Red5Xwing

Congrats to All who are moving along in the process:-)!  I've been trying literally for about 10 years to make the orientation, but reading these posts gives me hope that I'll eventually get invited too so I'm gonna keep applying!  Again, congrats and hope that you all make it to the end:-)

It's built into the yard posting schedule, during those first week. you had to call RCC to get your time and location.

Oh ok, Thanx!! And congrats on passing the second signals test too!

Times have def changed in Schoolcar since I started in 2001. Two signals text and YX..

 

We got a signals test a road and a yard practical then we passed those along with our final thrown to,the wolves we were.

....Whoa!....

You'll do fine. You still have to do posting, and yard enhancement before you start YX, you will much more confident by then.

@ErikNYC, I never got to the yard posting, but I don't recall anything of yard enhancement, is that new along with the second signals test?

Guys ,study those signals, just lost 4 of my classmates. ..really sucks

Happy for you that you passed????????????, but I am also sorry that you lost 4 of your peers, I got nailed by the signals test too, so I KNOW how you feel AND how they feel. From my experience, they will probably have to report to 130 for about a week(paid) before they talk with someone and it becomes "official".

I got sworn in today for the Dec 28 class

Congrats!!????

Hey everyone I pass my medical today, I sworn in and I will start Dec 28. So excited right now. Getting ready for school car now.

Congrats 2 ya!!

Hey everyone I pass my medical today, I sworn in and I will start Dec 28. So excited right now. Getting ready for school car now.

CONGRATS!! I know the feeling!????????????????

B DIVISION, it's been 2 days so far this meeting among the TSS been taking place..mean time we are just stuck in class wasting 2 days when we can get prepared for our yard pratical

Yet another challenge, you guys will get rolling soon and I know y'all are making the best of it. However, I can only imagine your frustration.

Good afternoon my fellow Co workers and members can anyone help me I'm currently on the train op exam, where I just called and found out that they marked me ineligible for the position. Those anybody know who can I speak to cause dcas is not giving me rep to talk to, was wondering if anybody have a direct number I can call so I can talk to somebody ??

Sorry to hear this happened to you. Try this email address certcustserv@dcas.nyc.gov, I ended up being replied to from that when I messaged DCAS about something. This is IF you don't have a number to call. Hope this helps.

Thanks bro appreciate that,see you around soon bro ,Nov class? I'll send you signals this week so you can get a head start

FYI....when I was in schoolcar, just around the time we were learning station switching we were given little booklets showing the expected aspects of the interlocking home signals along every B division route(I ended up giving mine back with everything else after I got canned), maybe you guys will get them too!

That's somewhere in January but for now I'm just stressing the first pratical which is in December

I was nervous as HELL and I passed on the first try....If I could do it, then YOU definitely could too brutha'!

I know I keep hearing about it. I heard it the reason we now have to take two test.

 

Even the dispatcher reminded me about call-on's when i first met her. I said yes i know... She said okay... "that's what they all say". lol

 

I took on two call-on's, laying up a train last night to get into a relay position, and multiple call-ons last week while laying up train at 137th St yard. Combine that with my instructor TSS James and Albanese drilling us to death, I should never forget how to take on a call-on..

 

 

I also hear that people ask for permission when they encounter an AK signal, and iirc at Corona yard they added an AK plate to an automatic signal to remind TO's that they can key buy automatics on a yard lead.

 

Yea, I'm not trying to make fun of anyone. If the added pressure at times, you never know what goes on in peoples head at any moment. I hope and plan to stay with my "nose in the books", as Motor Instructor Albanese would say.

....If I could get back into schoolcar, I'd put my WHOLE dang BODY in the books????????!! As I mentioned to another poster, NOBODY should want to experience what it's like to have it all end at 248, when the Superintendent calls you into his office(????????) to tell you that you're done...it SUX!! I maintained my outward composure after the bad news, but inwardly I was like????????????????????????????????????????????????...lol.

It doesn't help because people assume. "I saw the yellow, I know what it means (proceeds to repeat entire definition word for word)...I slowed down, I just DIDN'T SEE THE RED UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE!" is a common thing to hear.

 

What does Transit hear?

 

"I saw the yellow, I know what it means but I failed to comply with it since even though I slowed down, my train was not under control. I then ran the next signal I was supposed to be prepared to stop at because I didn't have my train at a safe enough speed to react to it safely upon seeing it."

 

End result? Charges, and lots of them: BIE-signal overrun, collision (if signal was red due to a train in front), improper train speed (if signal was red due to failing to clear a timer), improper operation, poor train control. If it's a home signal add Near Miss incident, and if the homeball was protecting a switch set against you, you can expect to also be charged for a switch run through regardless of whether or not you actually fouled the switch.

 

That's just the way it is down here. New people need to understand the mentality here is always COVER YOUR ASS.

