Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF position, to apply or not ?

Well gang finally what I've been waiting for, BNSF is hiring Conductor Trainees in Lacrosse, Wi. Big delemma now is to apply or not. I applied and tested with a large group in Fort Madison 5 or so years ago. I know I scored high on the tests and had a decent interview, but wasn't to crazy about the possibility of sticking my wife with the job of finding housing and moving on her own to a new local 8 and a half hours from where she grew up in Appleton. They sensed this and baically I was told "for 60+ thousand per year you can find a way to get moved" The thing was if you get hired it's 15 weeks on the job training. The last week you take your Conductors exam and if you pass ( they make sure you're ready to take it and pass ) you go right to the extra board. 24/7,365 days a year. Max of 12 hours on, 8 hours off. 1 week vacation the first year but not necessarily when you want it or need it. You could see why I was asking questions, to stick my wife who is 14 years younger then myself with this project by herself. She has said more then once if they ever hire in Lacrosse I'd love to move there. Well they posted it last week and in asking her about it was again told "if that's what you want to do,I'll support you" I made sure she understands the hours involved, the schedule, and that much of the burden of selling the house,packing, and finding new housing was going to be on her shoulders if I did this. I have the green light. I'm figuring this, at 46 years of age, if I get 20 years in I should be pretty well set up for my retirement. So I'll guess I'll go for it and see how far I get this time around knowing that a move less then 3 hours from "home" isn't the big deal Fort Madison was. I actually had the Lacrosse Yardmaster tell me shortly after that it was probably a good thing I didn't get hired in Fort Madison as most of the guys had been getting transfered to New Mexico and other points in the Southwest.

BNSFCSX

Plain and simply, ONLY IF you are prepared to have little, or NO control over your life for the next 5 to 10 years, which is the time you will need to get a "little" seniority, before you can do a little picking a choosing of your hours and/or days off. In MY case, I have absolutely NO regrets. I LOVE my job, even though "current" corporate BNSF leadership SUCKS! Also, in MY case, I hired on in a large terminal [Los Angeles] where there were MANY REGULAR SCHEDULED jobs. Many terminals do not [La Crosse is one of those]. Things change all the time, one job that might have been the greatest a year ago, can turn to *#@$ do to many factors [ie; new crew, change of hours, commuter trains]. IF you REALLY need a job, there is a LOT of money to be made out there, and, believe me, until they learn how to run a railroad [it's been 100+ years and they still don't!] they will poor it in your pocket. All you have to do is be there many hours. Good luck making your decision.
JB

Congratulations on your opportunity!

Perhaps you can talk around and find out how badly they need people at LaCrosse.
If you keep getting cut off for years on end, this may put more pressure on your family.
However, if you are on the front end of a nice big exodus by old heads, you could be set up really nicely in a few years.

Also, how well does you wife understand the lifestyle? It is easy to want to support you now, but I dont find that many women really understand what is required of them until they are in the middle of it; the big exception being daughters of railroaders or military guys.

Also, beware that there has been a mini "war" between labor and management up the line at Northtown for a number of years. Not sure if that is over yet, but it may affect you, as I believe they move work in an out of Lacrosse yard as needed to "throttle" the Northtown guys. Just something to think about.

I hope everything works out for you! Good luck!

Sac

if you want to do it,and your wife understand the lifestyle and supports you apply. i applied last night for the same position in La Crosse.
JC

I'll second JB's reply - tell your wife you're going to have a new mistress - her name is THE RAILROAD and she will own your life totally for quite a while, at least until you build the seniority up a little bit, with the average usually being 5 years, however it all depends on which terminal you hire out at, and how many old heads will be retiring there. There's good money to be made these days, if you're willing to be available 24/7/365 - it just depends how hard you are willing to work - your call.

As you may have read on here previously, there are places on the UP right now where new guys with less than a year are holding down pool turns, which would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. That's how crazy it's gotten out here in the past year, and I'm sure the BNSF is probably the same in some areas, especially on the southern corridor.

Don't let your age be a bother - they were going to hire a 70 year old fellow here in the service unit where I work - yes - 70 years young! - and the guy had even passed all of the tests, then decided not to go forward with it - probably figured working the 30 years for the full pension MIGHT NOT quite work out too well. If you can hire out and get 20 years in, that will definitely help out towards your retirement.

