New Hire for UP-Chicago. Need advice

Tough choice. You are already over your derail with the BNSF and I think I would just stay put. No doubt the BNSF is going to need T&EY in the future. Do you want to start all over again with the training and sit on the extra board for years to come? There are no doubt hundreds of cut-back to conductor qualified engineers in the Chicago area so it may take awhile to promote up at the UP. The UP was pretty much getting all the new conductors engineer qualified in anticipation of the mass retirements of the current hoggers and then the recession hit.

In knowing guys who worked with the BNSF in Barstow and Los Angeles, CA compared to the UP, the BNSF would be my first choice. Sure, there will be gripes at each road, but the consensus is that the BNSF treats their employees much better than the UP does (I am a former UP conductor/engineer now working for Amtrak in Miami).

Good luck.

Before you go and jump ship! Have you looked at transfer within BNSF to different crafts? Do did UP tell if your being hired for the road or yard service?

That is what UP in Chicago is hiring for, road service. Either to Iowa or Milwaukee

Jeep, you got plenty of time ahead of you on the RR. Keep at it. You never know what doors may open up for you. As you know it is not all about the high iron.