CSX- The Road that Cares

COEN77 wrote: Years ago when you had full crews a conductor and two brakemen or an engineer and firemen you got to know people better than their own families.

yes, it must have been great having 4 or 5 guys doing the work of 2 people...

shocking that practice got done away with

crazy_nip wrote:

COEN77 wrote: Years ago when you had full crews a conductor and two brakemen or an engineer and firemen you got to know people better than their own families.

yes, it must have been great having 4 or 5 guys doing the work of 2 people...

shocking that practice got done away with

I am not sure about everywhere but on Conrail, through freight trains
have operated without a caboose for over 20 years and with a three
person crew for over 20 years too. They have operated with just an
engineer and conductor for well over 10 years as well.
It is common sense that the more people you work with, the more
people you will get to know on the job.
Noel Weaver

Here in Virginia we lost the caboose on July 1, 1991 I still remember that day. The trainmen supposedly had the option of keeping the last brakemen slot or selling it out in 1993 to this day those who were around then claim they voted against it, but mysteriously it passed. I do believe Clarence Little was still president of the UTU then, we know what happened to him a few years ago so was this vote altered?

Let's keep this in perspective now too. The Santa Train was a long time tradition of the Clichfield Railroad, long before CSX came along. CSX was gracious enough to continue the practice as it needed and still does need the positive publicity. Not to mention that as a practice for many, many years, the people had an expectation and it could have lead to liability issues to discontine the service. To a multi Billion dollar corperation, it's cheaper, and easier to continue and positive publicity is still handy. What about the other impoverished peoples and regions CSX runs through? No Santa trains any where else on the system. As far as happy employees? CSX just wants a body to fill a seat, no regard for family, illness, holidays. Last year the traditional Christmas and national agreement holiday fell on a weekend. CSX changed the observed day to Monday so MGT could enjoy a 3 day weekend with their families, while the rest of the employees generally had 16 hrs off. Today, employees were hard at work while most enjoyed a relaxed day with family and Turkey dinners. A large amount of people were held captive in away terminals as STO's refused to Deadhead any crews even thou only 2 - 3 trains were scheduled. for the day and 8 or more crews sat available, rested in a hotel room hundreds of miles from home for up to 35 hrs. I am sure you will hear how CSX was severely hampered by numerous employees marking off sick or otherwise and cost millions of dollars in lost revenues. It's a simple fact that those employees knew CSX would not be concerned about their employees holiday. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my work. I just don't enjoy seeing credit given and accepted where deception is the rule. Oh yeah, for those who will soon cast stones at me for stating my feelings and observations. I remained available and worked. The life of a Railroader does not lend well to family life happiness, and now that it's just my son and me, holidays are not that important to me. Better to stay available and let some of my brothers and sisters try to maintain some sort of family holiday. Sorry for the rant, carry on. Happy Holidays

Sorry I said anything. Seems that all I did was turn the press on a bunch of sour grapes... long on criticism and short on solutions.

A couple of things. First, the Santa Special is an L&N tradition, NOT a CSX tradition except incidentally.

Second, Noel Weaver has it about right.

Third...I'm angry, after having spent two twelve-hour trips to Willard from Buffalo...long because of a derailment at QD 124...derailment because that interlocking, like MOST Conrail interlockings, was sprung and not maintained and a tool for these lowlifes to get back at us....

I won't go any further.

Engineer James, we active railroaders enjoy railfan interactions however our railroads have rules that preclude us from giving away company information. You never know who you are talking to so its best to speak in generalities when discussing working conditions. There have been occasions when a disgruntled employee shot their mouth off to a fan, and had it come back to haunt them.

We front line railroaders see first hand Company ineptitude and mis-management, eventually it begins to grind away at you. Combine that with vindictive mean spirited treatment at every turn from your bosses it does'nt take long to destroy any shred of morale. Finally, labor and management engage in a protracted war that leaves the customers out in left field. I have worked for NJ Transit going on 15 years now and it was a great little railroad until we were saddled with Warrington and his fellow Amtrak goons. Morale has dropped to zero and the ridership suffers. Is there is a solution to bad RR management ? I have been in the industry for 35 years IMHO if top management is no good there really is no hope.

conrail_engineer wrote:A couple of things. First, the Santa Special is an L&N tradition, NOT a CSX tradition except incidentally.

Was it the L&N? I always thought the old C&O ran the Santa Train in the Appalachians. I remember hearing about it when I started on the C&O. That was a good railroad.

