Working for the RR must not be any picnic. A young friend went to a hiring seminar put on by Union Pacific a couple years back.
First thing the UP man holding the seminar said, "Look around here guys, 22 men looking for a good paying steady job, 18 of you will walk out of here today without filling out an application". And then he went on to explain the why, there are no holidays, days off you can plan for, live by the phone, everything in your life will be ruled by the phone. Most of UP openings at that time were in Maintenance of Way, but there were a couple train crew jobs too. Anyway the guy was right, only 5 guys filled out apps, my friend walked, all he could see was a high risk of divorce.
Yep - good friend of mine I've known since birth - he does/works maintenance for CN - been offered roles in the cab lots of times. Won't do it. Likes his maintenance gig.
