You DON'T know what a train conductor does... so what do they do? | Railroad 101

The Conductor doesn't drive the train. What the conductor does do depends on what kind of train it is - let's talk to some real conductors to hear what the job is really like!
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[@coreygibson15]

I'm disappointed you didn't get a band conductor in the video as a joke.

[@Hyce777]

would've been silly for sure

[@ThomasJM]

The ES & DT probably has one but no band for them to conduct. They were hired by accident when the conductor in question misread the advertisement

[@94_Chevy_Z71]

@ThomasJM but somehow their train was the only one to run on time from what I hear

[@ThomasJM]

@@94_Chevy_Z71 in 4/4 time I believe 🤣

[@harrymu148]

or at least a thick copper wire. those are definitely "conductors" as well.

[@phil69881]

As a former mainline guard and now a guard on a tourist railway, I can say that not having to deal with drunks and snobby commuters is way better. Yeah, the pay isn't as good, but I'm part of a close-knit team and we love seeing kids and their parents have fun. Also.... an older railway friend imparted to me this poem (in reference to UK terminology): A guard (conductor) is man who rides in a van that thinks he's in charge of the train. But the 2 up the front both think he's a c**t, yet they know he's thinking the same.😅😂

[@ajaxengineco]

I can add a second verse, although I forget where I learned it: The guard is the man, asleep in the van, dreaming of making a fiver. And when he awakes, he screws on his brakes, And blames the delay on the driver!

[@PowerTrain611]

These are fantastic. 😂

[@CMDRSweeper]

You did forget the testing a conductor has to go through... All the Ohming and electrical resistance checks... Who knows, if a conductor is cold enough... They may become a super conductor :D

[@Hyce777]

Limes!

[@nounoufriend1442]

Or a semiconductor 😄

[@dendress2]

@@nounoufriend1442 Is that a conductor in training? 🙃

[@offrails]

I know an engineer joke when I see one

[@phillyphakename1255]

​@@dendress2semiconductors are when the single train operator on commuter trains/trams is performing the conductor functions of the job. The function of semiconductors is dependent upon applied voltage.

[@Hybris51129]

Seeing Eric with facial hair made me think back to Brett comment during the first season of the 3/4 show about how "he still has the spark of youth" and "hasn't been horribly broken" and to see him now it's like yes that man while not broken has had some miles and wear put on him since then.

[@PadraicORegan-to1cp]

The accuracy of this comment is frightening

[@Ceotoneb1]

0:12 "look there’s the "Conductor" look at how dirty he is!"

[@EaglePointRails]

Immediately what i thought of

[@MattsScaleModels]

I'm an Aussie, from the tram city of Melbourne. To us, a conductor is the second person on a tram/streetcar, who collects the fares, gives the bell signals to proceed, and changes the overhead trolley pole at the terminus!

[@devinpaul9026]

Is the driver called a motorman over there?

[@briannem.6787]

@@devinpaul9026 very rarely, I believe in the early days of electric traction it was more common. We just say "train driver" or "tram driver". I think that heritage tram clubs might still say motorman but I sadly haven't visited any yet I feel like the light rail systems would call them "operators" just to be all fancy P.S. I personally think it's ridiculous that our nation's great tradition of shortening things didn't lead to electric train drivers being called "motories", it's gender neutral and is fun to say!

[@briannem.6787]

for other viewers who might not know the full context: the melbourne tram system is now single-operator and ticketing is electronic. pantographs are used on all stock including the W, Z, and A1 which formerly had poles.

[@MattsScaleModels]

@briannem.6787 yeah, boring. But better than no trams and great fun as a teenager in the 80s!

[@Shipwright1918]

Thank you! Big pet peeve of mine is the public/non train persons mixing 'em up. Usually have to growl out "Nope, Engineer!" or "Nope, Fireman!" when someone calls me a conductor, or when I'm feeling particularly pernicious, "Naw, that idiot's on the other end."

[@georgecarter838]

Thank you for doing this! I'm a retired locomotive ENGINEER and can't tell you how many times I wanted to tear out my hair whenever I hear today's people confuse a conductor being an engineer. But what really grinds my gears is watching so-called tv journalists describe passenger and freight trains as TRAIN CARS! Wonder if you or any other railroaders have experienced that as well?

[@Hyce777]

I've heard folks use that term. Feels like no one outside of the industry calls them railcars. We just call them cars typically, but we're inside the bubble of course.

[@nounoufriend1442]

I'm a retired locomotive ENGINEER in the UK and we call the person that drives the train a DRIVER , agree with you about so-called tv journalists poor railway terminology "same in UK "

[@slanderedstone]

I feel like the production quality goes up every single time one of these comes out, keep it up!

