Gordon Bowe doesn’t become personal friends with all of his passengers. But after more than three decades of walking the aisles as a conductor on Metra trains to and from Chicago, Bowe, known by many as “Gordo,” has come to know those who ride the trains from Elburn through La Fox and Geneva, sometimes more [...]
Academy adds rail degree program
April 25, 2013
VANCOUVER, Wash. — The International Air and Hospitality Academy has added a new program called the Northwest Railroad Institute. The new degree program will be the fourth such program offered in the U.S. Students taking the six-month program will be provided with training for freight railroad careers including freight conductors, conductor trainees, brakemen, switchmen and [...]
Lollapalooza of event aids injured conductor
May 9, 2011
Norfolk Southern conductor Larry McVay, 43, caught a bad break Jan. 3 when he lost his right arm and right leg in a horrendous switching accident near Lafayette, Ind. His brothers and sisters in UTU Local 768 and UTU NS General Committee of Adjustment 687 — and others who read and heard about the accident [...]
Conductor, engineer dead in Iowa collision
April 18, 2011
RED OAK, Iowa — A BNSF conductor and an engineer were killed in a rear-end train accident near here Sunday morning, April 17. Red Oak is southeast of Council Bluffs and is part of BNSF’s Creston subdivision, which has centralized traffic control, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. Killed were conductor and UTU Local 199 (Creston, [...]
UTU, MBCR in tentative conductor agreement
February 18, 2011
BOSTON — Some 450 UTU-represented conductors and assistant conductors on Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad (MBCR) have a tentative new agreement covering wages, benefits and working conditions.A ratification vote is currently underway, with ballots to be counted March 17. The tentative four-year agreement is retroactive to July 2009, and may be reopened for amendment in July [...]
UTU member pulls pin after 42 years
June 21, 2010
When Art Anderson started working for passenger railroads, the Beatles were still together, and everyone still dressed up for work, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “Things are a lot more casual these days,” said Anderson, 59, who retires next month after 42 years, the last 20 as a Metra conductor. “You see very few people [...]
