How does one interested in steam start a career in the industry? I have several years experience as a conductor for a Class 1 and a shortline but, that obviously isn't enough. Would I be better off attending a 4 year college or a learning a trade such as machining or welding?

I'm sure I could think of many other questions but, I just wanted to get the discussion started to see what others say before I get too deep into it.

First, build a time machine.......

Look in the classifieds. Strasburg and Ross are accepting applications. Send inquiries to tourist lines that run a LOT of steam. Apply to theme parks that run more steam then tourist lines ever do.

Education in tradecraft like manual machining, welding (especially leading to pressure vessel certification), fabrication, materials science, fabrication, and project management is very useful. Theoretical stuff like engineering and thermodynamics is interesting but not entirely necessary for a wrench turner. I'm assuming here that you will start as a shop hand or mechanical apprentice. Once involved in it practically, you can then start to increase the depth of you knowledge in theoretical areas to the extent you desire, with a much grater comprehension as to how the theories apply in the real world than a college only no hands on graduate engineer.

Find a project and volunteer. Find an operation and volunteer. Move to the Raleigh Durham SMSA and join NHVRR Steam Crew and learn the care and feeding of a simple 0-4-0T from the bottom up. You will need another source of income while learning, however.

Good luck, and be aware it is akin to joining a monastery and taking the vow of poverty.

dave

And as a learning tool, obtain a set of the ICS "blue book" steam textbooks on eBay or wherever else you can find them, they are well written and were the basis for correspondence learning programs subscribed by many railroads for their employees in the first half of the 20th century.

PC

> Good luck, and be aware it is akin to joining a monastery
> and taking the vow of poverty.

Nah, you don't earn that much. :) At least the monks get free room and board, at the tourist railway you're on your own!

Actually there are a few (very few) paying postions on steam/tourist railways where you can make a living wage. But you probably won't own a yahct, and you'll be very lucky if you manage to score one of those coveted jobs.

Having skills sets they desire helps, machinist, welder, boiler maker, carpenter etc. Train service jobs tend to be seasonal on all but a few lines, and winters can get tough.

Suggestion, decide what you want to do (what kind of job) and then you can talk specifics. Obviously a 4 year degree might be far more useful for a marketing or sales type person than it would for a welder who would be better off with a certification and experience.

Correct me if I am wrong but, with many of the paid operations such as Steamtown or UP, aren't most crew members a bit of a "jack of all trades" type of people? In other words, one day a guy might be riveting staybolts or machining new bearings and the next he will be firing.

I certainly have no dreams of becoming rich doing it but, I'm a believer in doing what you love.

This is an interesting topic for a railfan father and former volunteer on the HICO and on the Ohio Central. I never realized what would happen when I got my son a summer job on the NH&I just doing maintainance. He was able to move up to a student fireman when they were short on fireman and has since gotten his engineer's license. My son just graduated from college with a degree in mechanical engineering. He was offered three interships during his junior year. All of the companies, major utiliies, called him back BECAUSE he had been working for thte railroad and had worked on high pressure boilers. We never thought that this would be a plus on his resume, but it made him stand out among other candidates. He is back on the NH&I this summer filling in where ever needed. He leaves in August for Clemson to pursue a master's degree at their expense. The railroad experience even helped him in getting a paid GTA position. One of the professors that interviewed my son even had pen and ink drawings of steam locomotives hanging in his office. So, this experience can be a jumping off point for other positions. My son has told me that he enjoys working part time, firing and running, but he would not want to do it on a full time basis.

Ron;

Your comments about your son's experience and the doors it opened for him sound, to me at least, like a confirmation of what heritage steam railroading can bring to the industry and to America itself. It is almost a real life echo of Graham Clator's opinion that a steam locomotive is the best ambassador a railroad can have, and David P. Morgan's statement that a steam excursion program could assert the new as much as it honored the past.

To paraphrase Thomas the Tank Engine (or perhaps Mr. Toppemhat), "A proper railroad has to have at least one steam locomotive running about--and two or three are better, for their companionship to each other."

That which was old can become new again.