[@AllisonChainz3718]

Thanks Mr. Conductor :)

[@PowerTrain611]

George Carlin?

[@kilianortmann9979]

Coming from Germany, it is really interesting how passenger railroading has a completely different vibe associated with it. Here routes are relatively short, even for intercity trains usually not more than eight hours, mostly up to five, stops are frequent, passengers get in and out all the time, the personal rotates etc. It is just another mode of transportation, just like taking a big bus, or a long distance subway. We don't associate any nostalgia with it, but I totally understand why you would get attached to the train, the conductor, the people you are traveling with, when you are riding together for maybe more than a day, with hours between stops.

[@Hyce777]

An Amtrak trip from Seattle to Chicago takes nearly three days. It's a long journey for sure. We only really have the population density to have similar service in the northeast.

[@mzaite]

You're mostly talking about what the US considers Commuter rail with a tiny hint of regional. 3,000 miles between New York and LA means 5 days + or you fly. Compact european countries are a totally different thing. We don't think of commuter and subways as "Rail Road".

[@robinmorgenstern9927]

​@@mzaite Euorpean Long distance freight trains travel about the same distance as NS/CSX trains do. The thing is that for anything longer than Distances like the ones you mentioned it is much cheaper (and possible) to just go by ship.

[@Arkay315]

We better get some electrical tape for all of these conductors.

[@Hyce777]

Limes!

[@Arkay315]

@Hyce777 I regret nothing

[@williamtheNWRS3class]

LIME BARRAGE CANNON GO! *pewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpew*

[@musiqtee]

In most of northwestern Europe, freight has been a driver-only operation for decades. Our signalling & ATC is for the most part very automated, so most stations aren’t staffed. Most are under remote control, and more become so as ERTMS/ECTS/GSMr is rolled out. Safety-wise, it works fine. However, it’s increasingly obvious that general resilience has trended down over the two-four decades of privatisation, split ownerships and way less staff in each entity. The operations are indeed safe - but everything grinds (automatically w/ caveats…) to a halt, as too few resources (spare traction, staff, free sidings, ad-hoc repairs…) are available to get things up and running again. The bygone grey, boring, laughed at, inefficient “state” (monopoly) operations at least did mishaps better…? We live in the age of spreadsheets. What can’t be counted and entered into it - are all externalities. That’s not even an isolated railroad issue… 😅

[@Hyce777]

Very well said...

[@jordyboy62]

Honestly, I wish there was actual investment in the railways of the UK. We are laughably behind and I honestly don't expect to see signalling improvements here in my lifetime. I'm only 29. Though, when it comes to ECTS on the one route we have it working on, our philosophy has been to have a driver monitor the trains self-driving.

[@musiqtee]

@@jordyboy62 Absolutely agree…! We just learned that our ECTS program gets delayed some two years. We’re talking 2034, maybe more… The issues here are pretty much the same, the suppliers (different European contractors) can’t deliver on time. And, all of OECD share the same eh… political stuckness (!?) for the same reasons. They aren’t as bound to national governments as we may believe. Otherwise, _some_ nearby countries would have shown different outcomes…? But well… such gloominess doesn’t fit too well here (I respect Hyce on these things). On the positive side, I do believe some countries (EU or not) will decide to take back _some_ «public» control over these issues. Our rail-working people are just fantastic, after all! Other channels do good work on discussing political-economic ideas and possibilities. Maybe things worsen before they improve, but somehow they will. Maybe with some well informed «push» from us - people in general? 😊

[@williamadams7865]

I work full time at a heritage tramway operation here in Bendigo (Victoria, Australia), mainly in the workshop but periodically in street traffic as either a Driver or Conductor (Connie). You get to experience the highs and lows of human life out on the tracks. You have the power to potentially make someone’s day that little bit better, especially if they have had a rough one. Quite often, you end up giving directions to get around town when they jump off the tram too, helping the passenger get to their ultimate destination. It is a true joy to serve. This has to be one of your best videos, hearing the stories from on the rails. I hope there are more tales to come.

[@Hyce777]

Makes me smile hearing you say that, I spent probably more than 40 hours on the edit alone on this one.

[@williamadams7865]

@@Hyce777 - Time very well spent!

[@sjwhitney]

There was once a man who worked collecting fares on streetcars. As it turns out, he was skimming fares, stealing from the company. When a company supervisor questioned him about fare skimming, the man became hostile and killed the supervisor. He was sentenced to the electric chair, strapped in and the switch was thrown. Nothing happened. They tried again. Again, nothing. It was then that they understood that he was a very poor conductor.

