10 Hours Undisturbed Rest

UPRR engineer wrote:Mr. AmtrakFan, the thing you don't understand is we come to work for the money. A lot of people don't use the time they get now for rest as it is.

Yeah, heaven forbid they should want to spend some thime with their families and friends. You know, the manager in charge of the crew office wrote a letter stating a very similar sentiment. Most of the jobs on our little slice of heaven ar 6 on and 1 off, and the guys have been beaten into the ground this past winter. I am truly surprised (though I am NOT advocating violence in any way) that somebody who got cheated out of some personal days for the umpteenth time in a row upon seeing that letter (it was posted in all the lunchrooms) didn't hunt that manager down and blow him away. With attitudes like that towards an overworked work force, it's easy to see how someone could go postal.

I think the guys up here close to the great white north would love getting 10 hours off at home, particularly since contractually we get a minimum 2 hour call.

As the old saying goes, i hired out to work. Lay off if you want time off. Here we get an hour and a half call. Alot of guys complain about this job we have, and the reason they all dont leave is because we get paid so well. Plus on any other type of job if you "layed off" as much as most of us do, we all would have been ran off. I like my job and enjoy doing it, maybe thats what separates me from most guys. Working for the railroad is alot better than what i use to do. You guys think the RR is bad, you should have seen the crap i had to put up being a contract switcher. If you wanna talk about time off, i didnt leave the mine for 25hrs once, showed up at 9 PM switched all night till noon, slept for 2hrs on the locomotive (a sw1500... that was real nice) back to work at 3, switched till 10. I dont think the railroad would ever make any of us do that. This job is what you make of it. If you got a piss pour attitude, it aint that great, and i doubt your any good at it, and no one really likes to work with you. If your home life sucks.... so what.... you want the railroad to fix it for you? Ive heard my grandpa's stories, this job is cake compaired to what it use to be. If you got cut off every winter for the first ten years or so, you might be more happy when the phone rings.

Are things better now than they were 100 years ago? Certainly. Doesn't mean that they are great, just better. Do railroaders bitch and moan? Absolutely. Just because they do it so often doesn't mean that there isn't some justification. Do I enjoy my job? You better believe it. I don't mind working hard, but I do hate working stupid. And working oneself into the ground by depriving one of ones neccessary rest is working stupid.

It has been proven time and time again that ones alertness and efficiency deteriorates as one gets more and more fatigued, and there are several nasty head on collisions that were attributed partly to crew fatigue. There is nothing I hate worse than trying desperately to stay awake because I've been turning and burning while pulling into a siding against another train.

Do not presume to know me, my work ethic, my popularity with my coworkers, or my abillities simply because I do not agree with your stance on attempts to get more rest.

That wasnt aimed at you dude. In general... the people we work with.

UPRR engineer wrote:As the old saying goes, i hired out to work. Lay off if you want time off. Here we get an hour and a half call. Alot of guys complain about this job we have, and the reason they all dont leave is because we get paid so well. Plus on any other type of job if you "layed off" as much as most of us do, we all would have been ran off. I like my job and enjoy doing it, maybe thats what separates me from most guys. Working for the railroad is alot better than what i use to do. You guys think the RR is bad, you should have seen the crap i had to put up being a contract switcher. If you wanna talk about time off, i didnt leave the mine for 25hrs once, showed up at 9 PM switched all night till noon, slept for 2hrs on the locomotive (a sw1500... that was real nice) back to work at 3, switched till 10. I dont think the railroad would ever make any of us do that. This job is what you make of it. If you got a piss pour attitude, it aint that great, and i doubt your any good at it, and no one really likes to work with you. If your home life sucks.... so what.... you want the railroad to fix it for you? Ive heard my grandpa's stories, this job is cake compaired to what it use to be. If you got cut off every winter for the first ten years or so, you might be more happy when the phone rings.

Lay-off if you want time off? That's rather difficult when you at your away from home terminal, correct? I'm going out on a limb here and "guesstimating" you're in your very early 30's? Try getting by on 4-hours rest when you're pushing 60. Anyone opposing additional rest is either greedy, a fool, or a combination of both.

