How to become train conductor...?

Question

I really want to do a job with trains! I turned 18 in april, nows the time I thought I can get some kind of job where i'll be around trains. I know I can't be a conductor right away, but what can I be? I'm near phoenix AZ, and I Union Pacific doesnt show anything saying they need anyone but does that mean theres nothing?
What should I do, I am clueless!
oh yeah, on a train radio scanner, I hear 'xbox' alot, if what does xbox mean, in reguards on train talk?

Answer 1

I know for a fact, you can be 18 to be a brakesman or a yard flag man, in Union Pacific.

Answer 2

BNSF has jobs in Arizona. Go to BNSF.com and click on careers/employment. Click on "Search all positions" and look for conductor positions. Those places listed are the only ones available on the system. Some may be in states away from you but if you're serious, try to get hired anywhere because you can move where you want after hired if you have enough senority to hold a job where you're looking at. BNSF has primary recall which means if the place that hired you...say phoenix hired you and you then moved to Texas....with the primary recall, phoenix can call you back for the next 5 years if they need you. If the conductor job doesn't say primary recall, you can go wherever you want once you're done with training. Since you're new, you probably have to go somewhere where there are vacancies where your seniority will allow you to hold. XBox is the another meaning for "check box." Not all trains operate on colored signals. In track warrant control territory when have a sheet with about 15 different lines on it. When the dispatcher says "X box" they are saying....check box 1,2,3....on down to 15 or however many there are. You check the boxes on that sheet and that is your authority to move you train. It's the dispatchers choice on which boxes you will check and they each say something different for you to do.

Answer 3

Yes, the obsession is not a rare thing. It may have been caused by the model railroading and not having a girlfriend. In model railroading, you want your trains to look as realistic as possible so you watch the real ones and tapes and photos of the real ones so you can get an idea of what yours are supposed to look like. Don't worry, for many men it's a phase that passes. Also, meeting the right girl will cause a man to forget everything else in his life. I went through a similar phase. I used to do "Chinese food by the train tracks" on Sundays where I would go buy a huge plate of food and go watch and listen to the trains at the local rail yard. It passed for me cause I became obsessed with aviation and that led to my carreer in aircraft maintenance. I'ts bad, yes- you get it bad when you get it and it's good that you worry for him but he should be fine at the end.

Answer 4

Get in contact with the National Academy of Railroad Sciences in Overland Park Kansas. They specialize in training all different crafts of railroad personnel and run classes throughout the year. You can hire on immediately after completing this program, providing there are companies hiring at the time. In the next few years you can expect a mass retirement, so one would expect the railroads to have to continue to hire to cover this. This will be the case as long as the class one railroads don't stab us all in the back and try to go to one man crews or positive train control.... I don't expect either of those to happen for some time, but that could be wishful thinking on my part.

Answer 5

They are hiring in the Las Vegas area. There's been ad in the newspaper for conductors and brakemen on the Union Pacific.

Answer 6

I got hired at 18 by Norfolk Southern, so your chances with UP may be pretty good whenever they're hiring for your area.

Answer 7

go on their web site, and fill out an application. we've had a lot of people apply to them, and it's all a matter of timing on getting a job with them. xbox refers to the transfer box.

Answer 8

i know for csx u have to be a least 21 to work there ....