Railroads always cut jobs, always. I was told they didn't cut anymore when I started on 2006 and I spent 2008/2009 furloughed. My advice if you absolutely have to railroad, have a backup plan or side hustle. DO NOT leave a good job for a railroad.
You couldn't be more right, i hired on with NS in 2019, trained for 6 months, and got furloughed right before marking up. As hard as it was, it was the best thing to ever happen to me. I got on with a short line because I had prior experience, they had decilined on my application before i worked for NS because i didn't have any experience. Not to mention, NS training is the most intense and thorough by far, after that every other railroad is easy. Now i am making good money, with a better schedule, and then I would have gotten with 30 years at NS. Home every night. All you new conductors watching this, learn the rules like your job and life depends on it, because it does. Also, enjoy the sucky times. They will end. The railroad is not all bad. Just gotta embrace the grind. Or just work for a short line instead 😂
@@rileynunley1351 when did you hire out of Riley? 2019-2020 was a bad year, even if I would have stayed in Florence they would have gotten to me eventually and I had 49 people below me when I transferred. Glad to hear you’re doing well after the furlough! Stay safe my man.
Great video Joey, it's almost a given to know that at some point you'll be furloughed. And as you stated to bank your money for a rainy day. Have you been able to make that metal sign for my railroad room? Thanks again Joey for the informative videos along with your PRICELESS time and effort my friend. Cheers from Laurel, Delaware USA.
Just graduated from MCdonough class 2411, taking my first train as a CT today. I’m already in the mindset that this won’t last long for me if furloughs are very possible
Congrats! Have you heard anything about classes continuing as normal down there? My status is "Awaiting Start Date" and ive seen people talking about a hiring freeze. Probably just need to be patient.
hey joey how's it going... good to hear from you... and yea i have to agree with you, if a person wants to try to get in, jump in there right now... don't wait... sounds like some folks trying to time when to get in or not... that don't work... if you gonna do then do it
Hey Claude! Good to hear from you also buddy. That’s right! It reminds me of the stock market.. trying to time the lows and highs without any insider information.. basically taking a shot in the dark.. just do it now and ride the rollercoaster lol. Hope you and your family are doing well brother!
Current NS employee, I can honestly say furloughs are currently happening but it’s not currently company wide it just depends on the location, fortunately my terminal is all locals and we’re desperately understaffed so furloughs aren’t a CURRENT worry for us but like I said above they are happening at other terminals across the system
@Railroad_Talk it was just on a slide. It looked like 1 of your thumbnails you use on videos. They didn't even know who you were. I was like that guy has a RUclips channel I watch his videos. Lol
@@Mister5020s lol, I have been told over the last few years that I get brought up from time to time from some of the instructors which I think is awesome. Maybe one day they will reach out and send me an invite down to GA. I would love to come speak to all the new conductors in person and answer whatever questions they have in person.
I'm from California and applied for a position in Washington State because I really want to work in the RR industry buyt there are no positions available in my area at all. I would have to drive the 16+ hours there and live in my car since I don't know anybody up there that can house me but I literally just got hired at a different job/company after already submitting my application and taking the train crew assessment for BNSF. I don't know what to do now....
@@izzyhl4323 I think things will pick up soon and hopefully traffic will pick up also. I’ll be keeping an eye on it and looking at it each month and sharing it on the channel.
I've been trying to get on with the Birmingham area but I've failed my BMI the past two times. They're saying that McDonough is shut down atm due to the Ancora bs and the new cubs are not staying marked up. That's what I'm currently hearing at the moment
I've always wanted to do this since I was a kid and I'm 2 years away from finishing high school and now I'm starting to have my doubts if working for the railroad would work out.
i’m looking to become a signal and communicator for cpkc. what does there time away from home and work load look like. i can’t find that anywhere. do they have to travel very far a lot or is it mostly staying in one area
Can you do a video of the general knowledge test that conductors are supposed to know cause I’m about ready to be a Conductor and it would help me out a lot if you would do a video of that I’m about ready to be a Conductor for Norfork Southern
Been qualified for 3 months now at CN in Montreal. I have to say we’re quite lucky in terms of leave, 10 paid sick and 10 paid personal days in addition to your vacation time thanks to a bill passed by the government. I honestly love the job, I don’t see myself doing anything else in my career and I hope that never changes. The situation I’m in is pretty ideal for the job, single and still living at home. That being said, I’m seriously glad that we are unionized and I don’t think I need to say why.
