A dream job on the train

Braeden Fairbairn loves being a train conductor with CP Rail. — Photo courtesy Braeden Fairbairn

“Ever since I’ve been a kid, I’ve dreamed of working on the railway,” said 21-year-old Braeden Fairbairn. “My first memory is on a train.” He figures he must have been two or three years old, and he was riding a logging train on northern Vancouver Island.

Fairbairn is a railway conductor with CP Rail, a job he’s had for three years now.

“It’s an awesome job,” he effused. “I’m happy to go to work every day. And the pay is amazing.”

His gigantic smile proves his point.

Fairbairn went to the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Vancouver for the four-month railway conductor course. His class consisted of 20 men (and zero women), and all of them had jobs after training.

Fairbairn said 95 per cent of his fellow conductors are men, and he believes women would find an open niche. In addition to the railway conductor course, interested applicants need a high school diploma and a clean criminal record.

“They are hiring so much right now,” Fairbairn said. “They want to hire 70 conductors in the next year in Cranbrook alone.”

The conductor rides in the front engine with the locomotive engineer (who drives the train). Fairbairn had five months of on-the-job training as well, with a trainer next to him on the train.

“I’m in charge of the train itself,” he said proudly.

He makes and splits up trains by setting off or picking up railroad cars. His paperwork includes a list of all the cars, what they contain and their destination. The job consists of a lot of radio communication; track clearances come from Calgary.

“You need good situational awareness,” he said.

He must know where he is and where all the other trains in the immediate area are at all times. Proper radio procedures are critical as well as being familiar with the extensive rules for railway operations.

“Most of my job is sitting there and enjoying the scenery in the Kootenays,” he said. “The Kootenays are beautiful. Sunrises and sunsets are amazing from the train.”

This time of year, Fairbairn can see both the sunrise and the sunset in one shift. He said his favourite stretch of track is between Wasa and Canal Flats where the glacial blue colour of the Kootenay River is a highlight. One of his most memorable days was in the autumn.

“Columbia Lake was calm; the lake reflected the sunset and the fall colours and the Rockies,” he said. “It was amazing.”

A conductor also sees plenty of wildlife. Fairbairn has seen hundreds of elk in one place in addition to deer, moose and both black and grizzly bears. One night a cougar was sitting at the switch at a siding south of Radium Hot Springs.

“It stared right at us with glowing eyes,” he said.

Fairbairn works three to eight shifts a week, and he is on call 12 hours a day. He receives his shift assignment by phone two hours before the shift begins. Most nights he sleeps away from home in a bunkhouse or a hotel.

“The job’s not for everyone,” he said. “It’s a 24-hour system; the trains never stop.”

Half of his trains are coal trains, with others often hauling potash and grain. He’s had a few manifest trains, which haul different kinds of freight on the same train. He most often takes his trains to Golden, Sparwood and Kingsgate.

One of his favourite calls was when he was asked to be the conductor for the CP Holiday Train in December 2013. The train, decked out in holiday lights, went from the Crowsnest Pass to Cranbrook with bands playing at the scheduled stops.

Fairbairn’s ultimate goal is to drive the train. He needs to work as a conductor for two years, which he has already done. But it’s a seniority-based system, and he has to wait to be asked and then will need to take a three-week course in Calgary plus many months of on-the-job training to become a locomotive engineer.

Fairbairn describes the simple pleasure of “looking back and seeing my train behind me. This is the job that I’ve always wanted.”