Railroad PR in 1976

Santa Fe sent a whole folder of material, including an annual report, a promo brochure, career info, and the card of their P.R. person.

Southern also filled a large envelope both  with career info, and some neat brochures.

Southern Pacific enclosed this nifty 1973 issue of their "BULLETIN" magazine, this magazine was full of color photos.

Maine Central was very negative about their future career opportunities, but sent along this nice annual report.

Seaboard Coast Line sent a letter concerning careers, plus this small promo brochure. (apologies for the bad scan)

BN sent very useful career info,, imagine today going to RR employment right from high school!

"Sheesh. All I got was a rock."

I was 7 years old in 1976, so a career in railroading wasn't on my radar then...

Or later, now that I think on it.

It actually never crossed my mind to even look into railroads as a career path at any point in my life, until for a brief moment after I left the military. I was never one for unions, so that idea exited my consciousness as fast as it entered.

BORDEN TUNNEL, Very interesting topic...you were 2 years ahead of me. I remember looking at (pretty sure this is what it was called) the Educational Outlook Handbook in my guidance counselors office around 1978. This was a thick (like the thick old phone books) book of many types of different jobs that could be possibly available. He correctly advised me that it wasn't a good time for the railroads, especially in the Northeast (the Penn Central years were gone, but still in a memory and Conrail was new). It worked out OK as I hope to retire in another 4-5 years after around 33-35 years of working in college financial aid offices. 

Tom 

The AAR (Association of American RRs) came through with some brochures, the most useful was this Yearbook of RR Facts (1975 edition).

An older item in my collection is this 1966 AAR brochure, which certainly was loaded with photos.
I believe these were made available in elementary school.
One somewhat bizarre photo was this one of a "modern" freight diesel; the ALCO C855 was a failure.

I never got a RR job, spent over 4 years (1977-1981) on a Chessie System waiting list in Cumberland,MD. Almost no one was hired there during that time, one had to register with the State of Maryland Job service, and reregister every 6 months to remain eligible. I sometimes regret I didn't get to go railroading, but I much prefer a regular 7-3 day job and weekends off.

Here's a different take on this subject:  As an old guy who had just retired at age 51 from the phone company, and realizing that my family couldn't live on half a paycheck every week, I thought about getting a job as a signal maintainer for the LIRR.  What could be neater...combining my experience with electrical controls and my passion for trains?  I had worked outdoors all my life and weather didn't scare me.  

I happened to be in Lancaster, PA one day, and wandered out to take a look at the signal tower next to the Amtrak station. A gent in a suit saw that I was interested and asked me what my story was. I said that I might be interested in working as a signal guy for the LIRR and wondered if he knew how to go about it. As it turned out, he was the division manager of the signals group and he administered the entry test to me the next day, just for an unofficial evaluation. The test is roughly the same, he explained, for all the former PRR entities.  I aced the test, and was pretty cocky about it. 

When I got home to eastern Long Island, I called and set up an interview in Jamaica, to apply for a job. Before I made the two-hour trip for the interview, I had a nice chat with an HR person. I told him that I realized that the railroad had a signal depot in Riverhead and one in Southampton, and that either of those locations would be acceptable to me as a reporting point. He very politely apologized and asked me my age. I told him that I was 51. He said "Well, you would have to start off working out of the Jamaica office, and get a transfer as your seniority would allow. Positions 'Out East' are very desirable and lots of guys are on the waiting list.  You'll probably be able to get a position out there by the time you're 107 years old." 

I wrote to seven major western railroads seeking work just before I graduated college in diesel technology. I had one interview offer and landed a great job in 1978. My first field assignment was doing special inspections on DD40's at North Platte !

There was massive downsizing in the entire USA railroad industry through  the 1980's. Seniority prevailed. I had a fabulous job while it lasted, traveled a lot and saw different places including multiple visits to the EMD and GE locomotive factories.

Love the history and the pictures gentlemen, keep them coming!