Trainmaster vs Road Foreman of Engines

Are they the same job? If not, are they equal or is one a higher position?

No a trainmaster can be promoted from any job like conductor/engineer or yardmaster.
A road foreman of engines can only be a qualified/certified locomotive engineer, and the need to keep qualifications up to date.

DutchRailnut wrote:No a trainmaster can be promoted from any job like conductor/engineer or yardmaster.

Or off the street in many cases nowadays.

so who outranks who?

Both have different funtions.

The best way to explain the difference is that the Road Foreman is the supervisor of Engineers and is primarily responsible for issues like engineer training, qualification and locomotive operating proactices.

The Trainmaster is the supervisor of Conductors and has a more general responsibility for overall train operations.

Most operating rules say something like Engineers report to the Road Foreman and Conductors and Trainmen report to the Trainmaster but they also say that both engine and train service employees must obey instructions from Trainmasters, Road Foreman, Yardmasters and Dispatchers. So, they are basically equal in rank but have different functions like Dutch said.

I always thought that (at least on NS) that the Trainmaster had a bit more oomph that a Road Foreman of Engines (was that the same as a "Roadmaster"? I forget!) A Trainmaster also told us Clerks what to do including giving Rules Exams, and could also take a Clerk out of service for an infraction. This was especially true if you were working as an Agent or Mobile Agent at an outlying point. We had little contact with the Road Foremen. But now them Trainmasters could be a TRIP!!!!!


Gadfly

Years ago the New Haven stated that a Road Foreman could exercise the
authority of a Trainmaster in the absence of a Trainmaster.
During the Penn Central period, a Road Foreman was on a higher salary
than a Trainmaster was. I don't know today if that is still true in the
industry but I suspect it might still be.
Noel Weaver

In early Conrail days, the RFE at Rochester acted as a night Trainmaster, with jurisdiction over general operations, not just loco crews. I guess it came under those famous words "and other duties as assigned".

I NEVER saw a job bulletin that didn't have those words attached!!

Gadfly

Noel Weaver wrote:Years ago the New Haven stated that a Road Foreman could exercise the
authority of a Trainmaster in the absence of a Trainmaster.
During the Penn Central period, a Road Foreman was on a higher salary
than a Trainmaster was. I don't know today if that is still true in the
industry but I suspect it might still be.
Noel Weaver

At my RR it is, RFEs are paid inbetween 5-10k more a year than Trainmasters.......

However, there have been a few RFEs who basically had enough and became Trainmasters.

A RFE can and often does do duties simlar to a Trainmaster, but a Trainmaster cannot do "real" RFE duties. (check rides, qualifying rides, specific operating rule questions/issues, etc)

Gadfly wrote:I always thought that (at least on NS) that the Trainmaster had a bit more oomph that a Road Foreman of Engines (was that the same as a "Roadmaster"? I forget!) A Trainmaster also told us Clerks what to do including giving Rules Exams, and could also take a Clerk out of service for an infraction. This was especially true if you were working as an Agent or Mobile Agent at an outlying point. We had little contact with the Road Foremen. But now them Trainmasters could be a TRIP!!!!!


Gadfly

Roadmaster is a different job entirely. A roadmaster is responsible for the "road," the tracks; the same way a trainmaster is responsible for trains in his district.