Transition to Large Scale

This week, I would like to announce an addition to our blog.  So far, we have been doing a mostly weekly photo and a mostly weekly random other post.  On that random other post, we usually cover model railroad topics, although we really cover just about anything that has to do the railroad industry.  We will be continuing those posts, as usual.  Steven will continue to be the primary author of the photo posts, and as usual, we will both write model railroad posts.  We are going to add a third weekly post about the 12 inches equals a foot scale railroading.  Yes, I am talking about prototype operations and practices.  I will be the primary author of this new post, and I would promise it for a certain day of the week, however it will depend on my work schedule.  I will make every effort to publish a post every week, but it will not likely be on the same day every week.

This new series will come as a result of me starting a new job, today actually.  I was hired by BNSF Railway as a Conductor.  The job is in Glendive, MT, so I will primarily be working between Forsyth, MT, and Mandan, ND, on the former Northern Pacific Railway line.  The primary business here is coal, however there are some manifest, or mixed, freight trains, and one "Z" train, or a high priority train.  The one that passes through here is contracted to UPS, and it hauls their goods across eastbound across the country.  Glendive is also home to a locomotive shop, which keeps the yard active nearly all the time.  It is also a helper base for trains arriving from and departing to the west from here.  Needless to say, there is quite a bit going on here, which should give me plenty to write about!

Today was the first day of work.  I reported to the old train station downtown, and found the conference room, where I met the training coordinator and the other guys in the class.  The class was supposed to be eight people, however only seven people showed up, including myself.  After signing in and introductions, we were issued our rulebooks.  Now, I am familiar with some rulebooks, but nothing like this.  These are about the size of a small child!  It comes in a binder, and it is all the rules and regulations covered by the General Code of Operating Rules.  Today we spent most of the day covering the rules.  It was a rather dry day, and some of the rules really make you wonder how badly someone screwed up to get such a rule in there.  There are rules against stepping in front of a train coming at you.  There are rules against drinking and using a cell phone while operating a train.  There are also rules against sleeping on the job.  I don't know about you, but I thought some of these were pretty obvious, but something must have happened to merit putting them in the rule book!

Besides reviewing rules, we watched a few short videos, which were a bit cheesy.  We looked out the window at the passing trains periodically, and we did a bit of hiring paperwork.  Afterwards, I went over to the hardware store and bought myself a pair of BNSF approved work boots.  The company lets us buy a pair of those every year.  Over the next few days we will be issued more of our safety equipment.  Training is supposed to last 15 weeks, and is a combination of classroom and on the job training.  After that, and upon passing a couple of exams, we go off as licensed Conductors.  I will keep you posted on the happenings of the railroad.