[@jip2107]

I’m a conductor in The Netherlands for NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen), we provide passenger services on the mainline. As conductor I’m responsible for the rolling stock, train driver, and passengers. We report anything abnormal that happens on and around the train, do the departure procedures, and are in charge of public safety onboard. Because we are in charge of public safety onboard we do have police alike powers to enforce transportation laws. For example someone traveling without a ticket, smoking onboard or on the platform, and disorderly behavior I can issue fines for. In some cases, when there’s non-compliance I can even make arrests. I really enjoyed your video, it was very informative! :)

[@shawndoyle7531]

I'd love to see these types of interviews with the other crew members and possibly the yard office members as well to get their perspective on railroading from their little corner of that world.

[@JamesMoore-b2d]

Wonderful video Hyce. Loved hearing all the guys' stories and the descriptions of their jobs. Brad getting to marry a couple on one of his trains is just the icing on top o' the cake.🎉

[@BornToPun7541]

Good to see Conductor Brad in this video! Also, Hyce, you and Danny Harmon (Distant Signal) are my two favorite railroad guys.

[@Hyce777]

Danny's got the best voice! His content is great. I'm glad you enjoy my stuff as well!

[@kellingc]

This was a wonderful video. On a tangent, I've heard your explanation of the difference between an American train engineer vs a British train driver. Would it be possible to get a full video on that?

[@Hyce777]

That's a good idea. Cheers :)

[@EpicPuma]

That sounds like a very good reason for a full on collab with Laurie :p

[@williamadams7865]

Engineman officially in Australia, with regularly allocated express passenger drivers being known as the “Big Wheel” in Victoria.

[@CrAzYJk87]

Johnny needs to read me a bedtime story!!! 😂 I would fall asleep so f'ing quick with a voice that smooth, just like chocolate, more videos with him please! 😂 Love the work hyce, I still think you need to come to Britain and see some real narrow gauge trains. The Romney, Hythe and Dimchurch in Kent England have really narrow narrow gauge trains and it was part of the South coast beach defences during WW2.

[@royreynolds108]

Yeah, 15-inch gauge.

[@Interceptor00X]

As someone who works in the aviation industry, the "far more difficult" line about getting a plane to fly is something I'd argue about. Personally I'd say they're similar in difficulty. Just as with passenger trains, you don't see all of the work being done to a passenger plane before it even starts boarding. And depending on the plane type, it might even be harder to get the plane ready to fly. I can't imagine all the stuck up passengers on a 747 or an A380 that can cause problems

[@Hyce777]

I knew when he said that in the interview that it'd spark a bit of discussion, it'd make for an interesting comparison. More units of less complex things vs. one very complex thing; and the less complex need to work for days in a row for one trip vs. one short trip.

[@pootispiker2866]

I mean, a plane's entire existence is staying in the air- something we figured out in the last 120 years or so. We got gravity down pretty quickly.

[@Tyrope]

@@pootispiker2866 Gravity kind of gets itself down. It's kind of the point. [prepares to catch limes]

[@Sunset4Semaphores]

lol poor Hyce. I had no idea I promoted you by accident.

[@ricardo1885-y7m]

Over here in the UK we call conductors "The Guard", but we consume so much American media most of us know would know what someone meant if they said Conductor. Despite being British, I am quite fond of "Engineer" for the man who drives the train lol.

[@fetzie23]

Buses have (well, had) conductors, Trains have guards :)

[@ricardo1885-y7m]

@fetzie23 ah yes of course. I don't know much about Buses apart from Bristol made one called the Lowdekka

[@fetzie23]

@@ricardo1885-y7m Just remembered that the Blackpool trams also have conductors 😀

[@ricardo1885-y7m]

@@fetzie23 OMG the Backpool Trams are awesome

[@dkbmaestrorules]

​@@fetzie23and then, of course, there were also trains which had conductor-guards 😉

[@94_Chevy_Z71]

This video was well conducted! In all seriousness you did a great job on it and, dare I say, this is better than any TV show.

[@nerodcs3087]

very well cut video. switching between the guests kept it fresh and entertaining

[@jaysmith1408]

I certainly appreciate Eric’s statement about physically delivering the freight that the customers wanted. That is precisely why i chose a career in truck driving, specifically grocery delivery. The faces and appreciation of the customers, especially when the holidays come around, mean a lot to me. And on the passenger side, the Amtrak conductor really makes the travel what it is. We’ve been sitting in the hole for hours due to weather, or freight interruption, but the conductors keep us happy. And the sincere efforts to have a wedding ceremony onboard go well above and beyond the call of duty. With a stellar crew, i really couldn’t care less whether we had a locomotive at all.

[@phillyphakename1255]

Its what I love about my jobs in electronics. You've probably gotten cell service from a tower I repaired. You've gotten power, computer chips, safe flights, enabled by the equipment I've repaired. There's a tremendous satisfaction in looking around and seeing the machine that your cog is part of to keep the world running.

