Norfolk Southern Let Study Guide
Hello everyone, Im a hard working man looking forward to starting a career that a can grow with and end with retirement like my father. I have made it through the hiring process and will begin Class to be an conductor trainee in Georgia in a couple of days for Norfolk Southern. I was wondering if there is anybody that can give me a inside look at what to expect from checkin at 12noon at the hotel all the way to my last day on friday 3 weeks later. How long do I wait for my gas reimbursement? Are classes 6 days a week? I heard 5 and then I hear 7 days strait.
I kno the company provides safety glasses for you if you wear eyeglasses, but what do I do until they get here? Posts: 2 Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2011 11:19 am. Goodorbad12345 wrote:Hello everyone, Im a hard working man looking forward to starting a career that a can grow with and end with retirement like my father. I have made it through the hiring process and will begin Class to be an conductor trainee in Georgia in a couple of days for Norfolk Southern. I was wondering if there is anybody that can give me a inside look at what to expect from checkin at 12noon at the hotel all the way to my last day on friday 3 weeks later.
How long do I wait for my gas reimbursement? Are classes 6 days a week? I heard 5 and then I hear 7 days strait. I kno the company provides safety glasses for you if you wear eyeglasses, but what do I do until they get here? I would suggest checking out the forums. Lots of good info there.
What location are you hiring out of? Posts: 155 Joined: Thu May 08, 2008 7:07 pm Location: Georgia.
Goodorbad12345 wrote:Hello everyone, Im a hard working man looking forward to starting a career that a can grow with and end with retirement like my father. I have made it through the hiring process and will begin Class to be an conductor trainee in Georgia in a couple of days for Norfolk Southern. I was wondering if there is anybody that can give me a inside look at what to expect from checkin at 12noon at the hotel all the way to my last day on friday 3 weeks later. How long do I wait for my gas reimbursement?
Are classes 6 days a week? I heard 5 and then I hear 7 days strait. I kno the company provides safety glasses for you if you wear eyeglasses, but what do I do until they get here? Goodorbad12345, PM me I can tell you what exactly happens if you don't get all of the information tomorrow. PS the motel isn't exactly 'nice', but you'll get used to it.
Especally after you get through a week of classes thats the biggest part. On the first week they give you a BBQ with steaks, fish, and chicken on thurs. The only thing you should be worried about it BEING ON TIME. FOLLOW EVERY INSTRUCTION YOU ARE GIVEN (INCLUDING THE SPEED LIMIT SIGNS AND ARROWS IN THE PARKING LOT) Posts: 52 Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:04 pm.
I have some questions similar to goodorbad's; I've searched the forum and found info that is either stale or contradictory. Some questions I have are: How many days a week are classes?
I've found various answers, 5, 6, and even 9 days in a row. Will NS pay mileage to drive home for the weekend?
How many days after the first day do you get the first paycheck? Got bills to pay. How many days after your first day do you get the mileage reimbursement? Posts: 4 Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:20 am Location: Lancaster, PA. TER wrote:I have some questions similar to goodorbad's; I've searched the forum and found info that is either stale or contradictory.
Some questions I have are: How many days a week are classes? I've found various answers, 5, 6, and even 9 days in a row. Will NS pay mileage to drive home for the weekend?
How many days after the first day do you get the first paycheck? Got bills to pay. How many days after your first day do you get the mileage reimbursement? Classes were-are Mon-Fri No they will not pay you to drive home on the weekend. Several days. Actually you wont get your first check until after you are done in Mcdonough and are back at your home terminal. So roughly 3 or 4 weeks.
Same goes for your milage. Posts: 155 Joined: Thu May 08, 2008 7:07 pm Location: Georgia.
I think that's pretty standard with NS. It was that way in 1982 when I was in McDonough. The difference was I was already an NS employee and I got a whole $150 per week for training! Lumpy mattresses and greasy food you could lube a 350 Chevy with! Every Friday I hauled a- outta there for the 3 1/2 hour ride home. Did it for 6 weeks.
Motel was right across I-75 at the bridge/exit from the training center. I still shudder at the thought of mystery lumps you could scrape off the tables with a putty knife! (shiver!) LMAO! Posts: 1194 Joined: Sun Dec 09, 2007 11:28 pm. Gadfly wrote:I think that's pretty standard with NS. It was that way in 1982 when I was in McDonough.
The difference was I was already an NS employee and I got a whole $150 per week for training! Lumpy mattresses and greasy food you could lube a 350 Chevy with! Every Friday I hauled a- outta there for the 3 1/2 hour ride home. (shiver!) LMAO!