Yes i am greedy, the point of any job is to make money. Fighting your sleep is part of the job, we all knew this when we hired out. We can all manager our time off better, i dont need the RR or the FRA to help me there. 10hrs rest aint gonna solve anything. I sleep as long as i can in between trips, and i know alot of guys dont. I dont have to spend anytime at an away from home terminal, im lucky, but i do see how quite a few mainliners use there rest here. Is the point of 10hrs rest in some places set up so guys can get more sleep or have more time for other things. If i knew people would get more sleep id be all about it, but i know thats not the case. When ive decided ive had enough i use the tools already in place, lay off for a few and get some well needed rest.

Fighting sleep is part of the job? We go to work to make money? You're half right as usual, we go to work to make money SAFELY. If you are fighting sleep to do your job, then obviously you are not working safely, for your benefit or the others around you. Do you want to work with a stoner or somebody drunk? The job has railroad has changed over the years, and I wonder what the safety record is now compared to years gone by, in relation to fatigue. 10 hours of rest is not only to your benefit, but to others around you. To tell you the honest truth, I'd rather work with someone with 10 hours rest, than a greedy putz, it increases the chances of me coming home with all my limbs. Someone "guesstimated" your age at early 30's, UPPR. I'm guessing your age does'nt matter, your just unsafe, and pity the crews that have to work with you. You signify eveything that is wrong with the railroad.

UPRR engineer wrote:Yes i am greedy, the point of any job is to make money. Fighting your sleep is part of the job, we all knew this when we hired out. We can all manager our time off better, i dont need the RR or the FRA to help me there. 10hrs rest aint gonna solve anything. I sleep as long as i can in between trips, and i know alot of guys dont. I dont have to spend anytime at an away from home terminal, im lucky, but i do see how quite a few mainliners use there rest here, AND ITS NOT FOR SLEEP. Is the point of 10hrs rest in some places set up so guys can get more sleep or have more time for other things. If i knew people would get more sleep id be all about it, but i know thats not the case. When ive decided ive had enough i use the tools already in place, lay off for a few and get some well needed rest.

This isnt some contract switch job here dude (which i have done) where do you get the idea im unsafe? ALOT OF GUYS DONT USE THE TIME OFF THEY GET NOW FOR SLEEP AS IT IS, you dont work for a class one railroad so you have no idea what its like. Read my post above again. Id rather work with some who knew they were gonna get called out soon, went home and went to bed for five hours and came back to work then someone who got three hours sleep got up and spent the rest of the day doing yard work and what not. Just me i guess.

RR Emplyoees need time with their families and more sleep so to reduce accident's I think a 12 on 12 off plan would work.

Because I don't work for a class 1 I don't know about 4 hour turns or rest ?! Gimme a break! You can lose a leg on a shortline just as quick as a class 1 ! DUMB ASS

If your worried about losing a leg due to a lack of rest you are the unsafe person here buddy. Your first job when you show up to work is to look out for yourself, you should remember to take it easy and work slower. Ive worked with many meatheads (hogs and switchman) and ive never put myself in a spot where i was in danger. Granted on the mainline someone could run a block and tag my train and screw me up good or kill me. 10 hours rest isnt a cure all, alot of guys will stay up all day and then be up all night at work with 36 hours between trips. Did they get plenty of time off? YES Where they tired that night fighting their sleep? MOST LIKELY Do most guys tie up then go drink themselves stupid? ALOT OF THEM Should they have went to the club house or home to sleep insted? YES Would those same people spend more time drinking with 10 hours rest? I WOULD SAY YES. Things are fine the way they are now, its all about taking care of yourself and managing your time off, 10 hours inbetween trips or 8 hours. I do what i need to do.... for myself. Do you need the railroad to tuck you in bed after every trip, or are you smart enough to do it yourself.

steam371 if i remember right, i recall you saying you worked for a switching outfit? but i guess its a shortline railroad now...what ever...

I found your exact words here: Hey Natureboy, try the shortlines or switching railroads instead. I work for a switching railroad on the west coast,

OH PARDON ME OH GREAT WISE AND EVER KNOWING RAILWAY GOD! I forgot only class 1 railroaders from butthole wyoming are always right.

Take it easy for pete's sake........

Yikes! He's touchy!

Then stop being a putz,