Been a conductor for a few years and marking up as an engineer soon. Thinking about switching over to dispatch, but I hear a lot of mixed things. How bad is the stress truly? Not to a normal non railroading person, clearly all of our jobs are stressful in comparison. But compared to working the rails or management jobs.

Do you get yelled at much or talked down to? How do your extra boards work? Thank you for any insight you can give me and any thoughts you have about your job.

Also I apologize as I'm sure it's been asked before and I did search old threads, but the answers were all classic railroad fear mongering comments lol! Plus things change quick around here

A freight train is pushed uphill. A worker uncouples the cars. Then gravity takes over, sending them rolling downhill onto different tracks.

It sounds simple until you have to decide where to uncouple, when to tell the driver to slow down, and how to coordinate with the locomotive crew.

I built a 3D browser game where you can try the job yourself — solo or with a friend. One player works as the yard conductor, while the other drives the locomotive.

It's based on my experience working at a real hump yard in Uzbekistan.

🎮 Play in your browser: https://gorka1520.vercel.app?lang=en

Im a conductor, we've recently started going to a new location and our railroad says your engineer can be your pilot? Any fra help on this?

I've watched a hump yard in action on YT. One silly question though. When cars are not hooked up to the brake lines don't the brakes apply? Is there a way to lock out the brakes so it can coast freely?

Hey y'all, wasn't there a letter that a union sent to a railroad telling them that they will not be performing any roll bys or passing train inspections from the ground anymore?

I'm trying to find it because my railroad has gone bat shit crazy with roll bys.

The Oct. 13 Federal Register notice names BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific as revenue adequate for 2025. The test is whether return on net investment reaches the industry’s cost of capital; the notice gives that benchmark as 9.79%.

That is a company-level annual finding. It does not tell us whether a particular shipper’s rate is reasonable, what crews should be paid, or how much capital should go into maintenance. Those arguments need their own evidence.

My question for people working in the industry: which operational measure would you put beside this financial benchmark to judge whether a railroad is actually investing enough in the service it sells?

Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/10/13/2026-20878/railroad-revenue-adequacy-2025-determination

I am a cut back engineer in the California region ask me anything

Ok I got a question Hopefully someone can help me out..I was Bad Ordered back in 08 came into the Roundhouse one Day Had 3 Not 1 but 3 Heart Attacks in 24 hours so I have been on Disability ever since I remember back in I believe 96 at Union Pathetic we voted in the 60/30 Clause if you had 30 years of service at 60 you could retire? Is that still in play? Although I am not on the roster or do I wait til 65 ? Can I even receive full bennys if I survive long enough?

Is there a CA code for handling cars not scheduled for your train? If so do they pay out?

Do we have any Carman in here? Especially those in large yards with lots of walking. What boots y’all got?

About 3 months into a pair of Keen Cincinnati’s, which I love to death. Unfortunately with inspecting and walking 10-15 miles a day in one of NS largest yards, I’m already wearing thru the soles.

Bonus points if it’s a NS boot allowance boot, but really just looking for something that lasts.

Thanks!

Husband got these from Orr and, of course, they suck ass.

Any recommendations for ear protection that actually works with radio? If it exists?

I just want to smoke a little weed, this alcohol getting old I hate the outdated restrictions on marijuana

I work for a commuter railroad and I think we might be the only ones required to memorize and draw out the entire railroad by hand. As in all 700+track miles. For months on end all of our new employees trace track maps drawing the position of every single switch labeling if it's a dual control, automatic safety, electric lock or Hand thrown. All derails, cut out ASC sign, Signal bridges, stop boards, end of block signs, and signal types, Reduced Aspect, Color light, Color light low home, G head color light, Position Light, Pedestal, low home exc

Then for the final test they choose one subsection of the railroad and we draw it out by memory, along with answering a couple questions like “Describe and locate”.

With the answer being along the lines of:

[Direction] [Freestanding if applicable] [Signal Type] Signal [on Signal Bridge X if applicable] [Begin ASC/ASC Cut Out if applicable], [easterly/westerly limit if applicable], [#] [home/automatic] signal [east/west] of [station listed on station pages] on [single/No. 1/2/3/4/etc.] track.

So how do y'all do your PC?

Do railroad engineers actually enjoy operating long-distance trains—such as manifest, intermodal (whether high-priority or not), cement, or grain trains? To me, that sounds almost like torture. While a train cab offers a bit more room to stretch or take a few steps, it’s still cramped, though not as compact as a car. On top of that, the constant turbulence from the tracks must get irritating, especially considering how rough some railroads allow their tracks to become. (I am a railfan who was referred to this subreddit for this question specifically)

They’re dumping people left & right at CSX. What the hell is going on? Low profits? Trying to keep shareholders happy? New management cutting to the bone? Anyone know?

I’ve been training at a Class III shortline for three months, and took my conductors test today, passing and receiving my conductors card. I’m effectively now on the extra board, and while excited, am still very nervous. Anybody have any tips?

At a hump yard, nobody drives cars to their tracks. The train is shoved over a small hill, the conductor uncouples cars at the crest, and each cut rolls down by gravity onto its own track.

I did this job for 4 years at Kokand station in Uzbekistan. Now I'm a frontend dev, so I rebuilt the yard in 3D and turned it into a game: walk along the train, uncouple where the car colour changes, radio the driver to slow down before single cars.

Free, runs in the browser on desktop and mobile, no sign-up:

https://kokand-station-gorka.vercel.app/?lang=en

Would love feedback — especially if anything is confusing in the first minute.