Anyone work for the railroad?

[Twitch2120]

i work for NS. 3 years running. my father has been with them 41 yrs. pm me if you have questions. supposed to be a hiring session this week. they need 8 on our end(ATL-GRN) and 8 on the north end (GRN-LIN). not sure where the hiring session is at though.

 

[carver]

Wife retired from NS at 60 years old,worked there 40 years, office work,union,great insurance,she gets a great retirement(someone said in a earlier post retirement plus SS,not true you can't"double dip") also because my wife worked for the RR I was also able to retire at 60 also and draw RR retirement instead of SS.I'm digging it

 

[tlt092187]

old neighbor worked for NS as a conductor and complained constantly on how he hated it making 80k with insurance and retirement but he also was from Illinois and was a big obama fan

 

[medium187mph]

My best friend works for a company that grinds the rails... he has been with them for 8 years. He currently is working in Australia. He was in Canada for 4 years working on the rails.... he hates it but just paid cash for a high end Challenger.

PS, he has no kids, no apartment, no house, no bills, no responsibilities.... He just works for 4-7 months straight and get's 2 weeks leave then flies back to Australia!

 

[rivot03]

I just started at csx about a year ago in Atlanta. Its not as bad as people make it sound. U go through 6 weeks of school at the csx redi center of and then depends on where u go from there I had 17 weeks of on the job training but the ojt depends on where u go so I heard some as short as 10 weeks. I love it. I was furloughed for three months but it been non stop since I got back if u have ne more questions just pm me

 

[hjblwme]

Here is my experience.

I work in the engineering department (track repair and maintenance) for Norfolk Southern.

If you want to be on a train and have that "glory" then nothing we say can change that. The downside is that after you are hired and make it through training you can count on at least one year maybe two of not working steady. You will be on what is called "the extra board". That is a fancy way of saying that you are "On-Call" 24-7. You will get called at all hours and expected to go. You do not get paid unless you get called and go to work. You will eventually be there long enough to be able to get a full time gig where you will have an assigned train. But until then don't count on anything. If you have ever gotten any speeding tickets or had any at fault accidents then your chances are slim. Their thought is that if you aren't safe enough to handle 5k pounds then you aren't safe enough to handle 5M pounds or more.

If you go to the engineering (track repair and maintenance, includes signal electricians and track labor) then you will start and be WORKING from day one. It is hard work. You will be outside in the sun, wind, rain, heat and cold. You will get dirty and sweaty at times. Your phone will ring at 2 in the morning to go fix something, maybe a tree in the track or a broken rail. There will be days that you don't stop long enough to take a leak, let alone much else. You will get called on the weekend or your birthday or worse yet your wife's birthday, to handle something. You will work all night every so often and then be expected to reasonably function enough to stay safe the next day.

Enough of the bad stuff. Now the good stuff about the maintenance side. The pay is reasonable for the work we do. The times that we do work like dogs we also get times like right now (sitting in the A/C of the truck for an hour or two waiting to go work like a dog for 45 min to an hour. The boss is fair and treats us right most of the time.

Then you have mechanical (work on the cars and engines). They also work similar to the maintenance guys. But it tends to be more regular hours. They will sometimes have to go to a derailment and climb under cars that are unstable or on the ground to get them back on the track or fix them. Sometimes they get called at odd hours too. I'm not sure on a lot of their stuff because I don't deal with them much.

All of the departments are union. Which means that seniority (time on the job) is the only qualification that matters most of the time. Which is stupid if you ask me. Unless you get promoted to a supervisors position (college degree related to a specific railroad task or experience on the railroad) then you are not union. As someone said earlier the union didn't help them at all, well if there is an act of irresponsibility by a transportation employee then they see it that way. The other departments are not nearly as stringent with things.

As a final note I will say that in general it is a good career to get into and the benefits far outweigh the negatives in the long run. My honest advice would be to try to get into the maintenance side of things. You will be working either at home or on the road (your choice depending on what you hire as and changeable in time). You won't have to worry what is going to happen should the economy slow down again because you always need maintenance performed, without it things come to a stop very quickly. Finally in my eyes the promotion opportunity is better too.

Hopefully I answered some questions for you and have you enough to make a decent decision. Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

 

[Mr. Goodbar]

I've been thinking about this too and so has my brother, he has the military background too.

 

[RIDDLE]

Here is my experience.

I work in the engineering department (track repair and maintenance) for Norfolk Southern.

If you want to be on a train and have that "glory" then nothing we say can change that. The downside is that after you are hired and make it through training you can count on at least one year maybe two of not working steady. You will be on what is called "the extra board". That is a fancy way of saying that you are "On-Call" 24-7. You will get called at all hours and expected to go. You do not get paid unless you get called and go to work. You will eventually be there long enough to be able to get a full time gig where you will have an assigned train. But until then don't count on anything. If you have ever gotten any speeding tickets or had any at fault accidents then your chances are slim. Their thought is that if you aren't safe enough to handle 5k pounds then you aren't safe enough to handle 5M pounds or more.