[@xki3000]

Thank you Hyce. Railroad passion is SO infectious. (Looking forward to your next stint as dispatcher on the ES&DT)

[@MADhouseTelephone]

Very good job Hyce! Max and I took a few rides with Conductor Brad before he retired.

[@QuintonMurdock]

At the peninsula terminal railroad (a tiny terminal railroad) one of the two switchmen is also conductor/switchman. Tho mostly a switchman

[@QuintonMurdock]

Little railroads treat you better (sometimes) but pay less

[@bobm2331]

Thanks! Just did the Durango this Fall and we had to back down to a turn around siding because there was a rock too big to move. And I saw the turn table inaction. Best time.

[@Hyce777]

Cheers Bob! It's such a great place. It is real railroading out there too... big slides are never fun.

[@offrails]

I volunteer at a local narrow-gauge railway as part of the train crew. . Striped overalls and a red bandana and people will still say "Look! There's the conductor". Since I have a degree in [software] engineering, I actually bought a hat that says "Trust me, I'm an engineer", but people don't always read that. One of the more rewarding things about being a volunteer is showing people (especially kids) the locomotive (looks like steam but is actually diesel). Many of these people are neurodivergent like myself, and it's common for people on the autism spectrum to have a love for trains.

[@erie910]

For a number of years, I was a tourist line conductor, engineer, engineer supervisor, and dispatcher, and a short line engineer. All were rewarding, and I thoroughly enjoyed working as conductor in switching operations with a great engineer. We also ran passenger trains by hand/lantern signals only. A good conductor is always in control of his/her train. I always respect conductors because of their significant responsibilities. Good conductors and good engineers make good teams, and make the railroad operate efficiently.

[@crazypickles8235]

Thanks Hyce! This was an awesome, educational and very enlightening video! Your content continues to make such a meaningful impact on KZbin spreading the joy and gritty reality of railroading. Keep it up!

[@whoever6458]

Oh that wedding is so sweet! I'm glad you did that for them! I bet it meant the world to them!

[@Alord125]

This was a real treat man. Well produced, great and informative guests. Really cool to watch. Hope you have similar style videos in the future!!!!!

[@cnjgp7]

Well done... Great video! Awesome to hear all the perspectives. My favorite things about being a class 3 conductor were the daily "puzzles" of drilling out the yard -- different every day -- and the rare opportunity to recreate some truly historic moments. Two that stick out are the time the master mechanic (also the dispatcher that day -- shortlines...) decided to give us our orders via order hoop as we arrived in town one day, and the time our radios failed and we did the yard drill and serviced all our customers entirely with hand signals.

[@hollywood1340]

Those LaRose hats with flaps are amazing!

[@EpsilonR_]

I've been watching since November 2021, and I love seeing the things that you mentioned off the cuff during gaming with your friends get turned into videos, or clarified outside of that later properly! Have you done a video on the K-37 being a boiler on a completely new set of frames, wheels, etc., and not a conversion? Another great video Hyce, have fun running on the apparent 3 foot gauge main line to the north pole!

[@ColtonRMagby]

I'm surprised there wasn't a band conductor doing a song in 10/8 time as a joke, but the educational experience in this video more than makes up for it.

[@culdeefp4817]

Hearing Brad talking about the possible death of the romance of passenger railroading made hit me in feels a bit Reminded me of some stories from a few books I’ve got about the Newfoundland Rwy, toward the end of the passenger trains here. Reading that, on the usual day towards the late 60’s, were ‘The Caribou’ would have barely a dozen tourists, and no locals. And then, effectively, having the death of the railway in the public consciousness. With the the highway, CN busses, and planes taking over

[@Tristan_S346]

I love the marriage on the train, what an amazing life event and memory for that couple!

[@calebphillips249]

Oh, look! A Hyce/Conductor Brad crossover I didn't know I needed. :D

[@fourtyfivefudd]

I’m a class one conductor, but in our territory and with our contract, we are considered “road switchers”. So we will take a train to another state, and half way between we’ll pull into another yard and drop off a cut of cars and pick up more and then continue on. Or being on the extra board, I might get assigned to a yard job that does a lot of the local industries. The ones that our local short line either didn’t manage to get the contract, or they just physically aren’t able to access like we are. So In my territory, with my current company, we do it all

[@darnelwashoe2781]

What railroad?

[@prairierailproductions6737]

Funny you interviewed Nick Potello, met him on a trip to the Durango and Silverton once. Guy really hates Santa Fe stuff. learned that because I was wearing a Santa Fe T shirt when I saw him. lol

[@itpony]

It was great to see the love each person in this video has for both the railroads and their job in it - you included, Mark.

