Well, when it rains, it pours.
Anyways I'm finally getting to this. First off, this is an opinion, not legal perspective nor am I stating the opinions of any class 1 railroad. Just thought I would cover that right off the bat as they watch the internet way more than airlines do. If you have questions, PM me or search the internet. There are a lot of great sites with information on it.
Ok, first off, getting the job. You really need to have a cover letter and a resume. So what to put on it? That you're willing to slave away for days on end in all weather. No, seriously, do it. Tell them that you work nights and weekends, have no problem being on call and love to camp. Tell them that you take 20 miles fun hikes or that you work outside year round moving things, or that you haven't owned a pair of pants other than jeans for the last 2 years. They want people that can work outside all day long and be ok. They don't expect you to be an ironman, but they do expect that you can do the job and not gripe about it. Show them that. In the cover letter express how you enjoy having a job outside, and that you hate being couped up in an office. You've always admired the railroad but was never sure how to get into it, or that you aspire to be an engineer one day. I talked briefly on how I had a Lionel train set as a child and always loved it. Which is true, I just loved my friend's RC aircraft a lot more. Apply where you want to work. Apply often as well, they like people that reapply. They'll get 2000 resumes and select 200. Most of those came from the last few rounds of the job. So don't just drop it, it's nice.
So now about the job itself. You need to think about your model railroad set that you had as a kid as it's exactly like that. The basic concept is that the cars only have brakes, otherwise you need the power to move everything. The power is the locomotives and they don't go terribly fast so everything takes time. In a 8 hour shift, you might move 150 cars in the yard. On the road, maybe do 30 switches, possibly with 100+ cars at a time, but usually just 1 or 2. So it's a lot of wait 5 minutes, wait 10 minutes. The hours go by really quick as you're always doing something, it just takes time. You cannot move a car from one track to another by lifting. Everything has to get pulled and switched. That's why you have yards. You'll have a train come in with cars for 3 different cities. So, you pull that train out, and put the 3 pieces into 3 separate tracks that will eventually be the train going to that city. When you have all the cars, you get the train going.
So how much of this is physical labor? Not much, not much at all. You let the engine do EVERYTHING. The most physical part of it is the walking. It is a rule that you don't run. Seriously, FRA rule says don't run. You're walking on gravel, about 1.5' long pieces that are razor sharp. It's not easy to walk on, I can't imagine running on it. You'll probably walk anywhere from 1 to 15 miles in a day. The most I've done is about 7 or 8 miles in a 12 hour shift. More common is about an hr of walking in a shift. Most of the time you're in the engine riding it. If you're in the yard switching, normally on the lead which is smooth dirt, for about 4-5 miles in a 8 hour shift. You may have to ride cars, which I think is the most challenging at times as the hand holds aren't the best sometimes. Those you usually ride for anywhere from 5-10 minutes at a time. If you can't hold on, you stop and walk it. Plenty of people do it. You never need to ride a car. However, plenty of people do as your feet get tired.
So why ride cars? You need to see where you're going at all times. The engineer can see forward, so if you go backwards, you either need to be behind the train so you can watch where it's going, or ride the rear to protect it. Why do we have to do this? Because people are stupid and don't respect trains. You know the people, who run railroad gates, or go through the yard at 1am in between cars. Each car can weigh from 25 tons to 200 tons. Get 30 of those in a row and you're already talking about 200 yards to stop it, at best. So we always have to watch where it goes, which is the bulk of the walking and riding.
To get cars apart, you have to lift up a lever, which I would say is about 10 lbs of force, so you need to be able to do that. They couple just like your train set as a kid, just push them together. So I know people were worried about the weight, and you don't have to lift more than 10 lbs, or be able to ride a ladder on the side of the car. That's it. Take your time, don't rush, do it safe. These cars and engines will kill you. So you never lose respect for them.
