C130 Chief
Mechanical Genius
Are there any railroad workers on this site? Especially conductors or train crew. I am considering a career change and have always though it would be an interesting job.
Any railroad employees?
- Thread starter C130 Chief
- Start date
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I understand, from speaking to a few, that you pretty much live by the phone, waiting to be called in for the first several years (which could happen any time 24/7/365).
I think the work would be interesting as well, but the seniority based daily assignments ain't my cup of tea.
I think the work would be interesting as well, but the seniority based daily assignments ain't my cup of tea.
66340SEDAN
FABO Member #3649
Rumblefish360 is but I believe he is a mechanic.
From what I always heard, in the old days, the only way into the rail business was through nepotism...has that changed?
a friend of mine drives trains & he loves it hes never on call & gets payed well, I don't work for the rail road I work for a place that makes rail road cars. where he is at you pretty much have to wait until someone retires or drops over to get in I guess there retirement is pretty awesome
I was a Conductor for 8.5yrs and Engineer for 6.5 of those. Senority based. Live by the phone. no holidays or holiday pay. depending on the route, you may never get over time as they base your day on miles with a normal freight day considered 130miles, but most routes now are much longer and require very near or over 12hrs to get OT. no 40hr week, its all mileage. long days, often not reaching your terminal within your hours of service(12hrs). only to spend 16-24hrs in a motel room at the away from home terminal. then another 10-12 getting home so when you finally do get home you are called back out on your rest (8-12hrs) the Feds got involved to try to reduce fatigue, but too little. If you work where you have rest cycles or rest days, they help but you cant plan anything as if you get called to work minutes before your protect time you can work a full round trip of 20-30+hrs into your rest days, preapproved lay off day, or even vacation. Miss a call and you will be hot water. miss a couple and you are given time off. miss more and you are fired. by missing a call, I mean from the time they initiate trying to contact you, you have 15-20min to answer and accept your call. I have missed them mowing the yard. They call 24hrs a day and you have a predetermined amount of time to report to work. for us it was 1hr 15min. If you are sick, good luck getting off. they boards are allowed a certain #off during week, less on weekends. lots of people layoff fatigued because they want to go party while you get stuck working through bronchitis. The worst employee is paid same as best. etc... etc... etc... I got married, started a family and promptly found another line of employment so I could be home with my family, not just listening to them on the other end of the phone.
That was true, and has changed. Now if you are a minority, woman, or of advanced age you are a shoe in.
Pay is pretty good. They pay not for the skill or labor, but the lifestyle you are forced into. The retirement is kick ***, but you also pay for it. It was 75 or 80% of an average of you last 2 years worked, and if married your spouse received 50%. If you pass away, your wife takes on your larger share instead of the smaller. Tier I and Tier II. I took home on average 54% of my gross earnings after taxes, retirement, medical, and union dues of $90 per.
Frankie
Member #9641
I have a model railroad, so, I'm the boss. I have great hours, but my pay really sucks. :sad3:
dogpro
Well-Known Member
I work for Amtrak been there for 33 years but I work in a repair shop so I don't know a lot about being a conductor, pay is decent and retirement is good if you get 30 years in. No more nepotism as the only people who see the applicants are human resources.
Lou
Lou
cjh
Well-Known Member
I worked in the railway here as a Fettler....thats the bloke that replaces sleepers, rails, straighten rails, lubes the joints and points.....that sort of thing.
I lived in a bondwood hut near the line, shared it with some a%$#holes.
I was wakened one night, about 2am, by one of the a#$%Holes, who threatened me with a knife, to make a meal for him.....he was drunk....I wasn't.....I told him to get f%$ked, so he went for me with the knife.....he soon had his face in the floor, and a good hit on the head by the table on his way down......I left him there, packed my bag and left.....never went back.....that was 23 years ago.
There no joints anymore, and they have machines to replace rails,sleepers....so that job would be gone now.
I lived in a bondwood hut near the line, shared it with some a%$#holes.
I was wakened one night, about 2am, by one of the a#$%Holes, who threatened me with a knife, to make a meal for him.....he was drunk....I wasn't.....I told him to get f%$ked, so he went for me with the knife.....he soon had his face in the floor, and a good hit on the head by the table on his way down......I left him there, packed my bag and left.....never went back.....that was 23 years ago.
There no joints anymore, and they have machines to replace rails,sleepers....so that job would be gone now.
72BBSwinger
Well-Known Member
Been a Conductor for almost 15 yrs. on the UP.
Yep. Currently doing Car Repairmen work on the Desiel fleet.
Also a qualified RoadCar Inspector.
The company says they do not do it but it is seen. In a way, I think it foolish not to sometimes, sometimes it is. Person dependent, AKA, how good they are and there word is.....
To a degree, yes. The white man gets screwed....
True, 100% true though the Dept. Works for and within the company. Whisper into the right ear, do me a favor, etc... Happens. It doesn't make me mad. When I see a son/daughter of a boss come in, it is mostly seen as a good thing. The boss is normally a boss held in high reguard by all. There kid is a chip off the old block.
I do not know anything by my Rail company. Though retirement is the same nation wide for RailRoaders. We do not pay Social Security. Instead we pay into RailRoad retirement. A separated fund from SS. The rate is very high vs. SS and so is the payout. It is close to being taxed by the Feds. twice. It makes the final net pay a bit lower than you would expect. There is a cap to the amount in which you pay into yearly. But it is very hard to make the cap.
Depending on the RailRoad you work for, the amount of work, location and hours change per job. I can only speak about my company as will do so in short.
Though N.Y. City is a bit of a trip and one hell of a life style change. PM me for info about it.
The few things I'll say about my company on this public board is;
Excellent bennifits, retirement. The make sure you work 40 hrs.
Fair to very good working conditions. (Part of town dependent)
I took a tractor trailer driving course at CC in mid 70's. I went job hunting and went to work for FEC in florida. The job was taking trailers that were brought in on rail cars to the customer or pick up trailers to be shipped out on the train. The first thing when hired I had a beard and told to be clean shaved when I reported to work. I walk into driver's room and I am the only white guy. The pay at the time was $5.00 an hour for everybody didn't matter if first day or 30 years. You had a start time but you didn't get off until the last trailer was delivered. After 6 months they tried to get me in management as I keep the drivers stirred up over pay and treatment. I passed on management so they told me I had to go on midnights driving the ramp ( at the time the trains were loaded with a ramp tractor). Suspened 10 days till I qualified to drive the ramp on my on time as had to wait when things were slow. I was a little hard headed so I stayed to show the boss ( Mr Deal) that I wasn't going away quietly. I drove the ramp midnight til whenever last train would come in for about 6 weeks and saw a few guys get hurt as the equipment was crap and poorly maintained. One night while unloading a very heavy trailer the gang plank between flats broke and rear wheel of ramp tractor fell through and almost rolled over. The trailer came down on landing gear and kept it upright but scared the crap out of me. When Mr Deal came in I told him to take the job and shove it. There isn't any way I would suggest railroad as a place to work.
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