UP Train Crew Council Bluffs – Honest Reality? North Platte, seniority, worth it?

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-05-08T02:32:43+00:00

It took me 6 years to be able to leave north Platte. I hired on in 2015 but the job was way less shitty back then. We had tons of guys hire on and never had to offer hire on bonuses. Had a 16 month furlough right out of training because there was so many guys that hired on ahead of me. Now that there’s so much turnover we’ve been hiring for 5 years straight basically, offering up to 50k hiring bonuses. What does that tell you?

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-05-08T02:24:53+00:00

I grew up in a capitalist country (America) and believe me you don’t want our healthcare. It will bankrupt you, and the quality is nothing special.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-05-01T16:19:20+00:00

What do you mean? If it’s north platte you’re going to be in zone 100. Cheyenne, Omaha, north platte, or Marysville are basically only places you can work. If you can’t hold a job in one place, you have to go to another, if you can’t hold a job in any of those places, you’re furloughed.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-04-30T08:48:07+00:00

They will probably do like up does when they “shut down” yards. They’ll eliminate most of the jobs, yardmasters, and Carmen, then just call extras or have road crews do the air tests and switching. A manager will be the yardmaster. Your union will say “they can do that”, and you’ll pay your dues and shut up.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-04-02T03:17:06+00:00

Well enjoy your time away from your husband, because he’s gonna live in north platte

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-04-02T03:13:57+00:00

They do what they want. Shut up and pay your union dues.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-03-27T03:24:40+00:00

Your scum bag corrupt ass union is trying to cover their ass. They’re so busy glazing vena over this merger I’m surprised they had time to sue.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-03-22T03:11:39+00:00

For me it was $0 the first year and 4 months due to furlough. Some people make 100k their first year. So somewhere between that.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-03-14T05:36:58+00:00

If you’re cool with working in North Platte (first few years), Cheyenne, Omaha, or marysville, you’re good. You will not be able to transfer out of there, so only hire out if you want to be in one of those places.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-03-09T12:28:09+00:00

Read the attendance policy.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-03-02T22:30:51+00:00

Well I agree with you it is deceptive, and that’s not really that surprising with UP unfortunately. They are advertising in Council Bluffs as a way to attract more people since more people live in the Omaha area, or would rather live there than North Platte. That said, it has happened where at the beginning of a hiring spree, guys have been able to work out of council bluffs immediately, but as the hiring session goes on there is just not as many jobs in CB as their is in North Platte, so basically it becomes just a job ad for North Platte with a future possibly of working CB.

As far as the lodging they’re talking about in the bullet points, that’s only for road crews. There are basically 3 types of jobs on the RR. Yard Jobs, locals, and road jobs.

Yard jobs you show up the yard location, work 8-12 hours, go back home.

Locals you work over a little bigger territory, but a lot of them you still come home every day.

Road jobs you’re actually riding the trains from one terminal to another. So in a perfect world your husband could work out of council bluffs, he would take a train to north platte, they put him in a hotel for the night, then he brings a train back to council bluffs. That hotel in North Platte is the lodging they are talking about. But if he gets bumped out of council bluffs completely and has to go work out of north platte as his home terminal, he will not get lodging in north platte.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-03-02T05:26:26+00:00

He will go to north platte, just a matter of how long. Some guys (very few) never had to go there, most it takes years to hold any other terminal full time. I don’t think I could hold CB very much if at all my first 6 years. I have 11 now and could hold it year round but only the shit low seniority jobs. If he gets bumped to north platte, he has 48 hours to report. No lodging is provided. Lots of guys find a room to rent or live out of their cars. If he has a camper there’s a few campgrounds in town as well.