yea the Canadian railroads are WAY WAY more accepting of government intervention than here in the U.S.... since the staggers act in the late 70s, the government here has largely left railroads alone... there was a congressional attempt to force extra leave days for railworkers but it failed... heck congress here can't even pass a rail safety act in the wake of the east palestine derailment.... just plain old dysfunctional government at work
we traded 12 personal days and booking sick once every 28 days for 10 paid pl and sick days. once you give something up you aint getting it back. We have it better in comparison to american class ones but this hourly garbage they're trying to put on us will cut jobs and some workforce
@@DwightOldhamIII-hs8bn I think we have it better than the american class 1's in terms of time off and not as harsh attendance policy's but everything else is no different really.
If you're ever offered a job as CT in FL be advised that the job us nothing like they tell you at McDonough. It's all local, not on the road. Do your research before you apply to a location. The money in FL is not what you expect, most guys with seniority take home 70k after taxes, not 100k; the only people making 100k after tax are engineers with seniority (15 years+). You go home every night but the schedule is still all over the place, there's guys with 10 years seniority who still bitch about how they get bumped around every week because guys at the top change their schedule every week. The money isn't bad but it's pretty much the same I was already making at a warehouse, except at the warehouse I had a predictable schedule so I'm already thinking about going back even though NS survived the Ancora thing for now
Hey Joey! What kind of fishing do you do? And what is your setup? Thanks for all the videos man! I finally got my status changed to awaiting start date.
Love to hear it! I do a lot of bass fishing tournaments and I crappie fish when I have some free time. Hopefully if all goes as planned livestreams will be on the channel of me out on the water and I will be able to read chat and interact with everyone that stops by. Modem should be here hopefully this week.
Hey, can you do a video of Conductor general knowledge for me please? I’ve been studying out of the NS1 but if you could do a video of the Conductor general knowledge test or tell us what the test requires, I would appreciate it because I’m about ready to be a conductor
I'm currently in norfolk,va With the go team. They need people here desperately. Just depends on the needs of ur area. My home terminal had enough people thay they sent my here for awhile. Plus alot more money. Lol
Ns went on a hiring freeze till this vote happens. If u wanted to relocate to norfolk,va I believe that's one of thr only places still sending people to Georgia to train.
@stephenskwaryk9665 yea my terminal had plenty of people on our board. So wasn't no loss of work there. Ur terminal might have been shorty with some missing.
My advise would be to find something else. If your mind can’t be changed, dive in. Save your money. No big purchases in the first five years is a good rule of thumb. Try not to burn any bridges transitioning to the railroad.
No, NS has their own tracks and CSX has theirs. There are times where tracks are shared between to two. We use to run on CSX mainline going to Chattanooga. A lot of short lines and class 1 share tracks with other companies. Same for BNSF, UP etc.
They gave me a start date back in December of 23 then a week later after I put in my notice they came back and postponed it until "further notice" due to "updated business needs". Still haven't heard a thing from them.
@@hunting4u22 damn man yeah it’s the weirdest hiring experience I’ve ever had I quit my job bc I just wanted a break for a lil bit and had money saved then after a month of nothing I’m back at a new job hopefully all this ancora stuff blows over soon I really wanna start this career
@@hunting4u22 I really hate to break this to you, but I want you to fully know what to expect. As a student in MCDonough, the last class began on April 22nd. We were all expecting a new class to began today (Monday, 4/29), but the parking lot this morning was strangely empty and the campus relatively quiet as the future classes have basically been postponed until further notice, and yes it has 100% to do with Ancora. Talk on campus is all about Ancora's plan to cut costs, implement PSR, and furlough even the new hires.
I started at 50 , I’m retiring in 2025 if your in shape enough to walk long distances you can do it. The job is ok but the company will drive you stinking nuts , so glad I’ll only be in it for 15 yrs . So it’s a personal choice obviously but knowing what I know now given the opportunity I wouldn’t do it again . Good luck ! ( if you do it an dislike it it’s simple quit )
At 60, depending on when you plan to retire and which terminal you work at, you may never become engineer qualified. Which means you'll be a conductor most of your career. Obviously, you know it'll be lots of walking and you'll have to go to work on little to no sleep at 3 am some days. No offense, but my opinion being a conductor is a young man's job, I work in Canada and being up for 24 hours and walking 2 miles in knee deep snow, -30 degrees can be a challenge for people in their 20s, I hope I will never have to do it when I'm 60 years old.
