jitney to show up, and you stay on pay (OT) until it arrives at the AFH hotel or original terminal. THAT'S where you make your money. It makes for long trips.

If you're extra? Well, you're needed to go dogcatch these stupid long runs that naturally didn't make it. Get to the other end under 10, well now that's a quit again, and they don't wanna do that! so they might send you back the way you came... where YOU in turn will die for time. and so on, and so forth... it goes on.

We have similar work rules on Amtrak (except basic day is still 8 hrs) with the xbd guarantee set at THE MONEY EQUIVALENT of 40 hrs/wk. That is to say, you don't have to necessarily WORK over forty hours to break guarantee; you just have to EARN over 40 hours.