One has few options: stay, leave or work for change. The work for change option requires more than one, but one can start the process and perhaps enlist a number of others who are also fed up with poorly managed, badly structured organizations and force the issue.....but you must have a better plan to sell in order to succeed.

dave

Back when I started out railroading, I could have taken the path towards qualifiing as an engineman but I went the other way. I ended up starting out as a trainman and ended up promoted to Conductor. Made Conductor at the end of my first year and was qualified as a Passenger Conductor on the NS a couple of years later (basically was told by managment that I was to be qualified on the NS). Our crew pools were small enough that one could advance quickly, depending on how much time you could put in.

When I first started out (and there were fewer federal requirements), the man who was Road Foreman of Engines had the basic rule that anyone who worked on the the engines in any capacity should have the basic skills and knowledge to operate a locomotive in an emergency. None of our locomotives had dead man features and thus, having other crewmembers know how to safely operate the locomotive was essential. Those who demonstrated the requisite level of maturity and responsibility were permitted to operate the locomotive under the supervision of the RFE himself and received instruction on the proper operation of the equipment. I remember the first time I ran a locomotive-I was working as head end brakeman and the RFE was running the locomotive. He motioned for me to step over to his side of the cab. As soon as I stepped over, he hopped up from the seat and told me to sit. I ran until we approached the station, where he took over. The more I worked with him, the longer I would get to run. Finally the day arrived where I took her in and made the station stop. Each time students ran the locomotive was on revenue trips with passengers in the back.

I've seen issues between maintenance and operations regarding operations. Some folks were held in higher regard than others. One conductor once made the remark that "he had to lower his IQ by twenty points to work in the shop." The shopmen didn't like him much. I spent a good deal of time working in and around the shop and busted my rear preparing the coaches for the day's work. Some conductors refused to do "dirty work" such as making couplings or checking the journal brasses. I would inspect the journals, filling them as needed and do all of the other tasks related to preparing the cars. All of the men I trained got a high level of instruction in the maintenance and operation of the car mechanical systems. My practice was that the shop should only be called upon to perform tasks that required a specialist to repair or something that was beyond the capability of the train crew to attend to. My attitude was that when I signed the register, I was accepting responsibility for the equipment being entrusted to me-in my case three very expensive passenger cars.

We had some folks who would show up just prior to departure time and that eventually caused enough problems (read train delays) that management began requiring minimum report times. Depending on the train, the minimum report time might be as much as an hour before departure. On the excursion trains, I was always at the yard the evening before to assist in stocking the cars and prepping for the trip. That way all I had to do to prepare for departure would literally be turning on the lights, air conditioning and do the brake test. If the diesel's engineer was one of our older members, I'd also take the stack covers off for him (the older members weren't very keen on climbing up there). Others would ask why I did that and my response was always the same. Kept me from getting rushed and if I found an issue for the shop to fix, they had twelve hours or more to fix it.
There were times that I left cars behind due to mechanical issues or in a couple of cases,

I have delt with both good and bad organizations. Some of them are set up ike frat houses and if you don't fit into the click then you are out. One organization booted me out because of a stupid video I made on You Tube which although was done safely and utilized SFX depicted unsafe behavior around railroads (I wonder if Chris Pine would be banned from volunteering for be in unstoppable?) Turns out that said organization got kicked off the railroad they were using for "safety concerns" and could no longer run trains. Maybe if they were focused on their practices rather than stupid videos this would not have happened. What do they say about Karma?
Another organization I had to deal with a lot of bull. Getting yelled at by the GM for calling the fire department when a derelict building next to the station parsley collapsed during a volunteer cook out at the station has to take the cake. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT FOR? YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DO THAT! YOU NEED TO ASK US BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT." the GM then went on to tell me there was no need to call the fire department because they called the owner. Turns out there was a gas line running through that part of the building!
I have also been part of great organizations that make sure to let the volunteers know what they are doing matters and that organization has had an influx of younger volunteers coming in.

So in short there are good and bad organizations, and don't make stupid you tube videos even if they are fake and just for fun.