Haven't seen you on here in quite a while. If you remember the phone call we had a couple of months ago, I've got a quick question about it. I go in for an interview next week.

Hi Travis,

Steve stopped by here Sunday on his way to SLO for work. Monday was his first shift there and I don't know if he still does the extended work week or if he goes home on weekends. I do know he isn't online much when working on the road so that's why you haven't seen much of him this week.

SLO = San Luis Obispo CA ;)
Maybe he'll stop by and say hi to me on the way thru. graemlins/waving.gif
Last time, he had a HUGE TRUCK
David

I had to chuckle when I read the post title..."Stevo, are you out there?"....If you know Stevo, you better believe he's "out there" lol tongue.gif

Dano graemlins/waving.gif

:D

No, no no...not like that ;) I just knew he had some contacts in the railroad department that I will be interviewing at on wednesday, and wanted to clarify one big issue with this position.

Travis,

What job is it??

I worked M&W on the old Norfolk & Western out of Moberly, MO, as a Tie Gang Follow Up Tamper operator and then was working Surfacing Gang Lead Tamper when I quit and went back to School back in '68..

Of course I had labored for two summers while in School as well as Gauge Spiked on the Steel Gang one winter up on the Des Moines River, Red Rock Dam track relocation project by Des Moines, IA before I became a Machine Operator..

I can drive a RR Spike by "rolling" a spike-maul OR a rock-pick to this day!! Wish I could still do it all day long like when I was tough kid!!!

pdq67

It's for a position called "train service". It covers several areas...brakeman, switchman, remote control train operator, conductor, etc. Where ever they decide to put you...you don't have a choice. I went and interviewed for this same title in Oregon a few months ago and was offered a job, but I had to turn it down. I had figured I could go up there and get started, and in a few years transfer back down here close to my family since this company has several train yards around here. Come to find out that if you want to transfer, you lose all of your seniority and the pay that comes with it...basically, you start over from the bottom. And they don't have to let you transfer...it is at the immediate supervisors discretion. There was just too many things working against me to go to work in Oregon. The 1st years pay is pretty lousy. It was going to be next to impossible to move up there, with a family, and find a place to live for a year before the pay got decent enough to get a house. And besides...I didn't like the area. It was practically desert. To be honest, I am not exactly thrilled about this job either...if I get it, it is going to be a 65 mile commute each way. And, I've gotten soft from sitting in a climate controlled office for the last 7 1/2 years. This job will be starting right about the beginning of the hottest, nastiest part of summer and it is all outside work. My out of shape a$$ is going to be hating life for a while :D But, you do what you've got to do. After a couple of years this job pays quite well...the first 1 to 1 1/2 years will be pretty rough though.

My B-I-L has something like 34 years or so as an Engineer on the N&S now . He started way back somewhere around the early '70's??

Anyway, he said they hire new hwelp and run them through a 6 months course out at Roanake, VA for training.

He went on to say that the new help starts out at 70 percent salary and takes 5 years to get caught up and a big minus is that the bennies ARE never as good as his are!!

I will say that once you get on as a train-man, you won't be able to plan your life at all unless you last long enough to hold a steady job somewhere.

Moberly, MO is like 40 miles away and even with his years, he can't hold a steady job there so his steady job for the last 12 or so years has been in Wentzville, MO at the great big GM plant there shuffling parts and cars in and out of the place.

He doesn't want to leave Columbia so commutes daily to his job down I-70!!

Hope you get the RR job if you WANT to put up with the life!! I know all about it!!!

pdq67

Well, after getting a better explaination of the job (and its schedule) I withdrew my application. Talk about a screwy work schedule. You work on a rotating shift...you never know what shift you will be working because it can and does change daily depending on the needs of the business. It was going to end up either I would be working 40 miles further north (for a total of 105-110 miles daily commute each way), or I was going to be gone 3-4 days at a time, with "maybe" 24 hours in between out of town runs. So I would either never be at home, or I would be looking at 4 hours of commute time every day. All of this, and it only pays minimum wage while you are in training. The pay isn't bad, but by the time they take out medical insurance, ridiculous union dues, and 11% for your retirement, I would have like 37 cents a week to live off of. You can't drink, you can't smoke, and basically you can't have a life...they own you. They can also transfer your job to other train yard in their region (which covers everything from Oklahoma City to Little Rock) and it is your responsability (and expense) to go where ever they decide to move you to in that region. I said thanks but no thanks...they have other positions that are a standard 40-50 hour work week that I have also applied for that are much more appealing. This would be a good job for someone young and with no family...but not for me.

