Western Railroad Discussion > Conductor Trainee requirements...

I was looking on the BNSF web page and noticed applications were being taken for conductor trainees out of Belen NM, which is close to home. Need a little info as to real-life job expectations, physical requirements etc. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!
RJ

First keep in mind just because you hire out in Belen you might not be able to hold down the board there, might have to go to other ends of the division depending upon the traffic and crew needs.

To be eligable to hire out you first must be over 18, have a current drivers lisence. Must not be color blind, Be able to lift 80 to 100 pounds ( carrying a broken knuckle).

For the first few years of your carrer you will have the lowest senority, working the extra board being the first to be furloughed. You will be on call 24/7 with only 8 hours rest between runs, you can get 10 hours if you work over 12 hours. I think that all depends on local union agrements. You will work any day, at any time, all kinds of weather. Do a search here on TO there is alot of discusion about this. Good luck hope you get an interview.
JC

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,626746,626762#msg-626762

You WILL be on the extra board for at least 10 years wherever you go chances are. Remember that. You will not have
any semblence of a "normal" life as you now know it and you will be on call 24/7! You will never feel so tired or fatigued in your entire life...Trust me, if you hire out life as you now know and enjoy it will be over! There is no future in this business with remote control yard jobs and one man crews possible 15-20 years down the line.
Get your college education and save yourself from the misery of the railroad.

If you hire out on the former ATSF side of the BNSF you will be subject to primary recall to where you hired out for 5 years. That means, for the first five years after your hire date you can be force assigned back to Belen if Belen is where you hire out. You may not even be forced to Belen after training. You may be working somewhere across the system for the first 4 years before you get recalled. It can come anytime local supervision wants and has nothing to do with manpower shortages. You may bounce back and forth from Belen to where you desire to work many times during the first 5 years.

The only conductor assignments in Belen are yard jobs. So if you want to make yard wages for up to 5 years go right ahead and do it. I would highly reccomend hiring on the BN side. Once you are finished training, you are free to roam almost the entire BNSF system excluding a few closed seniority districts. Highly rccomend the BN terminals to hire out.

If you are a young man and are not in debt, go for it. Just keep your wits about you. Work for a couple of years and re-evaluate your career choice. Asw long as you have the option of leaving and going back to college it will be a great experience. Just don't get into a position where you have to stay in the job. (no wife, no kids, no $600 car payments).

Ya know these guys are really throwing the " BAD " Book at you. So aside from the crap of the job here are some positive's.
1) You will make more money than someone with a college degree. Ive made $80,000 at the lowest. Ive heard of guys making $150,000. My brother graduated UCLA with honors and a buisness degree and the best job he can find is with the BNSF in thier management trainee program making $50,000.

2) Benifits - these days people are paying alot for them. The railroad is still paying nothing compared to the average.

3) There is not too many jobs that you can have the flexability to move around and see the country and get paid. Your not stuck in Belen.

4) Where else can you sit at a desk write on a signal form and make alot of money.

5) Future - People are kidding themselves when they say it will be one man crews. The FRA is far from allowing it , the STB will have thier say in it , The Workforce will do all it can to prevent it and prevent it from working. RCO has'nt been as successfull as they thought it might be and they are having problems with it still. There is a future still out there , even if it is 20 years down the line.

I'm surprised they're even hiring trainmen at Belen these days, since they only have RCO there now. There used to be an old head pool that worked west to Winslow out of there but that was protected people and maybe those folks are all now long gone.

I hired out and worked for the SantaFe there in Belen for a short time in the mid-'90s, but maybe some of what I encountered will still apply today. Spent my time working between Belen/Clovis as you could make more money working the Clovis/Belen mainline run than you could the yard extra board at Belen, but don't know the situation at Clovis as to whether or not they have enough people out there these days. Still remember making $95.00 every time I worked a switcher at Belen as the helper (at 75% of wage), so not a whole lot of money, but we worked a lot, and it all added up in the end.

The seniority district (on the ATSF) when I worked down there was comprised of Albuquerque, Belen, El Paso, Clovis and Carlsbad, but again, with the system-wide seniority the way it is on the BNSF these days, that might have all changed by now. When I was working out of Clovis they used to have an agreement whereby any train (especially intermodals) that had to do a setout/pickup at Clovis, they had to call a brakeman on the crew, which was great, and since the majority of the SantaFe's units at that time were the older SD40s/45s, the conductors would always tell me to go back and ride the 2nd unit so everybody could be comfortable for the trip, and that worked fine for me. But I'm sure they did away with that agreement years ago.

Anyway, if they are in fact hiring in Belen, then get on with the BNSF there, and decide what you want to do, and if you can hold out in Clovis, and want to make more money working the mainline, then go for it - worked for me. Maybe MichaelSD40-2 can fill you in on the goings on down that way, as he works out of one of the terminals in that district.

I spent 7 years as a brakeman, baggageman and conductor on the SP. They were the finest years of my life - I was single, no debt, and railroading was great. I made enormous money and saw virtually every inch of California. Sure I heard the old heads bitch and moan about the company, the management, then union, and everything else. I was still young then, and I couldn't understand why these men, if they really were so badly treated, didn't quit.

Go for that job. Approach it with the interest of a railfan and you'll love it.

Norm
TIOGA PASS

There are bad parts and goods parts.

