What's life on a short line, like?

I'm off on medical from CSX...I'm responding well to regular sleep and exercise. I'll certainly be able to return to the railroad...

...except that nothing in CSX has changed. Grueling schedule and lousy equipment and heavy load of rulebooks...I'll put the weight right back on and my back will again give out. If I go back to CSX.

I need to at LEAST put two more years in with SOME covered railroad to earn a partial pension. Then...I can fool around with self employment until retirement.

So. Is it better on the shortlines? I know the pay is much lower. How about weekly schedules? Are they wearing their guys down to the nubbins like some of the Class 1's?

What's a GOOD way to link up and find vacancies? I've posted about five resumes online without a single call. It can't be my job performance...no incidents in eight years.

Any advice?

Short lines run the whole gamut from decent to lousy. That goes for pay, hours, treatment and so on. Of course what is a shortline? Some of them are as big as what used to be a Class I years ago, they are actually regionals not true shortlines. One thing to be aware of is that on the smaller lines you will often have to do other things than just train service. If they don't need a train that afternoon you may work in the shop working on locomotives, or be out changing a couple bad ties. Some guys have a problem with that, some don't.

As for how to get on board maybe you can make the rounds of lines in your area, stop in and fill out an application, that shows them you're willing to make some effort. It's hard to say who is hiring at any given time. Another thing is that if railroad ABC treats their people decently they are apt to have a lower turnover rate and may be harder to get on board with. Railroad XYZ may always be hiring because they are so hard to work for that everybody wants to leave. If they're always hiring because they are growing thats good but if they're staying the same and people are always coming and leaving maybe there's a reason.

I work for a shortline, and Ali, is partly right. Yeah, we make less money than a class 1, but we sleep in our own bed everynight. I get paid by the hr, $27, guareentee'd 8. On the spare board if you don't want to work, and you can pass, you get 6.5 hrs guareetee'd. plus full bennies.


Check out the BLE&T website, they seem to hold the union card for alot of shortlines.

Shortline is not bad at all, you would be surprised how many class 1 guys want in, cause they're tired of the shit

Look at the ASLRRA website..can't recall if it is .com or .net. Also look at RailAmerica and Watco's websites. RRB.gov has links to shortline/regional companies as well as the class 1's. If you stop by the office, chances are you will get to talk to someone about employment.

I work for a G&W owned property and its not bad. I think it is more like a family than a class 1 would be. I am home each night and am able to attend church on Sunday. I think they ran one train on Sunday in the past two years. Until Hurricane Rita came, I held down a 5-day a week job Sat and Sun off. I was out 3 days, then I went to the track gang one day, then I was back on the extra board, which is fine, because I still get five days a week; I just work Sat. They work with us to get our five days.

www.railamerica.com
www.watcocompanies.com
www.gwrr.com
www.anacostia.com (click on: Our Affiliates)

I worked for a shortline for about 2 years. It was too bad, never did any track work or mechanical work. I was on the same job from the day I hired out to the day I left. I was kinda nice for awhile, then it just got plain boring doing the exact same thing every day. It just wasn't my cup of tea I guess. The pay was sub-standard and the benefits weren't that great, but then again, it was a non-union outfit. Oh yeah, working mon-fri was pretty nice!

Not to be "flip", but that's kind of like asking "what's life like with a blond"? Every road has it's own ups, and downs (no pun intended, terrain wise). Every road has it's good points, and it's bad. There are excellent employees, and the living brain-dead, on every pike. I to tire of the BS dished out by the barrel full, on the class-1's. I will work for one for a while (6 years straight, in one case) until I get tired of just being a number in some callers rested book. The smaller roads are progressing, into better pay, and skilled workers. Some are still lagging way behind, others are leaders in the field. I work for a contracted employer, who sends me out to run trains, or teach new engineers, rules classes, etc. I work when I want, and where I want, while still accruing credits towards retirement, with the RRB. If a place is decent, I stick around awhile. If it sucks, and it does, sometimes, I am outta there, as quickly as possible. Regular hours, being home every night, and weekends off, are big pluses in working the shortline game. Substandard pay, questionable trackage, and locos in need of scrapping, are often times the norm, though. The road I am working on now doesn't even have a TT, SI, AB&TH or Safety Rules book to give to it's employees. We "wing" it, with just a D.O.B., Track Warrant and an Air Slip, to run this rather primitive railroad. Drop me a PM, CR engineer, if interested in learning about this "other" way of railroading. As an incentive to do this, I do make more money as a contracted hogger, than I ever made, on any class-1 I ever worked for, including the UP, with it's killer guaranteed extra board, and I do it in only 8 months out of the year!!! There is nothing like being on the big roads, but sometimes, that's a bad thing. Conrail was probably the best road I ever ran on, as far as the "big-boys" go, and no road has ever measured up to that, since. This place I am at currently, is probably the worst, as far as equipment, track and required materials, for conducting transportation. It takes 4 crews, 12 hours each, to move a train over 150 miles of railroad here, on through freight road trains!!!! That's with no pick-ups, or set-outs!!! Every road has it's own excitement, and it's tedious bits as well. I don't find myself stuck, someplace I don't want to be, wondering if "this is it?" for the next 30 years. Regards