Trainee train drivers wanted...
Discussion
Well said Wobman 
Hats off to you passenger chaps but on the freight side it can be quite different. At our depot there are just thirteen of us with wide ranging route knowledge, our traction knowledge isn't as varied as it once was, sometimes it makes the roster clerk's job a little harder trying to get everything covered but we all muck in as best we can when it comes to being flexible. We have three agreed roster windows or 'bands', A is 00.00 - 08.00, B is 08.00 - 16.00 and C is 16.00 - 00.00, occasionally we get asked to come out of our booked band to cover specific jobs which we can do by swapping rest days around to suit. The rest day pattern in the current roster is really good with every third and eleventh week being a full week of rest days, plus plenty in between in groups of two, three or four. With just the thirteen of us we're still busy enough when work slackens off at certain times of the year, then when it picks up again it's as if lockdown never happened, in fact we've been very busy throughout the whole covid pandemic. We also cross cover other depots such as Crewe, Lawley Street (Brum), Bedford, Reading and occasionally Peterborough.
I've been off for a couple of weeks but am due back in next Thursday covering a Crewe job for three days, this involves traveling up to Crewe, working a liner train to Hams Hall and back to Crewe then travelling back home, sometimes we travel pass but we often use our small fleet of staff vans to get to and from certain places. Our core routes are the WCML from London to Crewe via the Trent Valley and West Mids lines, the Midland Mainline from London to Toton, Birmingham to Didcot (a few of the lads go a bit further down to Reading and Theale), Birmingham to Gloucester, Birmingham to Leicester and Peterborough plus various extra routes such as the Chiltern line from Banbury to London, numerous connecting lines around London including the two routes from Willesden to Clapham and beyond to Battersea and a few of the lads also go as far as Tilbury. Keeping us all competent on these routes gives the roster clerk nightmares at times but she always seems to manage it.
I've been doing these shifts since January 1983 and even now feel out of sorts occasionally, but I'm certainly used to it and quite enjoy it most days. The rest day and annual leave situation at the depot is very good at the moment, all bar two of us work our rest days when asked and most of us don't mind swapping to help out occasionally. It helps that of the thirteen drivers six of us don't have kids.
As tired as it makes me sometimes, I still can't imagine doing many other jobs and having the same sense of satisfaction it can bring, it's a subject that comes up in the mess room and we all pretty much agree on that.
Hats off to you passenger chaps but on the freight side it can be quite different. At our depot there are just thirteen of us with wide ranging route knowledge, our traction knowledge isn't as varied as it once was, sometimes it makes the roster clerk's job a little harder trying to get everything covered but we all muck in as best we can when it comes to being flexible. We have three agreed roster windows or 'bands', A is 00.00 - 08.00, B is 08.00 - 16.00 and C is 16.00 - 00.00, occasionally we get asked to come out of our booked band to cover specific jobs which we can do by swapping rest days around to suit. The rest day pattern in the current roster is really good with every third and eleventh week being a full week of rest days, plus plenty in between in groups of two, three or four. With just the thirteen of us we're still busy enough when work slackens off at certain times of the year, then when it picks up again it's as if lockdown never happened, in fact we've been very busy throughout the whole covid pandemic. We also cross cover other depots such as Crewe, Lawley Street (Brum), Bedford, Reading and occasionally Peterborough.
I've been off for a couple of weeks but am due back in next Thursday covering a Crewe job for three days, this involves traveling up to Crewe, working a liner train to Hams Hall and back to Crewe then travelling back home, sometimes we travel pass but we often use our small fleet of staff vans to get to and from certain places. Our core routes are the WCML from London to Crewe via the Trent Valley and West Mids lines, the Midland Mainline from London to Toton, Birmingham to Didcot (a few of the lads go a bit further down to Reading and Theale), Birmingham to Gloucester, Birmingham to Leicester and Peterborough plus various extra routes such as the Chiltern line from Banbury to London, numerous connecting lines around London including the two routes from Willesden to Clapham and beyond to Battersea and a few of the lads also go as far as Tilbury. Keeping us all competent on these routes gives the roster clerk nightmares at times but she always seems to manage it.
I've been doing these shifts since January 1983 and even now feel out of sorts occasionally, but I'm certainly used to it and quite enjoy it most days. The rest day and annual leave situation at the depot is very good at the moment, all bar two of us work our rest days when asked and most of us don't mind swapping to help out occasionally. It helps that of the thirteen drivers six of us don't have kids.
As tired as it makes me sometimes, I still can't imagine doing many other jobs and having the same sense of satisfaction it can bring, it's a subject that comes up in the mess room and we all pretty much agree on that.
valiant said:
A driver’s hours are fitted around the working timetable and not the other way round.
Give a driver a straight eight hour shift everyday and he’ll be sitting around doing nothing for part of shift. If a trip from A to B and back to A takes 2hrs and 14mins to complete and he only has 1hr 30 left on his shift - he ain’t going out again!
This is why we have weird and differing shift lengths as it fits in with the timetable and maximises the amount of productive work a driver can accomplish within his day.
That sounds like an out of date working practise or something something Unionzzz!!!Give a driver a straight eight hour shift everyday and he’ll be sitting around doing nothing for part of shift. If a trip from A to B and back to A takes 2hrs and 14mins to complete and he only has 1hr 30 left on his shift - he ain’t going out again!