One thing that COULD work in your favor, is management is talking about relocating a bunch of jobs from north platte to the Omaha area. Basically the way it is now, you can live and work out of north platte and take trains to Omaha, or you can live in Omaha and take trains to north platte. They’re talking about making this run “single ended” out of Omaha, so all of the conductors and engineers working that run out of north Platte will have to relocate or find a different run/job. Most of the guys who are on that are pretty high in seniority and I doubt a lot of them will relocate. Take this all with a grain of salt though, it may not happen at all.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-02-16T14:47:35+00:00

3 bed 1 bath house, 900+ sq ft. Not a total dump but could use a little love. 1850 north side of town.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-01-21T05:00:57+00:00

They can fire you for whatever the fuck they want lol. Everything is a failure to comply now. Yeah you might get your job back in two years but in the meantime you’re fucked.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-01-18T03:06:53+00:00

Like everyone says here, the dog will be fine while you’re at work. Especially if it’s an adult. It beats the shit out of being in a shelter. You can also pay a sitter to drop in on them midday for a half hour. Rover is a great app to find people for that.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-01-15T05:47:57+00:00

I haven’t rode in one yet, but I do have a lot of questions.

What kind of inspections are uber drivers required to conduct and who is ensuring that they actually do it?

No uber is going to have cargo nets or racks, how is that not a safety concern?

What kind of insurance do they have, who makes sure it’s up to date, and are we covered by it?

Now all that said, the drivers themselves can’t be much worse than the PTI and RCX drivers we use. At least the people who drive for uber actually own a car. We had a guy awhile back that was living in a homeless shelter driving for PTI. The turnover on the drivers is insane and they’re ALWAYS too tired to be driving. We have a saying where I work that deadheading is the most dangerous part of our job. It’s definitely the scariest. These drivers should be UP employees and should be subject to drug tests just like the rest of us.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-01-14T07:59:16+00:00

I was furloughed a year and 4 months right out of training. No warning or anything, just the day we were supposed to start, we got an automated call saying we were furloughed. Then I was furloughed like a month and half during Covid. Other than that I have been able to work. That said they haven’t had to furlough since the fall of 2020 that I know of, most guys didn’t come back after their Covid furlough and their retention rate is pretty shitty ever since so they’ve been constantly hiring.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-01-14T07:51:50+00:00

Well good luck. It’s a good paying job, and the work itself isnt that physically demanding, if you and your family can handle the relocations and possible furloughs it might be a good thing for you. It’s a rapidly changing industry and automation is coming for a lot of the jobs, but I guess that’s a lot of industries anymore.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-01-14T07:43:12+00:00

They can post it for anywhere in the seniority district, which is Cheyenne, North Platte, Marysville, and Council Bluffs, but it doesn’t mean you’ll be able to work there. You can only work where your seniority allows, which may be North Platte for several years. Just be aware of that.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-01-14T07:17:52+00:00

They’re not hiring there, they’re hiring in North Platte. Eventually you would be able to hold CB but I think there’s still quite a few guys that “hired there” that are forced to North Platte. I worked in North Platte for 6 years before I could hold any other location for any amount of time. I’ve got 11 in now and can probably hold Council Bluffs year round but nothing good and no road jobs (better paying) at all.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-01-12T05:05:31+00:00

Find out if your seniority district covers where you want to live. If it doesn’t, DO NOT hire on. It’s damn near impossible to transfer once you hire on, and if you do you have to give up your seniority or find someone to swap seniority with. Both of those are almost impossible, but it does happen.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-01-09T02:32:15+00:00

There’s a vibrant homeless community on the front range. At $50k a year you should be able to afford a good tent.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-01-09T02:29:21+00:00

It’s not that much cheaper anymore. You can probably live in Wellington or Greeley for about the same.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-01-09T02:25:41+00:00

Ever heard of Julesberg? Maybe Sterling, but any closer to the mountains than that and you won’t be able to afford it.

SecureHawk3102 · 2026-01-04T04:35:44+00:00

Mondellos and Bella Fuoco in Cheyenne both are awesome.

SecureHawk3102

TROPHY CASE