Railroads always cut jobs, always. I was told they didn't cut anymore when I started on 2006 and I spent 2008/2009 furloughed. My advice if you absolutely have to railroad, have a backup plan or side hustle. DO NOT leave a good job for a railroad.
Great advice especially having a side hustle because if you are furloughed the RRB doesn't pay you very much.
You couldn't be more right, i hired on with NS in 2019, trained for 6 months, and got furloughed right before marking up. As hard as it was, it was the best thing to ever happen to me. I got on with a short line because I had prior experience, they had decilined on my application before i worked for NS because i didn't have any experience. Not to mention, NS training is the most intense and thorough by far, after that every other railroad is easy. Now i am making good money, with a better schedule, and then I would have gotten with 30 years at NS. Home every night. All you new conductors watching this, learn the rules like your job and life depends on it, because it does. Also, enjoy the sucky times. They will end. The railroad is not all bad. Just gotta embrace the grind. Or just work for a short line instead 😂
@@rileynunley1351 when did you hire out of Riley? 2019-2020 was a bad year, even if I would have stayed in Florence they would have gotten to me eventually and I had 49 people below me when I transferred. Glad to hear you’re doing well after the furlough! Stay safe my man.
Great video Joey, it's almost a given to know that at some point you'll be furloughed. And as you stated to bank your money for a rainy day. Have you been able to make that metal sign for my railroad room? Thanks again Joey for the informative videos along with your PRICELESS time and effort my friend. Cheers from Laurel, Delaware USA.
Just graduated from MCdonough class 2411, taking my first train as a CT today. I’m already in the mindset that this won’t last long for me if furloughs are very possible
Congrats!
Have you heard anything about classes continuing as normal down there?
My status is "Awaiting Start Date" and ive seen people talking about a hiring freeze.
Probably just need to be patient.
@samuelhartsock1177 same here waiting on start date
Any chance you can make a video comparing the incentives to work for each of the class 1 carriers? Maybe a railroad company tier list or something?
hey joey how's it going... good to hear from you... and yea i have to agree with you, if a person wants to try to get in, jump in there right now... don't wait... sounds like some folks trying to time when to get in or not... that don't work... if you gonna do then do it
Hey Claude! Good to hear from you also buddy. That’s right! It reminds me of the stock market.. trying to time the lows and highs without any insider information.. basically taking a shot in the dark.. just do it now and ride the rollercoaster lol. Hope you and your family are doing well brother!
@@Railroad_TalkNOutdoors yea we're doing well over here joey... hope you got in some decent fishing lately
Current NS employee, I can honestly say furloughs are currently happening but it’s not currently company wide it just depends on the location, fortunately my terminal is all locals and we’re desperately understaffed so furloughs aren’t a CURRENT worry for us but like I said above they are happening at other terminals across the system
Just had my orientation today and a picture of you popped up on 1 of the slides
Really?! Was it good things said or bad things I’m curious lol?
@Railroad_Talk it was just on a slide. It looked like 1 of your thumbnails you use on videos. They didn't even know who you were. I was like that guy has a RUclips channel I watch his videos. Lol
@@Mister5020s lol, I have been told over the last few years that I get brought up from time to time from some of the instructors which I think is awesome. Maybe one day they will reach out and send me an invite down to GA. I would love to come speak to all the new conductors in person and answer whatever questions they have in person.
@Railroad_Talk I think that would be cool. It's always good to get a perspective from somebody that was on the field and not in management
I got offered a job in February. Did the drug test and all. They emailed me and asked can I take a job two hours away. I just stayed at my current job
LMAO!!
I'm from California and applied for a position in Washington State because I really want to work in the RR industry buyt there are no positions available in my area at all. I would have to drive the 16+ hours there and live in my car since I don't know anybody up there that can house me but I literally just got hired at a different job/company after already submitting my application and taking the train crew assessment for BNSF. I don't know what to do now....
Toyota is hiring in Princeton, IN.
I was laid off in CN in October in my last day of beltpack at campus, it sucks but hopefully they bring me back when things pick up
@@izzyhl4323 I think things will pick up soon and hopefully traffic will pick up also. I’ll be keeping an eye on it and looking at it each month and sharing it on the channel.
@@Railroad_TalkNOutdoorsthat’s awesome thanks!
