Home Stretch - The Final Weeks in Wilmington

So here we are, the home stretch.  I'm in my final two weeks of training at Amtrak's, Wilmington Training Facility.  All preceding tests have been passed and am now approaching the final two that will send me home to see my family and continue into the next phase of the overall training process.  I've made all my necessary checklist trips while out here on the East Coast and am ready to highball back to a more regular way of life. 

I passed my most recent test in revenue with a 92%.  I should have done a little bit better but I must get a little excited with those things because I typically answer one or two wrong on them even though I know the correct answer.  I seem to get ahead of myself by reading the question and identifying the answer, yet I circle the wrong answer on tests.  I did that twice.  I even go back over each individual answer on the test to double check for mistakes or ones that I skip to answer later on.  I passed nonetheless so ultimately that's all that matters. It still bothers me though that I regularly do that in test taking.  With that said, the two most important ones remain: signals and operating rules.  With signals, we need to know our respective territories signals by name and definition, word for word.  With operating rules, we have a hundred question final that goes over everything from safety, movement, working limits, switching, restrictions and so forth.  On the signals test we need to be able and pass it with 100%, the operating rules test requires us to pass with at least 88%.  Up to this point, I'm feeling pretty confident that I will pass both of them.  I've had my signals memorized pretty quickly since they were the same ones that I knew when I was working over with BNSF.  I brushed up on them a couple weeks in and have occasionally gone over them just to stay on top of them.  The operating rules that in learning are also the same ones that I trained with in Montana, so these two tests are very familiar to me as we go over all of the same information that I tested on over a year ago in Montana.  I still understand its importance and am not overlooking it by any means.  I'll browse over, have Siri read to me the rules as I ride the exercise bike.  I'll test myself regularly when I'm on the train taking trips or if I'm in the car and even when I'm just lying in bed.  I think I should be fine with it.  

I have continued to take my off time very seriously as well.  I've marked off my checklists on things to do and places to eat.  So in my time here: I've gone to five different Major League Baseball parks, I've been to five of the oldest bars in America with the oldest one being built in 1674, I've eaten at eight different Philadelphia cheesesteak establishments for a future post on a review of "The Best Philly Chessesteak", I've been to the monuments, Smithsonian's, museums, observation towers, tourist points, historic grave sites, along with the most popular eating establishments that the major cities here have to offer.  I've had a good time out here and have gotten to do a lot of neat things during this experience, I'll miss it a little bit.  I think the luxury of being able to get on a train and have places like Philadelphia, DC, and New York at my disposal will be what I miss the most.  It is definitely an experience in its own class in comparison  to the training I took a year ago even though I've shared about the ironic similarities between the two.  I definitely think about the experience in Montana a lot.  The hands on work pops up a lot in my head during discussions.  I miss it.  

I am afraid of the next chapter, honestly.  How does the next thirty years look like? Is this it?  What will the dynamic of my family life look?  An interesting road ahead for sure, I don't know how it looks or what is really driving me in this current moment other than its the road I've been traveling.  I miss the fire department too.  I really enjoyed everything about that work. One thing at a time, I suppose.  One day at a time.  Ten more of those until I get to see my kids.  I look forward to that as I'm in this, the final countdown. 

Here are pictures of some of the oldest bars in America. 

Fraunces in NYC. 

City Tavern in Philly

The Horse you Came in on was one of the last places Edgar Allen Poe was seen before he died. 

Jessops Tavern in Delaware, est. 1674

The Tipping Point - Rolling by the Halfway Point in Conductor Training

Well today officially marks the tipping point.  We hit the halfway mark in railroad training and have only four and a half weeks left in our training before we all go back to our respective crew bases and move into the next phase of this process of becoming a Class 1 Conductor for Amtrak.  As of today, we have taken several tests and am sitting at a cumulative of approximately 95% on my tests. 

We've gone over many topics and we are currently in the process of going over air brakes and car handling.  We've spent the week in Philadelphia learning air brakes, moving cars and so forth.  Our big test for it is this Friday.  We will then move into revenue and then the meat and potatoes...operating rules and signals.  Those are the two critical tests which you need an 88% to pass for rules and 100% for the signals which we need to know verbatim.  I got to the point last week where I felt like I could test the signals at any point and know all 80 plus signals and what their indications mean word for word.  The operating rules should be a familiarizing process as well.  