[@StillPlaysWithModelTrains1956]

I get that all the time at our local model railroad club open house events. Thanks for setting the record straight!

[@ThatGuyAt2FPS]

I will always love this kind of video because not only are they amazing to watch but extremely informative. Keep up the great work, and I’ll see you in the next comment section!

[@mriley4955]

As always Hyde, you have shone the light on another aspect of the industry that teaches us what it is like to ride the rails. I’m in the aviation industry but have a huge love of railroads

[@MachRacer4]

The DMIR was a Class One even though it was only operating in the Iron Range as back then it was based on the amount of Tonnage moved per year as opposed to amount of mainline trackage.

[@bjrnfrederiksson2505]

I yotta say i love this Video Mark. It's absolutely amazing and i love the added details in the corner. A small thing i noticed is that i had to pause the video to read the boxes because they disappeared very quickly.

[@Hyce777]

Thanks for the note - I tried to balance their timing based on my reading speed but I might be a fast one. I'll work on that for next time :)

[@natevince3154]

Thank you for address this major misconception!!!!!

[@oldhifi8820]

Another great one. Hyce. A fun, informative and educational view of what a conductor is and does. And the differences in the job depending on what type of railroad the conductor works for. I enjoyed it thoroughly and keep them coming. You have a gift for making things fun.

[@brettprisendorf924]

It’s cool to see how excited people like this are talking about railroading. I can say, although I’m maintenance of way; I love working for the railroad. It’s a dream come true for train fans

[@royreynolds108]

If it weren't for the people in the MOW Dept, nobody would get to go anywhere. I was in the Engineering Office, a track foreman, and an engineer on a tourist line where I was the only paid full-time employee.

[@kenbowser9694]

Dude.. this is some of your best work Hyce. 60 minutes has nothing on your interview game lol

[@loficampingguy9664]

Holy hell this was such an excellent video to watch! It's so well put together, and the people you interviewed were so wonderful to listen to. Not just because they have a depth of experience or knowledge, but more than anything you can _feel_ the passion they have for their job and for life in general. Your little additions of definitions in the corner were a really great touch and makes it way more accessible for an audience that might not know a ton of jargon. That awareness is something that is relatively rare in niche circles like railroading. There are many videos of yours where watching is more than just fun or interesting, it's an experience. This is one of them. Excellent work!

[@KBY30]

Tourist: “look! There’s the conductor!” Hyce: “Hey look, buddy. I’m an Engineer.”

[@andywomack3414]

Worse than breaking in two is having a "dynamiter" in the train. Sometimes the air-brake on an individual car will have a defect that causes any application of the train brakes to cause the compete dumping of air from the train-line. I was camping beside a track when a passing train went into emergency. It took many brake tests before the offending car was located, which took several hours to do. Way back in prehistory, when I was working for and had family connections with railroading, to qualify for conductor or yard foreman the candidate had to hand copy the "Book of Rules" from memory in the presence of the examiner. I watch these and wish my dad could watch these with me.

[@4ntig3n]

Beautiful video Marc. Thank you for making it - and for putting the people up front and center.

[@JMVX]

Hi Hyce, engineer here, definitely put that on the shirt about premadonna of railroading. As a passenger engineer back east I proudly proclaim the title. When you see the conductors flagging for contractors or working freights. It’s better then than I. 😂

[@Johndoe-jd]

They pay you hundreds of dollars from superchats and gift memberships. Wait you mean the ones on the train? Forget what I said.

[@Hyce777]

:D

[@VestedUTuber]

For ops on the LM&O, unless you've been assigned to a crew, each person participating has to play the role of the conductor for their particular train as well as that of the engineer and the switchman. Orlando N-Trak does warrant ops, so it's a lot of paperwork and waiting on the dispatcher to be open to give you your next warrant.

[@TheMadness51]

I'm in my mid 50's now and STILL hope to one day hire on a RR. Anyway, this episode is a great promo for those who are thinking of railroading as a career. Not many occupations out there that inspire the passion ya presented Hyce. Well done hos.

[@brendankirkpatrick6528]

It’s interesting seeing the similarities between rail and air! Pilots on reserve spend their lives by the phone but it seems a bit more fleshed out on the air side. Less work hours, more notice, different scheduling. But we all live and breathe seniority!

[@mzaite]

Both work under NRLA both have terrible Quality of Life because the companies can get away with it.

[@brendankirkpatrick6528]

@ and thats what the Union is for! In theory at least

[@mzaite]

@@brendankirkpatrick6528 Not the toothless NRLA unions that have to get permission by a government/industry board for the right to take any kind of labor action.