Woah.....I guess knowledge and experience is key, and CYA too! As one of the TSS's said at PS248..."Welcome to Transit!"

Hopefully with that extra test people will stop asking for permission when they encounter a call on, and so on.

Really?...Wow. I failed the signals exam myself so I'm not trying to poke fun...but still wow.

I was. Embarrassing but true. Screwed up on first practical, on retake. Too damn nervous. Froze up.

I know how you feel.....I flamed out on the signals test. The good news is that, if you want, you can request that your list number be restored after a year.

In my opinion, no. So many variables to overrunning signals. Not paying attention is one. There are the occasional signal flashes or track circuit problems. But from what I've seen, signal overruns usually come with speed. Not slowing down when you see a yellow. Thinking a timer will clear for you, and it doesn't. My thought when seeing a yellow or a yellow with a timer is exactly what the rule book & signal guide says "Proceed with caution, be prepared to STOP at the next signal. Or with timers, APPROACH AT THE ALLOWABLE speed and the signal or next signal will clear." Basically with timers, you know not to do the posted GT or ST. Always do less. A test does not affect the way you operate. Good judgment, common sense, and safe operation will keep you from overrunning signals and for that matter, station overruns.

AMEN brutha!! I didn't stay in schoolcar long enough to really know if TWO signals exams would matter. To me it's just an extra way to be sent to 130 Livingston if you fail the second one (which you probably shouldn't), but at the end of the day paying attention and using commom sense is what really keeps you out of trouble most times.

Spot on Subway Guy I'm even seeing it on Facebook in groups also I seen it in posts of some New TOs. They won't get it until they are facing Ms Gibbs in Schoolcar and She's asking for that pass. They aren't playing down here. What's the rush anyway? Now that the might try to use ITRAC as a weapon to write up folks running hot too... Follow the rules and you can't go wrong.

 

That's up to each individual you can ace both tests and still have a overrun.

Hmm...well I had hoped that the new extra test might actually HELP. It all comes down to paying attention out there like you said.

Apply for Cam or Oiler now and start from the bottom. Its best to start out that way in RR because most of the time your mind changes when you see other crafts there that may catch your interest. The RR has many departments that pay good or even better than Engineer . Get your foot in the door and thats when you get a clearer idea what you want to do.

Wow....I hadn't even thought of those!, I will apply as for them as soon as they come up. I also put in for Block Operator, that seems challenging too.

HAHA, funny everything you say is so true. It's actually a pretty big pay cut for me. But i'm looking at it as more of longevity and pension etc... for the future of my family!

Pay CUT? LOL, well I guess I forgot that for some people it would be a cut in pay....but you're right....there is longevity and good pension with this, AND the ability to move up to TSS, Tower Operator, RCC, etc.

I hope so brother, been waiting for this letter to come for 6 years lol !

Boy do I know it!LOL!! But trust me, your journey to the cab(AND GREAT PAY) is actually starting now!, all the paperwork, visits to 180, heart bursting out of your chest EVERY time your phone rings is just part of it. When you get sworn in, and they give you your rulebook, you could actually start perusing the signals then to get sort of a head start.

Got it, thank you!

Anytime future T/O!????????????????

Anything specific i need to bring with me Friday for the drug test part, obviously besides Driver License?

 

thanks

Your letter and completed application that they sent you. I don't remember much else, but it should all be on the letter they send you. BTW, the drug test is good for only 30 days, and it's not uncommon to have to go back there to 180 a LEAST once more for another test, and yes you would have to bring back all the same items as before.

Got it, I'm prepared to bust my butt to get through it ! Nervous and all but i dont take anything for granted.

There you go bro', THAT'S what I'm talkin' about????

@red5xwing, thanks... I guess just gotta study the signals? Its seems like this is what everyone is talking about that seems to be so critical in school car.

Nope, not just signals....leave NO stone unturned! It's just that you get TWO chances to pass on everything else, the 1st and 2nd yard practicals (cuts/adds, preparing a train for service), the midterm, final, and road practical all give you two chances as far as I know.

However, the signals exam is the one that gets you terminated for ONE incorrect answer. Your TSS's will help you prepare, I had Richarson and Lovell...both EXCELLENT instructors!, It wasn't them, it was ME, I didn't get it done when I had the chance, and that happens to some of us. But for YOU, the advice would be to study them a minimum of 1hr a day, make index cards(paper AND app, I use StudyDroid), and of course classmates can quiz each other. The support system is there, and you can succeed where some of us didn't...You'll be alright, just go and get it!!

Hey everyone... Can someone explain the signal exams a little more. is this a practical or written exam?

It's both last I knew.....the 100%-or-else written followed by a signals practical, where you and whoever else in your class that passed the written portion go with your TSS's to a train to do at least a call-on.....you take turns of course.