I saw this on Twitter and want to know if it is correct.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FckKWQXacAEY_Pp?format=jpg&n…
TIA
I saw this on Twitter and want to know if it is correct.
Yes, it’s true. I posted a link to CSX railroad’s job requirements for conductor. One of the requirements was to be willing to be “on call” 24/7. RR workers can’t even get unpaid time off to go to a doctor’s appointment. They have to jump, any time of day or night, at the “JC’s” demand.
So, the new contract brings more money, and an additional paid day off per year (if they are allowed to use it), but they still have to stay welded to their phone and jump at the “JC’s” demand.
Steve
The manpower shortage must put extra pressure on crews to respond when called.
I recall being told you can spend years working for a railroad before you get enough seniority to work full time. Layoffs in the slow first quarter are common.
Perhaps everybody works these days. And more overtime than they like.
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I saw this on Twitter and want to know if it is correct.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FckKWQXacAEY_Pp?format=jpg&n……
Sounds plausible. I think I’ve told this story before, so bear with me if you’ve heard it…
…about a million years ago I was doing consulting work rehabilitating rail road tunnels in the Feather River Canyon. Obviously, trains had priority on the tracks over the rehab work. So we’d saddle up, go work in the tunnel, and when a train would get near, they’d pull everybody out. The railroad was extremely safety conscious, so we’d pull out with plenty of time to spare. But there was a lot of standing around waiting for track time. Thing is, freight trains don’t run on time. At least they didn’t back then. So we never really knew if it was going to be a big day, or a waiting around kind of day.
But the waiting around was balanced by the fact there were no breaks. We’d work as long as we had track time, however many hours in a row that was. For some reason, the shift was officially noon to 10:00 pm. But the shift actually ended when we ran out of track time. Sometimes we’d finish up at 1:00 am.
Because of the irregular work days, we had no real way of predicting how long the whole project would last. We’d finish one tunnel, then go to the next town and work on the next tunnel with no clear time frame of how long we’d be there. There were a couple of local guys but most of the crew was from out of town.
I can see how that lifestyle would become draining after a while.
2 Likes
syke
Loved your story about working on the Railroad, especially that it was the tunnels of the Feather River Canyon. One of my ancestors came west via the nearby pre RR Beckwourth Pass in 1852, and I hiked it and loved it, but especially loved looking at that magnificent railway.
Here comes one of them pesky trains (the Union Pacific #844 Steam Locomotive, skip to 1:00 unless you want a minute of silence looking at the tunnel mouth)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjAx_Vud7jk
David fb
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Loved your story about working on the Railroad, especially that it was the tunnels of the Feather River Canyon. One of my ancestors came west via the nearby pre RR Beckwourth Pass in 1852, and I hiked it and loved it, but especially loved looking at that magnificent railway.
Here comes one of them pesky trains (the Union Pacific #844 Steam Locomotive, skip to 1:00 unless you want a minute of silence looking at the tunnel mouth)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjAx_Vud7jk
Woah! Reno Junction! That brings back some memories. There is a siding there (you can see it in the video) so that’s where we’d start and end every day, and the place we’d pull out to to watch the trains go by. Thanks, that was awesome.
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