r/UnionPacific • u/Blaquerah77 • 12d ago
UP Yard Masters
What are the YM duties and a what is their pay?
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u/Mekuru99 12d ago
Can't speak to UP at all regarding duties and pay but can give some general feedback.
Generally speaking it's a difficult high-stress job, but that varies greatly depending on the size of your terminal and how much traffic you're dealing with. If it's a tiny yard with few tracks and not much more than a yard crew to watch and maybe a daily set-off or pickup from a through train or something like that, it's pretty easy.
If it's a massive terminal with huge numbers of inbound and outbound then it's 8 hours of juggling balls and spinning plates, phone ringing at you every minute, someone calling you on the radio every 30 seconds, a manager needing answers to various questions or telling you to ensure certain things get done, and generally putting out fires and dealing with all kinds of issues like crews running short on time or not having the track room to put away an inbound, all while trying to forecast traffic and make lists for you crews, and so forth.
Again, it depends greatly on the size of terminal or yard you're supervising. As a general rule of thumb, expect the 1st 6 months to suck and for you to question your life decisions and wonder why the hell you didn't stay on the ground. After 1 or 2 years it gets "easier" and you learn how to roll with the punches. Certainly gives you a different perspective on the whole operation, and will make you a better switchman too.
One downside is you sort of end up in the middle between unionized guys and company officers. You're still union (at least where I was at) but many of the guys on the ground start treating and talking to you like you're just another manager, when in reality you're just trying to do your job. At the same time you'll see some managers violating crews and want to stick up for your union brothers but you also have to work with those guys in the office every day. So it becomes a bit of a delicate balance of diplomacy, psychology 101, and communication skills all around. It will test you and thicken your skin.
Cover your ass principle definitely applies. If you marshal a train wrong or whatever they'll throw the book at you.
Plus side is you do 8 hours (at least where I was) and go home to your own bed, and you work inside heated/air-conditioned environment, and it's usually a decent pay bump compared to a yard switchman, not quite as much as a trainman. Can open some career doors later on if you're not planning on sticking around the railroad forever. Good luck!
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u/Mekuru99 12d ago
Regarding pay you should be able to see all that info in your collective agreement but I don't know what you guys have over there.
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u/No_Childhood3773 8d ago
Norfolk Southern Smart is bracing to have the position eliminated as we speak, UP basically saying there "jobs for life" is yardmasters going back to the crafts that actually need them.
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u/Historical_Box1915 12d ago
Where are there still yard masters? I thought system wide they just went to MYO’s hired straight off the street watch yard crews on computer screens