Prototype Railroading: First Trip

Last Friday, during out last week of training, we all took our Conductor's exams.  It was 280 questions, and we had to get at least 251 of them right to get a passing grade.  We had all day really.  We started at 8:00am, and we had 12 hours to finish the exam.  It took me about two hours, and I got a 97 percent, which was comfortable within the passing grade area.  Everyone in the class passed the exam.  We were given the weekend off, and then on Monday, we all met in the classroom for sort of a debriefing before we all marked up for work.  We mostly went over things like union agreements, special claims, and the details of the computer system that we had not yet covered.  After that, we were given our mandatory 10 hours off and then 48 hours to mark up to a job.  I was a bit lazy and waited around until Tuesday night to mark up.

I marked up to the Conductors' Extra Board.  I could be called for just about anything, whenever they need a Conductor to fill in for someone who lays off, for a work train, or for relieving crews who have hit the limit for hours of service.  Now the extra boards all have a guaranteed rate of pay.  If you do not work at all, the railroad still guarantees that they will pay you a certain amount, depending which extra board you are on.  If you work enough that you would earn more than the guaranteed amount, they pay you that instead.  By waiting until late at night to mark up to the extra board, I got paid a full day for Tuesday, even though I was only on the board for about 35 minutes, and I knew I probably would not go to work until the Wednesday some time.  That is exactly what happened.

On Wednesday afternoon, I got my first call as a Conductor.  The crew on an empty coal train had run out of hours just over halfway to Forsyth, and I was to relieve them and take the train the rest of the way to Forsyth.  I reported for work, met my engineer, and we found our van out to the train, which was parked at Tusler siding.  It was a little strange to not have another Conductor there to watch out for me.  The trip was pretty uneventful however.  The only noteworthy occurrence was a severe thunderstorm, which brought a lot of lightning, sideways rain, and wind.  We actually stopped because of the wind.  It was gusting to 65 mph, and being an empty train with nothing to hold the cars down in that kind of wind, we thought it best to stop and wait the storm out for a little while.  If the train blew off the tracks while we were stopped, at least the railroad could not pin the blame on us.  Fortunately, that did not become an issue!  Once the wind died down a bit, we continued on our way.  Overall, it was a fairly simple and easy trip.

I have just received my call to go home.  In one hour, I will report for work in Forsyth, for the return trip to Glendive.  I will be on a coal load this time, C-ABMBEN0-26A.