Questions about going on the road with CSX.

Hey all I just got my offer letter to work for CSX in the Great Lakes Division, New Castle Subdivision today! Pumped. I only interviewed yesterday! The interviewer was really stoked that I had on-call experience (I'm a funeral director) and he is actually a rated engineer so he truly knows what goes on. They are fast tracking me and trying to get me to REDI for Nov 17th. But..., he's from DE, not anywhere near where I am. The Yardmasters were not able to come to the interview as planned because they had a derailment. So, a lot of subdivision specific questions I had went unasked and unanswered. The interviewer said this is primarily going to be a road job. So what will this be like on a day to day? The subdivision I will be qualified to run is only around 120 miles or so long and goes from New Castle, PA to Willard, OH. I will nearly always report to the east end of the line in New Castle and maybe occasionally report to Lordstown, OH which is about halfway down the main. Any advice or thoughts on how this will probably play out on the job with such a short run?

Nothing is fast on the railroad. A 120 mile run might seem short but my last 8 years working the road I had a 72 mile run that averaged 6-8 hours on duty. Everything depends on traffic, weather conditions, delays while track work is being done ect...A person can make a good run then sit outside a yard for hours waiting on a spot to park the train. We stayed in lodging about half the time at the away terminal. At times if we had at least 5 1/2 hours left and traffic was light if they had a train built & ready we would turn back. Other times we deadheaded back home. Everything depends on the amount of business. Railroad changes with the seasons so it's not a one size fits all. With the railroad no two days are alike.