I remember going to Cumberland, Md in Feb 1981 for 8 weeks of locomotive engineer training. The hotel was around 60+ years old and looked like it turns out the head of the engineers school girlfriend owned it. There was about 2 feet of snow on the ground the rooms had radiator heat which couldn't be adjusted to stay comfortable you had to keep the windows open. Greasy spoons weren't to bad I was already use to them seeing I'd already been on the railroad 3+ years back in those days train crews stayed in Railroad YMCA's or bunkhouses on railroad property. I stayed there the entire time except one 3 day long weekend. Cumberland, Md was a heck of a town with W.Virginia right across the river. The ratio was 9 women to every man it was a fun time.
Posts: 1777 Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2006 6:11 am Location: Richmond, Va. Coen, we had those dormitories, too! That was in the days of local crew dispatch where there was a Yard crew 'call boy' (as we called him) who ran the crew book and called crews. The dormitory wasn't all that bad, and there was a greasy spoon just up the street.
One time they 'caught' a clerk who was 'LIVING' in there: he had been kicked out of his apartment for non-payment of rent! He only got fired when they caught him again-with his 'girlfriend' in there. He was FIRED (second warning plus the scandalizing behavior) and died a couple years later. I'll let you guess what disease killed him. Nobody wanted to stay there after that no matter how much they cleaned it! GF Posts: 1194 Joined: Sun Dec 09, 2007 11:28 pm. Gadfly, That's right the crew callers would go over to the dorm and wake you up to get your call to work.
Some of them had a resturant they called them 'beaneries'. Some had a company store on property which you could purchase items on payroll deduction. Railroaders were a lot closer back then compared to these days with staying at a hotel. We sat around played cards drank coffee an ice tea had BS sessions ect.now a days people go to their room and you don't see them till calling time. I preferred it like it use to be life was better. Posts: 1777 Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2006 6:11 am Location: Richmond, Va. I worked that slot a few times.
You'd hear from the operator telling you to call a crew for a train, and you'd go over to the dorm and knock on the door; '137's called for eight naught one PM!' Someone in the room would acknowledge with an 'OK!' And that was all I had to do.
It was the crew's responsibility if anyone was 'out of place' for call; they're supposed to know! Sometimes, I'd walk down to the diner and tell 'em. It was a good excuse for a snack! GF Posts: 1194 Joined: Sun Dec 09, 2007 11:28 pm. You asked for it. Below is an exact, day to day summery of everything you will do. I can't take credit for writing this, only posting it here.
Another guy by the name of 'memphis' kept this journal of his time down at McDonough from about 9 months ago. When I went down to McDonough in February, it was EXACTLY the same. Nothing different. Good luck, hope this helps.
Week-1/Day 1: Monday First off they inspect your boots, gloves, and give you a meal card with two days on it Hour or two of who we are and what we do. The elusive 'static hang test'. No matter what they say it is not easy! Out of 62, 10 or 15 failed it the first try all but one passed it the second try. (did not pass his 3rd. Try either) After the hang test you get to do more paperwork and sign your name a few more times.
You like watching movies well you’re going to love this place. Finally it is time for the homework assignments and your day is done. Week-1/Day 2: Tuesday More rules! Also get to do EEO/sexual harassment and GCR-1 Get your second meal card with six days worth on it All in all pretty boring day. Week-1/Day 3: Wednesday Today you take your first test.
Mainly just general safety and identifying parts of a railcar and a locomotive. After the test you grade them and go over it. When you get back from dinner it’s time for Hazmat.
Norfolk Southern Let Study Guide
At the end of the night you get your first exam, which by the way, is open book and take home. Week-1/Day 4: Thursday Turn in your take home exam and discuss. Go over signal blocks and watch a short movie.
Guest speakers (conductors, division super, and a yardmaster). Today you get an all you can eat steak dinne r!!! After dinner you go to the computer lab and do some work in there.
Pop Quiz/Grade the quiz and get homework assignment. Week-1/Day 5: Friday Test time. You get to take your first signals test, then it’s time for another test over some of the other stuff you have learned. After all of your tests are done its time to start right into airbrakes. Pretty simple if you are mechanically inclined, if not good luck to ya!! Week-2/Day 1: Monday New teacher.
Go over the weekend’s homework. Finally time to head outside.
You split into groups and go over switches, derails, go inside an engine, and set handbrakes. New meal card with six more days on it. Week-2/Day 2: Tuesday Quiz.