[@brendankirkpatrick6528]

@ fortunately, most (at least US) airlines are under a union governed by the RLA as opposed to the NLRA. ALPAs been good for the industry, setting up duty time limits, good pay and benefits, and many other protections. I would be curious to hear how it’s seen from the rail point of view, or how strong the union(s) are since they are under the RLA as well.

[@mzaite]

@@brendankirkpatrick6528 NRLA is National Railway Labor Act. ALPO is a stop gap to total deregulation free for all hellscape. They still have their hands tied by NRLA and an act of congress was the only way they managed to unfuck the terrible Commuter and Regional pay and work shitshow. And that took the Colgan crash to do. ALPA was not proactive about it at ALL. They're better than nothing, but not "amazing". The short time I worked under them, it was clear they were if not IN BED with the company, at least sleeping on the floor next to it.

[@havokvladimirovichstalinov]

My dad did 20 years as a switchman-turned-engineer for UP. Ive heard plenty of stories growing up of the varied conductors hes worked with, from the ones who slept the whole time unless something went wrong, to the ones hed willingly jump out and help if the need arose. By far, the best one was the time they got stopped in a small town on a siding. Within 30 seconds of the wheels coming to a stop, the conductor was out of the train and headed towards the little mom and pop burger and shake shack just off the crossing. Came back with dinner for both of them. No "hey you want anything?" nothing, just off and back just cause he could.

[@robinmorgenstern9927]

I find 2 man operations very interessting. Here in Germany the positions of what you call engineer and (operational) conductor, where merged back in 1969. Since then Freighttrains operate with a single driver and in Passenger Sercive the conductor is almost exclusively responsible for onboard Service and giving the driver the go order when all doors are closed on long distance trains (you can't see all doors on a 400m train).

[@thunderturbine8860]

Being in the engineer seat for an Australian railroad is my ultimate goal 👍 This gave me an insight on what conductors do for the train. Keep up the awesome work Mark @Hyce777

[@brianbarker2551]

That was really fun, we don't often get to hear about the human side of the railroad.

[@Benabik]

I've ridden on the Durango & Silverton! It's a beautiful trip and everyone there works to make a great experience.

[@alwaysbearded1]

Greg is a great storyteller. Interview him again. Interesting format, good subject.

[@kiefershanks4172]

Engineers, generally, hate being bossed around. They are obsessed with being in control which is absolutely warranted and needed in a good locomotive engineer. However, they greatly appreciate the assistance of a competent conductor and will happily listen to one that knows their stuff. They don't want to come to work and feel like the guy next to them is a useless tit that might get them disciplined or fired. I am a conductor in passenger rail and I would say that the comment about facilitating train movement is accurate. You are managing train movements but that doesn't mean bossing your coworkers around. You act as a sort of supervisor, ensuring the tasks at hand are done safely and efficiently working with your crew to get the train over the road. I will describe to family and friends that I am basically a co-pilot since the airplane comparison seems to help them understand the basic concept of what I do to an extent. A lot of it is impossible to describe without going into much more detail than anyone who isn't into trains would care for. Lol.

[@Hyce777]

Well said! Cheers.

[@ShadowDragon8685]

There's a _law_ that says freight has to give way to passenger traffic. Unfortunately, it's a law that has to be enforced by law _suit,_ rather than, say, the FRA saying "on such-and-such day at such-and-such time, XYZ freight drag was required by law to give way to passenger traffic and willfully did not, without any emergency or other exigent circumstances. Your fine is 3x the gross revenue from that freight drag, have a nice day." That law has been enforced, I believe, a grand total of _twice._ Once in the 1980s, once in the last year.

[@CNder77]

Very cool video and well put together, I learned a lot. Thank you so much. I’d love to work railroad! I asked class lll short line railroad here in town, that boss said not people like me -disablity breaks you in the industry, FRA is picky who they hire. That hurt to hear. I’ll have to stick to rail fanning. Thanks for your videos always enjoyable and educational

[@bnxboxman360]

Thank you for making this video, Mark! I hope to be with the railroad in some way soon, and this gives excellent insight.

[@espenschjelderup426]

When you mentioned safety I was reminded of the fatale accident 24. October here in Norway a couple hours south of me. Just south of the artic circle. When things go wrong it can go horrible wrong. The engineer lost his life and 4 people was hurt. The locomotive and the first 2 cars derailed because of a big rock fall. I think the locomotive, Di 4.653 was totalled. One of 5 in its class. But still compared to driving a car at the road trains are very safe.

[@adamgreenhaus4691]

That “end up dying” bit shook me for a second before you commented

[@PowerTrain611]

I've been on Amtrak's Southwest Chief a few times, and let me tell you... One of their conductors is probably one of the funniest and most enjoyable crew members to ever walk the face of the Earth. As I recall, the guy's name was Sam something or another, but you are more than likely recognize him from the video where the "conductor throws passenger off of Amtrak train" at La Plata station on the virtual railfan camera there. The guy is an absolute riot. It was a very long train ride, but boy did that man make it enjoyable... As if the scenery and being on a train wasn't enough for me.

