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Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters vs Locomotive Engineers

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters and Locomotive Engineers on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters Locomotive Engineers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$74,080
$77,400
Employment · BLS OEWS
42,710
31,990
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
52nd pct
34th pct

At a glance

Dimension Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters Locomotive Engineers
Median pay $74,080 $77,400
Employment 42,710 31,990
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+1.1%) About average (+0.7%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 3,100 2,200
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 52nd pct Moderate · 34th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 25th pct · 18% of tasks 33rd pct · 20% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Oral Expression, Public Safety and Security, Transportation, Oral Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Speaking, Monitoring, Critical Thinking, Near Vision, Far Vision, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Active Listening, Judgment and Decision Making, Time Management, Information Ordering, English Language, Operations Monitoring, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Complex Problem Solving, Operation and Control, Written Comprehension, Reaction Time, Reading Comprehension, Perceptual Speed, Selective Attention, Control Precision, Auditory Attention, Education and Training, Active Learning.

Specific to Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters

  • Coordination
  • Written Expression
  • Category Flexibility
  • Visualization
  • Law and Government
  • Writing
  • Persuasion
  • Quality Control Analysis

Specific to Locomotive Engineers

  • Response Orientation
  • Depth Perception
  • Multilimb Coordination
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Rate Control
  • Manual Dexterity
  • Hearing Sensitivity
  • Time Sharing

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Spreadsheet software , Word processing software , Expert system software .

Specific to Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters

Specific to Locomotive Engineers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters or Locomotive Engineers — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters vs Locomotive Engineers." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/railroad-conductors-and-yardmasters-vs-locomotive-engineers

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters vs Locomotive Engineers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/railroad-conductors-and-yardmasters-vs-locomotive-engineers

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-railroad-conductors-and-yardmasters-vs-locomotive-engineers,
  title  = {Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters vs Locomotive Engineers},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/railroad-conductors-and-yardmasters-vs-locomotive-engineers}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.