A newhire's railroad future.

Steam 371
, don't sell the short line experience short. You may also find that there may not be a lot of resentment from the big road guys either. In many cases you short liners get great training through the tried and true hard knocks method. You may learn a lot of things the right way from some old timers that really can make some great moves. I started out in 1879 (realy 1979 but is seems a long time ago) on a short line. We made due with what we had and I learned the ropes from a couple of old Pennsy and Reading guys. Years later when I got back in on a short line I had the opportunity to learn from a couple of old grumps from the New Haven.

In many cases if many of us weren't living in high cost areas trying to raise our families we would jump at the chance to do some short line railroading. I look back at those years as the best I've had in the business. Good Luck steam and keep it safe.

CN Hogger,

I know its a little harder to find on road units, but on our switchers, the steering wheel is that big wheel just to the left of the rear cab door...........at least thats what all the kids that get up on our units seem to think!!

CN_Hogger wrote:I'm still trying to find the steering wheel!

I think i found it, but i cant figure out why every car has one.

Makes since CSX, I would just prefer some people be less broad, and understand that there are people like me who understand that knowing every signal aspect doesnt help you be a conductor at all. I will admit i know next to nothing about the job. Thats why I have conductors (PASS) that I ride with who fill me in on stuff so i know everything the right way when i start, and i know not to start hot headed. Im all about learning, and im not the only one like that.

Snoozer,
The shortline or switching railroad is great, up here, in canada, the big boys reply that we are'nt a real railroad. Its been a good expereince, good pay, benefits and a good bunch of guys. Mind you its hard to remember that when its 2:30 AM, and pouring rain! LOL.

Be careful CRail,
I'd say in my book it does matter that you know your signal aspects! Don't fall into the trap that many passenger conductors fall into. Some day they will work themselves out of a job because they don't know how to be a railroader. I know a lot of commuter rail conductors that couldn't tell the difference between a restricting indication and a clear, how they got qualified amazes me. They can't make a hitch or tell the difference between a marker light and a headlight.

A monkey can be trained to pick up tickets ( there is proof enough of that isn't there?), a good passenger conductor needs to be able to know his railroad, not by sight but by the feel under his feet. He can't see ahead of him but he can feel the crossovers under his feet and learns the braking points of the engineer he works with. Being a good conductor sets you apart from the pack. I would not have believed it when I started but a good conductor can cut a duplex ticket, make change and without looking out the window know exactly where he is by the feel of the train, the braking, the lean of the train and the feel of the tracks. Knowing signal aspects when they are called out by the engineer over the radio and verified by the conductor helps the conductor and enginer work as a team and operate within the confines of bulletin orders and the daily TSRB (Temp. Speed Restriction Bulletin) and any Form D's that are in effect.

I know you'll be a good Conductor some day. Just don't take some of those South Side Conductors as the bench mark for a good Conductor.

Most old timer railroaders out there cant accept change... all this talk about remote controls one man crews.. etc etc doom and gloom.. constant worrying its all normal.. i use to work in different industries and heard similar complaints.. no one can appreciate what they have. The railroads will be using these technologies .. when will be completely use in a system wide scale... WHO KNOWS.. but the bottom line that people dont understand no one downright directly will be out of the job .. theres always gonna be people on the railroad.. the way they'll outsource the job is thru attrition.. retirement and less hiring etc etc .. Heres a perfect example.. i use to work for British Airways in NY after 7 months on the job there was this doom and gloom that we were gonna be outsource to an outside firm with no benefits and whatnot and less pay... we were all concerned and there was official news from above that they were not going to renew the lease.. the finance department was gonna be outsource to a firm in india... the reservation center was to be relocated to florida to a outsource firm ( i guess short line rr if this was a railroad).. so anyways we were pissed and concern.. so me being the rookie after 7 months i packed my bags and went to another airline.. this was in 1998. ok during 3 years with this particular airline i learned.. British airways decided to keep renew the lease and the finance department stayed but the reservation center moved to florida.. HOWEVER.. every employee had a choice to stay put based on seniority at the old reservation or transfer to airports around the country.. 90 percent of the employees choose to the airport at JFK and the surrounding northeast.. the other 10 percent stayed at reservation until they finish their time and retired then the reservation officially closed.( to this day its still open) Now its 2005 and i still keep in touch with a few people there and everyone is HAPPY AS CAN BE. They got a new union contract with better pay and benefits.. nothing was SIGNIFICANTLY reduced . all that panic for nothing..
ok now for the railroad... remote controls.. as for the subdivision i work for at CSX.. remote controls are only used at hump operations.. and a small industrial yard... thats it its been what 3 years since its introduction? and no other plans for now.. wow pretty slow huh.. no one has been "furlough" only more people has been hired... like at least 100 subdivision wide. More people are retiring than anything. One man crews? ha its not going to be introduced to a class 1 until at least 2007 and beyond.. full nation scale? not in our career time.. they cant even get remotes to work properly. You still have dark territories out there.. all this doom and gloom for nothing...

