learning curve

Hmmmm....I fired longer than most promoted engineers , about 12 years .Old timers might have worked as long as 20 years before sitting in the "four dollar seat", on the right hand side . I watched as lot of engineers screw up ,get beat over the head by the equipment ,conductors and supervisors .Of course ,I didn't learn a thing ! I learned it all over for my self ,first hand . The late Bill Huffman said that old timers believed that you started to get good at engineering after your 1000th trip .The hell of it is ,he was right. The short of it is I could show anyone on this page how to run an engine in only a week or two .But it would take years of experience to really know what you are doing . The Nevada Nothern offers an "engineer for a day" option for only $300 ,I did it and I recommend it . I am not sure if the C&TS could do it because of the FRA scrutiny . An interesting thing is the best engineers were "naturals" at the job . Often individuals with heavy equipment experinece were excellent engineers . "Brains" has nothing to do with it ."Feel" has everything to do with it . Remember ,you are not just running an engine .You are handling a train several hundred feet long . I have seen engineers that went from good to terrible . I have also seen engineers that never got it right . Since I personally worked very hard on two railroads to get promoted to engineer I have a great deal of respect for the position . I have some very mixed feelings about making the position a commodity for sale .