Do train conductors control anything on a train or is it all cruise control?

There is no ';cruise control'; on trains. The engineer runs the train, and the conductor manages the segment of the railroad company's business that is represented by a particular train.





Both jobs have their own challenges. Being an engineer requires considerable skill and finesse, and a certain mental attitude of which not all people are capable. The engineer must be constantly alert and may not let her mind wander at all. It is an intense job, and can be a very painful one if some person chooses your train one day as a convenient way to commit suicide, or incorrectly thinks they can beat your train at a crossing.





Many engineers bear the scars from such incidents for life.





And when running, the engineer must be constantly concerned with the weather, radio messages, and other conditions that may affect operation. So it is an insult to engineers to say they are ';just along for the ride.'; Their job is a very difficult one.





Conductors also have a difficult work environment to manage, both on freight and passenger trains. The conductor represents the company in the field,.and must make sure that loads and empties end up where they belong, damage and losses are properly reported, passengers are kept happy, and a large amount of paperwork is properly completed and managed.





Train crews all work hard and have safety uppermost in their minds. If they don't they don't last long.Do train conductors control anything on a train or is it all cruise control?
Conductors are in command of the train like a ship captain is in command of his boat. He tells the engineer to drive the train, but the engineer does the driving.





There's cruise, insofar as if you stick the throttle handle in run 6, it will stay in run 6. However the engineer still has to worry about all the train handling issues that the others have discussed.





Additionally, if the engineer doesn't work any control for a minute, an ';alerter'; will start chiming and you have to reset it by working some control, such as the alerter cancel button. Otherwise the train will stop.





I believe Andy aimed his ';Just along for the ride'; comment at the BART system specifically. Those guys are like airline pilots, they have an easy job until that rare occasion when they have a really critical job.Do train conductors control anything on a train or is it all cruise control?
The Engineer is the one operating the train. There's no cruise control because every train handles differently. Weight and resistance means the Engineer prepares to ascend a familiar hill differently than he did the time before. There are track conditions to be aware of that change all the time. There are stops to make where cars must be picked up and dropped off. Every trip means making lots of decisions, and train handling comes from how each train responds to the forces of power, gravity, and braking. So cruise control wouldn't work. And when compared to the Conductor, I think the Engineer has the easier job. The Conductor is responsible for the pre-train paper work, the en-route paperwork, and the opposite terminal paper work. There's always a mountain of paper work. In addition, he does the time sheet, handles most of the radio communications, plans switching moves so must know exactly what cars are where in the train, and is responsible for placing certain cars at various industries which involves being on the ground to carry out these tasks. He must be able to multi-task in a dimension and perspective most people couldn't imagine. The Engineer just sits in the cab and doesn't care what the weather is doing. But we all go through it. 95 percent of all Engineers were Conductors first.
No we don't have cruise control.The engineer is the one running the train not the conductor.There are passenger trains like B.A.R.T. in Calif. that are run by computer.There is a person in the control compartment but they are mainly just along for the ride.


Edit.Avio i wasn't trying to be insulting to engineers having been one for 33 years and counting.I was referring to commuter trains like BART
There is no cruise control on freight trains, as for passenger trains, Im not sure. The conductor does not control the train anyways, your thinking of the engineer. The only thing the conductor can control is the emergency brake if he needs to.
the conductor is the Boss on the train..he runs the show, but does not operate the controls..he is responsible for all things on the train.