KCS and shortline railroad questions

Hello I'm new to the site. I am interested in a career change and have had an interest in railroading for many years now.

Anyways I've spent weeks looking into railroads near me I could apply to but can not find much about them. I've found lots info about NS, CSX, BNSF, CP, CN, and UP. But I can't much of anything about KCS as far as how the atmosphere is there and pay is, nor can I find much out about there yard positions available in Corinth, MS. I have been wondering if it is a busy yard that has alot of opportunities or if it's a small low volume yard?

My next question is about a few shortline close to me that could be another place to try. Redmont Railroad in north east Mississippi, West Tennessee Railroad in west tennessee (obviously), and Tennessee Southern Railroad in middle tennessee. My questions about these shortline are good lines to work for, do any of them pay decent, are any of them union, and do they run 7 days a week?

Sorry for the long post, I'm just really interested in railroading but class 1 options are limited in my area.
Thanks.

It's all about researching. I'm retired from CSX but I do part-time work through Manpower for a shortline railroad working flagging jobs associated with outside non-railroad related contractors working around the tracks. The shortline railroad is non-union the employees usually work mon-fri 0700-1600 no weekends or holidays. They're under Railroad Retirement which is a good thing. They have fairly decent benefits including healthcare & a 401K. They are not happy with us outside contractors (8 retired railroaders) but seeing they're not union they have no rights. They do seem happy they don't have to put up with being on call, time away from home etc...like other railroads. Not all shortlines are the same hence doing the research.

Well as I've said I have searched high and low on the Internet and have gotten no answer in regards to the three shortlines I listed in my initial post. I have tried to find topics where someone has chimed in that works at any of the shortline in interested in but with no success. So I have come here to try and find some answers. I'm not trying to beat a dead horse with a stick or anything. I'm just simply looking for someone who has personal experience working for Tennessee Southern, Redmont Railroad, or West Tennessee Railroad.

I did find Tennessee Southern Railroad under Patriot Rail it has 146 miles and had some job openings.

COEN77 wrote:I did find Tennessee Southern Railroad under Patriot Rail it has 146 miles and had some job openings.

I'll search patriot rail and take a look at those openings.

Maybe anyone else that know about the other two shortline railroads will chime in.

COEN77 how was your experience working at csx?

MustangMabry wrote:COEN77 how was your experience working at csx?

Like most things these days a lot of micro-managing. I started my railroad career on the C&O railroad before the mega-mergers which became CSX. It was better in those days you did the job no one breathing down your neck the rules were straight forward etc...Today there are rules on top of rules some by the federal government some by the railroads. This holds true for all the railroads. These days someone screws up add a new rule instead of holding the individual accountable. Right now I'd go for a shortline railroad instead of a class 1. Class 1's are in flux for various reasons with reductions in business. East coast with CSX & NS are transitioning away from a high dependency with coal, the west coast railroads with Balkin oil & coal. Of course everything is location when hiring on. CSX and the other railroads are hiring but a lot of new hires are getting furloughed after training. Again everything is about location.

Well I met someone who knew info about the WTRR and Redmont Railroad. WTRR has stopped all locomotive service since 2012 and only exist as owner of the tracks which they ha e leased to NS. And Redmont Railroad only has one locomotive that runs twice a week from Corinth to Red Bay. So it looks those two are out of the question.

Most likely they're leasing the track from NS. Once it's up it'll resort back to the NS. Still having the lease the NS has to pay for rights on the track. One shortline here in Virginia has around 300 miles of leased track 230 miles belongs to CSX 70 miles is NS. The Class 1's didn't want to service local industry anymore the attitude if they can't get at least 100 cars a week we don't want it. The biggest track leased is a 196 mile mainline from Richmond to Clifton Forge going through Charlottesville, Staunton etc...lot's of small picks each week. They just lost a contract with CSX that paid for a minimum of 4 trains mostly empty coal hoppers per day. Because of coal reductions CSX now pays what they actually run. The shortline most likely will have to eventually furlough some employees.