Is it true about Union Pacific?

Yep it's very true.I even have a hat pin that says you can't spell stupid without UP in the middle.I was a Southern Pacific engineer and when they took us over we couldn't believe just how stupid they are.

Edit Don't get me wrong.They pay well and the benefits are good.You just have to get into the right frame of mind.Don't get in a hurry and just keep laughing at how stupid they are.If you tried to take them seriously...you'd cry lol.Really though they are the same as any big corporation in America today.They are here to make money(something they seem to do very well in spite of themselves).You want my best advice?Take the job,take a book to read,and always,always pack a lunch with you.And figure your going to be out there 12 hours.Anything less is gravy.And when your parked in a siding going nowhere just put your feet up, get your book out(don't let them catch you reading),have some lunch and just think about that great paycheck you get every two weeks.I have friends that would kill to have my job!The check is always good! Plus riding along on a train with no boss looking over your shoulder taking in the scenery is pretty a mellow way to pass the time.It has it's bad moments but all in all I love my job.

This is a question both near and dear to me. But for those who may be visiting the "Rail" category for the first time, most everyone else knows how much I love the idiot sobs.

Sooooooooo. Let's have a look at the ol' scoreboard...

Their engineers are poorly trained, overall. In many instances, engineers who've only been promoted for 36 months themselves are training new engineers. If a person is reasonably intelligent, I could have them ready to run a train in 30 days. Well, that is, get it started and stopped, on level ground, but not necessarily where you want it to... IF everything is working properly. It is when things go very wrong that the engineer must rely on experience to avoid a nasty situation. That doesn't come out of a rule book, but rather from years of running encountering different situations. I don't care who it is, 36 months is not enough.

Worse still, the 'air' is treated almost as an afterthought with fuel conservation being driven home in every class.

To me, that is stUPid.

I live but a couple of miles from where the infamous Cantara Loop disaster happened in '91. Derailments have always been a problem for this eleven mile stretch of steep down grade. So, the SP (under the tutelage of the DRGW) ran teats with a dynamometer car, that measures forces running throughout the length of the train. Those tests determined that when descending this grade (most derailments were on the down grade, whereas the train that killed the river was ascending this grade), trains having more than 7,200 trailing tons where experiencing excessively high amounts of buff behind the road engine, causing the majority of these numerous derailments.

The UP took over, rewrote the laws of gravity (which is apparently different in Omaha) waved their magic wand and PRESTO! They are now running downhill trains at 13,000 tons, ignoring the data developed through testing.

To me, that is stUPid.

(And after the next pile up I'll argue that this activity is also criminally negligent when called to testify at the following investigation.)

The last derailment happened when they had a highway vehicle in the form of a large hi-rail truck. Fitted with a draw bar and a compressor, they hooked it up to four or five ballast cars filled with rock and headed down the hill. The trip was a short one as all of it scattered all over hell and back in less than 3/4 of a mile from where they put on the rail.

To me, that is stUPid.

A couple of years ago a rail grinding outfit was going from Sparks, Nevada to sacramento, Ca. They needed a "pilot" (a pilot is an engineer assigned to a train when the operator of the train is unfamiliar with the road or rules that apply.) This trip is over "The Hill." 90 miles of down grade with the ruling grade of 2.4%. Just below a place called Gold run, the operator let the train get away from him. It killed three when it left the tracks.

And the pilot? Well, no engineers were available, so they put a new conductor who had NEVER been on that piece of railroad before as the guide. In essence, the pilot needed a pilot.

To me, that is stUPid.

As well as deadly...

It then stands to reason that the only smart thing they have done over the last 14 years was completely disingenuous. Long story short, they wanted to "single end" what was a double ended freight pool. That is to say, trains would have both Roseville crews as well as Dunsmuir crews on them, alternating. That is also to say, Dunsmuir crews were away from home working to Roseville, and Roseville crews would be at an away from home terminal when in Dunsmuir. The source of supply was from both ends.

So, intelligently, they dangled this carrot: If Dunsmuir would give up the jobs, up to 20 men could transfer their seniority to Roseville and cover this "Valley Pool." In doing so, they would have exclusive rights to these jobs, so it seemed this was a safety net of some sort. In addition, they would develop a new freight pool, originating in Dunsmuir and running to Stockton, Ca. This was a new 350 mile run and, to top it all off, the trains operated by the Dusmuir guys were to be only pigs.

Needless to say, everyone jumped all over it.

In about 3 months time, a drag showed up here and there, and a few months after that, it was just a long general freight pool.

Then a couple of years ago, the UP abolished the Stockton pool, put the transferees on the general seniority roster in Roseville and those Valley jobs were just gone.

There were about 180 engineers working a few years back, with a bit less than that for trainmen. Today, there is a 106 mile freight pool and two locals. There is a grand total of eleven pool engineers' with a six man extra board.

See? Not stUPid at all. Very wrong and morally repugnant, but not stUPid.

They care not about their employees or the dangers they are exposing the general public to. And ya know what else? If I had a dollar for each time I've said or heard a coworker say "If the public only knew what goes on out here" I'd be on a beach somewhere sipping some kind of beverage delivered with fruit garnish and a miniature umbrella.

UPRR

The Ultimate Place for Rest and Recreation

it's just another company, they exist to make $$$, no other reason. You are no more important to them then a hammer or any other tool needed to make money.

Once you realize that, they are no better or worse than any other employer.

That family oriented workplace bullshit they all like to spew out is claptrap

Joke is an interesting word to use.