[@captainsteve001]

Dear Hyce, I just had an idea. What if we attach diesel engines to tenders on steam locomotives? We could use the space underneath the tender for a fuel compartment like diesel locomotives and put the diesel trucks under the tender in place of its normal wheels! The only problem is why steam tenders didn't work: tractive effort. As a locomotive uses its fuel, the tender loses its tractive effort. As a counterproposal, I suggest we make the motors not too powerful. This way, they don't take up too much fuel space, and the main purpose of these motors is: moving. But not in the usual way. When you fire up a locomotive, it takes 30-1:30 for the boiler to heat up. With a diesel tender, you could move the locomotive around the yard at slow speeds to get it where it needs to go without firing the locomotive up fully. As an added benefit, the heat from the diesel tenders would heat up the water in the tender for the locomotive. Going up grades could help pull the train (but not very much). It could provide electricity as a generator. If a locomotive is uncoupled from the tender, the tender could move on its own if the controls were mounted on the tender. So why haven’t they done this yet? Has it been done before? Could it theoretically work? Thanks for your time, Yash

[@williamtheNWRS3class]

theres this one 2-8-2 at the green bay national railroad museum which had its tender motorized using a 44 tonner and people seem to absolutely hate that its gotten a fate like that which i find confusing

[@ryanforresterrenaissancesa4204]

I was a transit bus operator in San Jose, CA. Full-time positions started on the extra board with regular runs available with seniority. We did deadhead runs, schedules that coincided with Caltrain and Amtrak stations, we took passengers to and from the train stops, express runs to get people from downtown San Jose to the southernmost Bart station (at that time in Fremont, CA) and back. Downtown runs would get passengers to and from the light rail trains. Schedules were tight, sometimes too tight and when the schedule behind us was about to catch up we would have to call dispatch to be given a deadhead to get us back on schedule. During flooding we did bus bridges to cross passengers from stuck transit lines or stalled train schedules. I was tapped to cross over to light rail operation but had to relocate to Southern California due to family issues.

[@ridealongwithrandy]

Awesome video! I consider myself a lifelong train lover. I have a dedicated laptop that streams live video from Virtual Railfan of the Cajon Pass in California. I count the trains I see in a day and about 20-30 trains go by, I even saw my first rail car that had a wheel missing! Would that get reported back to BNSF? I'm 70 and this fills some of my time .. heehee. I learn so much from your videos. This one was especially educational as I always wondered about this topic. Cheers! from Alpine,CA

[@JonathanColemanMoreTrains]

I have a friend that was a conductor and also has been on a good amount of railroads like the Gettysburg and Northern railroad

[@salvatoreshiggerino6810]

To even further complicate things, some railroads have even merged the engineer and conductor roles. Which I guess is fine for freight when you have things like remote controlled locomotives, but I'm not sure if it's safe to have just pure customer service personnel in the back with the passengers. Edit: the Amtrak conductor does bring this up, but I don't think it's just about romance. A railroader will naturally have more authority to stop operations than a ticket checker has if something dangerous is happening.

[@Austriantrainguy]

The song "Schaffnerlos" by Wolfgang Ambros is not about conducters being withdrawn in the Schnellzüge (fast passenger train) but it is about the conducters being replaced by ticket machines in tramways. The song was whritten in 1978 or so and there is a great music video that shows some of the public transport around vienna in the good old days.

[@FSTM4003]

Im going to send this to everyone who confuses the engineer and conductor

[@mic-drop-74]

24 year freight conductor here. The job isn't hard, they pay you for the crap quality of life (12 hour days 6/7 days a week). Engineers move the train. Conductors are in charge of the train. Paperwork, hazardous material bills, talking to the dispatchers, switching cars in the yards, servicing industries, informing the engineer (now ptc does this) of any planned work or slow orders.

[@naciremasti]

That Brad Swartzwelter is kinda like the Shelby Foote of conductors. I could definitely listen to him talk about his travels.

[@theventuracountyrailfan]

You need to make a video about the narrow gauge diesels at crm and the modifications they wen through for narrow gauge service

[@atshinkansen7439]

Thank you for your in depth examination of the conductor’s true role. America’s detachment from railroading in everyday life I believe has led to an illiteracy of railroad terminology. On a separate note, I don’t know where else to suggest this, but could we see a video exploring what’s involved in changing the gauge of a steam locomotive, both from narrow to standard gauge, and in reverse?

