With the baby boomers retiring, but some still needing to work, i wondered is there an age limit restriction for being a train engineer?
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
If I recall correctly years ago my cousin had to retire from Santa Fe at age 55.
No...as long as you can pass all the certifications, you can still run an engine. At least at BNSF, there is no age limit.
In "the old days", the engineer running "the limited" was a high seniority fellow, perhaps in his eighties!
Laidoffsick,
You got it
. Some time ago there was a article in AARP. The modern locomotives and safer working conditions are leading to extended years in the work force.
In the past few years, we have had some old heads finally pull the pin just because they didn't want to go through all the recert stuff. There is A LOT involved these days. Well into their mid and upper 60's, not because they couldn't or didn't want to run an engine any more, they just didn't want to go through the process.
When Congress passed that 60 - 30 Railroad Retirement bill quite some years ago, lots of the "old heads" took their full retirement, since they already were 60 years old or older, and had 30 or more years of service. Thus, they no longer had to put up with the BS.
4 guys I worked with on the Frisco are stilled marked up. The oldest is an engineer, age 71.
Originally Posted by Rob Leese:
4 guys I worked with on the Frisco are stilled marked up. The oldest is an engineer, age 71.
I've met many railroaders like that, throughout my career, and they all generally seemed to have one thing in common, i.e. they had to hobbies, thus they "lived to work". The down side was, they many times passed away not too long after retirement.
Hot Water..
That is true on some of the older work force out there. Having retired last year at 55, but with 37 years os seniority. Was on call 24/7/365, except for vacation. Some do not have time for hobbies and thus did not know what to do when they retired. We moved back home to NC from OH. My hobbies were yard work and putting our now touch on the house we bought, also MIL needed quite a bit of work around her house. Living at the beach is always a nice break. Started flying drones, legally of course. They are very relaxing, and the questions from everyone are fun to answer.
I am one of the fortunate ones to be able to leave early, have my health, and a nice retirement plan. Miss a lot of the aspects of the job, just not the BS. I could have still worked buy it seemed my patience seem to wear thin over the last year.
