Schools offering Railroad Skills Training Courses

[slchub]

I've said it before in prior posts over the past few years here in the forum, I do not think anyone should have to pay for their RR training. I wonder how some of the guys who have recently gone through training at their own expense and are now cut-off or on a furlough board feel about spending as much money as they have to find that the skills are not needed at this time. Will they go back to the RR when they call them back?

[PSNOUS]

I don't feel it was a waste of money, it seemed very helpful.

[GP40MC 1116]

I am from New England, well New Hampshire to be exact. Does anyone know what options to have as far as these schools go. Do they have locations, campuses in Mass at all?

I am at the point now, I went to school for Fire Science, almost was done when i had a terrable summer of tow surgeries on my brain, so now the fire service in on the back burner and I am looking into Raillroad's and Trains for a career

Thanks in Advance!

[farmerjohn]

Anybody know anything on the Modoc County school?. They any good?. They were on dirty jobs on discovery channel. ahaha. Is it worth the price?.
They say I think it was 95% of their graduates get hired on?.

[ShortLiner]

I highlly recomend the class offered at Sac City College. the gentelman in charge is well recognized and respected in the railroad community. the class is endorsed by NARS. Alot of the class gets hired out by the class 1's in the area and the local short lines. from what ive heard the Modocc Academy is to avoid it. only BNSF givet i really any credit and nars wont give it and kind of endorsement. more of a rush you through and hope ya get a job. then hope ya survive. plus it cost a hell of alot more than Sac City does for prob alot less of an education. l

[farmerjohn]

I highlly recomend the class offered at Sac City College. the gentelman in charge is well recognized and respected in the railroad community. the class is endorsed by NARS. Alot of the class gets hired out by the class 1's in the area and the local short lines. from what ive heard the Modocc Academy is to avoid it. only BNSF givet i really any credit and nars wont give it and kind of endorsement. more of a rush you through and hope ya get a job. then hope ya survive. plus it cost a hell of alot more than Sac City does for prob alot less of an education. l

I guess I chose wise then. Class starts August 25th.

[SantaFeGuy]

Right now BNSF and KCS require it. BNSF has not advertised a conductor position for months, but I got hired recently. The ONLY reason was NARS so posts from 2005 and early 2006 don't reflect the realities of late 2006 and 2007. The economy isn't going to pick up until maybe 09 so if you want to work for the RR you'd better go to school.

[ShortLiner]

Luckily the class held at Sac City is NARS endorsed (made sure of that before i put it on my resume) so it falls into the same catagory. and its a hell of alot cheaperthan jccc or modocc which NARS wont have anything to do with.

[jg greenwood]

Luckily the class held at Sac City is NARS endorsed (made sure of that before i put it on my resume) so it falls into the same catagory. and its a hell of alot cheaperthan jccc or modocc which NARS wont have anything to do with.

Very strange, I was almost certain that NARS is located at the JCCC?

[ShortLiner]

Really? thanks for the tip. didnt know that since its one of the places that this thread is about. Sac city is NARS endorsed. JCCC is the NARS academy. Modocc is a rail academy that neither NARS or any or the big boys will acknowledge. there have been some i know that have gotten on at the class one level from there but it was there military exp not there spendin 6-8 grand.

[GCOR 1.7]

Right now BNSF and KCS require it. BNSF has not advertised a conductor position for months, but I got hired recently. The ONLY reason was NARS so posts from 2005 and early 2006 don't reflect the realities of late 2006 and 2007. The economy isn't going to pick up until maybe 09 so if you want to work for the RR you'd better go to school.

BNSF and KCS don't require NARS. They give "preferential consideration" to applicates that passed, but legally they can't require it. Read the applications. Something to do with EEO. They do both say they require a 90% or better at NARS on your GCOR, but KCS is the only one of the two that actually inforces that because it is our training instead of the 13 or 15 weeks BN and SF use, respectively.

And since we use it for our training with an added 2 weeks in Shreveport, new hires that haven't been through NARS already are sent by KCS. Although I wouldn't bank on that right now, cause the freeze has been on so long that there a ton of NARS grads wanting jobs, so KCS has the pick of the litter for now at least. They were up there last month or month before recruiting from what a friend in HR told me. Why couldn't they have gone when I was there? Sitting out of work for almost a year stunk. Such bad luck.

[acela 2036]

Does anyone know of any railroad school for Amtrak in the NE?

[Otto Vondrak]

If you read back in this thread, we list several railroad academies in the northeast.

[countryboy]

is there a school in alabama for railroad? Instead of going to Kansas

[BLACK MAC]

Lots of good information and links... thanks.