I live in the USA and work for NJ Transit, in New Jersey. I'm a carman/car inspector in the mechanical department on the rail side. I normally tell people that we pretend to inspect and repair the trains. I find that the workers here are some of the most backstabbing, gossipy grown toddlers I have encountered in my working life. I think it's because most my co-workers have too much free time since most of them only do like 1-3 hours in an 8 hour shift, so they have too much extra energy to spare. Does anyone else here work for a railroad and feel the same or care to share contrary experiences? Could you cite your job title and which railroad you work for if possible also.
I worked for CN for a decade. Railroaders are whiny entitled shit heads by and large. I still deal with railroaders in my new job, but I can hardly imagine having to wrangle those 'tards again.
>>2067112CN = Canadian railroad? What makes you write all railroaders are shitheads? Have you worked at more than one railroad?
>>2067134Canadian National. I've dealt with railroaders on every class I. Lots of them are shit heads. There are good guys everywhere, but they are vastly out numbered by people that couldn't hold a job as a Wal-Mart greeter.
>>2067136Lots of my coworkers at NJ Transit are shitheads and I hate them. Far more than are other jobs. There are some cool people, but the union protects the “loads.” Since it’s too hard to fire the worst offenders, it becomes a race to the bottom. To give an idea how bad it is:There was a Carman with rheumatoid arthritis(my diagnosis of him, I don’t know his actual diagnosis) so bad he had swelled joints in his hands looked like two lobster claws. So since he technically couldn’t work as a Carman he would just pencil whip all his inspections and sign off without checking anything and no worker or anyone in management seemed to end that farce. There was also a cleaner who I never saw clean anything when I worked at his location. Instead he’d invite anyone who called him lazy or any foremen who tried to tell him to do work to talk to him outside of company property and threatened to beat them up.What’s the worst you’ve seen?
>>2067138Just a bunch of selfish, lazy, liars, cheats, and thieves that don't want to accept responsibility. I was a yardmaster for a chunk of that time and joked that I babysat grown men that made $150k a year. I'm glad that I finished my degree and only work adjacent to railroads now instead of working for them.
>>2067139So you mostly dealt with conductors, hosteler conductors and some engineers? I don't deal with them as much because they are another department, the transportation department.
>>2067480I dealt with everyone. Transportation, mechanical, maintenance of way, signals, dispatching, CN police, etc. I was a conductor, yardmaster, and even worked in the track department for 7 months as a laborer when I was laid off.
I’ve read accounts from old timers that booze, weed and pills were once an everyday part of the job, then there was a big crackdown after a fatal commuter train crash where the engineer was stoned. Is getting loaded on the job still a thing? Do they pee test on a regular or random basis?
>>2067543>Do they pee test on a regular or random basis?Yes. Also look up the NTSB report of an IC derailment in Livingston, LA in the mid 80s. The crew was drunk, speeding, and letting a clerk run the engine. Several of these sorts of incidents led to much more strict drug and alcohol testing.