Watch a couple of movies about what you are going to do outside today. Head outside to ride an engine, and a cut of cars while giving signals. Learn the brake stick, change an air hose, change a knuckle, and align a draw head. Back inside to take a test on switches and derails. Week-2/Day 3: Wednesday More Movies.
Review class 1 brake test. Go outside and do class I brake test, hang an EOTD, and Dual control switches. Back inside, quiz. Week-2/Day: 4 Thursday More Movies. Outside to use the radios, and do a mock switching move. Back inside for a two hour study session Test over field repairs, and riding cars.
Week-2/Day: 5 Friday 4 A.M.! Get to do everything you have learned in the dark, and you get to play with fusee’s.
After breakfast it’s time for the EOTD, detectors, and power switches. Back outside for your field test evaluation. Done by 11 a.m. Week-3/Day: 1 Monday And so begins the final week. New teacher (reminds me of Ben Stein) Spend about 4hrs. Reading straight from the rule book. Take a test over the stuff you just covered and some of the things you read over the weekend.
Go over a few more things and call it a day. Week-3/Day: 2 Tuesday Pure Boredom!!! Read rule book out loud for three hours. Take a test about signal territories. Take another test.
More reading. Week-3/Day: 3 Wednesday More reading.
More reading. Signals test. More reading.
Week-3/Day: 4 Thursday Say you like reading? Well then read away! Take a test on Hazmat movement and switching rules (open book). Quiz over something I can’t remember. Week-3/Day: 5 Friday-Last Day!!
First off, you will do a little review on your final exam that you’re getting ready to take. Word of advice: STUDY FOR THE FINAL!!! If you don’t study for anything else, study for the final.
Nobody aced it in our class, with the highest score a 97. I would say the average was around an 89 or 90. It will be 100 questions over everything you have learned in the weeks prior. After the final, and some words of encouragement from the staff, you will be cut loose. We were done by 11. Just a suggestion from one new person to another: while you are in McDonough, study and pay attention. The classes aren’t hard, but if you don’t study and take it serious, you will have a hard time.
Please note, this is not an itinerary, it's only a journal I kept while I was there. I am sure that your experience will differ in some ways, but it should be close to what I have outlined above. 'Memphis' Posts: 136 Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 11:59 pm Location: Minneapolis, MN. Gadfly wrote:I think that's pretty standard with NS. It was that way in 1982 when I was in McDonough.
The difference was I was already an NS employee and I got a whole $150 per week for training! Lumpy mattresses and greasy food you could lube a 350 Chevy with! Every Friday I hauled a- outta there for the 3 1/2 hour ride home. (shiver!) LMAO! I remember going to Cumberland, Md in Feb 1981 for 8 weeks of locomotive engineer training.
The hotel was around 60+ years old and looked like it turns out the head of the engineers school girlfriend owned it. There was about 2 feet of snow on the ground the rooms had radiator heat which couldn't be adjusted to stay comfortable you had to keep the windows open.
Greasy spoons weren't to bad I was already use to them seeing I'd already been on the railroad 3+ years back in those days train crews stayed in Railroad YMCA's or bunkhouses on railroad property. I stayed there the entire time except one 3 day long weekend. Cumberland, Md was a heck of a town with W.Virginia right across the river. The ratio was 9 women to every man it was a fun time. The food and accomodations were so BAD, we filed a petition with the Director of Training and threatened to go to the Georgia Board of Health. I can tell you, there's no WAY that motel chain could've operated in North Carolina and, probably, in any other state. It improved-for awhile.
Norfolk Southern Let Study Guide
We had to keep after the motel manager as they tried to lapse into their old ways. I am not exaggerating: there were 'mystery' lumps of old food on the tabletops! You could've scraped it off with a putty knife! The tables were sticky.
Now some of the food 'tasted' good, but you had to wonder about the sanitation of the food you selected from the cafeteria line. However, the Geritol set (which I am rapidly becoming) LOVED the restaurant and piled in every Friday night and Sunday after church. It was a mystery to me WHY. I usually went home most every Friday, so I didn't see them wolfing down this stuff unless I couldn't go home.
Surely they couldn't be so blind as not to see the lumps on the table and feel the stickiness. We did have fun, tho, as there was a swimming pool which we took advantage of almost every evening in the hot Georgia spring. The course was mostly self-study; the instructor presented the material: it was up to YOU to absorb it. Pop quizzes were common. The final exam was the critical one.
