How do you pass CN's Switch test. Can Hr poeple pass the tes

[wader2017]

I just recently wrote a switch for CN on April 20 2018 and get this. Every switching question had a caboose at the end of the train. How out of date are these test? Is switching really that hard? Do you you really hang onto a train car ladder for 10 miles? Isn't that unsafe? And could this same HR person at CN pass the test herself?
Is there a way to study for this test?

wader2017

Hasn't heard of Fred? We do not use cabooses anymore.

maybe it is just me.

Any response would be appreciated.

[trkspd]

You seem like exactly the type of person that the railroad doesn’t want to hire.
HR doesn’t have to be able to pass the switching test, it isn’t their job to.
If you think hanging on the side of a car for 10 miles is unsafe you really need to reconsider your dream of working on the railroad, but it doesn’t seem like you’ll get hired anyway reading your post so you shouldn’t have to worry about riding shoves. HRs job is to hire candidates who meet requirements set by the railroad for new hires, you asking if a HR rep can pass any new hire related testing does not look good.

Get over all the foamer crap, focus on passing the test and less on cabooses and eots.


It is just you.

[wader2017]

Thanks

I was just blowing off steam.

I appreciate your reply

[wader2017]

Can you recommend any arm building strength routines one must do? To build up arm strength? Size of weights, repetitions etc. Any bit of advice will help0

[Acela150]

I'm not sure what CN's Hang Test requirement is. But when I was at the NS facility in Georgia It's something like a Minute and 15 seconds per arm.

As for riding a 10 mile shove... That's nothing. One time I had to shove a train 2 miles, walk to the head end pull ahead a few miles, shove the train another 2 miles, walk to the head end, and I did that same damn thing time after time. As the ole' saying goes S^&t happens. If you can't ride a shove over an extended period of time. Find a new job. Was riding a shove my favorite thing to do.. Not really.. Only because the radios they give you suck and sometimes it's hard to communicate with the head end. But you find ways around it that work. Personally I didn't mind riding shoves. It's part of the job.

Now as for switching cars, Where I worked we called it shifting. Personally I loved doing it. Especially when I was a utility brakemen and the conductor didn't have a problem with me saying "Hey let's kick these suckers". That's railroading.

As for if HR can pass the test.. Who cares. They didn't apply for Conductor jobs. They applied for HR. Do I personally think they can pass the test. If they read the questions right sure.

[wader2017]

I'm back again. If you do not know me or my economic I'm in right now I am practicing my democratic right to use y voice that God gave me. Do any of you know what blackballing is. My former employer is doing that to me right now.
Besides If you think that I do not belong on the railroad I am an English, White that's right White male Canadian trying to provide for his family.
And another thing did not the railroad considered Blacks undesirable, They did not want them in the railway, Come on you guys I now you Black guys are reading forum I need hear same amen's , You face the same discrimination Women were not allowed to work for the railroad. Do not tell me I am Not fit for the railroad. I'm being blackballed. A white male Canadian being blackballed. I know there are Blacks reading this forum, and women what is your answer for overcoming blackballing

[SlotCanyoneer]

Unfortunately being blackballed happens, especially with railroads. I recently applied for a conductor job with a rather large class 2 railroad where I live. I had previously worked there way back in 2007 and simply left for another job. I had an interview scheduled. Showed up early for it at a yard office only to be stood up by the manager!! Lol I honestly can say that was the first time I had ever been stood up by someone that was supposed to interview me. That alone should have made me reconsider working for that company again. I received a phone call and apology from the manager over an hour later after I had left and returned home. I rescheduled the interview and met another trainmaster at another yard and had a great interview! Everything went well and I even mentioned that I had previously worked for the same railroad and he didn’t seem too concerned. Got a rejection email about two weeks later!! No reason given, just stated I wasn’t qualified for employment with the company. If it’s not in the cards to work for CN then it simply isn’t in the cards. Apply with another railroad. Also don’t go down that road thinking that you being blackballed from the railroad is the same as racial discrimination or any other type of discrimination. That’s crazy!!!

[atsf sp]

I am just commentating on the test. CSX called our the hang test. They have you hang from a ladder for about 5 minutes switching between both arms one arm both arms the other arm and then both while doing shove signals. To be honest it is harder to do that hang test than it is to actually ride a shove because they dont let you loop the arm. Riding the shove is very easy in real life unless it is raining.

[gp80mac]

I'm back again. If you do not know me or my economic I'm in right now I am practicing my democratic right to use y voice that God gave me. Do any of you know what blackballing is. My former employer is doing that to me right now.
Besides If you think that I do not belong on the railroad I am an English, White that's right White male Canadian trying to provide for his family.
And another thing did not the railroad considered Blacks undesirable, They did not want them in the railway, Come on you guys I now you Black guys are reading forum I need hear same amen's , You face the same discrimination Women were not allowed to work for the railroad. Do not tell me I am Not fit for the railroad. I'm being blackballed. A white male Canadian being blackballed. I know there are Blacks reading this forum, and women what is your answer for overcoming blackballing

Sounds like they dodged a bullet by not hiring you.

[Gadfly]

I'm back again. If you do not know me or my economic I'm in right now I am practicing my democratic right to use y voice that God gave me. Do any of you know what blackballing is. My former employer is doing that to me right now.
Besides If you think that I do not belong on the railroad I am an English, White that's right White male Canadian trying to provide for his family.
And another thing did not the railroad considered Blacks undesirable, They did not want them in the railway, Come on you guys I now you Black guys are reading forum I need hear same amen's , You face the same discrimination Women were not allowed to work for the railroad. Do not tell me I am Not fit for the railroad. I'm being blackballed. A white male Canadian being blackballed. I know there are Blacks reading this forum, and women what is your answer for overcoming blackballing

Sounds like they dodged a bullet by not hiring you.

There's usually more to the story than we're being told here!