I just did some research it was the Clinchfield RR that started it in the '40s out of Kingsport, Tenn. You learn something new everyday, isn't life great.

because of a derailment at QD 124...derailment because that interlocking, like MOST Conrail interlockings, was sprung

CR Engineer, given your "incidental" reference to CSX and the Santa Special, I guess your derailment woes are only incidental to CSX as well, given it was a CSX interlocking?

Let me ask a question: What can YOU do to work with the railroad to improve your working condition, work-life balance, etc?

Cowford wrote:

because of a derailment at QD 124...derailment because that interlocking, like MOST Conrail interlockings, was sprung

CR Engineer, given your "incidental" reference to CSX and the Santa Special, I guess your derailment woes are only incidental to CSX as well, given it was a CSX interlocking?

Let me ask a question: What can YOU do to work with the railroad to improve your working condition, work-life balance, etc?

Those are beyond my control. I come in, do my job as best I can, and try to take care of the equipment I work with...unlike so many others, who DGAS.

Some people in an operation structure it; others do what the managers plan.

I say all of this because I'm disgusted, not only at CSX, but at the expectation that it "care" and that these little photo-ops are given as proof that it does.

I don't expect them to care. I expect them to run a railroad in an intelligent way, therby keeping high-paying jobs that people in these communities can GET, to buy their OWN stuff for their OWN kids.

It's a better situation all the way around, then having first, the (demeaning) Santa Special; and then a chlorine tank derail and forcing evacuation.

As to the other? C&O may have run a Christmas Special. But I remember a write-up, around 1987, about an L&N Santa Special, powered by an old L&N steamer (S-Class?) going through the West Virginia mountain towns. A footnote to the article suggested that the then-new CSX might not continue the tradition.

conrail_engineer wrote:A couple of things. First, the Santa Special is an L&N tradition, NOT a CSX tradition except incidentally.

clinchfield rr actually...

I don't think the Santa Train is demeaning in any nature. Having lived and worked for the railroad in areas most people would consider backwoods mountian locations I had the pleasure to get to know the land and people. It was shocking to see illiteracy and poverty in such numbers, but after knowing them I realised I could never be as rich as those people. There was a high rate of school drop outs at one place the children were the first picked up and last dropped off by school bus everyday, it was a 2 to 2 1/2 hrs ride to school. Most came from a long line of woodcutters and some got left behind to help earn money for the family while others got an education. They hunt for food, grow and can their vegetables, made do with ever they had. A lot of them went off to the cities and tried to work and they just found it to hectic and I agree. If the Santa Train can just bring a spark of joy to a childs heart there is nothing demeaning about it.

COEN77 wrote:I don't think the Santa Train is demeaning in any nature. Having lived and worked for the railroad in areas most people would consider backwoods mountian locations I had the pleasure to get to know the land and people. It was shocking to see illiteracy and poverty in such numbers, but after knowing them I realised I could never be as rich as those people. There was a high rate of school drop outs at one place the children were the first picked up and last dropped off by school bus everyday, it was a 2 to 2 1/2 hrs ride to school. Most came from a long line of woodcutters and some got left behind to help earn money for the family while others got an education. They hunt for food, grow and can their vegetables, made do with ever they had. A lot of them went off to the cities and tried to work and they just found it to hectic and I agree. If the Santa Train can just bring a spark of joy to a childs heart there is nothing demeaning about it.

I know what you're saying, and I'm not suggesting they JUST stop it. But what frosts me is, that CSX is right in the region...and, to put it diplomatically, there is much in their operation they could improve.

Improving it would help two ways: Attracting businesses with reliable transportation; and providing more needed railroad jobs.

The railroad is a heartless business. I watched in the mid-'80s when CSX first started their operations in one locale within 3 days they shutdown the terminal loaded up the equipment on trucks the yard jobs, locals, car inspectors, roundhouse personel ect...jobs were abolished and they were furloughed. It became a crew change location. Within a few years the Railroad YMCA was closed we were put in to hotels 30+ miles away. That little place today still is a crew change location gone are the yardmasters and clerks and just a computer and printer replaced those jobs. What once was a lively place is now deserted. There was local people that lost jobs in an area with no employment, the cooks and waitresses some who worked for 30-40 years, those who ran the YMCA in the office and making up rooms maintaining the building ect...the railroad is a heartless business.

name a business- or union- that isn't.