Locomotive Engineer looking for new career

hopefully i'm posing in the right section, apologizes if not. Like the title says, ive worked for the BNSF railway for 7 years,(5 years as Engineer. 2 as conductor) hiring out when i was 23. i live in the Pacific NW and can basically hold any Road job i want. i have really good seniority because i hired out at the right time, never been laid off or forced to work in a different terminal. In the time ive worked there, i average around $90k a year and can make more if i want. But as they say....Money isnt everything and i am so burnt out on Freight and having no schedule and crazy hours. Im looking for a change.

I see they are hiring for a Delivery Driver in Salt Lake City, i have family there. Can you actually start out as a driver? i remember applying a long time ago for a part time package handler, i thought that was the only way to work up to being a driver. Anyway, am i INSANE to do a career transition?? i cant imagine UPS being more chaotic then BNSF, but please prove me wrong. thanks in advance.
 

burrheadd

KING Of GIFS
hopefully i'm posing in the right section, apologizes if not. Like the title says, ive worked for the BNSF railway for 7 years,(5 years as Engineer. 2 as conductor) hiring out when i was 23. i live in the Pacific NW and can basically hold any Road job i want. i have really good seniority because i hired out at the right time, never been laid off or forced to work in a different terminal. In the time ive worked there, i average around $90k a year and can make more if i want. But as they say....Money isnt everything and i am so burnt out on Freight and having no schedule and crazy hours. Im looking for a change.

I see they are hiring for a Delivery Driver in Salt Lake City, i have family there. Can you actually start out as a driver? i remember applying a long time ago for a part time package handler, i thought that was the only way to work up to being a driver. Anyway, am i INSANE to do a career transition?? i cant imagine UPS being more chaotic then BNSF, but please prove me wrong. thanks in advance.

LOL
 
I dunno how chaotic things are at the railroad. But how does your body feel after 7 years with the railroad? Back OK? Knees? Shoulders? If so, would you like to keep it that way?

haha, do you know what working 24/7 on call does to you're body? clearly you don't. i use to be fit and in shape, but thanks to getting a call at 0030 to operate a 7000 ft train 12+ hours over and over again with literally no warning, i'm not anymore. lets just say i have lots of experience at sleep deprivation torture. thanks all for your input, keep it coming please. a little more on the crap a new hire has to go through would be appreciated.
 

Box Ox

Well-Known Member
haha, do you know what working 24/7 on call does to you're body? clearly you don't. i use to be fit and in shape, but thanks to getting a call at 0030 to operate a 7000 ft train 12+ hours over and over again with literally no warning, i'm not anymore. lets just say i have lots of experience at sleep deprivation torture. thanks all for your input, keep it coming please. a little more on the crap a new hire has to go through would be appreciated.

I don’t know what being on call 24/7 does to your body like you don’t know what getting in and out of a truck delivering hundreds of stops a day with a 150 pound package weight limit does to it.

If you think you’d be better off subjecting your body to that than what you’re going through currently, go for it. But I wouldn’t recommend it.
 
when you say “operate a train” , How much lifting does that require?
i see where you're going with this, not much, unless you break a drawbar or knuckle. But sitting for long periods of time is one of the worst things for you're body. I guess the appeal for me with UPS is the somewhat set schedule. it would be 5+ years for me to hold a "set" yard job and that would be midnight's. also to answer your previous deleted post...no i do not get to sleep while operating a train, i dont have a deathwish.
 

sailfish

Master of Karate and Friendship for Everyone
hopefully i'm posing in the right section, apologizes if not. Like the title says, ive worked for the BNSF railway for 7 years,(5 years as Engineer. 2 as conductor) hiring out when i was 23. i live in the Pacific NW and can basically hold any Road job i want. i have really good seniority because i hired out at the right time, never been laid off or forced to work in a different terminal. In the time ive worked there, i average around $90k a year and can make more if i want. But as they say....Money isnt everything and i am so burnt out on Freight and having no schedule and crazy hours. Im looking for a change.

I see they are hiring for a Delivery Driver in Salt Lake City, i have family there. Can you actually start out as a driver? i remember applying a long time ago for a part time package handler, i thought that was the only way to work up to being a driver. Anyway, am i INSANE to do a career transition?? i cant imagine UPS being more chaotic then BNSF, but please prove me wrong. thanks in advance.
Atrocious idea. You're 30 and you'd be starting from the bottom of a seniority progression all over again for an incredibly sh**y job that will burn you out on freight, no schedule, and crazy hours even worse than where you're at now and in the end you still would have no special talents or skills to show for the time you spent there.

Quit the railroad, take some of that money you would have [ideally] banked from making $90k a year, go to trade school, and never look back.
 

UrFellowUpser

Well-Known Member
More than likely that job posting is for a seasonal driver position. After January 15th you will be laid off and might be offered a job as a preloader making what like 10 or 13 an hr. 3 hrs a day. Then if you take that position you will have to do that for years depending on your hub to get a chance to get a FT position. Then you have to go four years to make top rate and more than likely you still will be a cover driver meaning you dont have your own route.
 

MyTripisCut

Never bought my own handtruck
More than likely that job posting is for a seasonal driver position. After January 15th you will be laid off and might be offered a job as a preloader making what like 10 or 13 an hr. 3 hrs a day. Then if you take that position you will have to do that for years depending on your hub to get a chance to get a FT position. Then you have to go four years to make top rate and more than likely you still will be a cover driver meaning you dont have your own route.
Wrong. He will be a 22.4 driver, with a 1400 start time. Deliver forty stops, some bulk, then make some bulk pickups. Come back to the building, unload it, take his hour then work the midnight.
 
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