Rail Car Repairer Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul railroad rolling stock, mine cars, or mass transit rail cars.
Rail Car Repairer is Also Know as
In different settings, Rail Car Repairer is titled as
- Freight Maintenance Specialist
- Locomotive Repairman
- Rail Car Maintenance Mechanic
- Rail Car Mechanic
- Rail Car Repairer
- Rail Car Repairman
- Rail Car Sandblaster
- Rail Car Welder
- Railroad Car Repairman
- Train Car Repairman
Education and Training of Rail Car Repairer
Rail Car Repairer is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Rail Car Repairer
Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.
Education Required for Rail Car Repairer
These occupations usually require a high school diploma.
Degrees Related to Rail Car Repairer
- Bachelor in Heavy Equipment Maintenance Technology/Technician
- Associate Degree Courses in Heavy Equipment Maintenance Technology/Technician
- Masters Degree Courses in Heavy Equipment Maintenance Technology/Technician
Training Required for Rail Car Repairer
Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Rail Car Repairer in different industries are
- Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists
- Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines
- Engine and Other Machine Assemblers
- Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics
- Maintenance Workers, Machinery
- Electric Motor, Power Tool, and Related Repairers
- Industrial Machinery Mechanics
- Aircraft Structure, Surfaces, Rigging, and Systems Assemblers
- Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians
- Automotive Body and Related Repairers
- Control and Valve Installers and Repairers, Except Mechanical Door
- Outdoor Power Equipment and Other Small Engine Mechanics
- Millwrights
- Motorcycle Mechanics
- Motorboat Mechanics and Service Technicians
- Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators
- Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
- Maintenance and Repair Workers, General
- Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators
- Boilermakers
What Do Rail Car Repairer do?
- Repair or replace defective or worn parts such as bearings, pistons, and gears, using hand tools, torque wrenches, power tools, and welding equipment.
- Test units for operability before and after repairs.
- Record conditions of cars, and repair and maintenance work performed or to be performed.
- Remove locomotives, car mechanical units, or other components, using pneumatic hoists and jacks, pinch bars, hand tools, and cutting torches.
- Inspect components such as bearings, seals, gaskets, wheels, and coupler assemblies to determine if repairs are needed.
- Inspect the interior and exterior of rail cars coming into rail yards to identify defects and to determine the extent of wear and damage.
- Adjust repaired or replaced units as needed to ensure proper operation.
- Perform scheduled maintenance, and clean units and components.
- Repair, fabricate, and install steel or wood fittings, using blueprints, shop sketches, and instruction manuals.
- Repair and maintain electrical and electronic controls for propulsion and braking systems.
- Disassemble units such as water pumps, control valves, and compressors so that repairs can be made.
- Measure diameters of axle wheel seats, using micrometers, and mark dimensions on axles so that wheels can be bored to specified dimensions.
- Align car sides for installation of car ends and crossties, using width gauges, turnbuckles, and wrenches.
- Replace defective wiring and insulation, and tighten electrical connections, using hand tools.
- Test electrical systems of cars by operating systems and using testing equipment such as ammeters.
- Install and repair interior flooring, fixtures, walls, plumbing, steps, and platforms.
- Examine car roofs for wear and damage, and repair defective sections, using roofing material, cement, nails, and waterproof paint.
- Paint car exteriors, interiors, and fixtures.
- Repair car upholstery.
- Repair window sash frames, attach weather stripping and channels to frames, and replace window glass, using hand tools.
Qualities of Good Rail Car Repairer
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Tools Used by Rail Car Repairer
- Adjustable hand wrenches
- Aligning pry bars
- Arc welders
- Automated car movers
- Automatic air brake testers
- Ball peen hammers
- Bearing dismounting presses
- Bearing presses
- Bogie testing benches
- Car hoists
- Combination squares
- Combination wrenches
- Cotter pin pullers
- Cutting torches
- Diagonal-cutting pliers
- Flat cold chisels
- Flat head screwdrivers
- Floor-mounted jib cranes
- Gasket scrapers
- Intermodal car jacks
- Locomotive drop table
- Measuring tapes
- Mobile cranes
- Mobile radios
- Mounting presses
- Nailing hammers
- Needlenose pliers
- Personal computers
- Phillips head screwdrivers
- Pinch bars
- Pipe wrenches
- Pneumatic hoists
- Protective safety glasses
- Retarders
- Rolling head pry bars
- Skid steer loaders
- Socket drive extensions
- Socket wrench handles
- Socket wrenches
- Tablet computers
- Torpedo levels
- Torque wrenches
- Underfloor lifting systems
- Wheel lathes
- Wheel shim tables
- Wheeled forklifts
Technology Skills required for Rail Car Repairer
- Adobe Acrobat
- Disassembler software
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Internet Explorer
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Windows
- Microsoft Word
- Mozilla Firefox
- RailTech Software Solutions Rail 21 Management System
- RailTech Software Systems Mars for the 21st Century
- WheelShop Automation.com Wheel Shop Management Suite