Yes, I control the train. I won't say drive since we can only go two directions, forwards and backwards. I work out of San Antonio and go to Temple and Eagle Pass, hopefully soon we will be going to Houston.
At first it is nerve racking. There is a lot of thought to controlling a train and keeping it in one piece. I have been an engineer for a little over a year now, roughly a year and five months. I am more confident in my abilities and don't have to think as much. This is due to knowing my territory and all nuances of it, i.e. permanent speed restrictions, hills, and other little things that come along while traversing it.
The thing I worry the most about is getting furloughed since I have a year and five months of engineer seniority and almost six years as a conductor. My area handles mostly vehicle (Dodge, Toyota, and Mazda), sand (for fracking), grain, and various other trains. But, mostly the first three I listed. Well, since this Covid-19 thing started all vehicle traffic is done and thanks to Russia and OPEC sand trains have slowed down. All this leads to cuts and the company is cutting and I am close to getting cutoff here in San Antonio.
Good thing is that I can chase work with my conductor seniority but not my engineer seniority, problem is that I am running out of options there too.
I might need a job here in a few weeks if anybody here is hiring!
Click to expand...