On that final day, you took your exam and were free to check out of the motel and go home. They mailed us our results. We had to be there for 6 weeks for Agency training and received a small library of books, tests, and training material. What I did was to take a huge volume of notes that became a reference I kept in my car so long as I was an Agency clerk. It came in very handy. It didn't teach you everything: the rest you got from 'cubbing' the jobs prior to marking up for real.
So you could be called to 'cub' a job just like you WERE on the 'board. I had so many notes, so thorough, that other clerks would borrow them and copy so they could get thru an assignment. They couldn't believe I took so many notes! But I did-copious amounts of scribblings, descriptions and 'Step 1, Step 2, Step 3' instructions as to how to perform a particular task. Again, it didn't get you thru EVERY job, but helped. I got thrown to the dogs a couple of times off the 'board and onto assignments I'd never cubbed, much less even SEEN, and it was awful. I don't know HOW I muddled thru those.
At least, I didn't get run off. I even got a few compliments from the Terminal Agent whom I must say was particularly fair with his employees. If you were wrong, he'd chew you out. Bad enough a mistake, he showed no mercy, writing you up and giving you 2-3 weeks off. If you were RIGHT, he'd dig in his heels and FIGHT for you. He got into a heated shouting match with a Dispatcher about me one afternoon.
Manual for honda cbr 1000 1985. I was working 2nd trick Operator, which is particularly hectic because all the 'pig trains' were being built out of Charlotte to go South. I was copying orders for the Piedmont Division main line and this hotheaded dispatcher was buzzing me furiously. Now there were 3 divisions that I had to deal with in Charlotte, and the Piedmont got priority.plus I can't talk to but one dispatcher at a time on the wire.
I finished clearing a couple of moves, and switched over to Asheville and answered. The guy jumped all over me with both feet! 'WHEN I CALL YOU, BOY, YOU BETTER ANSWER ME, I'LL TAKE YOU OUTTA SERVICE SO FAST.' It flew all over me and I felt my neck getting prickly! I shouted back over the headset, 'AND I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THERE'S 3 DIVISIONS HERE I HAVE TO DEAL WITH, AND I CAN'T TALK TO BUT ONE AT A TIME' YOU ARE WANTING TO CLEAR A SINGLE SWITCHER ON THE AT & O LINE AND YOU COME IN HERE YELLING AND THREATENING ME WHEN I'VE GOT MAINLINE TRAINS TO CLEAR?
JUST A MINUTE. Mr C heard me yelling and came over. 'Whatsa matter; gimme them phones'.
I could hear the dispatcher, 'Red', start to holler about me. It was Mr McLellan whose neck became visibly crimson, and he then read the Dispatcher the riot act.
'YOU OUGHT TO KNOW BETTER; YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN THERE'S 3 DIVISIONS THAT WORK OUT OF CHARLOTTE AND MY OPERATOR CAN ONLY WORK WITH ONE A TIME!!!!!! (PAUSE) WELL, YOU AIN'T RUNNIN'.NOBODY. OFF OVER THIS CUZ MY OPERATOR IS RIGHT. DON'T YOU DARE SCREAM AT HIM BECAUSE HE IS TALKING TO THE MAINLINE DISPATCHER. YOU ARE ABOUT THE MOST SILLY DISPATCHER I'VE SEEN; EVERYBODY ON THE RAILROAD KNOWS ABOUT THE HOTSHOTS AND HOW BUSY IT GETS HERE IN THE AFTERNOON!!! (PAUSE) NOW, DAMMIT RED, (VOICE GETTING LOUDER), YOU AIN'T RUNNING NO DAMN BODY OFF OVER THIS, YOU HEAR ME??????????? (PAUSE) WELL, YOU ARE ACTING STUPID AN' ANBODY CAN SEE HOW SILLY THIS IS;.YOU'RE.
WANTING TO CLEAR ONE LITTLE SWITCHER TO MOORESVILE AND YOU WANT TO SHUT DOWN THE WHOLE PIEDMONT DIVISION AND HOLD UP 5 HOTSHOTS OVER ONE SWITCH ENGINE? WELL, SEE HOW THAT WORKS OUT FOR YA!'
He released the switch and snatched the headset off and handed it to me. 'I don't think he'll give you anymore trouble tonight!' And it was as if it had never happened. I cleared his switcher, signed the order under the Chief's initials, and that was IT! For those contemplating a railroad career, I can tell you this: it ain't nothing like anything I ever did before or since! Learn the material at the training center: it's important. But your best training will be OJT.
You may even find it to be a lot different from what you saw at McDonough (railroad boot camp). GF Posts: 1194 Joined: Sun Dec 09, 2007 11:28 pm.