Moving to employment forum. Changed you heading also there so others will know which RR your talking about.
Thats how the railroad is there bud, hopefully you wont get laid off, but most guys have a rocky start. For most, it usually takes about five years before you dont have to worry about being cut off. That just comes with the job.
We had a guy here who went by the name Steelwheels21 that works out of Portland. Think he did quite a bit of yard work when he first hired on. Id say you'd be doing the same.
Found his profile there buddy:
http://www.railroad.net/forums/profile. ... ile&u=1767 Click on that and try to send him a PM. He'd be the best one to answer any questions you have. Been a long time since he's been here at RR.net. Maybe you can still get a hold of him.
Another thing ya might want to do, in his profile you can click on find all posts by Steelwheels. You might find some tidbits here and there about what he went threw after hiring on up there.