I've been trying to get on with the Birmingham area but I've failed my BMI the past two times. They're saying that McDonough is shut down atm due to the Ancora bs and the new cubs are not staying marked up. That's what I'm currently hearing at the moment
Yes, the last class in McDonough began on April 22nd. Monday morning was noticeably quiet and the parking lot less full as no new classes began.
What’s your bmi? I’m thinking of applying
@bigalsrailroad Body Mass Index. You have to be below 40 to pass medical. There's bmi calculators you can use on the internet
@@CodeEthosyea was just wondering what yours was? I’m 250 6 foot so that puts me at like 34 bmi.. so as long as your under 40 your good?
@@bigalsrailroad Yes.
I've always wanted to do this since I was a kid and I'm 2 years away from finishing high school and now I'm starting to have my doubts if working for the railroad would work out.
i’m looking to become a signal and communicator for cpkc. what does there time away from home and work load look like. i can’t find that anywhere. do they have to travel very far a lot or is it mostly staying in one area
Can you do a video of the general knowledge test that conductors are supposed to know cause I’m about ready to be a Conductor and it would help me out a lot if you would do a video of that I’m about ready to be a Conductor for Norfork Southern
I got some knowledge, bring lube and lots of it.
Been qualified for 3 months now at CN in Montreal. I have to say we’re quite lucky in terms of leave, 10 paid sick and 10 paid personal days in addition to your vacation time thanks to a bill passed by the government. I honestly love the job, I don’t see myself doing anything else in my career and I hope that never changes. The situation I’m in is pretty ideal for the job, single and still living at home. That being said, I’m seriously glad that we are unionized and I don’t think I need to say why.
yea the Canadian railroads are WAY WAY more accepting of government intervention than here in the U.S.... since the staggers act in the late 70s, the government here has largely left railroads alone... there was a congressional attempt to force extra leave days for railworkers but it failed... heck congress here can't even pass a rail safety act in the wake of the east palestine derailment.... just plain old dysfunctional government at work
we traded 12 personal days and booking sick once every 28 days for 10 paid pl and sick days. once you give something up you aint getting it back. We have it better in comparison to american class ones but this hourly garbage they're trying to put on us will cut jobs and some workforce
I work at NS being trying to get on at CN I heard they are a good railroad company!!
@@DwightOldhamIII-hs8bn I think we have it better than the american class 1's in terms of time off and not as harsh attendance policy's but everything else is no different really.
Can you bank overtime hours and use them later as paid leave??
I've been waiting for my start since September, questioning if they are even considering me anymore.
I waited almost waiting 8 months to get start date!
Still awaiting start date I don’t know after about 4 months of this if they are going to have a class
If you're ever offered a job as CT in FL be advised that the job us nothing like they tell you at McDonough. It's all local, not on the road. Do your research before you apply to a location. The money in FL is not what you expect, most guys with seniority take home 70k after taxes, not 100k; the only people making 100k after tax are engineers with seniority (15 years+). You go home every night but the schedule is still all over the place, there's guys with 10 years seniority who still bitch about how they get bumped around every week because guys at the top change their schedule every week. The money isn't bad but it's pretty much the same I was already making at a warehouse, except at the warehouse I had a predictable schedule so I'm already thinking about going back even though NS survived the Ancora thing for now
Hey Joey! What kind of fishing do you do? And what is your setup? Thanks for all the videos man! I finally got my status changed to awaiting start date.
Love to hear it! I do a lot of bass fishing tournaments and I crappie fish when I have some free time. Hopefully if all goes as planned livestreams will be on the channel of me out on the water and I will be able to read chat and interact with everyone that stops by. Modem should be here hopefully this week.
Hey, can you do a video of Conductor general knowledge for me please? I’ve been studying out of the NS1 but if you could do a video of the Conductor general knowledge test or tell us what the test requires, I would appreciate it because I’m about ready to be a conductor
So you know how long of a process to become an Amtrak conductor?
I heard that NS has a hiring freeze right now for this year
@@TysonDent i believe it, everybody is waiting for November.
i do also wanna ask you about fec railway
Are there any other color vision tests besides Ishihara offered to new hires?
I'm currently in norfolk,va With the go team. They need people here desperately. Just depends on the needs of ur area. My home terminal had enough people thay they sent my here for awhile. Plus alot more money. Lol
I tried to go there but my terminal said no.
