Day in the life of an Amtrak conductor

[VIDEO] Once upon a time back in about the first grade, I wanted to work on trains. During that time I took my first cross country train trip to Washington, DC on board Amtrak. I got some nice children's activities books and example of which I got somewhere at home. It reminds me of my very first train trip, my parents even allowed me to keep the ticket stubs and the ticket jacket which unfortunately I've since lost.

I didn't know what they called all the people onboard the train. I didn't know anything about conductors or engineers or even the attendants. So I gave them jobs such as train owners or train drivers. Hell I didn't even know who did what on CTA as I dealt with them far more often than Amtrak over the years.

Either way transportation is fascinating, dealing in the movement and delivery of people and goods. Keeping things on a consistent schedule and insuring the safety of people and quality of goods. And to be able to see plenty of different places on your travels, potentially travel the world no matter the mode of transport is a very exciting career.

This is why I'm sharing this video from Amtrak careers which shows the day in the life of an Amtrak conductor. If only YouTube had existed in the 1980s I'd know more about this job and what it entails. Good thing for me is, it's not too late to take on this role and enjoy some of the peripheral benefits of travel that it entails.