mikec

Indeed be careful. All one has to do is look at GPS and the potential it has on dark territory and a one man crew suddenly does not seem like such an impossibility. They have precision approaches via GPS in airplanes right now, so an uplink to the dispatcher and a GPS could easily make dark territory virtually disappear overnight.

Do I like the idea of one man crews, not one damn bit. But I'll admit that if the railroads have their way they'll get it. That is until they get an engineer that goes out on his rest and broadsides a car at a crossing one mile an hour over the speed limit. Then suddenly the millions of dollars the carrier has to pay out in a law suit for negligence will pale in comparision to the money saved. You might even see cities attempt to ban hazardous shippments through their city limits with one man crews. Oh yeah, they'll try but they are liable to not like the consequences of their short sighted actions.

Oh i dont doubt that it wont happen.. my point is that itll take forever and it'll be a political thing for years before youll see it on a nationwide scale... i mean yeah youll see it lets say in nebraska, wyoming, utah.. places like that . a little bit of it here and there.. but full nationwide.. itll be years...

mikec880 wrote:Oh i dont doubt that it wont happen.. my point is that itll take forever and it'll be a political thing for years before youll see it on a nationwide scale... i mean yeah youll see it lets say in nebraska, wyoming, utah.. places like that . a little bit of it here and there.. but full nationwide.. itll be years...

Yeah, just like they'd never be able to operate without cabooses or brakemen.

No offense, but you CLEARLY don't understand railroads. Perhaps you should check out the Section 6 that the NCCC served the UTU.

Delta wrote:

mikec880 wrote:Oh i dont doubt that it wont happen.. my point is that itll take forever and it'll be a political thing for years before youll see it on a nationwide scale... i mean yeah youll see it lets say in nebraska, wyoming, utah.. places like that . a little bit of it here and there.. but full nationwide.. itll be years...

Yeah, just like they'd never be able to operate without cabooses or brakemen.

No offense, but you CLEARLY don't understand railroads. Perhaps you should check out the Section 6 that the NCCC served the UTU.

How very true Delta!! Way back when, circa 1984-85, the mere mention of cabooseless trains brought much laughter. Almost overnight the elimination of the flagman/caboose was a done deal. It was almost as if the carriers had warehouses of EOTs stored for immediate use. Sweeping changes can occur overnight in this industry. Never say never!

That section 6 is scary because you know that some of it will become reality. It's not like there is just one big thing, it's all big. I've resigned myself to the fact that RCO is probably not going away and that it will be a big part of this job in the future.

Delta and Greenwood are right. Perfecting Positive Train Control will usher in the world of one-man crews. Despite union claims, FRA accidents will go down and reportable injuries will, as well... just as they did with the demise of the caboose. If the BLE/UTU is that concerned about the hazards of one-man crews, why don't they start a grass-roots campaign to ban one-driver trucks??? Or one-driver automobiles? After all, we're all subject to the danger on public roadways. Nuts? yes, but why (from a safety perspective) can a train not be operated safely with the engineer only? Are engineers so inept that they cannot be trusted alone to interpret and act on right-of-way signal indications, speed restrictions, etc, as a truck driver must do?

SteelWheels21 wrote:I've resigned myself to the fact that RCO is probably not going away and that it will be a big part of this job in the future.

I think you're right about that.

Cowford wrote:...Perfecting Positive Train Control will usher in the world of one-man crews...FRA accidents will go down and reportable injuries will, as well...

That's right. Cut the number of operating employees by half, the number of injuries will of course go down. Now, the frequency rate for reportables, that's another issue altogether.

I'll say this, however, even with some form of PTS/PTC, under CURRENT conditions I don't believe that one man can safely operate a train. They are going to HAVE to do something about hours of service and mitigating fatigue issues. To say that "PTS/PTC will prevent an accident", well, then you might as well remove the human element altogether.