SP1996, best check into all this before you go any further. A pool is a group/list of people, one
for engineers, one for conductors that determines the sequence of you being called for a job/turn/
other. There are long pools, usually high seniority for trains which can travel as much as 400
miles, short pools for other assignments and as mentioned when you run out of people you go to the
extra board which is a pool all upon itself. The extra board is usually people who don't have
enough seniority to hold a regular pool job. Now, take Roseville for instance. You can go to Reno/
Sparks, Redding, the Bay area, Fresno/Bakersfield, Stockton or several other places. Anything
other than Roseville for most pools is an "away" terminal. Yes, some away terminals have their own
power and crews but those guys have pretty much all been around for a while and have "bid" into
those jobs as they come available based on their seniority. If you hire on to the UP and they take
you they can request you show up for work pretty much at any hub. They do try to place you in your
normal locale but if you want to work you're going where they place you. You mention watching
crew changes, places like Elko NV are double away terminals and have both Salt Lake and Sparks
crews staying over. You can see the same thing happen at Fresno and Bakersfield.