If you go to the engineering (track repair and maintenance, includes signal electricians and track labor) then you will start and be WORKING from day one. It is hard work. You will be outside in the sun, wind, rain, heat and cold. You will get dirty and sweaty at times. Your phone will ring at 2 in the morning to go fix something, maybe a tree in the track or a broken rail. There will be days that you don't stop long enough to take a leak, let alone much else. You will get called on the weekend or your birthday or worse yet your wife's birthday, to handle something. You will work all night every so often and then be expected to reasonably function enough to stay safe the next day.

Enough of the bad stuff. Now the good stuff about the maintenance side. The pay is reasonable for the work we do. The times that we do work like dogs we also get times like right now (sitting in the A/C of the truck for an hour or two waiting to go work like a dog for 45 min to an hour. The boss is fair and treats us right most of the time.

Then you have mechanical (work on the cars and engines). They also work similar to the maintenance guys. But it tends to be more regular hours. They will sometimes have to go to a derailment and climb under cars that are unstable or on the ground to get them back on the track or fix them. Sometimes they get called at odd hours too. I'm not sure on a lot of their stuff because I don't deal with them much.

All of the departments are union. Which means that seniority (time on the job) is the only qualification that matters most of the time. Which is stupid if you ask me. Unless you get promoted to a supervisors position (college degree related to a specific railroad task or experience on the railroad) then you are not union. As someone said earlier the union didn't help them at all, well if there is an act of irresponsibility by a transportation employee then they see it that way. The other departments are not nearly as stringent with things.

As a final note I will say that in general it is a good career to get into and the benefits far outweigh the negatives in the long run. My honest advice would be to try to get into the maintenance side of things. You will be working either at home or on the road (your choice depending on what you hire as and changeable in time). You won't have to worry what is going to happen should the economy slow down again because you always need maintenance performed, without it things come to a stop very quickly. Finally in my eyes the promotion opportunity is better too.

Hopefully I answered some questions for you and have you enough to make a decent decision. Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Thanks for all the great insight! I had thought about the maintenance side but wasn't sure what the pay was and what kind of experience was needed.

Thank all of you guys for the info. After talking to multiple people, it looks like I will not be applying for a conductor position with NS or CSX. I am not interested in working every weekend for years to come. My wife and I love to go to the lake, take the UTV to an off road park, or just hang out with friends. The money is the only thing that would tempt me, but what good is the money if you have so little time to enjoy it. My wife is in NP(nurse practitioner) school now. When she gets done she will be working a M-F job and I would like to be able to spend time with her on her days off.

I did talk to a good friend of mine that is VP at a short line here in town. The pay isn't as good but you have a set schedule. That may be something to look into. I must admit I wish that the CSX job fir my lifestyle better. I was kinda excited about the job itself.

 

[hjblwme]

Thanks for all the great insight! I had thought about the maintenance side but wasn't sure what the pay was and what kind of experience was needed.

Thank all of you guys for the info. After talking to multiple people, it looks like I will not be applying for a conductor position with NS or CSX. I am not interested in working every weekend for years to come. My wife and I love to go to the lake, take the UTV to an off road park, or just hang out with friends. The money is the only thing that would tempt me, but what good is the money if you have so little time to enjoy it. My wife is in NP(nurse practitioner) school now. When she gets done she will be working a M-F job and I would like to be able to spend time with her on her days off.

I did talk to a good friend of mine that is VP at a short line here in town. The pay isn't as good but you have a set schedule. That may be something to look into. I must admit I wish that the CSX job fir my lifestyle better. I was kinda excited about the job itself.

Don't let me scare you out of an opportunity. I have a motorcycle and I am on it most weekends. But as I said earlier I work maintenance, so I can avoid phone calls or be too far away on the weekend. I just wanted to make sure you knew all the bad stuff before you made a decision. The good stuff is that when nothing out of the ordinary is going on we are done by 330 most afternoons and the rest of the day is mine.

 

[RIDDLE]

Don't let me scare you out of an opportunity. I have a motorcycle and I am on it most weekends. But as I said earlier I work maintenance, so I can avoid phone calls or be too far away on the weekend. I just wanted to make sure you knew all the bad stuff before you made a decision. The good stuff is that when nothing out of the ordinary is going on we are done by 330 most afternoons and the rest of the day is mine.

You peaked my interest on the maintenance side! As much as the conductor, and possibly later engineer, job interest me(and man do they!), I am just not willing to sacrifice the time off. I have spent 10yrs as a paramedic, and if I have learned anything, it is to spend time with your family and friends. You, nor they, are guaranteed tomorrow.