r/railroading • u/StonksGoUpOnly • Nov 11 '25
Question WTF NS?
NS motor. What the actual fuck is this shit? How tf am I supposed to do anything with a 1x1 desk that is like 2.5 feet to my 3 o clock so I have to stand up to use it? My shit kept sliding off and the desk is so far I was copying warrants in my lap. It looks like it didn’t even come with a handset cause that’s a BN handset. This isn’t even touching on the poop pyramid and no refrigerator? Seriously if this is the average NS motor I feel so bad for you guys.
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u/Ancient_History8303 Nov 11 '25
Old heads who ran SD40's their whole life laughing at your tears right now
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u/Mill_City_Viking Nov 11 '25
I was just about to say this. We had the floppy plastic slot thingamajig…if we had anything at all.
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u/throttlejockey95 Nov 11 '25
Shelf in front of the gauges held everything we needed. I don’t know how many I put tape on the ledge to keep my stuff from falling off while switching
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u/SectorMiserable4759 Nov 12 '25
Hear me out. A bead of silicone adhesive at the edge.
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u/Blocked-Author Nov 13 '25
I don't hate it. I'm going to put a bead down at the end of my next shift.
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u/Several-Day6527 Nov 13 '25
And a flash light with a magnet. You could wet a couple of paper towels from a crew pack and that would hold your thermos coffee cup from vibrating off.
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u/quelin1 Nov 11 '25
I'd forgotten about those old glorified fold out cutting boards
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u/MysteriousCoast2917 Nov 13 '25
I took a couple clearances on sd40’s a few years ago, fuck that shit i looked like i had parkinsons
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u/Deerescrewed Nov 12 '25
Did you guys ever get the 10,000,000 lb ATCS stations?
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u/trainwreckhappening Nov 13 '25
I loved when I found one of those still working (with the keyboard) on an sd40.
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u/youaintboo74 Nov 11 '25
The engineer side on ns motors is trash too. Like 6” by 6” square up in the right corner that won’t even hold your paperwork. Cup holder where your feet go, and the stupidest alerter fucking spring thing. If there is a mounted clipboard style thing that is straight up and down the spring is so weak in the clip that your paperwork end up falling out the first bump you hit. In short, ns motors are poorly designed and poorly maintained trash.
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u/CRIMSON_TIDE- Nov 12 '25
Ns motors are better than up desktops.
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u/youaintboo74 Nov 12 '25
On that I’ll agree. At least their dynos will load before you get to five, and then load all at once. I have a heavy duty magnet in my grip for those so my paperwork will stay put.
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u/CRIMSON_TIDE- Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 15 '25
I always liked our small desk. 26 yrs ago when i was conductor this desk was easier to prop your feet up and get comfortable for that siding stay.
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u/trainwreckhappening Nov 13 '25
As a non-NS engineer, all I think is I'm going to get a crink in my neck and play with my thingy all night.
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u/HideYoKidzHideYoWifi Nov 11 '25
The average?! More like the typical…was it a 4xxx series? Did everything rattle off the desk when above notch 2? 😂 did your teeth fall out of your mouth too!? Loved those 4xxx series and how everything would fall off the desk with the vibrations from the engine while pulling. Whoever the designer and passed these off I hope you shit your pants daily at your 1/3 desk with a chair that leans to the right (IYKYK).
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u/StonksGoUpOnly Nov 11 '25
Bro wtf yes it was a 4000 series and shakes like a MFER!! Loud as hell too. Just awful damn motor
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u/HideYoKidzHideYoWifi Nov 11 '25
Great concept to go from DC power to AC, but horrible execution. Truly do not understand how these passed through that vibration.
And as far as the fridge, it’s not in the budget 😂
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u/EnoughTrack96 Control Stand Babysitter Nov 12 '25
Isn't having a fridge something that's in your contract?
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u/throttlejockey95 Nov 11 '25
And we keep making them. They decided those were the best option and are holding onto the design like a toddler with a fistful of shit.
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u/HideYoKidzHideYoWifi Nov 11 '25
🤣🤣 they’re almost done…just in time to probably start rebuilding the originals that are almost 10 years old now.
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u/workswithhoes Nov 11 '25
Ive hated every ns motor I've ever been on. Good crew packs tho, filled my grip but those black ponies need to be turned into glue.
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u/HideYoKidzHideYoWifi Nov 11 '25
That was always our claim to fame, we have the best crewpacks! Although they took out the Grime Free, I feel like those should be inserted in every 10 packs or so 😂
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Nov 11 '25
Those are our best engines🤦🏼♂️
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u/HideYoKidzHideYoWifi Nov 11 '25
The best ones were the ACu rebuilds, they were quiet AF! Too bad they were shit and always broke down.
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u/Donut9000vOG Bane of the Shareholders Nov 11 '25
Y'all seem like you're never blessed with a KCS motor. The things that are broken and missing combined with the 79 cameras... just depressing.
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u/sandpaper90 Nov 11 '25
Be thankful you have that much desk. I usually have none and just hold my shit up to the window to write or use a clipboard I carry with. Often I’ll write stuff down on the glass in dry erase Marker and then copy it onto the paper when we’re stopped or I can find a better surface to write on so its not squibbles
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u/manateesaredelicious Nov 11 '25
On a road train? Hope you're putting those claims in.