Yes I am on the extra board, working on call 24/7. I have very little seniority: 2002 company, 2004 brakeman. I could hold a helper/brakeman position at my terminal, but chose not to, the money is on the extra board. 8 on 8 off. I have a wife and a daughter, and another baby on the way. I have over a thousand dollars a month in car payments, I have $1200 rent, plus bills. I still have enough money to put $400 per paycheck into a 401k, and still buy Overland HO Brass Locomotives.

There is plenty of money to be made on the railroad. Just forget about holidays like New Years, Christmas, etc. Also get some good rain gear, the ones from Home Depot will rip the first time you climb onto a railcar.

For a railfan like me, this is the life. Getting paid to play with trains. It is not all fun and games, just read the UTU website. See how many railroaders are killed each month. It is not for everybody, half the people hired cannot handle the lifestyle, and quit.

...
Foamer

Tioga Pass is right....Go for it!!!--39 years of railfaning and happiness...was well paid. too...

Having worked out of Clovis I can tell you a little about Belen. Belen itself does NOT have any road pools. It is strictly yard jobs, maybe some local work from Albuquerque. So if you're looking for big mileage jobs, Belen is definitely the wrong place to look. However, last I knew (now on the NS for the past year) there were a fair amount of new hires working in both Albuquerque and Belen and I don't believe they cut anyone off for the winter of '04-'05. You do have a few road jobs out of Albuquerque, but unless you have 30+ years in, best of luck on holding those. As another poster mentioned, there is primary recall in Belen, so just simply escaping to another terminal may not be possible depending on the time of year. If you do hire out there, best of luck. When you meet Colt Adams, tell him Chris Schanbacher says hi.

I messed up the years for furlough in Belen, in '03-'04 I know they cut off in Belen because I was cut off for 3 weeks out of Clovis. GREAT little vacation having worked all year long! Just remember, don't go buying that new car/truck/boat the first year out.

Always good to hear from OHRY - wasn't sure if you were still on here or not. You and Michael (SD40-2) can probably enlighten loco4501 as to Belen doings better than anybody else on here can. Been too long since I was down that way, and I'm sure a lot has changed since then.

Whatever the bad or the good is I am still in the process of hiring on as I type. :-D

I attended the Conductor Trainee - Primary Recall Location (Los Angeles) on January 18, 2006. At 6:15 AM, 75 of us crammed into a conference room at the Hilton Hotel in San Bernardino, CA. 30 for Needles, 25 for San Bernardino, & 20 for Los Angeles. First there was a big long speech on company benefits, Job description, & the reality of what your life will be like for the next 10 years. The San Bernardino Terminal Manager stopped by briefly to give us a pep-talk before the big game kind of speech. One hour in, only 70 of us were left, five were dismissed when they were either late for the beginning or late after one of the 5 min. breaks. (DO NOT BE LATE, YOU WILL BE TOLD TO LEAVE!!)

There were 4 multiple choice tests (Aprox. 30 min each); Arithmetic, Algebra, "How would you do ____", & "What is your opinion on ____". Total about 200 questions, many tricky, read the questions & ALL the answers carefully... Be Honest, don't try to give them the answers you think they want. After the tests were completed we were given one-on-one interview appointment times (for later that afternoon, or next day) and all had to submit a hair sample for drug analysis, 1 inch or longer. If they can't find it on your head, they WILL go searching. If you don't have any hair long enough, bye bye, try again in 6 months. Then, lunch.

I have passed the tests, interview, eye exam, hearing test, color tests, & am awaiting the physical ability testing. That is all I can comment on so far... GOOD LUCK!!


Robby F. (Mr. MRL) <- & don't let some of these guys scare you, they don't scare me.

MrMRL Wrote:
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> After the tests were completed we
> were given one-on-one interview appointment times
> (for later that afternoon, or next day) and all
> had to submit a hair sample for drug analysis, 1
> inch or longer. If they can't find it on your
> head, they WILL go searching. If you don't have
> any hair long enough, bye bye, try again in 6
> months. Then, lunch.

Wow, hadn't heard of any of the railroads doing hair analysis, and I don't think the UP does - yet. When did all of this come about?

Don't know, perhaps they are secretly doing their DNA testing again?


Robby F. (Mr. MRL)

What railroad offers a 8 on 8 off work/rest schedule? I've never of such a thing! We on CN have a crap 6&1 schedule for the extra board. Most regular assignments are 5&2 or 6&2 but they cut 50% of regular jobs in my home terminal since the CN merger/2002 contract which used to be 6 on and 3 off!! I thought the BNSF 7&3 schedule for EB engineers was good! Or the 10&5 road pools. That 8&8 takes the cake! Where do I sign up!?!?

...Maybe he meant 8 hours on/8 hours off?
RJ

MrMRL Wrote:
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>
>
> Robby F. (Mr. MRL) <- & don't let some of
> these guys scare you, they don't scare me.

You know, a hard head makes for a soft behind… the “scaring you” you allege is in reality the truth and an honest assessment as presented by people that have been where you and others are trying to go. Just make your own decisions and leave it at that.

Oh, and should you be successful, you too will one day be a Boogey Man “scaring” the eager aspirants.

Pyschical requirement #1 - Can you breath and stand erect while doing so?

If answer to #1 is yes, go to #2.

Selling ones soul #2 - Are you willing to devot your life to us, the BNSF and forget you have a personal life?

If answer to #2 is yes, your hired!

Welcome to BNSF.

loco4501 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was looking on the BNSF web page and noticed
> applications were being taken for conductor
> trainees out of Belen NM, which is close to home.
> Need a little info as to real-life job
> expectations, physical requirements etc. Any
> feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!
> RJ