I just happened upon this old post of mine and thought it might be time for a life update...
Well I took the plunge over 2 years ago. I hired out with NS in Atlanta in June of 2018 and have been with them ever since. I worked on their yard extra board for almost a year, before things started getting tight (in terms of jobs getting cut off and furloughs). I was forced out to the mainline extra board where unlike the yard you don’t have certain times they can call you for work. It was only maybe 5-6 months on the mainline before I got furloughed. They ended up furloughing up to around 80 total once the virus really took effect. I was off for just shy of 6 months. While I was off I started a new job (Monday thru Friday) but knew I was going back to the railroad once they called.
It was the beginning of August when I went back. Since then I’ve been working the mainline making trips between Atlanta and Chattanooga, and Atlanta and Macon, as well as working some of the locals we have.
I can honestly say that I enjoy almost every minute of it. I’ve gotten used to being on call a lot, and working in crappy weather conditions, as well as catching the absolute worst jobs on the railroad... but I can’t see myself doing anything else as a career.
I’ve attached two photos. The first one is me while in training coming back from Chattanooga on a rack train in a ex-CSX locomotive. The next photo is on a pig train right around 2 years after the first photo.