I been looking for conductors jobs. I have not seen any in the past week with ns, but every one says they need conductors
Ns went on a hiring freeze till this vote happens. If u wanted to relocate to norfolk,va I believe that's one of thr only places still sending people to Georgia to train.
@stephenskwaryk9665 yea my terminal had plenty of people on our board. So wasn't no loss of work there. Ur terminal might have been shorty with some missing.
Hey just a question, how is the railroad industry with booking days off for specific things
My advise would be to find something else. If your mind can’t be changed, dive in. Save your money. No big purchases in the first five years is a good rule of thumb. Try not to burn any bridges transitioning to the railroad.
It depends on the terminal honestly…
what happned with the NS conductor jobs they have not posted no conductor jobs in serveral months
Good question, they may just be holding tight and waiting to see what happens but that’s just a guess lol.
If I am a religious person who wears a head covering do you think I have a chance as a conductor for Amtrak?
@@trudzmukbang absolutely, employers can not discriminate when it comes to religion and a lot of other things. Go for it! I wish you the best!
@@Railroad_TalkNOutdoors thank you so much. I will
I thinking about quoting my job to start at CN. Any advice? Any thing I should know? Good decision or no?
I’d advise new guys to wait and see how ancora is gonna strip the company down. I’m a 2 year conductor with NS and I doubt I’ll have a job after this
What would you recommend doing if you’re waiting on a start date? You think I’ll still end up going to school?
If you're still waiting on a start date go find something else.
NS is top management heavy. That’s where the bulk of the cuts will be.
@@shadez2697 this is very true and I hope this is the case if Ancora gets the majority. Time will tell.
is ns rail line the same as a csx line does ns main line the same as csx main line
No, NS has their own tracks and CSX has theirs. There are times where tracks are shared between to two. We use to run on CSX mainline going to Chattanooga. A lot of short lines and class 1 share tracks with other companies. Same for BNSF, UP etc.
is dispatching done the same on ns vs csx and are signals the same as far as rules go vs ns and csx
Why did you leave Nucor?
I have been asked this a lot lol. I plan to make a video on this very soon..
Been awaiting start date since October 2023:/
They gave me a start date back in December of 23 then a week later after I put in my notice they came back and postponed it until "further notice" due to "updated business needs". Still haven't heard a thing from them.
@@hunting4u22 damn man yeah it’s the weirdest hiring experience I’ve ever had I quit my job bc I just wanted a break for a lil bit and had money saved then after a month of nothing I’m back at a new job hopefully all this ancora stuff blows over soon I really wanna start this career
@@hunting4u22 I really hate to break this to you, but I want you to fully know what to expect. As a student in MCDonough, the last class began on April 22nd. We were all expecting a new class to began today (Monday, 4/29), but the parking lot this morning was strangely empty and the campus relatively quiet as the future classes have basically been postponed until further notice, and yes it has 100% to do with Ancora. Talk on campus is all about Ancora's plan to cut costs, implement PSR, and furlough even the new hires.
september here
do you think 32 is too late to career change into the rail industry in 2024?
@@alexkbenjamin no! 32 is great. Give you time to get your 20 years in with 8 years to spare just incase of a furlough or medical issue. Retire at 60!
@@Railroad_TalkNOutdoors you're the best! thank you
Is 60 too old to become a conductor/engineer?
I started at 50 , I’m retiring in 2025 if your in shape enough to walk long distances you can do it. The job is ok but the company will drive you stinking nuts , so glad I’ll only be in it for 15 yrs . So it’s a personal choice obviously but knowing what I know now given the opportunity I wouldn’t do it again . Good luck ! ( if you do it an dislike it it’s simple quit )
At 60, depending on when you plan to retire and which terminal you work at, you may never become engineer qualified. Which means you'll be a conductor most of your career. Obviously, you know it'll be lots of walking and you'll have to go to work on little to no sleep at 3 am some days. No offense, but my opinion being a conductor is a young man's job, I work in Canada and being up for 24 hours and walking 2 miles in knee deep snow, -30 degrees can be a challenge for people in their 20s, I hope I will never have to do it when I'm 60 years old.
No. Hades no. Hell no. Unless you got a job or got your license.
No! Nuff said.
you said ns be get taken over buy other company
can you do a video on fec they are ownd by group mexico whould you avoid wokring for fec
Whats the best railroad to work for if your looking for just money and advancement starting pay that kind of thing and least likely to furlough
The Canadian railroadx pay best