which location and railroad would you choose if you were me?

Hello all im new to this forum but have been a lurker for quite sometime trying to gather as much information as possible about the railroad. I currently live in Decatur, Illinois which has a pretty big yard for NS. I have alot of people I know who work for NS in decatur who most of them are conductors. My question is if you were me would you rather work for NS out of Decatur Illinois or try getting on with BNSF in STL or Chicago as well as NS in both STL and Chicago. Im just trying to make the bes f2f decision and if I get lucky enough to land a job on the railroad id like to stick it out for the long haul since it pays well and has great benefits as well as retirement. Any info is appreciated on the above mentioned cities and railroads. Thanks

BNSF.

I work for the NS and I'd pick the BN

Apply for both then it's which one is hiring seeing it's usually a long drawn out process. After a few years on the job I'd try to get on Amtrak.

Also is smart to apply for a bunch of conductor jobs since they seem to have more openings then track laborer positions? Im not 100% sure which one I would rather due. Im 25 with no kids or a wife so either would be good to start but I think after 5 years or so id like the chance of working 4 10s in a section gang as a track laborer. My question is if I hired in as a conductor and wanted to switch to track laborer is this usually a smooth transition and how does seniority work when leaving transportation for maintenance? Tried looking it up but couldnt find it. Thanks for the help

If you transfer out of one craft to go into another you give up seniority and have to start at the bottom in the other. You usually keep your accrued time in for vacation weeks & it won't affect credits towards retirement.

You couldn't find it cause nobody goes from transportation to maintenance. Why would anybody want to go from an easy job to a ball busting job, those track laborers get absolutely pounded, it's a miserable job

Dewoc19 wrote:You couldn't find it cause nobody goes from transportation to maintenance. Why would anybody want to go from an easy job to a ball busting job, those track laborers get absolutely pounded, it's a miserable job

I've known at least 2 guys that have. Why? They now work pretty regular M-F daylight with local MOW bases. No more being held hostage in hotels, worrying about being bumped to another job, not having to live with a phone 24/7, and their bosses seem to be more respected and decent. And god forbid if they ever lost their railroad job - their skills are about 100000000000x more useful than a conductor or engineer's in the real (non-RR) world.

I know with my company it takes an act of god cosigned by the devil himself to get at transfer from one craft to another, but it has happened.

BNSF. Their engines are tits. I also work for NS.

Doesn't CN/IC also go through Decatur? I haven't heard good things about working for CN but it's another option at least.

So I have been applying for conductor and track laborer jobs at UP NS and BNSF and took my reading comprehension test today and passed for a train crew with UP. I got called and have a hiring session Nov 5th in Elmhurst. Im both excited and nervous for this opportunity. I was hoping to get on with BNSF since they have system wide seniority and would come in handy if I was furloughed and could just transfer. Ill take what I can get and hopefully I get lucky enough to get this job