Among the jobs where the worker has to work in late night or odd hours irrespective of locations and difficult weather conditions, railroad conductor job occupies a prime place. Yet it is one of the most important jobs and can constitute foundations for good career prospects.

Basic Features
Basic features of the job of railroad conductors are –

* Railroad conductors help maintenance of railroads;
* In the process they help keep up the key means of transportation in modern world;
* There is no fixed hours or location for the job;
* Safety concerns are of utmost importance when it comes to job of rail road conductor; and therefore;
* Safety training on regular basis is a must for railroad conductors.

Railroad Conductor Types
Multiple types of railroad conductors are there. This includes –

* Professionals working in a routine manner on railroads;
* Those working for the railroad security consultancies;
* Conductors working as excavators and loading machine operators;
* Conductors engaged as welders and cutters;
* Those engaged as welder fitters;
* Movers of freight, stocks, and materials; and
* Conductors engaged in overall supervision of implementation of all these works.

Skill Requirements
One of the basic skill requirements for the conductors is to appreciate the nature of their job and how to fix the railroads. In addition; the most important part of their skill is to know the safety precautions that would minimize the chances of accidents while on job. At the same time effective communication, chant for the details, as well as time management skills are all essential for railroad conductors and such skills can open up good career opportunities for them.

Specific Training Requirements
Usually the railroad conductor will explore methods as well as the equipments to ensure that occurrence of negative events are minimized. Thus they should learn about –

* How to patrol the assigned track sessions;
* Replacement of broken or damaged tracks;
* Repair or adjustment of track switches using wrenches;
* Effective use of replacement parts;
* Use of lubricators for lubricating machines;
* Change of oil and hydraulic reservoirs in the specific fields.

Employment Opportunities
While the railways is the largest recruiter of railroad conductors, these days some other authorities; especially port authorities and large corporate houses establishing their own tracks are also using the services of railroad conductors and hence the career has good prospects. b

Author's Bio: 

State university website helps career search of prospective candidates providing relevant information on various career opportunities including many non-traditional careers like that of the railroad conductor . In addition the site also provides exhaustive information on the academies imparting training for building up such careers.