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CSX school first to last week
- General discussion about working in the railroad industry. Industry employers are welcome to post openings here.
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by Newcastletrain
The people that run the school I go to stressed the importance of the 30 mile deal. They also stated that our class was one of the last before they start investigating more. Get a PO box, that should be fine. But 90 miles? I am sure you can make the 2 hour call normally, but what about any bad weather, construction, or any unforeseen circumstances? After you get the job you may want to think about moving a bit closer.
by Newcastletrain
I am midway through my third week of choo choo U and we have surpassed our drug test and we have only the physical and the "chair" to go through yet. We signed our papers for employment (of course contingent on passing the physical, chair, and the class). The end of the second week was good and this week we studied Haz-Mat, Equipment Handling Rules and touched on switching,safety, disp messages, bulletins, etc. The class is still very long hours wise but halfway through I am still maintaining a 99% so I am in good shape. We did not have a field day our second week but on Monday we got to go to the rails and see live equipment while they switched and ran some live steel by us, kinda pumped me up.
by Newcastletrain
Ok midway through my 4th week at AMDG and everything is going well. The tests are by far getting tougher and on one test a guy got a 64, and a couple others didnt attain over an 85%, but it was just a daily and there are 17 daily quizzes so if you drop one or two it's no biggy I got a 92 on it. Also the tests are only 25 questions so you can miss 3 and get an 88%, and 4 is a 84%. The daily's account for only 25% of the total anyway. Then 25% for weekly tests. 25% for final and 25% for something else I forget right now (spent from 1100- 2300 at school).
We all passed our drug test and got strapped to the machine on Tuesday, I am sure we all passed. Tomorrow morning I go to doctor for physical (turn you head and cough, pee in cup) at 1015, then class from 3-11. You also are assigned POD computer work. It is modules you have to complete, they are very easy, but it takes about 5 hrs to go through- you have to do those on your own time. That is why I was there at 1100 today.
I was asked about the signal test, and again it is not multiple choice. you fill in aspect, and indication. It pays to know them before you get there. I was informed to learn a different set than what they told me before, so I leaarned those as well. No big deal they are similiar. I will say though we have 2 people who haven't passed yet and they both are doing poorer than the rest. Get it over with right away if you can.
I also was asked how hard is the class. It's not a breeze, but it isn't real hard either. If you pay attention in class and read the module that you will be going over ahead of time and fill in your workbook, you really dont need to take any notes (but you will go through a highlighter, highlighting important rule #'s) Some people struggle, I can only tell you it is not to bad for me. I was a B student in High school and college until I applied myself my 3rd and 4th year of college then I was an A student. If any of you went to college it is like a freshman level course or college prep high school course.
Below are some questions I recieved-
"Firstly, just how difficult is this signals test?" - Not bad once you repeat them a few hundred times
"I am memorizing them as much as I can but from what I have gathered, when I take the test I have to get every single one, word for word. Is that right?"- Yes, they may let you slide if you miss the words a, an, the or throw a couple extra ones of those in there
"It's not multipal choice?" --No, wishful thinking though
" This is scaring the hell out of me...it just seems impossible to remember every single one, word for word. "---dont worry so much after a while it will click
sorry so long again, will write soon.
We all passed our drug test and got strapped to the machine on Tuesday, I am sure we all passed. Tomorrow morning I go to doctor for physical (turn you head and cough, pee in cup) at 1015, then class from 3-11. You also are assigned POD computer work. It is modules you have to complete, they are very easy, but it takes about 5 hrs to go through- you have to do those on your own time. That is why I was there at 1100 today.
I was asked about the signal test, and again it is not multiple choice. you fill in aspect, and indication. It pays to know them before you get there. I was informed to learn a different set than what they told me before, so I leaarned those as well. No big deal they are similiar. I will say though we have 2 people who haven't passed yet and they both are doing poorer than the rest. Get it over with right away if you can.
I also was asked how hard is the class. It's not a breeze, but it isn't real hard either. If you pay attention in class and read the module that you will be going over ahead of time and fill in your workbook, you really dont need to take any notes (but you will go through a highlighter, highlighting important rule #'s) Some people struggle, I can only tell you it is not to bad for me. I was a B student in High school and college until I applied myself my 3rd and 4th year of college then I was an A student. If any of you went to college it is like a freshman level course or college prep high school course.
