WORKING FOR NS

WHATS IT LIKE TO WORK FOR NORFOLK SOUTHERN, DO THEY HIRE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF RAILROAD SCIENCES GRADUATES, AND WHATS THERE CREWS, MANAGEMENT, AND EQUIPMENT LIKE?

NS is a very tight ship. No nonsense. If you are recent military, you will feel at home. While personalities figure into it some, they tend to be VERY rules-conscious and ready to take you out of service for the least infraction. LOTS of politics. You can do well, but the stress level is HIGH, and they don't take kindly to accidents (look at the Harriman awards they've garnered!)
If a person is of the "starry-eyed" railfan type, he is in for a big let-down!!!

I can't speak to the "choo choo U" thing because when I hired in the 70's, there was no such thing. IMHO, it is a waste of time and money because the railroads like to train you to THEIR ways of doing things. NS sends its trainees to school ANYWAY. If you are an experienced craftsman, you may go to work in a shop without going to their school. I don't know how they feel about NARS and the other schools.


Gadfly
retired

BTW, their equipment, trackage and facilities are usually tiptop--among the best in the industry going to back to traditions begun by NW & Southern eons ago.


GF

Gadfly wrote:BTW, their equipment, trackage and facilities are usually tiptop--among the best in the industry going to back to traditions begun by NW & Southern eons ago.


GF

Lol... yeah... right.

Well, I WORKED for them for an entire career. At least, in the yards and shops where I worked, we got the latest equipment and the newest safety devices. For example, our forklifts not only had the usual up/down and side to side, but also had fork positioners so you could simply use a lever to set the forks to the widest possible position for the load. This eliminated getting down and hefting the forks into position manually (drastically reducing back injuries). Not only did it reduce injuries, it saved time and money because an employee could go after a pallet of material, set the forks as needed, and leave with it.

I don't know if you worked for NS or are doing so now, but the trackage is historically some of the best in the nation. This goes WAY back to Southern where I hired, and they don't take kindly to derailments. You put a train on the ground, and it is attributed to YOU, you and the entire crew are likely to be taken out of service! I saw it many times. After merger, if anything, they became MORE sticky about it!

I can't speak for the northern territories, but from I saw in 30 years, if there are any truly "bad" areas, equipment, safety issues, it was probably inherited from Conrail.

GF

Whatever you say....

Give me those outhern hi-hooded GP38s, and those old dash-9s running on half a cylinder. Great power. Envy of everyone!

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Sometimes you have to take off the rose-colored glasses, gadfly. You're retired now, so it's ok.

No RR is perfect. Ns is no exception. Also varies from terminal to terminal. But NS does have a lot of junk power.

It doesn't matter now. I SAW what I saw! I didn't mention in my post how HATEFUL they can be,how VENGEFUL if they "get it in for you". I was being nice. I saw THAT, too. I got screamed at for things I didn't even DO. I didn't mention the "suck ups" that populated the RR who, if the boss turned a corner suddenly, it would break their noses. Oh no, I didn't tell about the "real" atmosphere of fear that is NS. OH yes, they prided themselves on the best equipment, the best trackage, the best safety record. I didn't talk about the little cowards that would talk about you behind your back while YOU were bustin your ***** working. I didn't tell about the ones who stood around talking about GOLF the livelong day while the boss walked right by as the work piled up. They complained about hard they had to work Funny-------------when these people marked OFF, another employee could catch up the piled-up orders and inbound shipments in ONE day!! I mean a PILE of boxes and materials waiting to be checked in so the picklists could go out to the gangs! OH NO! I didn't talk about THAT! Guess which ones got promoted to some p---ant desk job while the rest of us worked our a$$es off in the cold and rain. How about the guy I recall that used to mark off in the afternoon (shift job) early so he could go referee soccer games? This was a PAID position, and it constituted a conflict of interest and a breaking of the rules (*ATTENTION TO DUTY IS REQUIRED, ETC ETC---which means you devote 8 hours at least to the company) Yep, there's favorites in all companies. But this guy got SO BAD about yapping on the phone instead of doing the railroad's business, the superintendent of the shops fixed his phone so he couldn't dial "9" to get outside; he couldn't call outside AT ALL!!! Oh no, I don't know what I'm talking about, do I? They shoulda taken him out of service, but he was stuck up the boss's keister so far, it woulda taken Roto Rooter to remove him! "Rose colored glasses, eh? MY A--!!!!!!!!!!!!
They DO have the best equipment, the best safety record, some of the best trackage, but they treat their employees like horse dung. I didn't mention THAT!!!!!!!!! BAH!!!!!!!!!! They AREN'T my favorite people in the whole world, sir!!!!!!


