If you were to work for a railroad, which one would it be and what position?

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Boris said:
Absolutely, I agree. 42 Years is enough.
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I worked for the Penn Central and then Amtrak for 39 years. Working in the M of E section I had steady work, regular 5 day shifts and same hours of work. Might of missed a few holidays along the way whether because of my days of work which could of been because we were a 5day work week with some jobs having different relief days because the operation was 7 days a week or I wanted to work overtime. I have to agree that a retired RR employee is the best after that time.
 


I once worked for the CNW for exactly 56 days back in the mid 1980's. Me and several other young guys got hired to work on a ribbon rail gang in north central Iowa. We all got laid off at the end of 56 days because if we had made it to 60 days, we would have been eligible to join the R.R. union.

That experience pretty much cured me of railroading, both full-sized and model-sized, for a good 10~12 years or so. Finally, I slowly started to get back into railroading, but model railroading only. I had sworn off any more full-sized railroading by that time.
 
I hired out in 1979, one of the last to start out as a "fireman" on Conrail before they stopped hiring firemen in 1980 (and the craft largely disappeared).

Got promoted, ran trains for Conrail, Amtrak, even a little on Metro-North (I also was one of the now-gone "forever firemen" on MN in 1983, when it was a brand-new RR).

Spent 32 years, some of that switching back and forth between CR and AMT once or twice a year (I had seniority on both railroads).

Finally stayed put with Amtrak in 1991, and worked there until retiring in early 2012.
 
J.Albert said:
I hired out in 1979, one of the last to start out as a "fireman" on Conrail before they stopped hiring firemen in 1980 (and the craft largely disappeared).
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Yeah, what does a "fireman" do after 1959? I mean the position is still listed in my software and a crew caller could call someone to it, but without fire what did you do. Watch the locomotive gauges, flag the front of the train?
 
Iron Horseman said:
Yeah, what does a "fireman" do after 1959? I mean the position is still listed in my software and a crew caller could call someone to it, but without fire what did you do. Watch the locomotive gauges, flag the front of the train?
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Some of the things on the interwebs have him working with the engineer to maintain safe operation of the train.
Didn't seem like I could get a straight answer. 30 seconds into it, I bailed. :)
 
The New England Central Railroad (subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming) was just hiring for a dispatcher. I had applied, and made it through their first round of evaluations, but had found another job in the meantime that wouldn't require I work weekends and holidays.
 
"what does a "fireman" do after 1959?"

On the commuter trains from Danbury (CT) to New York City, the fireman kept the steam heat going in the winter. I must have lost a little bit of hearing going back in those FL-9's to check the boilers a few times each trip.

In winter, there was also a "steam heat job" at Danbury, keeping the boilers running all night, and keeping the water tanks full. Could be a tough job on freezing nights working with the water pipes.

Firemen also handled the hostling jobs for Amtrak at New Haven Motor Storage.

So, yes... there WERE specific jobs the fireman still did going right into the 1980's...
 


I would be happy being a conductor riding in a caboose on the NYSW. Wouldn’t do it for long, a month or so but long enough to be able to say I did it.
 
Some time back I was a volunteer on the Tanfield Railway (Heritage Line). One job I loved was working the level crossing. Great fun.
 
I would love to work for the RhätischeBahn. Driving a train in the Swiss Alps would be like Heaven on Earth for me.
 
I was an engineer for Rail America, ran trains from the pacific ocean, to central Ohio, and everywhere in between. I enjoyed running the trains, the people I got to meet, and the things I go to see. But, I'm glad to be away from the life style, the "let's see if we can catch the crew doing something wrong today", and never knowing you had a day off, until it was over. Do I regret doing it? Absolutely not! I'm also glad to be away from it. If I was to go back to the railroad, I would do it on a shortline again, as a signal maintainer, with an engineer's card.
 
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Well, I can't opt for the SP; because it's gone. My Dad was a boilermaker for the Rock and the SP...and those jobs are gone... go I guess I would work for Amtrak as a "hey-you"
 
Iron Horseman said:
Ha, I am, Union Pacific. Systems Engineer. Never get close to a train.

But I would think the ideal job would be the engineer of a Z-6, 7, 8 or A class steamer on the point of the North Coast Limited of the Northern Pacific. Why? The NP had some of the finest mountain scenery in the country, and the track work was superior to that of its northern competition the Great Northern. The Z class of locomotives were the finest, fastest, Challenger class locomotives built, and the A class Northerns were not only the original Northerns but the top of their class too in speed (Santa Fe 2900 were the most powerful). The North Coast Limited was on a tight schedule and was run very fast, and the freights better be out of the way. The later As, A-4 and A-5, had all weather cabs for those cold winter night runs.

