All About Locomotive Firers
Career Description Monitor locomotive instruments and watch for dragging equipment, obstacles on rights-of-way, and train signals during run. Watch for and relay traffic signals from yard workers to yard engineer in railroad yard.
Life As a Locomotive Firer
- Monitor oil, temperature, and pressure gauges on dashboards to determine if engines are operating safely and efficiently.
- Check to see that trains are equipped with supplies such as fuel, water, and sand.
- Operate locomotives in emergency situations.
- Start diesel engines to warm engines before runs.
- Observe tracks from left sides of locomotives to detect obstructions on tracks.
- Monitor trains as they go around curves to detect dragging equipment and smoking journal boxes.
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Locomotive Firer Needed Skills
When polled, Locomotive Firers say the following skills are most frequently used in their jobs:
Operation Monitoring: Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Operation and Control: Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Other Locomotive Firer Job Titles
- Assistant Passenger Locomotive Engineer
- Firer
- Railroad Firer/Fireman
- Locomotive Engineer
- Diesel Locomotive Firer
What Kind of Locomotive Firer Job Opportunities Are There?
In 2016, there was an estimated number of 1,200 jobs in the United States for Locomotive Firer. There is little to no growth in job opportunities for Locomotive Firer.

The states with the most job growth for Locomotive Firer are Idaho and Indiana. Watch out if you plan on working in Indiana or Idaho. These states have the worst job growth for this type of profession.
Salary for a Locomotive Firer
The salary for Locomotive Firers ranges between about $53,180 and $99,630 a year.

Locomotive Firers who work in Alabama, make the highest salaries.
How much do Locomotive Firers make in each U.S. state?
State | Annual Mean Salary |
---|---|
Alabama | $66,810 |
What Tools & Technology do Locomotive Firers Use?
Although they’re not necessarily needed for all jobs, the following technologies are used by many Locomotive Firers:
- Data entry software
- Route mapping software
- Time tracking software
How to Become a Locomotive Firer
What kind of Locomotive Firer requirements are there?

How Long Does it Take to Become a Locomotive Firer?

Where Locomotive Firers Work

Locomotive Firers work in the following industries:

Other Jobs You May be Interested In
Those thinking about becoming a Locomotive Firer might also be interested in the following careers:
References:
Image Credit: Hic85 via Public Domain
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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