First year plan cut short

You're doing it right. When you start driving mixer look around and remember "this is every day for the rest of my life." There's nothing wrong with being a mixer driver and a lot of guys don't want to anything else but they are usually dead end jobs.
The rail line is your best bet. Light rail gets government subsidies. Mixer drivers get wet.

 

Give the trains a try. Be prepared to hear employees complaining because that's with all companies of all trades.
If someone complains to you, ask that person, "If it's that bad, why do you still work here?" They usually have some lame excuse; "Oh, I'm looking and will be gone soon." Years later they're still making the same lame excuses.
~
The biggest complainer I've ever known was always ranting and raving. I asked the dispatcher how long the complainer had been driving with the company, He said, "32 years."
He was fired for stealing meat. Terminal manager followed him one night and he took a few cases of meat to his house. He was fired right there in his driveway.

 

I'm no expert on railroads but the way I understand it is this...Most railroad jobs for the majors, freight train crew jobs anyway, require the employee be on call 24/7. No set schedule, no set days off, and very little time to yourself that you can plan on in advance.
Light rail, on the other hand, works on a fairly predictable time table and from what I understand is a lot more friendly to home life. More like having a real job.
I checked into it when Sacramento put in their light rail system. The only down side for me was having to live in a big city. I stayed with trucks.

 

My grandpa worked for the Rock Island RR
He was a carpenter he retired early with a great pension. In retirement he bought a nursing home.

 

Congratulations, that's an excellent career with a great retirement plan.

 

You made a good choice. Enjoy.

 

Great choice !!!! You have cdl training , doubles exp. Now your doing train conductor training .
I was rooting for you at Yellow , and now you have another good one !! Keep the cdl active , learn as much as you can about rail roading and this time next year you'll be telling some seriously cool stories !! Good luck