Family life and dispatching

[LLL]

First of all, hello, I am new to the forums.

Quick question,
How long does the extra board usually last? 1 year, 5 years, 20 years?

LLL

[jonnyseeandoh]

The extra board will give you a weird schedule, but the hours of service limits should make it tolerable on family life. If you have any way of tracking vacancies so you can figure when it will be your turn to work, so much the better. And if you are getting close to a call for like 3rd trick try to catch some zzz's before they call you. Your alertness at the board not only makes you give a better performance but may make lots of people very happy, when you can keep them moving, or untie the inevitable Gordian knots that pop up now and again. And welcome to our humble little enclave.

Oh, and drop into the Railroad Hiring FAQ once in a while during training and tell us all whats it's like.

[Dogbearbyter]

Family life? The railroad owns your tail now, until you are suitably dispensed with. Good luck, and try to find ways to finesse it, as suggested. That's what us long hauls have figured out how to do and make it work for us over the decades we've been here. The good news is that a railroad career DOES pay, just not always on time or as per the schedule, you are going to have to watch out for that. On that note, don't be surprised to find yourself on an extended tour or eastern europe, africa and the subcontinent on unlucky occasion. Don't buy the property, vehicles and other expensive toys your banker may now be willing to underwrite for you. That's why there is out of service insurance.

[bolo]

Good luck with your training! I wasnt clear if you were new to railroading or just to dispatching. I've been doing this for 14 years now.. It was a plus that my wife was already a nurse, so we were used to weird schedules and holidays. If your family is adaptable, then you can ALL learn to do your holiday celebrations whenever it works out. If your family has a strict holiday schedule (thanksgiving meal WILL BE at 4pm on Thursday) then you'll have some problems and miss some meals. The extra board life has it's plusses and minuses.. you'll just have to 'pay your dues' until you can hold a regular job. And some days you will be completely stessed out and not want to talk to anyone in person or on the phone after you come home!! All in all, its a good job and career. Best of Luck!! PM me if you have any other questions....

[rrdispatcher]

Originally Posted by LLL

hey guys, thanks for the replies!
So how exactly does the extra board work? Are you scheduled 5 shifts a week that can either be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd shift, and then on your 2 days off you are still technically on call? Or are you on call all week and then they call you in when they need you?

Not knowing if it is the same in each office but in our office you will get a "schedule" each week of what 5 days you will work the following week, but it can - and usually will - change several times during the week. The week runs Saturday to Friday and you are on call until you have 5 days of work in for the week. Your rest days will move around and don't expect to have 2 off together, that does not always happen. And you sometimes you will work all 3 shifts in a week - it always seems to work out that you will work 3rd shift, have 1 rest day, then come back out for 1 st shift the following day.
Having worked both off a conductors extra list and the dispatchers extra list, the dispatchers is better in that you have a somewhat better idea when you might go to work, but it is still hard being on call no matter what. After 5 1/2 years on the list, I was very happy to get a regular job, even if it was 3rd trick with Tue and Wed off - at least I knew what days I had off and they were together!

The hours of service law does mean you can only work 9 hours and have 15 hours off, however if the office you are going to has any agreement assistant chief dispatcher positions, be aware that these are non hours of service jobs (like most yardmaster postions) and there are times you may have to double and work back to back shifts if there is no one to relieve you, so you can end up working 16 hours (or more) sometimes. Good luck in your new job!

[bolo]

Extra boards are just that, folks used to fill the empty slots in the 24/7/365 business we are in. Depending on what carrier you work for, the XB may be handled differently.. Ours is "scheduled" in that you have a general idea when you will work for the next week or two... HOWEVER, changes occur. Someone gets sick at the last minute, or like me on monday, person is involved in an accident and cannot make it to make it to work.. then the extraboard is responsible for protecting the job ASAP. That being said, if you work first shift today, you wont be called until first shift tomorrow at the earliest.. If you work second shift today, they cant call you to work first shift tomorrow morning.. You are on call until you have worked 5 shifts during whatever your carrier sets up as your work week (ours is mon-sun), then you have a option to work overtime or not if called.. A maximum of 9 hours in a 24 hour period is the law, and I hear it's a $25000 personal fine if exceeded (except for a few very specific emergency situations)... Hope that helps

[bolo]

Seem RRdispatcher and I were replying at the same time... darn, I coulda just typed 'what he said'.

[darkside]

Once you qualify on a few desks on the extra board, your schedule will get crazier. However, you can mark up on others' vacations of 1 week or longer duration. Vacation holds are awarded by seniority, so you may get outbid when you are new, but there are usually jobs no one likes in the office that you might be able to get. That helps get you a more predictable schedule for a while, at least. Once you work the first day of a hold, it is "your job" until it ends. Meaning, if they have to take you off it, you will get diversion pay (OT). (This is under our agreement on NS, your situation may differ). Also, when you work a hold, you get the weekend of that job, so if they have to work you on one of those off days, you get OT.

My advice, good work habits are essential. Take good notes, and keep a notebook with a section for each territory you train on. During your shift, keep a scratch pad, immediately write things down that are important to remember, the pace varies, you can get bombarded with things very quickly, it's easy to forget the first thing when that happens. Forgetting a slow order is bad! Good Luck!!!!

[LLL]

Thanks darkside! Mine shouldn't differ as I am (hopefully) going to be with NS. This has been the LONGEST 2 weeks!
I don't totally understand what all you are explaining, but I'm sure after a little training and actual time on-board, I will re-read this post and fully know what you mean then.

[rrdispatcher]

Originally Posted by LLL

Quick question.. I don't want to start a whole new thread for it.

NS dispatch training in Atlanta, how much of it is in McDonough compared to the downtown office?

That depends, if you just hired off the street you may go to McDonough for a partial taste of conductor training, that is what they did for our last group from off the street, the rest of thier training was at our office. If there are no condcutor classes going on at McDonough, I'm not sure what they might do.