Eastern Railroad Discussion > CN US Conductor Training Questions

by Airchime_30109
Posted: Yesterday
Hello everyone!

I am a CN Signalman in Michigan and have recently been given the opportunity to transfer departments, at my request. Signals interest me, but as the common story goes with train enthusiasts, transportation has always been my main interest and where I always thought I would most succeed. I am from Kentucky and spent my whole life on the C&O/CSX, so moving to Michigan was a big change in not only railroading practices, but also lifestyle and (laugh if you may) dialect!

As you may know, we have just officially opened our new training center in Homewood, IL - Claude was there... it was a big ceremony and a big deal. So, with the transition from Signals to Transportation, and a class start date of October 20 (the second class through the new training center) I was curious if anyone here had some insight as to what I can expect from CN's training program? I did a search on this site, and any relevant posts are several years back and some deal with our Canadian side of operations, which complicates things further. Since the railroad industry is an ever-changing one, I was hoping some of you more experienced CN employees or fans could shed some more light on our recent US Conductor training programs. I understand many things about our company and our industry in general being a CN employee so it's not like they are teaching someone who just saw his first switch throw, but there are plethoras of things I don't know and want to learn about this craft so I can succeed and do the best that I can.

What are some things I should both expect and watch out for during training? What to study and hit hardest (obviously signals, but I have a little bit of a head start since I am in the signal department) but what else? What does CN typically do with us after our 7-weeks of classroom training? Does our railroad still encourage getting on and off moving equipment and will they teach me to do this? When we mark up do we get full pay or do we wait for a probationary period? And do I have to wear that orange vest again? ;-)

Cheers!

- Nick

Posted from iPhone

Been trying to get a hold of you Nick, maybe we can help each other out. PM and we can talk about new hire training and maybe K5LAs. :)

Posted from Android

If no good answer here comes up try joining yardlimits.com it's a board for rails and should help you out.
JC

Posted from Android