Second choice I think would be the St. Louis Union Terminal West Tower operator between 1930 and 1950. St. Louis was the "grand daddy of them all" serving both east and west coast as well as south railroads. Watching the daily arrival and departure of so many passengers and the evolution of passenger equipment would have been thrilling, especially with a good camera by ones side. All most all the other major cities (most notably Chicago) had the trains split up amongst several stations, in St. Louis they were all right in one spot.
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My first job was working for SP as a programmer. Wrote assembler language code, for an automated hump yard project. Closest I got to a real train, was taking the SP commuter train from Sunnyvale to San Francisco.
 
gjslsffan said:
This is kind of a challenging question. And longer response than I intended, but it is a question that I felt deserved a little longer explanation, and it is no where near complete.
I started as a locomotive machinist (RR term for mechanic) in the early 1990's at the former DRGW Burnham shops in Denver. And retired a few years ago as a locomotive engineer in Grand Junction CO. I rode and ran locomotives lettered for DRGW, SP, UP, BN, ATSF, and finally BNSF. Never moved out of my house via mergers, buyouts, trackage rights. Was on every piece of track between Denver and SLC (except Craig branch). I miss running a engine 1 or 10 of them. Never got tired of looking at the Rockies, especially after a good snow, going down the front range, pushing snow above the plow didnt see the track, it was like we were gliding down the mountain. Running 15,000+ ton trains in control of all that power was cool I will admit, and on mountain grades could get interesting real quick like. I also miss the people I worked with. Never ever, got tired of waiving back at the kids and giving them a little whistle.
But the way these RR's have gotten towards their own people not sure I would recommend working for any of them. But hey you might like it, especially if you want no life of your own, dont mind missing just about every important event in you families lives, being on call 24hrs a day 365 days unless your on vac, oh yea the vacation you get until you get 10-15 years of seniority will not be on any good holidays, more likely will be Jan, Feb. There are rest cycles being implemented, but I dont know how they will work out in the long run. They give you days off for personal reasons but almost never give them to you when you want them. From the day you get hired the RR is looking for a way to discipline you, keep you in line. Your on camera just about all the time, course its like that about anywhere I bet. I dont miss getting called at 10PM for a midnight train knowing I was going to be on that train till noon-ish the next day, oh yea you mowed the lawn and tried to fix a few things around the house and basically got no sleep before you got the call, because the train line-up said you werent going to work till the next day, you just got called 12-14 hrs early is all, happens all the time.
If it was me? I might consider getting a position that has fixed days off and a 5 day work week. Good luck finding that on the RR nowadays. A good friend who is a trainer for conductor new hires, told me they had a class of 10 starting and after the first morning break only 2 returned to the class, that should tell you a few things.
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I've asked you these two questions before, and recently in the coffee shop, but you may not have seen them, or have chosen not to reply:

Did you ever know, or even come across Sam Dougherty, who came up through the D&RGW ranks from sandhouse boy in Helper all the way to Road-Foreman of engineers (and maybe even further still up the ranks). He wrote a book I really like, "Call The Big Hook," and if you don't know it, as a D&RGW man I think you would enjoy reading it.

The other question is: How and why did you ever...you presumably grew up...a SLSF (Frisco) fan?

In either case, I am happy to know you, or at least of you. It's pretty neat to have a former D&RGW engineer on a small forum such as this.

[Maybe not obvious, but I'm a "Prototype-Freelancer" myself. That said, the Rio Grande is also my own "glory road," and also my primary go-to for both inspiration and information. FWIW.]
 
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Snowman said:
I've asked you these two questions before, and recently in the coffee shop, but you may not have seen them, or have chosen not to reply:

Did you ever know, or even come across Sam Dougherty, who came up through the D&RGW ranks from sandhouse boy in Helper all the way to Road-Foreman of engineers (and maybe even further still up the ranks). He wrote a book I really like, "Call The Big Hook," and if you don't know it, as a D&RGW man I think you would enjoy reading it.

The other question is: How and why did you ever...you presumably grew up...a SLSF (Frisco) fan?

In either case, I am happy to know you, or at least of you. It's pretty neat to have a former D&RGW engineer on a small forum such as this.

[Maybe not obvious, but I'm a "Prototype-Freelancer" myself. That said, the Rio Grande is also my own "glory road," and also my primary go-to for both inspiration and information. FWIW.]
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I apologize for not seeing them.
I do remember the name Sam Dougherty, didnt see much of him tho, they had some good RFOE's on this RR over the years. I spent most of my time East of GJ, but made many trips to Provo, and some to SLC. I will have to get that book "Call the Big Hook" being as 028 still sits a couple miles east of me today.

My SL-SF connection was where I was born and spent the early years of my life on a Dairy farm along the QA&P/SL-SF RY, plus my Grandfather was an engineer for the QA&P/SL-SF. I have at least as many DRGW/SP loco models as QA&P/SL-SF. I sure enjoyed seeing DRGW units on a train I was called on, cause you knew you had a chance of making it with RG power. SP were bell ringers for sure, but they did get better over time. Those Tunnel units were really good locomotives for their day, they would pull their rated tonnage ( when Positive Traction Control) was installed they were rated the same tonnage as SD50's.
I got lots of pictures of RG power in and around GJ for the most part, Im sure folks thought I was nuts for taking all those pictures, but I am glad I did it now. Just wish I had taken more.
 
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