GF

There you go gadfly!

feel better?

gp80mac wrote:

Gadfly wrote:BTW, their equipment, trackage and facilities are usually tiptop--among the best in the industry going to back to traditions begun by NW & Southern eons ago.


GF

Lol... yeah... right.

Lol yeah right what? You ever work for them? How about other railroads to compare? If you did, you would be agreeing and not laughing... they may not be perfect but the NS is better than most of the other Class 1'st in most categories.

All class-1s are the same - just different colors on the locomotives. The whole rivalry between class-1s in any category is just plain silly.

gp80mac wrote:All class-1s are the same - just different colors on the locomotives. The whole rivalry between class-1s in any category is just plain silly.

I guess to clarify from my OWN experience, i should say they were, indeed, persnickety about equipment, "Obsessive Compulsive about Safety", but in their treatment of the employees? Horrible!~!! If they EVER get it for you, you just as well LOOK OUT! You're in for a rough row to hoe, trust me!

One afternoon, when I working in the Material Management Dept, I was filling pick lists. These are computer-generated orders for materials. Anything from bolts to heavy machine components that go on track maintenance machines. Remember, I told you about one of the fellas whose nose would be broken if the boss turned a corner? He marked off early (you could do that since it was a regular 1st trick shift). The boss went back in the warehouse and was doing some sort of chore---I dont know what---and I was shuttling around with a cart filling orders. I didn't even know the suck-up had left---didn't care since it was none of my beeswax.
I finished the orders, took them to the receiving desk where you-know-who was to "key" them into the computer. Meantime this "boss", FORGETS that he has let ole suck-up mark OFF!
So the orders didn't get keyed into the computer. Next morning at the mandatory safety meeting, MR. (I called him "ONE TON" -------- because his name rhymed with a name for a sheep) behind his back was GLARING at ME! He was FAT! And he lays into how "certain" people didn't turn in his orders for processing the previous day! AT the end of the safety meeting and exercise session (you NS people should be familiar with THAT!), he beckons to ME,
"I Wanna see you in the office NOW!" However, a phone call interrupted him, and it gave me a chance to check on something. I FLEW out to the receiving desk, and THERE were the orders I had done the previous day---right where I had LEFt them! Right where we had always been instructed to LEAVE them! Right where they were supposed to be.
While he was still in the office where he was preparing to run me off, I summoned my immediate
line boss, "Ms Becky", we called her.

"Becky", I said, "HERE'S THOSE DAMNED ORDERS I ALLEGEDLY DIDN'T FILL YESTERDAY!!!!! CHECK 'EM AGAINST THE DAILY SUMMARY PRINTOUT!!!"

Every last one of them was there.

Old "One Ton" came waddling out of the office, "I THOUGHT I TOLD MR.---------- TO GET IN THIS OFFICE".

"Um, Mr M-----, you need to come out here and look at this!"

So he waddles out to the receiving desk and, Ms Becky points out the orders.

Wanna know what he says? "OH"! And turns around and shuffles back into his office without another word!!!!!!!!!!! I just looked at Becky and shook my head! Pathetic. A REAL man would've, at least opologized to me if not before the whole safety team the next day.

I eventually got him transferred out of that department and almost fired because there was a fork lift with a defect and he wouldn't FIX it even tho the problem had been pointed out to him numerous times! That was the time he took me out of service and they had to take me back AND PAY me 60 days of back pay!!!!!!!!!!

You have to LIVE t he railroad to KNOW the railroad!


GF