Books?

Greetings everyone!
Can anyone recommend any books that can function as a training manual for an aspiring Trainman?

If you want to be a trainman, hire on as a trainman.

Most of the learning is OJT.

As an aspiring trainman, read up on how to best tweak your resume and improve your interview skills. If you work in an environment where you can be on a safety committee/team then do so. Any Class 1 RR (or Class II) will give a hill of beans about what you may have read or know prior to hiring on. You don't need to flaunt your knowledge of the RR when it was self taught. You'll be given a couple pounds worth of books and reading material when you are hired on. The last thing you need is to declutter the material you have learned before hand when it may be totally irrelevant to the RR which has hired you.

Good luck.

I agree with tweaking your resume. Every railroad has its own policies and rules. Learn it their way> Have open ears, and be ready to learn if you get hired.

Forget about books. The railroad will teach you everything you need to learn. They prefer it like that it's their way of doing things not any other way. I've seen the rail fan hire out at times it became a deterent to their training. Even experienced railroaders who try to hire on with other railroads are informed to forget about what they know as to conform to their requirements. So, can reading about railroading help? It doesn't.

+1 Your main issue is getting the job first forget the rest until later. Focus on your resume and doing well on your interview.

I heard there was this book called getarailjob. Its suppose to help you with things on your resume and DO'S N Dont's. I necer read but did research and other people say it's good. This books is suppose to help you atleast get invited to a session.

dbask27 wrote:I heard there was this book called getarailjob. Its suppose to help you with things on your resume and DO'S N Dont's. I necer read but did research and other people say it's good. This books is suppose to help you atleast get invited to a session.

You don't need the book. You can get first hand and up to date information on this forum.

There was once a young railfan that got hired thru the efforts of a couple buddies. When he was at the training center, all you could get from him when we tried to tell him to forget all that marlarky he read in books, "I read about it in Trains Magazine, I read it in Trains Magazine, I already know how to do it---blah, blah". The locomotive engineer trainer remarked to me one day, "That boy will be dangerous to have on a railroad!!!" He didn't even last thru his probation before the Trainmaster put the skids under him!
Listen to what the guys are telling you. The railroad will TELL you what they want you to know/do! Throw the books in the trash!

GF

Believe it or not, NOT knowing anything about RRing is best when going for an interview. If you try and show you know some about the job, you won't be choosen, guaranteed. The interview will most likley include the local trainmaster along with an HR person, and as soon as that trainmaster believe's you think your know something about RRing, he'll pass you up. They DO NOT want people who think they know about RRing. In fact, even if you have experience in some cases, it's best if you not mention it. Almost every freight RR (accept CN and CP) prefer's to hire "freshmeat" as opposed to guys with experience. Seems they believe it's easier to mold them to their standards and make's them better train crew's. Personally I disagree, however that's the reality. I know for a fact at my terminal if you mention any knowledge regarding RRing at the interview, my Super won't give you a chance. He stated this boldly and loudly today in a meeting of trainee's. DO NOT MENTION YOU LIKE TRAINS OR IT'S YOUR LIFE'S DREAM TO BE A CONDUCTOR.
Now as far as being prepared to answer questions or know what they are looking for, knock yourself out. I spent several months researching what the RR's were looking for in an applicant, how to make my resume standout, and how to respond to the interviewer's questions, if and when I received an offer to their recruitment session. It payed off for me as I was invited and hired on my first two applications with NS and CSX. A little preparation can payoff in a big way. Just make sure you use this time to learn about "how to get hired", and NOT "how to do the job".
If your looking for a basic book on what the RR's are looking for and some tips to get hired on, look into "How to Get a RR Job". Do a search and you'll find the website and the book being sold under the same name. It's a good basic reference to get started with. Good Luck !!!! Drew g

I know its a lot on here saying don't by books and don't act like you know everything but some of us on here don't know anything about the process of getting invited to a session. That's what the get a rail job book is for. Sample resumes what to expect on the interview. Tjere isn't any sample resumes on anything on this forum that help so therefore some of us need books for them reasons. Fars as acting like you know everything. I agree with that. Do not go into a interview and try to interview the hr rep because tjats what your doing

drewg350 wrote:They DO NOT want people who think they know about RRing. In fact, even if you have experience in some cases, it's best if you not mention it. Almost every freight RR (accept CN and CP) prefer's to hire "freshmeat" as opposed to guys with experience. Seems they believe it's easier to mold them to their standards and make's them better train crew's. Personally I disagree, however that's the reality. I know for a fact at my terminal if you mention any knowledge regarding RRing at the interview, my Super won't give you a chance.

This is not entirely true! BNSF and UP gladly hire experienced railroaders from other class I's or short lines. It's true not to mention anything about rail fanning or Trains magazine. There have been some bad apples in the past who were convinced that they already knew it all since they follow the industry very closely.
I am not sure what RR do you work for Drew, but they sure have a strange selection process!

This is not entirely true! BNSF and UP gladly hire experienced railroaders from other class I's or short lines. It's true not to mention anything about rail fanning or Trains magazine. There have been some bad apples in the past who were convinced that they already knew it all since they follow the industry very closely.
I am not sure what RR do you work for Drew, but they sure have a strange selection process![/quote]

I work for NS and I'm posting from what I've read in many threads and observed in my recruitment session. I've read plenty of threads whereby guys with years of experience and are still currently working for a carrier are passed by in favor of guys with absolutely no experience. If you do a search on this forum you can read plenty of these posts. I never said that was 100% the case, however it does seem to happen an awful lot: guys with experience are passed over in favor of guys without any. Now if it happens to be a location the carrier is having a difficult time filling, than they'll drop their standards and start accepting applicants who might not be considered in other places. So nothing is 100% certain one way or the other.

drewg350 wrote: I never said that was 100% the case, however it does seem to happen an awful lot: guys with experience are passed over in favor of guys without any. Now if it happens to be a location the carrier is having a difficult time filling, than they'll drop their standards and start accepting applicants who might not be considered in other places. So nothing is 100% certain one way or the other.

We have folks who came from other class I's and short lines. Just last hew hire class had 2 guys from the short line. BNSF's theory is, if they managed not to get hurt working elsewhere, we can easily conform them to our standards and policy's. Now if that applicant from other railroad has had some discipline issues, they will find out and he will not get hired. No offense Drew, but I am sure glad not to work NS or CSX.... this place is a paradise compared to eastern RR's.