Below are some questions I recieved-
"Firstly, just how difficult is this signals test?" - Not bad once you repeat them a few hundred times
"I am memorizing them as much as I can but from what I have gathered, when I take the test I have to get every single one, word for word. Is that right?"- Yes, they may let you slide if you miss the words a, an, the or throw a couple extra ones of those in there
"It's not multipal choice?" --No, wishful thinking though
" This is scaring the hell out of me...it just seems impossible to remember every single one, word for word. "---dont worry so much after a while it will click
sorry so long again, will write soon.
by Newcastletrain
Ok I have 2 days left so I will write soon ....JasonP has a nice thread about phase 2 in Atlanta. I would recommend checking it out. JasonP is real sharp...look out guys, he knows what he is talking about. Like I said I will update the last week of phase 1 (AMDG) soon.
by frank502
Newcastletrain....................Good posts. I'm a former CSX employee who workrd out of New Castle. I went thru choo-choo U at Philly community coll. I left CSX in 2002 & I'm now an engineer at NJ Transit. Most of the NC crowd will know who I am.
When you start your on job training keep posting. This in good stuff for those considering a RR career. Just keep in mind that the real world will be much different than what you're learning now.
Do you know any current people who work out of NC?? I take it you live in OH?? A few of them live over there. Keep posting,work safe & GOOD LUCK.
When you start your on job training keep posting. This in good stuff for those considering a RR career. Just keep in mind that the real world will be much different than what you're learning now.
Do you know any current people who work out of NC?? I take it you live in OH?? A few of them live over there. Keep posting,work safe & GOOD LUCK.
by Newcastletrain
frank502 wrote:Newcastletrain....................Good posts. I'm a former CSX employee who workrd out of New Castle. I went thru choo-choo U at Philly community coll. I left CSX in 2002 & I'm now an engineer at NJ Transit. Most of the NC crowd will know who I am.Thanks Frank, yeah everyone tells me it's different out in the real world. I try to keep an open mind, but I think there will be a few in my class who will have a tough time transitioning into OJT and into New Castle. Yes, I have two buddies who work there. One is an engineer who has been there for 5 years, and the other started about 9 months ago. He loves it, but just got furloughed, cut-off last week. The union rep told him it would be 2-3 weeks and with the nice weather coming I dont doubt it. Also, he has us 7 coming in under him and they are running a class of 9 through behind me in May so I bet this will be the only year he gets furloughed. Why did you leave CSX? did you like it there? How's your new job going?
When you start your on job training keep posting. This in good stuff for those considering a RR career. Just keep in mind that the real world will be much different than what you're learning now.
Do you know any current people who work out of NC?? I take it you live in OH?? A few of them live over there. Keep posting,work safe & GOOD LUCK.
by frank502
Actually....I just got called to work in Hoboken NJ.
CSX was OK. But at this job I don't stay in hotels & make more money. A basic day is 225$ & change. However whereI now live in eastern PA is more expensive than western PA or eastern OH & my commute is longer.
I left for the money & I'm from the Scranton area. The time you get off work is much more predictable in passenger service than freight.
Talk to you later.
CSX was OK. But at this job I don't stay in hotels & make more money. A basic day is 225$ & change. However whereI now live in eastern PA is more expensive than western PA or eastern OH & my commute is longer.
I left for the money & I'm from the Scranton area. The time you get off work is much more predictable in passenger service than freight.
Talk to you later.
by Newcastletrain
I have one more day left of the 5 weeks with only the operating rules final left to go. We were a little ahead of schedule so we took our GIT final today instead of both of them tomorrow. Two of us got a 100% on it and the rest did real well. In fact, the ones who have been struggling got over a 85%. You have get over an 85 on both the finals to pass the class no matter what your other averages are. You get one chance to take it over.
I was reading back through my other posts and realized that the last 3 weeks the hours spent at the schools were not as much as the first 2. This last week we only spent around 6-7 hours per day in class. The POD work only takes about 5 hours so get it out of the way along with your signal test. Our whole class finally finished the signal test.
