Signal Maintainers - Tell me about your job

From the perspective of an old retiree (clerk) and what I remember, you'll have an assigned shift. It may be, depending on the company and its particular needs, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd shift. OR you may work a day shift and be on "call" on weekends. Your assigned shift may not HAVE weekends off; they may be in the middle of the week.
The choice assignments usually go to the senior men with the lowest man of the roster getting the less desirable shifts or days off. If you are "lucky", you may get day shifts all the time with the men taking turns being on call for work on the weekend. IF you start on a railroad that has signal maintainers working "shifts", as you build seniority, you can "bid" for better assignments on your division, getting better hours and days off. ( Somebody else may be more familiar with YOUR particular road).

I hope you get whatever assignment you are looking for!

Gadfly

I worked for Norfolk Southern. Now retired. I tried to give you what I remember and from working with various signal maintainers thru those years. I kinda thought you would find that there's "shift" work involved. And it, of course, depends on the road as I said. Some of them do the shift thing, others have maintainers on first trick with alternating weekends on call. Then, too, you might at first find yourself on a "signal gang" that travels somewhat.
Funny, tho. At NS, day shifts would be preferable for most of them and what they aspired to! Depends on one's perspective, eh?



GF

Hello everyone, I do have a question about Amtrak C&S helper. I notice Amtrak is hiring for C&S helpers with a starting rate of 19.50 per HR, would anyone know what that pay rate turns out to be once training has been finished and a Maintainer status is achieved? I am currently an assitant at a close rate for a different railroad and would like to compare benefits and pay scale. Your reply will be very much appreciated.

Thank you. Would you know how long the helper status would be? Curious... Thanks once again.

Hello, I recently passed my test, interview & physical for c & s helper postion with amtrak. I was offerd the job and told starting date was april 16th....during orienation they said we would go to school in harrisburg PA ( is this right or is it in lancatser) when we started....so I'm confused- do you start class/training right away or do you have to work as a helper for yrs b4 you can start your training...do you get any raises b4 you make the $25-26hr range, or do you stay at $19.50hr for yrs?? Also has any1 recenclty started with amtrak as a c & S helper?? What's the work like? How r the benfits? They made it seem like u start school right away & aftr 3months of school you get hired intoo union...I'm currently a electrician and I'm tired of layoffs/looking for work...is amtrak a good place to start a career? Also I my wife is due with r baby in 1month....if I start b4 then will I b able to take a day off to see my lil girl born? I realy don't want to miss her birth but also need a good job...thanks so much, id appreciate any responses

Thanks for your response, I appreciate it...have a few more questions if you don't mind, this is a major decission I have to make asap. Are you a c & s helper for amtrak? What's the work like? I've heard that helpers just dig ditches till they finish school? I expect to do grunt work 1st starting out but didn't know school is that long a wait... also since its 4/5 yrs till school do you stay at $19.50 helper rate till you get maintainer status?? At the orientation they told us a totaly differnt scenaro then what you explaind but id trust your rseponse more since you are currently goin thru it...what area do you work in? Do you travel overnite a lot? I tried to ask all these questions to HR but they can nevr give me a answer?? I've done some research about rr jobs but there's a lot of mixed results....anybody out here that can help me with this questions or if you work for amtrak now or in past I would greatly appreciate your insight..thanks again

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