training for chicago csx train dispatcher?

hello all. i am going to for an interview in chicago for csx dispatching.my question is where is their training held and for how long? do they provide food and lodging while you are in school? any other info would be very helpful. i am an ex military air traffic controller. thanx

Good for you buddy, if you get picked let us know how things go for you.
Do you have a good understand of what your signing up for buddy? Ever get a guy who got on the launch pad and then decided he wasnt ready yet because a light bulb burned out in the cockpit? or he decided it was a good time to get out and do a walk around? or had five planes that needed to land right now or they would run out of gas with no where to put them? Thats the way it is most of the time as a train dispatcher. Dispatchers are like engineers, your eather really good or you suck. Theres no in between. Like i said report back on how things turn out for you. And if you do get picked ask to do as much extra stuff as possible, go ride a few trains, get out in the field and see your territory first hand, do as much as they will let you. Best of luck.

well i did air traffic control on an aircraft carrier, where you get everybody lined up in the middle of a sandstorm in the gulf with no visibility, AND they are all short on fuel, and then all of a sudden the runway moves left or right 30 degrees or more for winds.or have a plane crash right into the water and the pilots die, but we get no break to grieve, gotta keep flying.......and of course all the pilots feel they are better than you so all you get is attitude(of course we had ways to fix that) haha. so i feel i might be able to do dispatching, but i dont know, do the trains change altitude?

atchleysteven wrote:well i did air traffic control on an aircraft carrier, where you get everybody lined up in the middle of a sandstorm in the gulf with no visibility, AND they are all short on fuel, and then all of a sudden the runway moves left or right 30 degrees or more for winds.or have a plane crash right into the water and the pilots die, but we get no break to grieve, gotta keep flying.......and of course all the pilots feel they are better than you so all you get is attitude(of course we had ways to fix that) haha. so i feel i might be able to do dispatching, but i dont know, do the trains change altitude?

No divert-fields, bingo-state, bolters, fouled-deck wave offs. And, best of all, no CAG's stting on the couch watching your every move!
CVN-68
1977-79

sweet...thats what im talking about...no seriously i hope to get hired and have fun with it.

atchleysteven wrote:.and of course all the pilots feel they are better than you so all you get is attitude(of course we had ways to fix that) haha. so i feel i might be able to do dispatching, but i dont know, do the trains change altitude?

Just substitute "pilots" with "wannabe pilots" (engineers)!!:-D Sorry JG, UPRRENGR. I just couldn't hold back!


But seriously, it sounds like you'll fit right in. If you handled the stress on a carrier, then RR dispatching will be a walk in the park. Make sure CSX is aware of your military service. Should be a plus.

thebigc wrote:

atchleysteven wrote:.and of course all the pilots feel they are better than you so all you get is attitude(of course we had ways to fix that) haha. so i feel i might be able to do dispatching, but i dont know, do the trains change altitude?

Just substitute "pilots" with "wannabe pilots" (engineers)!!:-D Sorry JG, UPRRENGR. I just couldn't hold back!


But seriously, it sounds like you'll fit right in. If you handled the stress on a carrier, then RR dispatching will be a walk in the park. Make sure CSX is aware of your military service. Should be a plus.

Not this guy BigC! I can't feature tooling along at 1,500 MPH in zero visibility. Carrier pilots are the most egotistical dudes in the world! You know what? They have a right to be. Searching for a postage stamp size landing deck in poor visibility, 20 knots of cross-wind and 20-foot seas, they have brass nads! I forgot to ad, the BLE, Brotherhood of Large Egos,

jg greenwood wrote: Not this guy BigC! I can't feature tooling along at 1,500 MPH in zero visibility. Carrier pilots are the most egotistical dudes in the world! You know what? They have a right to be. Searching for a postage stamp size landing deck in poor visibility, 20 knots of cross-wind and 20-foot seas, they have brass nads! I forgot to ad, the BLE, Brotherhood of Large Egos,

The pilot reference was just some local humor. Where I work, the choo-choo-u dudes talk to each other like top-guns and talk down to anyone else.

We still have a few guys from the Vietnam era that served on carriers. They tell me that that huge ship is only a speck on the horizon to the pilots that land on them. And yeah, a moving runway! And they say that every time you land on a carrier it feels like the first time.

I have some more BLE quasi-acronyms but I'll keep them to myself!!

We still have a few guys from the Vietnam era that served on carriers. [/quote]

When Sir Charles had you pinned down and was administering a severe a$$-kicking, there was no better site than an F-4 at tree-top level serving up a ration of napalm and snake-eyes! Worth their weight in gold they were!

Heed my warning there atchleysteven, there will be some crews that will give you a hosing, sometimes on purpose, and others by luck of the draw due to uncontrollable circumstances.

atchleysteven wrote:So i feel i might be able to do dispatching, but i dont know, do the trains change altitude?

It would be better if they did. When things get messed up its like a traffic jam, grid lock. Thats when alot of dispatchers start to lose it. Playing train dispatcher when things are bad is like playing with a Rubik's Cube or a slide puzzle. I image playing air traiffic controller is more along the lines of getting them off and getting them in. Train dispatching is more like trying to keep the flow going. Watching the movie Pushing Tin is all im going on here. lol If your an out going person who is able to show the crews and trainmasters/yardmasters that you have a good personality. They will take a liking to you, youll probably be pretty happy at work. The drone ones that get upset quick seem to have the hardest time with it. I have no clue on what CSX is like, but some of our guys, the good one are able to speak freely over the radio, and others are like hearing the rule book on tape. Mr. Monotone "Dispatcher 6 to the UP 4500 east......OVER" "Go Ahead #6" "Are you still pulling sir?....Over" "Yes we are"..... "Ok.......... dispatcher 6......Out" vs. ".....(a long exhausted breath)....."Bing, bing, bing UP4500 east, think you guys can make it to town?" "We'll getter in for ya, it will be close though"...."Good deal guys thanks. Got three more behind you that are short on time, im doing my best to get you all in here" "OK dispatcher we'll keep the air speed up to help you out here" "Thanks alot guys, dispatcher OUT!!" Being a train dispatcher puts you in a position to be able to motivate crews into doing good work for you. Im sure you already new that part, but i doubt military pilots layed down and licked there........ when you told them to do something. lol

Id like to thank Yahoo in helping me spell some of those long words.

yeah its nothing like pushing tin, good movie though. i also did enroute control, no landing or taking off. i hope to succeed and i dont want to sound cocky cause im not. but i do have confidence in myself.i can also understand about people freaking out, ive seen that alot.but i guess i was lucky.

Back on topic, the new REDI (Railroad Education Development Institute) in Atlanta is supposed to be set-up now as a centralized training facility for all crafts. I forget where they did the train dispatcher training before, Virginia I believe, but it is all supposed to be in Atlanta now.

Perhaps ask on the CSXT forum.

dispatch training is in jax, not atlanta.just left the hiring session.

atchleysteven wrote:dispatch training is in jax, not atlanta.just left the hiring session.

Thanks for the clarification....so much for consolidating all training, lol.

CSX Conductor wrote:

atchleysteven wrote:dispatch training is in jax, not atlanta.just left the hiring session.

Thanks for the clarification....so much for consolidating all training, lol.

But isn't like 2/3 of the railroad (or whatever percentage the pre-CR railroad is of the current whole) still dispatched from the fishbowl in Jax? Seems as if that would make mroe sense to do that training there, though...