Just finishing at NARS, any GCOR, or job advise?

bnsfjordan, no start date yet. I did the physical and strength test on the 23rd and now i'm just waiting to hear back.

I go in for my medical and strength test the first week of December. The phrase "next available class" makes me think I could be waiting a long time before beginning work.

If you passed the strength test you will get notified about your class start date. Might be another 3 or 4 weeks till you get the notification but usually you have 3 weeks after that.
Good luck guys!

will take about 3 weeks after your strenght test to get a "congratulations" letter...if you made it.

narsgrad wrote:bnsf jordan...i completed the conductor training program earlier this year. I was given a "conditional" offer of employment with bnsf the tuesday following graduation. The initial process of background, medical, strength, etc. took about 2-3 weeks. After my strength test, it took an additional 3 weeks to receive my "congratulations" letter from bnsf. I've been working about 6 months now...nars was the best step i took! be patient, you'll get good news.

I saw this post in the help forum, and thought I'd move it here. That "congrats" letter can't come soon enough for me, lol. Right now, I'm nervous about my upcoming medical and strength tests, even though I'm confident I can pass them.

bnsfjordan...i'm sure you'll do well. Good luck with your new career!

hey gojoe sorry for the delay in my reply (holiday). My instructor(s) was Dennis Cawley and now is Dennis "doc" See. Both have been really good instructors. I am now in my third week and everything is starting to come together. I cant wait till we are able to use what we are learning out in the field (even though it has been snowing and below freezing "lol"). Hey keep us posted on event leading up to your start date and then there after. Again all that have replied to this thread have been a great wealth of information and advice, and i appreciate it.

Hey Wannertant, glad to hear that all's going well. do you know when you go to Chiggar Yard, and when you test yet? I only ask because ourclass went to the yard on the fourth week and at the end of it we tested on hostler, but the other classes took the final at the end of the fourth week, then went to the yard. That may have been the case because our classes were larger than normal, but just a heads up anyway. Got those signals down yet? You should ask some of the old heads in the forum to make some signal scenarios in CTC, TWC, and ABS for you to study. I think there were 20 or so questions on the final about them. You don't really need to get that down yet, but for the last week. If you need any help, feel free to ask.

gojoe we take our final test on thursday of next week, so not quite the end of our fourth week. then we go to chigger yard in our 5th and 6th or 5th or 6th (dont know if there is two weeks out in the yard or not). I just learned the signals tonight, i thought i had till the final to learn them but we just did the chapter on block systems and the instructor said that we have a quiz on them tommorow. I am fortunate because i use to play the game called memory when i was a little kid and i think that made me have a good memory today . everyday i am starting to make more sense of all of this, the only thing that stresses me out is that there is all of this white stuff on the ground that the locals call snow . But i have my thermal underware for that. if you have any advice for me for the yard i would appreciate it. bye for now

also does anyone know what the training pay for bnsf is? thanks

wannertant...these were the effective rates this past summer while in training for BNSF:

weeks 1-2......$78.15 a day
weeks 3-8.....$111.19 a day
weeks 9-13...$128.88 a day

after that, you mark up on the extra board.

Actually training pay varies by what property your on. BN guys get 126 a day and the Santa Fe side gets the deal like Narsgrad is posting.

Wannertant, no advise is really needed for the yard other than to dress warmly. You throw a few switches and derails, replace a knuckle, tie a few hanbrakes, inspect a car, align a draw bar, couple air-hoses, install an ETD...etc on the first day or day and a half. then you may arm an ETD, get on and off moving equipment, go through the air brake tests, ride a boxcar, couple cars by giving the engineer hand signals, kick cars...etc. Then you kick cars at night using lantern signals, then a couple days of RCO. There was alot of standing around and waiting when we were in the yard, but we had 27 students to go through each task, so we used the extra time to study. When you get back to the classroom you have the hostler test and RCO test, then interviews. Im sure I forgot a few things but you get the idea, the point is they demonstrate before most of the tasks, and generally it's pretty easy stuff. some of the guys got flustered on kicking cars because they weren't paying attention or forgot a step in the process. No one got injured, and every one got a chance to perform the tasks. If you screwed it up you can try again. Just make sure you have a good grasp on the air brake tests by the time you leave the yard, that hostler test isn't the easiest one you'll take there.

I would agree with gojoe's advice for the yard, but I'll add one comment. Don't volunteer to be one of the first people to do a task. It can help alot to watch everybody before you and learn from their mistakes.

Well i took my gcor final today and got a 94%. I am happy to get that portion of the class over with. I guess next week we will have our interview and then go out into the yard. Do i need to go and buy my own boots or are they provided?