Money · 1 of 5
What conductors make
Qualified conductor
$78,000
New, on the extra board
$58,740
Senior or yardmaster
$109,770
The national median is $78,000 a year and the bottom tenth start near $58,740. The survey counts conductors and yardmasters together. Freight conductors on the big railroads sit at the upper end of that range once they have seniority, and a lot of that is overtime and away-from-home allowances rather than base pay.