Oh well graemlins/sad.gif

Originally posted by travis:
Talk about a screwy work schedule. You work on a rotating shift...you never know what shift you will be working because it can and does change daily depending on the needs of the business. You can't drink, you can't smoke, and basically you can't have a life...they own you. I said thanks but no thanks...they have other positions that are a standard 40-50 hour work week that I have also applied for that are much more appealing. This would be a good job for someone young and with no family...but not for me.

Oh well graemlins/sad.gif That's why I won't transfer. LOL smile.gif
My job doesn't suck like that one. Train service IS brutal. I'd rather build the track they run on, and then clean up the mess when they fall off. LOL tongue.gif And boy does it get messy when they fall off the rails at high speed. :eek:

Dave, ask Mary if she's ready to give up some more 2nd gen parts. ;)

Well, NOW you show up tongue.gif

The schedule with that job is without a doubt the biggest turn off. They said up front this job wasn't for everybody...I guess they wasn't kidding. The job doesn't sound terribly difficult, but I would like to have a life outside of work. And its funny that they mentioned both in Oregon and in Coffeyville that the average divorce rate is 3 per person :eek:
You know, I probably had an excellent chance at landing one of the jobs (there was 15 openings). They are extremly strict about driving violations, drug and alcohol violations, criminal history, etc. Whenever the guy mentioned that any of this stuff immediately disqualified you from ever working there, about 1/2 of the group got up and left.

I believe I made the right choice turning it down.

He, He!! It's called "the Extra-Board"!!

It used to be 12 hours on, eight hours off then 12 hours on etc.. for five days/nights!!! My f-i-l used to stay in the RR furnished crew motel on site in St.Louis or KCMO way back then..

YES, my now gone, f-i-l, bless his heart was top dog seniority-wise when they pushed him out b/c of a bad heart with FULL bennies and everything!!

He started as a coal shoveling Fireman on the Wabash and then went engineer and by that time the diesel's were here to stay!!

He told me about the time he had a full train coming out of Hannibal, MO to Moberly, MO and had to sit outside of town for like ten minutes or so out of sight b/c he had the old Steam engine cranked about wide open coming west!!

He said way back then, every small town had a M/W Track-gang that hand tamped the tracks about 100 percent level so the big Steam engines could really fly!!!

I've gandy-danced my share of ballast under many a tie using a d-handle square-flat shovel as well as drove too many spikes by hand with a spike maul!!!

AND I only worked like three years for them when I was young......

My airhead nephew is a traveling tie gang, spike machine operator like Stevo's surfacing gang.

He travels all over the eastern US and the gang can install like 2500 ties a long shift!! I think they have two "saw's" one scarifier and two "inserters", pus two tie handlers, but only one spiker?? May be wrong on it but don't think so b/c my nephew is always bitching about having to stay caught-up!!!

He say's a laborer and him loads like 20, maybe 30 spike kegs on his spiker for just the days runat about 5:30 AM before breakfast.. 200 pound a keg!!!

They work as long as they can so that they can drop off early wherever they are after their hours are in and then everybody throws their stuff in their vehicles and they all head to their different homes and drive like h-ll until they get there.

He does it every week!!! Detroit or Birmingham or Atlanta or Buffalo or Chicago or wherever to Macon, MO!!! Been doing it for years and years!! Lost a wife over it b/c his buddy took care a her while he was working...

What a bit-- she was!!! He never remarried and I can see by the look in his eye's after about 8 or ten cool ones the lonely life he lives... Him and the rest of the 35 to 50 year old bachelor/fishing buddie gang he calls his friends...

Travis, I think you made the right decision!!

AND I lived in the old WW-II troop cars converted to track-gang bunk cars when I was up in Iowa back in '66 and '67 as a laborer!!!

pdq67

Originally posted by travis:
I believe I made the right choice turning it down. I think you probably did make the right choice. I don't know how they do it. I wouldn't.

Things are getting pretty screwy in our department though too. I make more money than my supervisor. LOL graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Managers. "Hey Steve, have you ever considered taking a supervisors position? If your interested just let me know."

Me. "Uh, yeah. I've thought about it, but I've got too many project cars to do that." LOL :D

Know what you mean, Steve b/c the brickmason's and gunning nozzlemen on the refractory jobs I used to go on made almost twice what I made AND if you don't think I didn't catch some ribbing when they found out that I am an Engineer until the guy's kinda turned it to pity!!!

pdq67