A yardmaster is truly the master of the yard (a yard is like a station
for freight trains). Yardmasters delegate the work of all the yard's employees,
from switchers and mechanics to clerks and dispatchers.
They also coordinate the classifying, blocking and marshaling of boxcar
traffic -- lining them up according to how they'll be let off along the route,
and ensuring tank cars of dangerous chemicals aren't riding the rails in a
powder keg order.
Yardmasters make sure their busy yards run smoothly. Using the yard's links
and tracks, they dissolve and build trains to make sure they come and go on
time with the right loads and engines strong enough to carry them. And they
have to work fast before the line gets plugged with waiting trains.
"Imagine a giant jigsaw puzzle where you're hemmed in because you can only
move the pieces along their tracks," says Ella Rayburn. She is the curator
of the Steamtown National Historic Site, a museum of steam-engine locomotives.
"You only have so much track, and you have to make sure they fit while
getting them into the right order. Some cars go at the front, some at the
end. It all depends on their weight and what gets dropped off first and last."
A lot goes on in a yard, and a yardmaster has to be on top of it all. From
their perch in a tower overlooking the noisy domain, yardmasters also oversee
maintenance workers to ensure the engines and signals are in good working
order to prevent delays and disasters down the line.
"I'm surrounded by phones, radios, computers and people," says yardmaster
David Belcher. "I'd compare it to an air traffic controller, but I think there's
probably more stress in that job."
Stress is a way of life for yardmasters. But most have come to enjoy the
busy element of their demanding work. They say there's always a fresh challenge
in a job where something different happens every day.
"One day it may be dealing with a tough crew, trying to make them work
in rough weather. Other days you'll find you don't have the locomotives you
need, or enough room on the tracks for the cars," says Josh Turner. He is
a general yardmaster in Norfolk, Virginia.
"There's always some little challenge, but it's neat to meet and overcome
it," he says. "I love all of it. From hard days to easy days, it's all fun."
"I quite enjoy the pace," says yardmaster Steve Lucas. "It's what makes
a difficult day worthwhile, when there's a lot going on. You get such a sense
of satisfaction when you can make it all happen. That makes it easy to ride
out the stress."
There are some smaller yards whose masters function in a mobile role out
with the crews. But most of a yardmaster's duties are confined to a desk.
People with special physical needs shouldn't have difficulty with the job.
"The railway companies call it a sedentary position," says Dennis Schweitzer.
He is a former yardmaster. "But you do have to be medically fit enough to
meet the eyesight and hearing standards that all railway workers have to pass."
The railroad never sleeps, so there's always someone standing watch in
the tower. Yardmasters generally work in eight-hour shifts, though rarely
9 to 5. Some even work in 12-hour staggered shifts when there aren't enough
yardmasters to go around.
"I work [from] 6 in the morning until 6 at night, three days on, two days
off," says Belcher. "It can be pretty exhausting. Halfway through your third
shift, you're pretty worn out and you find yourself making mistakes."