A Whole Different Type Of Training. Fueling Trains

9-24-23 Started my new job today. I will be fueling and servicing freight trains. Today started with a ride from Charlotte, NC to Spartanburg, SC. There we fueled 5 or 6 trains. The fuel is all pumped off. I did most of the work. The tank on the tractor trailer holds about 7000 gallons of dyed diesel. After filling those trains, we went back to Charlotte to refill the tank. Then we went to the airport intermodal terminal to wait for a train from Chicago. We filled those three, then it was back to the tank rack to refill. Finally back to the office. I work five 12 hour days per week. Training is three weeks then I will be on nights. There are three people per shift and three trucks. There is the tractor trailer fuel tanker, a straight truck fuel tank and a straight truck for servicing the trains. We add sand, water and sometimes oil. We also pump out the toilets. It's lots of fun.

Day two. Today, was a sit in the office day. Which was perfect because I had a bunch of required on line training assignments to do and I was able to complete them. Towards the end of the day we got a call to go service some trains. We just ran through and cleaned the clean toilets, grabbed the trash and checked the levels of sand, oil and coolant in the trains. We did all that in about 30 minutes. I'm loving this job. It's a huge company, yet each office is run differently. My "site leader", what they call a manager, has it set up to be easy. She has everyone rotating on the trucks. This way you don't get stuck in a rut. It's a very relaxed atmosphere and there is rarely ever a rush.

Hi Scott,

Glad to hear that you are doing well at the new job. It makes a big difference when the management makes the working conditions for its employees comfortable and enjoyable. Good luck and thanks for keeping us in the loop.

Day 3, yesterday. We took the tractor trailer to the shop for a PM, then waited for the Chicago train to come in. I was in the service truck yesterday. We had three locomotives to clean. Two had toilets that needed cleaning. That was easy. We hook up a hose to the drain and let it rip. Then we fill them with 4 gallons of blue stuff. We take out any trash, check oil and water.

It easy and most of the day is spent sitting it the office. Waiting.

I still have to learn how to add sand and water.

Day 4 is about done. We are waiting for 18:00 to come so we can go. One of the night shift guys is already here and we have one of the day shift guys DJing on YouTube, a sort of Name That Tune.

All we did today was hang out and wait for the train to come in. Then we headed over to the airport and cleaned 4 engines.

Started selecting my benefits today.

I love this job.

Day 5, week 1 done.

Sat around office, then went to the airport, cleaned 3 trains. About 10 minutes of work. Get paid for 12 hours. Easy peasy.

So, week 2 started yesterday. More of the same. I did learn how to do the paperwork for the fueling. I hope I can get carded this week. Right now I'm sitting in the office watching TV on my tablet.

10-3-23

Getting paid to sit in the office, play on my phone and watch TV is not bad. Today we had no trains for day shift. One of the top guys with the railroad, stopped in to meet with us. He showed us pics of our new office that should be delivered by the end of the month. We looked around to see where to put it. We have a ruff idea. He was very nice.

That's all for now.

10-5-23 Yesterday late in the day we filled the straight tank and went to the airport to fill those trains. We had to wait for the trains then filled them. This caused us to get back to the office about 19:00, an hour late.

This morning we put sand in the service truck then went to a yard in Hickory, NC to fuel and service two locomotives.

I learned how to pump the sand into the locos.

Then we went to the refinery to fuel the tank.

We're going to get me carded on Monday.

10-12-23 Yesterday, I finally got carded. Today is my last day of training. After I leave today I come back at 18:00 Sunday to start night shift. Looking forward to it.