It is a good thing this class is only 5 weeks long, any longer and people would be at each other's throats. We had a couple of students yell at others telling them to shut the hell up! It is really funnny, just don't get involved in any of it and watch it like a soap opera!
This week (the 5th) has been mostly review of earlier rules, and going over advanced train movement I,II,III. The biggest problem people had was with this test, air brake test, and equipment handling tests. If I get the bare minumum of 85% on the final it would give me a 94.8% in the class. I hope to get in the mid to upper 90's on it and get way better than that. It really means nothing having an honors certificate, but it is a personal goal now.
Another tip is not to read too awful much into the questions, they are worded a little funny. Some in my class were getting hung up on one word and not putting the answer they knew because of the wording. Also, don't skip over the words- "not, except, only, or other than" in the questions --I did this a few times and wrote the wrong answer because of it.
I am going to take the test tomorrow morning (Friday) and shoot for home directly after it. Then fly to Atlanta on Monday for 2 weeks of Phase two. Jason P posted a thread about the training in Atlanta and broke it down real nice day by day. If I run into anything different I will post it under his thread. If you are going to csx school anytime soon or are thinking about pursuing a RR career these two threads should answer most of your questions. If not Email or Instant Message me.
I was reading back through my other posts and realized that the last 3 weeks the hours spent at the schools were not as much as the first 2. This last week we only spent around 6-7 hours per day in class. The POD work only takes about 5 hours so get it out of the way along with your signal test. Our whole class finally finished the signal test.
It is a good thing this class is only 5 weeks long, any longer and people would be at each other's throats. We had a couple of students yell at others telling them to shut the hell up! It is really funnny, just don't get involved in any of it and watch it like a soap opera!
This week (the 5th) has been mostly review of earlier rules, and going over advanced train movement I,II,III. The biggest problem people had was with this test, air brake test, and equipment handling tests. If I get the bare minumum of 85% on the final it would give me a 94.8% in the class. I hope to get in the mid to upper 90's on it and get way better than that. It really means nothing having an honors certificate, but it is a personal goal now.
Another tip is not to read too awful much into the questions, they are worded a little funny. Some in my class were getting hung up on one word and not putting the answer they knew because of the wording. Also, don't skip over the words- "not, except, only, or other than" in the questions --I did this a few times and wrote the wrong answer because of it.
I am going to take the test tomorrow morning (Friday) and shoot for home directly after it. Then fly to Atlanta on Monday for 2 weeks of Phase two. Jason P posted a thread about the training in Atlanta and broke it down real nice day by day. If I run into anything different I will post it under his thread. If you are going to csx school anytime soon or are thinking about pursuing a RR career these two threads should answer most of your questions. If not Email or Instant Message me.
by frank502
30 mile rule???? When CSX hired me for New Castle PA I was living in Scranton,about 290 miles away. I had arrangements for housing in NC & told the hiring rep that. My soon to be X still has the house in NC. During the interview we talked more about the stock & commodity markets than about the RR. Wow.....things have changed.
Newcastle train.......learn all you can in the next phase of training. When I went thru it was just 1 week. They will be big on the safety glasses. They want wearing them to be habit.
Remember.....derails are the most reliable thing on the RR. They always seem to work as intended.
Be carefull...good luck...keep posting.
Newcastle train.......learn all you can in the next phase of training. When I went thru it was just 1 week. They will be big on the safety glasses. They want wearing them to be habit.
Remember.....derails are the most reliable thing on the RR. They always seem to work as intended.
Be carefull...good luck...keep posting.
by Newcastletrain
6 months in and all is going well--it is a very rewarding job for me, I am still very excited about working here even though the lifestyle is different.
by CSX Conductor
30 mile rule is a crock of bs. There is nothing that says you must live within 30 miles of your terminal, especially since sometimes you will be used in another terminal when that terminal's spare board is exhausted. The only requirement for you is that you can be on-duty at the time called for, and with a 2 hour call, you should have plenty of time to make it. If for some reason they call you 1&1/2 hours before the job starts, you cannot be disciplined for being 30 minutes late.