[@BandanRRChannel]

I'm a volunteer conductor at a tourist railroad, and I can certainly say that that I've run into some interesting situations (a bat was involved in one of them). I've also done a little bit of shortline railroading, and I'll freely admit that I'd rather be a "weekend warrior" conductor than a day-in day-out one. As a side note, I also took and passed a musical conducting class in college, and I still have the baton somewhere. Now if only I'd gone into electrical engineering instead of civil, I could claim to be a superconductor! 😁

[@157RANDOM]

In Canada the French title for conductor is Chef de Train. Which is much more clear as to the job. You are the chief of the train. I do often get tired of having to explain what I do to family, friends, etc.

[@michealfeeney8920]

@ 0:00 Oh. This is your compilation of Conductor interviews that was mentioned in the past. I will say that I knew that the engineer actually ran the engine and the conductor conducted the train as a whole, letting the engineer know where they needed to stop and pick up or drop off cars, etc, as well as directing the brakemen and other passenger service crew memebers; but just reading your into paragraph makes it clear not even THAT really scratches the surface of the job. (PS: Most of this comes from observing operations of the ES&DT...)

[@PadraicORegan-to1cp]

Here in NZ we have Locomotive Engineers or Train Driver to the layman, with just single man crewing on our mainline freights. Our Mainline Passengers trains will have a Train Manager as opposed to a conductor, with this role typically being called a Guard for heritage operations

[@whoever6458]

Oh, so this is why the conductors knew why the track was bumpy in the Sonoran Desert! I had made a joke about it being extra bumpy and the guy told me all kinds of cool information and, yes, it goes through that desert at night but I couldn't sleep so I hung out in the observation car.

[@whoever6458]

I really enjoyed chatted with the conductor at like 3 am when I was awake in the observation car. Had a good laugh about the bumpy tracks with them and even thought of maybe joining the railroad myself. I have become terribly disabled in my increasing age and I've never been mentally capable with dealing with that many people so I'm afraid that's out like everything else. Still, the train wouldn't be the same without the conductors.

[@whoever6458]

Like they can't dispense with flight attendants, they shouldn't dispense with conductors either.

[@whoever6458]

Yes! I do not trust a robot, not even an AI robot, to solve unique problems. Sure, they don't come up much but, when they do, I want a human being who knows what the hell is going on. Also, love the Zephyr! Hell yeah!

[@Frauditor-Watch]

The best part of this video was the story of the wedding.. now that's the human side to public transportation which AI will BEVER duplicate

[@jamesedwards9857]

22:05 Price is my hometown! And I've got a lot of videos on my channel showing those oil trains he was talking about they are really big!

[@Austriantrainguy]

In austria we don´t have conducters... ...well not in this way. I'm not sure about freight trains but from what I know they only need a driver. Somethmes there also is a small crew, mostly 2-3 people, who help with shunting and check the cars on faults last minute before departure. In fast passenger trains you have the driver, one conducter and, if you have a buffet car, you also have restaurant personel (mostly one "chef" and some ammount of waiters and waitresses who serve in the buffet car and in the first class coaches). On these trains the conducter is responsible forchecking the tickets, the departures of the train (he has to get out of the train, look if everyone has gotten in/if noone blocks the doors, if everything is looking good he gives the driver a signal, gets into the train just before the doors lock and hopefully departs with the train) And also the shunting of the train (for examle if you have a double train with one locomothive at front and one in the middle and the two halvs travel together to a point where they split and go to different destinations one conducter has to uncouple the two parts) There is also Regional trains which are fast passenger trains but with a way denser schedule, a lot more stops, shorter lines, no classes and no buffet car. The conductor here has practically the same job like the one on the fast passenger train but without the shunting stuff. We also have local trains. They stop at every station and generaly are the buses of the rails but much more comfy. These trains sometimes have multiple conducters in them especially around bigger cities because in the cities are homeless people who tend to go on trains without tickets and also can get violent if you try to get them off the train. These conducters are only there for controlling tickets.

[@kleer7281]

Good stuff man! Keep it coming..

[@captainmorgan757]

The conductor, wearing the green flannel shirt, reminds me of Michael Gross.

[@takaneseven1465]

As a German living in Austria, I'm so used to trains without conductors, that I forget what the German word for it even is, you're more likely to see "Ticket Kontrolleure", who only check tickets, and often aren't even on board for the whole route, if at all. We also tend to call the actual conductors the same thing, since, as a passenger, you don't see much of anything else they do.

[@railwayjade]

The Frenchies own shares in the company I worked for and when they referred to the Drivers, they called us Conductors by accident because, in France, the driver/operator/engineer is called the Conducteur. Something else that is nice about working on the railway/railroad is that you don't have someone breathing down your neck while you work. And lets not forget the beautiful sunrises and sunsets!