The most dangerous part? You have to go inbetween sometimes and tie the air hoses that go from car to car. You need to go through a bunch of items to make sure the cars wont move before you do it. If you don't:
http://ksax.com/article/stories/s1956460.shtml
Here's kindof an idea of the work. We are NOT allowed to get on or off moving equipment:
[video=youtube;Sl7MQGG0nSY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl7MQGG0nSY[/video]
Now about the work. I can't speak to the pay or benefits as that depends on the railroad and the UTU contract which is privy information. However, I don't make less that $200 a day that I work, and it's often much much higher. Advertised pay is 50K in training and 65K the first year. With how low they are right now in manpower you can work as much as you like, and that usually will get you 80K+. Engineers make almost the same, but have a few bonuses that can be 10-20K. There are some hourly jobs and some that pay by the mile. You have to get hired to learn more.
Medical benefits are here from the UTU:
http://www.utu.org/worksite/healthnews/PDFs/RLBC_SPD_0908.pdf
Very, VERY good medical benefits.
The hours: they try for as little as they can because the obviously pay you for the more you work. They also try to get you home as you get paid very well for being away from home. Yard jobs are 8 hours 5 days a week. Road jobs are however long they take, paid by mileage. Either way you go you have a maximum of 12 hours on duty, and 10 hours of rest minimum (10 hours of rest even if you work 1 minute). That rest has to be undisturbed, if they call you, you can tell them that it resets. If you work 6 days, you get 48 hours off. If you work 7 days you get 72 hours off. You cannot work more than 7 days straight. Yard jobs work 5 days, 2 days off. Same 2 days every day. Road jobs get called in to work, variable start times and variable days off.
In theory you can mark 7 days off a month, 5 weekdays and 2 weekend days. Seniority defines what you can actually take off. THIS VARIES BY RAILROAD AND IS AVAILABLE BY UTU / numerous internet forums, please dont quote me on this. This will most likely change soon. If you are available for work and don't get called, that does not count as a day off. So already this is better than being a CFI. If they call you and say nevermind you get a flat rate pay regardless. The amount is better that my old 2 day pay, but I can't say how much it is until you get hired. You also then get another 10 hours off.
Vacation is the one weak point, they'll talk about it when you get hired, and I heard before I got hired 1 week after a year and that seems true with most class 1 railroads. BNSF is a bit different and you just need to get hired.
So what's the verdict? I like it. I don't love it, but it's a very good job, easy to do, and my quality of life is much higher.
This is very well akin to working the ramp somewhere, but with less physical labor. Way better benefits and pay as well. Keep applying to where you want to go and hopefully you'll get it. Most of the people you'll work with will have only graduated high school, and are a bit of tough heads. A lot of the new hires are college graduates and there are a few masters level students here and there. Feel free to PM me.
For those of you who thought I wrote off being a pilot, I am still a pilot. My name says it all. If I could find a flying job with the same benefits and pay or better I might go back if there was similar job security. Here's a big difference, jobs are stable here, you basically can't get fired, and if you get furloughed they pay you and you can keep your health insurance while furloughed (depends on the railroad).
If you can hold the job I would apply to:
BNSF - USA
CP - Canada
CN - Canada
Amtrak - USA
UP- USA (iffy?)
Avoid CSX and NS. Their workers aren't happy for a lot of reasons.
Any questions, post them here, PM me, or search online. I can take care of my family and I'm home more than I was as a CFI. So I made the move for a while. I also had 10 years to fly and enjoy it, but I never got ahead, and I guarantee the pay is more than 10 year captains at almost every regional, and better than 10 year captains at most majors. That's by your 2nd year here. Also, if anyone is in town and wants to start an aircraft partnership, I'm thinking about buying next year.
Now for the disclaimer:
ALL INFORMATION IN THIS POST IS MERELY OPINION NOT REPRESENTING THE VIEWS OR AGREEMENTS OF ANY PARTICULAR RAILROAD AND IS MERELY A COLLECTION OF OPINIONS AND FREELY AVAILABLE AND DISTRIBUTED KNOWLEDGE.
tag. But with all seriousness contests On the job!
