by kr98664
Greetings,
Any words of wisdom about what might be expected if I were to hire out as an "Assistant Signalman" with either the UP (Portland, OR) or BNSF (Vancouver, WA)? I expect some major shovel time for the first couple of years, but what might the career path be like after promotion to Signalman? I see a lot of talk about train service here, but very little about the Signal Dept. Is this job a bunch of grunt work forever, or is it more interesting stuff like troubleshooting and chasing wire faults, etc.? Does the Signal Dept. keep fixed shifts, or is it on-call similar to train service?
Thanks,
Karl
Any words of wisdom about what might be expected if I were to hire out as an "Assistant Signalman" with either the UP (Portland, OR) or BNSF (Vancouver, WA)? I expect some major shovel time for the first couple of years, but what might the career path be like after promotion to Signalman? I see a lot of talk about train service here, but very little about the Signal Dept. Is this job a bunch of grunt work forever, or is it more interesting stuff like troubleshooting and chasing wire faults, etc.? Does the Signal Dept. keep fixed shifts, or is it on-call similar to train service?
Thanks,
Karl
