This is a good thread. The UP new hire class takes about 14 weeks to complete and you do come out as a fully qualified conductor. There are a lot of people who have some sort of unjustified compulsion to say that no one should be qualified in that short of amount of time. The truth is that the only requirements to be hired as a conductor are being 18 years old and having a high school diploma (or GED). That means that no matter how much pride we have in our careers, almost any moron can do it. Not everyone will be competent or good at their jobs, but the unions will protect them anyway.

We can argue all we want, but the bottom line is that we have a job that requires no education, skills or training to obtain, and only minimal training to maintain.