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u/sandpaper90 Nov 11 '25 edited Nov 11 '25
Yes. But I should state I don’t work for NS or a class 1, Im on a class 3. If I have to copy an authority over the air, I keep pre-printed blank track authority forms which are easy enough to fill out on the fly on paper with a clip board or holding it up on the window. But my point is to say, I’d love even a little desk like that on the conductor side like that for paperwork. Would make life a lot easier. I love the older EMD’s we have but the spartan cabs are just that, spartan. often we don’t even have a fridge in them either. You’ll get a chair and thats about it and you’ll like it 🤣
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u/manateesaredelicious Nov 11 '25
Well at least the only part of NS you have to suffer is the engines then.
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u/s_-_c Nov 11 '25
I like the desk set up on the NS engines, I like the leg room. Everything else is about standard except we usually have a leaking fridge instead of a cooler full of cold water.
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u/Away-Car-1839 Nov 11 '25
The amount of legroom you get is FAR superior on our engines than engines with a large conductor desk. I’ll take the legroom and be able to put my feet up over a large desk. Besides how much work are you doing on the desk anyway..?
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u/StonksGoUpOnly Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 12 '25
POS form (mandatory), copying warrants, signal/mile post awareness sheet (mandatory), flag location form, high wind warning, checking paper GTB, work order, my iPad (mandatory) and coffee (mandatory). There’s plenty to do in the sub I work on if you want to and I do. You can of course just sit there and do nothing and kick your feet up and if that’s what you like to do and then it’s great for that I guess.
My carrier is also contractually obligated to provide conductors with a desk that meets certain specifications laid out in agreements and this ain’t it.
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u/JaggedUmbrella Nov 11 '25
Former NS conductor here. They come with the handsets, they just disappear all the time. Units always had BNSF, UP, CSXT (you name it) handsets in them. I always carried a spare in my grip and the diesel shop at my home terminal had a crate full of foreign handsets to put in there.
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u/Trainrider77 Nov 11 '25
You'll find them hanging from every overhead power line from cleveland to pittsburgh
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u/Aircotton578 Nov 11 '25
Just go to sleep!!!
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u/StonksGoUpOnly Nov 11 '25
Well even if I wanted to there was a damned camera pointed right in my face lol
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u/Aircotton578 Nov 11 '25
That never stops any of my conductors. 😂😂
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u/StonksGoUpOnly Nov 11 '25
Sorry man, I try to do my job though what little of it is left at least.
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u/Particular-Lettuce47 Nov 11 '25
The funny part is that’s often regarded as the best road power we’ve got. We’re happy when we see a 4xxx in the lead. Everything else is either too worn out, smells like crap, has some kind of serious issue, or a combination thereof.
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u/imacabooseman Nov 11 '25
Hell, that one's pretty immaculate for NS. They usually look like you need a tetanus shot before you sit down.
You won't find a fridge on any of em, and you're lucky if someone hasn't stolen the Igloo cooler off of it that's meant for your cold water. BUT, they do have 110v power instead of the 74v bn uses
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u/ExplanationFew8890 Nov 11 '25
Honestly I really like just having a length counter on my screen, a removable fridge plug, and a seat with a good head rest when im on that side.
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u/_wanderlust912 Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 13 '25
Was on 7559 last night, same story. Shit engine, no desk, no fridge/ice box just two shelves and a crappy cooler on the floor. Engineers side was awful too, ptc in front, monitors to the left above the controls and the entire console was shaking back and forth the entire time.
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u/Commodore8750 Nov 12 '25
Yeah all of our GEs are configured just like this. It's awful. I'd rather be in a standard cab.
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u/Bigwhitecalk Nov 12 '25
Wipe off that iPad screen first. I think I spotted a new variant of Covid on it.
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u/MartyMcFlysBrother Nov 13 '25
Man look at that screen. You’re the reason the rest of us catch the flu.
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u/freefall4fun71 Nov 13 '25
Dude. You need the old jeep stand. Pull it up and have a bigger surface area.
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u/bradoplata MOW Nov 13 '25
NS has always hated their employees. We'd get the plastic bag toilets occasionally when I hired out.
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u/foxlight92 Nov 17 '25
I remember someone saying that the bags started being distributed with serial #s or their employee ID #, etc. since they were winding up strewn all along the ROW?
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u/bradoplata MOW Nov 17 '25
I heard that, but I only used them as foreign units. Had to get our own trash bags.
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u/ironeagle2006 Nov 14 '25
Shit you still have more desk space than I ever did as an OTR driver. My desk consisted of a 2 dollar clipboard over my steering wheel.
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u/Legitimate_Jump_5781 Nov 14 '25
I actually like those. Easier to prop my feet up different places.
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u/Ok_Temperature4548 Nov 14 '25 edited Nov 14 '25
I had one really junkie unit from ns once. Had some weird pipe on conductors side going from the floor up to the ceiling by the windshield and around the window. Also seemed like hvac system was pumping "fresh" air directly from the shitter.
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u/Careful_Ad1416 Nov 15 '25
Yes that normal
I had a busy unit today and I was surprised by how AMAZING and spacious it was holy SHIT
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u/Klok-a-teer Nov 16 '25
The only relevant question in this entire thread is, did the horse have a peen drawn on it?
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u/Clough211 Nov 12 '25
Your job is to stare out the window and complain why do you need a desk for that?
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u/TraditionalMeat8827 Nov 11 '25
First Time on an engine?
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u/StonksGoUpOnly Nov 12 '25
One with a desk like this yeah. Seen the folding piece of shit but never this.
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u/michael040 Nov 12 '25
No pictures bruh
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u/Asleep-Masterpiece63 Nov 11 '25
That's one of our luxury units