 

The last couple of weeks out here have come and gone since my last post.  I am still feeling very comfortable about this process as each subject breezes on by. I am ready to get back home though.  I miss my family and my home.  In Montana, I had the luxury of a larger portion of the training devoted to on the job training where I was able to have larger periods of time where I had my solitude and more hands on learning as well.  They are both equally rewarding experiences in their own respects.  I just miss being home I guess.  I've taken several trips with my down time.  Whether it be New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. or Baltimore, it's been good to just get away with my free time.  I have definitely put in dozens of miles on these trips by foot.  They're fulfilling yet extremely exhausting because of the number of places to be seen in those cities.  I've seen a number of great things out here like Ben Franklins grave, the monuments in DC, The Empire State Building just to name a few.  I think out of everything that I've seen or done out here, some of the best moments come when my wife sends me a video text of the things she does back at home with the kids.  I love getting the videos of Roman during his tee-ball games of him hitting the ball and playing.  I enjoy being around peers and doing things together but nothing beats family and the joys that go along with that.  I was recently dreaming a dream in relation to a previous trip I had taken with Peggy and really would love to do another epic road trip with her.  It is one of the fondest memories of us together.  Everything was so pure, true and care free.  I dream of reliving that moment in reality instead of just being in my head.  I don't know if that's even possible but to dream a dream I will.  God willing.  

I have a return date, May 21st.  I look forward to seeing everyone back home.  I look forward to getting on the road and doing the job.  I look forward to getting it all back. My family most importantly!  Whatever that future holds, I place in Gods hands and will just continue to do right by him and try.  I trust in him and know that his will is just.  I'm finding a peace in knowing him and trusting that.  Life is life and there aren't perfect moments but there is Him and His love and that is good enough for me.  

I appreciate readers.  Followers, likers, friends and family.  Those that love, like and support me through all of this.  Thank you.  Truly, I do.  From the bottom of my heart.  None of this wouldn't be entirely possible without all the singular parts played to make this happen.  Thank you all, God Bless!

Deja Vu...at the Amtrak Training Facility

A new chapter is finally here.  I'm in Wilmington, Delaware at the Amtrak Training Facility going through another Conductor certification for a Class 1 railroad.  It's ironic that at exactly this time a year ago I was going through railroad training but for BNSF Railway.  It even snowed at this exact time last year in Montana as well.  Even the process of my downtime, facetiming my family back in Tacoma is very similar to how it was a year ago.  So similar that they even housed us in an area next to a town called Glasgow, that's literally a stones throw away.  Those that have followed along or know me already know that is the name of the town I was at in Montana. 

Though this time around, I think I have the advantage of already knowing a good portion of the material and some of it is just a refresher to me.  I feel a little more relaxed this time around.  There's still the pressure of producing results when test times come around, but overall there is just something about it all that has me very comfortable as I walk through this process.  I'm very early in this process as I'm in the the middle of my third week out here. There's 9 in total and when I'm done, I still have to go back to my crew base in Seattle where I'll enter into the portion of having to know and test for the CROR, which is the Canadian Railway Operating Rules because I'll be making regular trips up to BC.  I'll also have several on the job trips that I'll need to take before I'm actually qualified.  So there's still some time left in order to make it through this process.  

The way I see this experience is like this. Focus on the material, but at the same time I'm not gonna kill myself like some of the other students with over doing it on the material.  When you get to the point where you're physically losing sleep studying the material, I feel you're actually losing.  You can only retain so much and when you distract yourself with the emotional stresses and panic of the training, that then begins to cloud your ability to focus.  

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!  To be able to be on the corridor here with the ability to travel for free and see things that I may never get to see again or for a really long time.  When I get back, all I'll be doing is working.  Married to the railroad extra board.  With that said, I'm gonna see the eastern seaboard while I'm here. Study on the trains, relax and take it all in.  Remain composed and help others that need it.  Not that I have a ton of experience, but I've walked this road and think that I can provide a little bit of assistance to those in need.  I'm also in the process of putting together a mental note of the "best" Philly cheesesteak.  That will be in a post to come, but it's a work in progress.  I'd like to catch a few baseball games while I'm over here as well.  Take in all the historical points, eat from local establishments.  I want to make the best of this experience while I'm here.  When it's time to work, bring my A game.  Though when it's not, to be able to disconnect from the gobs of material that they throw at you in a 9 week period of time and relax.  

So that's my plan.  Join me for the ride if you'd like, follow my photos on the Facebook page or take it as you wish to do.  This guy is gonna make the most of this experience and not sit in boring city of Bear for 9 weeks.  I've got a great roommate.  He is also half Filipino and have got along marvelously.  We have been working out together, sharing the cooking and cleaning duties of our apartment and even have been traveling together on the weekends.  We've been taking in the sites of Philadelphia and DC, going to all of the landmarks, tourist spots and local food favorites that I've sought out through Yelp.  Below, is a bunch of pictures that will kind of summarize how the first three weeks have gone.