When your assigned to a union pacific rail yard what can you expect work wise?

Question

no travel in yard? much physical labor? 12 hour work days?

Answer 1

Your average day will be 8 hours, some places have more overtime than others.

The labor is not physical as in construction or heavy lifting but you will be on your feet a lot and climbing on and off cars setting and releasing handbrakes.

All the work is outdoors so have good quality outdoor clothing, especially if you are in an area with a lot of rain, wind, or cold weather.

I have no idea how they did it but every railroad yard I have ever been in was cleverly located in the windiest coldest part of the area.

Most yards are in operation 24 hours so expect to work mostly nights as the day shifts tend to be awarded to higher seniority.

Actually you will likely start out on an extra board wherein you are on call, without assigned shifts.

If you have not done any switching, it is a relatively steep learning curve the first month or so.

When I first started, I had no idea how many ways there to make a guy feel dumb but you soon get the hang of it.

It is interesting work, I always enjoyed it although I never was a switchman enough to be any good.

Good Luck with it!

Answer 2

Rango said it all, but I'll reiterate the clothing part. I used to wear choppers (a leather mitten with a fleece lining) with cotton gloves under them. Your hands get cold first because your always holding cold steel. The footwear that always worked for me was regular work boots, because they're light weight. Important when putting on a couple of miles every shift. Over my boots, I wore zip-up rubber over shoes, again, with the fleece lining. I get cold easily, but this combonation always worked well. I tried Sorrells one year. They are heavily insulated, but they weigh a lot. Had to carry them out to the car one at a time. lol.

In a switching yard, it takes time to know where you have to be, and when. But the parts of the puzzle fall into place quickly for nearly everyone. But you'll feel lost the first few shifts.

Be sure you never have more train than track. The track lengths are in your daily print-out. Some Yard Masters overlook this too. If the print out states a track a track is 4,215 feet long, and there's already 65 cars in there, and your instructions call for adding another 11 cars, it won't fit.

Know the switches. Many people run-through switches at least once in their first year. Not a real big deal as long as the wheels stay on the steel, but it does go in your personel file.

Most important. Watch everything. Rail cars often roll silently.

With all that said, the yard is a good place to start working. Learning switching first is beneficial. I worked with veteran Conductors who had been on the job for many years, but never worked a yard or a local. And they couldn't switch out a train any better than I could land the space shuttle. I held a yard job for two years. That was among the best times of my railroading. It was challenging and it was fun. And with the right crew, I used to get excited about going to work.