Good luck with your railroad aspirations...

WOW! 60 big thats what my wife makes as an R.N. here in Hawaii and she had to go to school for a few years. and you get to play with trains.SWEET!

60 big won't be for a few years down the road, and thats also with little "laying off".

On the Transcon? Hardly!!! Any time you hear a BN person trying to explain the geography of the old Santa Fe get a second opinion. I'm sorry if I offend some of my BN brothers & sisters with this statement as many Santa Fe employees have miss-conceptions of the Old Burlington Route and the class act of the Zephyrs.
La Crosse, WI might prove good too. The pool of employees is much older and may be on the verge of a big turn over from retirements.
If you had taken a position 5 years ago here on the Chicago Division working out of Ft Madison, IA/Galesburg, IL, you would have year round steady job working in the Iron Triangle of the BNSF:
Chillicothe Sub to Chicago on the Santa Fe.
Mendota Sub to Chicago on the Burlington Route.
Marceline Sub to Kansas City on the Santa Fe.
The Combo board in Ft Madison is currently over 10 bodies short and waiting for the class of new hires.
BNSF employees cut off in Mississippi have been brought up to work West Quincy, MO while the W. Quincy employees drive 100 miles to work out of Ft Madison because it pays more and the trips are better. We have even seen people move from the Santa Fe Joint Line living in Denver, CO to work here.
I agree moving that far with family with ties is hard. We did it when they closed Chillicothe in 1991. My wife adjusted better than I did and she was from the Chilli area, I wasn't.
I looked into a transfer to NM. Forget it. If you want steady railfan oriented RR work it is right here in River City, Ft Madison, Iowa. You will have more train watching than you can stand. Plus the cost of living is low.
Go figure and Good luck!
Inspector Gadget

Don't overlook the progressive short lines. We don't pay as much, but we have regular assignments with assigned days off, opportunities for overtime if you want it. Have openings right now for engineers and conductors, as well as a Service Director/Dispatcher position.

Crew bases are at Greene, IA, (which is a nice small town with an aging population, housing is nice, and inexpensive--about 290 homes in town with about 90 available, good schools and cost of living); and the other crew base is at Waterloo, IA.

IANR currently pays $150 per day with time and one/half on assigned rest days. Generous vacation package and 401K. We pay 100% of health and dental. We currently work four to five crew starts per day with plans to double crew starts over next couple of years with new industries coming on line and new train service to connections.

Nothing to lose, send a resume to Mark Sabin fax number (641)816-4816.

Well, I did apply for the LaCrosse Trainee position. I recently found out that they just added 15 conductors so this next class may have furlough problems. I hope not as it would be a tough move only to end up unemployed shortly after hire on. Hopefully Inspector Gadget is correct about this possibly being a good area that possibly is looking at a big retirement turnover so the furloughs are minimal. It seems as though the railroads are having problems keeping up with the retirements since the rule change. Add to that the steadily increasing traffic levels and I really didn't expect to hear the "f" word. I may take "jumanly" up on the IANR tip. It looks like Greene is what about 75 miles from Prarie Du Chien? Proably a couple hours plus out of LaCrosse. Yes I realize what I missed out on in Fort Madison as far as where I'd be know in the general picture but I wasn't comfortable with the burden it would have put on my wife to take care of the housing arrangements. By the way I know they explained to me how the pay scale works but in 5 years I have forget. They advertise their conductors as being paid 67,000/year. I know there is some kind of table you go by as far as what you start at and how it increases. Any of you railroaders out there that can refresh me ? Thanks for the input guys.

Lenny
BNSFCSX

doesent the Iowa Northern want experiance train crews? i made a call to Mr. Sabin a few weeks ago and that is what he told me. JC

Actually, thats not much at all factoring in Overtime and working aton of hours, day after day. Not much of a life really. On CN, the guys make 80-90K easy on up...Do you want a life outside the railroad or do you want to work everyday? I myself want a life outside the railroad...It gets old after almost 12 years!

Rail1

How much does the Dispatcher position pay, Mr. Sabin? Consecutive rest days? Thanks.

Rail1