Railroad Forums 

  • BNSF Chicago Employment?

  • General discussion about working in the railroad industry. Industry employers are welcome to post openings here.
General discussion about working in the railroad industry. Industry employers are welcome to post openings here.

Moderator: thebigc

 #777268  by Great Northern
 
In chicago bnsf has many yards not only in chicago but throughout illinois, and i want to know, which yard would you rather work at and why would you work at that yard, here is a list of bnsf yards in illinois:

clyde yard(cicero,il intermodal)
corwith yard(chicago,il intermodal)
logistics park chicago(elwood,il Intermodal/automotive)
willow springs yard(willow springs,il/hodgkins,il mainly ups intermodal yard)
galesburg yard(classification yard galesburg,il)
eola yard(eola,il/aurora,il just holds basic cars such as grain and all that you would find in a hump yard only difference is that it is not a hump yard)

in my opinion i would rather work in logistics park chicago since its close to home, nice equipment, nice layout and industrial switching areas nearby, and away from major cities only joliet which is about half an hour away.
where would you work?
 #784438  by Engineer Spike
 
I don't know how things have changed, but when I was there, the hiring was different. The training was too. Cicero and Eola are under CB&Q agreements, while the others are Santa Fe. In my time the pay rates were not the same. You can bid jobs on either side. The main thing is to get your foot in the door, then bid to where you like.
There are other things to look at. Some guys like the yard, with its set hours. I didn't like being under the spotlight, and doing the same thing every day. Unless things have changed, there are no road jobs based on the Santa Fe side. They were all out of Ft. Madison or Galesburg. The BN side has the yards, but also locals, road jobs, and passenger service. I hired out in Aurora. I qualified on the yard and local/transfer jobs. Later I learned the road to LaCrosse. After I was out on my own for a while, it came my turn to get passenger training. I worked that most.
About nine months after I hired out, they closed the hump in Cicero. Many of the yard birds came out on the road. They also scabbed out the Fox River to Streator, and the Rockford Branch. I got cut and moved to Galesburg.
That turned out to be a good thing. First, I could never hold conductor jobs in the city. With all of the locals and passenger jobs, with multiple brakemen, it took several years to hold conductor jobs. In the 'Burg, I could hold several conductor jobs with my 1 year seniority. The cost of living was half of the suburbs. I had an instant double raise. I also go into engineer school much sooner.
Like I said, once you get in, then you can move. You have to look at all of the things that I mentioned.
 #784899  by GN 599
 
Its all about senority. Say you get hired. Then you make it through conductors class. Okay great. Well then you are going to find out everyone else has the same idea as you about logistics park. Well guess what it may be years before you can touch a job there. Chances are you are going to work in the yard you like the least with the worst hours. Welcome to the railroad. Not to be out of line but judging from your posts you are a teenager, correct?
 #785244  by jz441
 
Just like GN 599 said, you will work where your seniority permits. All yards and road jobs in Chicago are under one seniority roaster. I don't know which yard has the lowest seniority, but I can find out and send you PM... Generally, where the pay is low, seniority is low... :-D
 #801098  by Engineer Spike
 
Cicero had a daily mark. Every day you had to put in a bid for the next day's job. If you did not get a job, you ended up on the extra list. That was called in seniority order. A junior man might seldom get called. It also had no guarantee. With low seniority, it is not a place to get yourself trapped into.
Like everyone said, just get in. Later you can bid elsewhere, if seniority permits.
It might be easier to get ahead if you bid to Galesburg, for the reasons I posted. If you like the city life, stay in the Chicago area. One plus to staying here would be getting free college. BNSF will pay for you school, if you get a certain mark. if you could hold a steady evening or night job, you could do school all day.