Full time railroad workers

[up148]

You also wrote, "I'm glad it happened to me." If you like, would you tell us more about that?
Well, I started on the road as a brakeman and worked my way up to conductor and engineer learning railroading the right way. I had good teachers and I learned all of the skills. It just happened that my territory had a little bit of everything to offer as far as terrain went. If one could run an engine on "The Valley", he could run one anywhere. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time!
Before I left, the new recruits just out of school in McDonough, Ga. didn't even know how to hold a lantern properly! Then there was the way the Corp. treated the new hires. It made me sick! Satellite "Hall Monitors" came to be, computers started telling you how to run the train and railroading went out the door!

[/quote]

Seems to be a sign of the times. New A&P mechanics are coming out of school with virtually no real world experience, just theory. 30 years ago a student would have to OH an engine, carburetor, magnetos and more, to pass the class and get a license. Today, they look at it in a book and call it good enough.

BH

[Big Jim]

One other thing about the heat. There were times on the diesel that the heat would just suck all of the life out of you!

I hear you Big Jim. When I hired out in 1979 we were still using cabooses and they could get real hot in the Texas summers when the wind didn't blow and we were sitting in a siding. You could almost bake a cake in the cupola!!!! And of course, there were no "comfort cabs" on the EMD SD 40's and GE U-boats.

RLR

I found that the cabs weren't that bad...UNTIL...they installed stainless steel screens and made a safety rule where you had to keep the screen closed so you didn't get hit upside the head by someone throwing something at you. The screens shut out 99% of the circulating air!

As far as those "comfort cabs" or "Wide Bodies" go, if the AC went out, you were TOAST!

BH,
Fresh out of high school and trying to decide what to do with my life, I went to school and got my A&P licence. It's around here in a drawer somewhere. If you have ever flown at all in the last 46 years, you very well may be alive today because I didn't go into the aircraft industry!

[up148]

One other thing about the heat. There were times on the diesel that the heat would just suck all of the life out of you!

I hear you Big Jim. When I hired out in 1979 we were still using cabooses and they could get real hot in the Texas summers when the wind didn't blow and we were sitting in a siding. You could almost bake a cake in the cupola!!!! And of course, there were no "comfort cabs" on the EMD SD 40's and GE U-boats.

RLR

BH,
Fresh out of high school and trying to decide what to do with my life, I went to school and got my A&P licence. It's around here in a drawer somewhere. If you have ever flown at all in the last 46 years, you very well may be alive today because I didn't go into the aircraft industry!

Yes Jim,

But you have common sense and abilities obviously. They are turning out book educated mechanics today without that and one applicant didn't know a phillips from a straight screwdriver and that is not a joke.

BH

[Big Jim]

I wonder if they still have to take an "Oral" and "Practical" exam under a licenced instructor?

I graduated from "Piedmont Aerospace Inst." in Winston-Salem, NC. If they would have had an opening in the recip. engine shop across the street, I may not have been here talking to you either.
All joking aside, things really did work out for the best!

[rogruth]

I wonder if they still have to take an "Oral" and "Practical" exam under a licenced instructor?

I graduated from "Piedmont Aerospace Inst." in Winston-Salem, NC. If they would have had an opening in the recip. engine shop across the street, I may not have been here talking to you either.
All joking aside, things really did work out for the best!

This is good to hear.