Modoc Railroad Academy?

I wouldnt pay to train if I could get paid to train ( no pun intended LOL)....all those schools do is give you a link to the RRs ...which you can do yourself if you look hard enough...Check out all the class 1 websites as well as Watco, Railtex etc.......shortlines could offer a great opportuntity in the right area so I wouldnt dismiss them at all....good luck..

This is a commonly asked question. To put it simply....it depends on which railroad you are wanting to hire out with. I work for BNSF....so I'll speak my opinion on BNSF only. Where the other guys may not have met a graduate of NARS...I have met several...and several work with me. NARS in overland park kansas....IS maintained by BNSF. It IS a BNSF school. BNSF employee are the instructors in alot of the classes. I won't go so far as to say BNSF owns it....but they do manage a wing of the college where NARS is. BNSF hires internally first...as mentioned....craft transfers. They're already employed so why not? Most generally...a class of 25 conductors may have up to 5 transfers....and often times....none. I only know a couple of craft transfers where I work. If there is an interview for 20 positions. 500 people apply and 200 get interviewed. Out of those 200 interviewed there are 5 transfers and 15 NARs graduates.......they will all be hired before anyone else. Unless you just blow the interview. Transfers and NARS is the only sure bet at getting hired. Everyone else is just getting lucky.....or there weren't any NARS or transfers that applied for the job. Your problem is.........when are you going to work? Everyone is furloughed right now. It's steadily picking up....but alot are still out of work. I'd say in the next five years.....there will be another massive hiring due to alot of retirees. The sooner you hire out...the better your seniority will be...eventually....but it's having to deal with not being able to work for a while that sucks.

Well, I strongly disagree with both rango and andy, no offense, but I believe that if you want to go, just go, since im still in high school, and with the way the economy is, i would go for it which i am, but im going to the national academy of railroad sciences in kansas, owned and operated by bnsf, the second largest railroad in america, and that is one of the reasons i am going, since bnsf is the only company i want to work for, and i think it will look good on a resume, just think about it would you rather have on your resume nothing, or a national academy of railroad sciences conductor training program graduate, or modoc railroad academy conductor training program graduate, just think of it.

Most railroads use the following in their hiring sequence: First, internal transfers, people that have started with the company in entry level positions and have a good work record have first shot at these jobs. Then people from other RRs with experience and a good work history. Then people "off the street", this would include academy graduates, graduates will generally have a leg up on off the street applicants as they have already demonstrated a desire to work in the industry. Academies are OK, I guess. I have never met an academy graduate personally. Their certificate isn't recognized by any RR I ever worked on, you still have to get that from your employer. An academy degree does demonstrate a strong desire and willingness to work in the RR industry and that looks good on a resume. An alternative course to consider might be entry level position, most of these are in the track department as seasonal laborer, these people have established a work record and are always the first applications they look at when hiring in operating (train service) department. Good Luck! edit: it would be interesting to see what their job placement is from 2005 on, funny they dont have much to say abou that. Back in 2000 railroads were so short of people they were actaully advertising on radio and newspapers, they couldnt get enough applicants to fill the positions they had.