ONE plan

And Noel Weaver's last post reminds me of another way that CSX doesn't act in preparation. Engineers.................there have been 2 or 3 engineers who have retired in the New England area over the past couple of months......and 4 or 5 more scheduled to retire before Jan of 2005. On top of that, I can recall at least 3 guys that went to the school, and then after a bit of training, just quit the railroad altogether. Last winter no conductors were sent to engineer school, which means jobs are standing hard sometimes lately, because the engineer's extra boards are spinning out of control..........because there aren't enough people qualified on many of the locals.....because the company doesn't want to pay them to qualify on all the jobs, but when jobs stand hard because noone is qualified, did they really save money in the long run??? because now the customers are the ones getting the shaft. This fall when the next batch of guys goes to engineer school, most of them own locals, which many junior guys are not qualified on.........and most have never even ridden them, so they will have a lot to learn, but with not alot of time.