This is why we have weird and differing shift lengths as it fits in with the timetable and maximises the amount of productive work a driver can accomplish within his day.
Stedman said:
That sounds like an out of date working practise or something something Unionzzz!!!
The tocs use very expensive software and have dedicated departments to create efficient job diagrams, there's train planning dept and the unit planning depot then the rosta department.It's only then the traincrew representatives scrutinise to look for mistakes and how to make them more efficient, the unions actually help the tocs save money they are not the perceived evil some people seem to think.
Running a toc/foc that runs trains is a very complicated business
Stedman said:
Agreed
I especially enjoyed seeing all drunks going home this morning at 5am on my train 😆 🤣 Seriously though there's not many professions that people wave at you on a daily basis, it cheers me up seeing little kids faces as they see the train.
It's a satisfying career were you actually feel productive after a busy day driving people from a to b
wobman said:
Stedman said:
Agreed
I especially enjoyed seeing all drunks going home this morning at 5am on my train ?? ?? Seriously though there's not many professions that people wave at you on a daily basis, it cheers me up seeing little kids faces as they see the train.
It's a satisfying career were you actually feel productive after a busy day driving people from a to b
wobman said:
Stedman said:
Agreed
I especially enjoyed seeing all drunks going home this morning at 5am on my train ?? ?? Seriously though there's not many professions that people wave at you on a daily basis, it cheers me up seeing little kids faces as they see the train.
It's a satisfying career were you actually feel productive after a busy day driving people from a to b
As a job I trained as an Engineer and a large part of me wished the UK treated the profession with the respect it deserves and paid accordingly as I'd probably still be doing that, it doesn't. My biggest YouTube idols are Mark Rober, Stuff Made Here and the lads at Bad Obsession Motorsport.
It's a dangerous thing to say for obvious reasons (and there are plenty of caveats) but driving a train is the easiest job I've ever done and unless I'd have made it to Lt Colonel or above in the Army also the best paid.
A job you don't take home is worth it's weight in gold and that's the best thing for me, zero stress, turn up, get told what to do, do it, go home, bloody brilliant.
Chicken Chaser said:
wobman said:
Stedman said:
Agreed
I especially enjoyed seeing all drunks going home this morning at 5am on my train ?? ?? Seriously though there's not many professions that people wave at you on a daily basis, it cheers me up seeing little kids faces as they see the train.
It's a satisfying career were you actually feel productive after a busy day driving people from a to b
Quick question for the drivers in here;
At what point in the training would you become a "qualifed driver"? I keep seeing adverts on job sites for qualified drivers but they don't generally specify an experience level. Does a minimum amount of time have to pass before you'd be eligible to apply for other companies once you're qualified?
No intention of moving myself once qualified, just curious!
Len20 said:
Chicken Chaser said:
wobman said:
Stedman said:
Agreed
I especially enjoyed seeing all drunks going home this morning at 5am on my train ?? ?? Seriously though there's not many professions that people wave at you on a daily basis, it cheers me up seeing little kids faces as they see the train.
It's a satisfying career were you actually feel productive after a busy day driving people from a to b
Quick question for the drivers in here;
At what point in the training would you become a "qualifed driver"? I keep seeing adverts on job sites for qualified drivers but they don't generally specify an experience level. Does a minimum amount of time have to pass before you'd be eligible to apply for other companies once you're qualified?
No intention of moving myself once qualified, just curious!
Most TOC’s will require a minimum of two or three years productive service before letting you leave (there’ll usually be something in your contract) and other TOC’s will usually require similar experience before taking you, plus a good safety of the line record.
Len20 said:
I agree! Best of luck in your assessments. I recently been given a start date for a trainee job so feel free to DM with any specific questions.
Quick question for the drivers in here;
At what point in the training would you become a "qualifed driver"? I keep seeing adverts on job sites for qualified drivers but they don't generally specify an experience level. Does a minimum amount of time have to pass before you'd be eligible to apply for other companies once you're qualified?
No intention of moving myself once qualified, just curious!
Most tocs have slightly varied methods, at the toc I work at you have to complete and pass your rules / traction in a classroom (via teams during the pandemic) this can take 12to16 weeks of study and exams. Studying the rule book land 40hrs in the sims.Quick question for the drivers in here;
At what point in the training would you become a "qualifed driver"? I keep seeing adverts on job sites for qualified drivers but they don't generally specify an experience level. Does a minimum amount of time have to pass before you'd be eligible to apply for other companies once you're qualified?
No intention of moving myself once qualified, just curious!
Once completed you then go with a driver instructor for 270hrs of driving of which 40hrs must be dark driving, the instructor will train you on professional
driving standards / practical handling / route knowledge on core routes etc over a roughly 6 to 9 month period depending on core route work.
You then have a pass out over a few weeks with a DM (driver manager)to qualify to drive on your own
Once passed out as a pqa driver you are under continuous assessment for 2 years, only after completing your pqa (post qualified assessed) period are you then a fully qualified driver.
So from beginning to end its nearly 3 years before you are a fully qualified driver.
wobman said:
The tocs use very expensive software and have dedicated departments to create efficient job diagrams, there's train planning dept and the unit planning depot then the rosta department.
It's only then the traincrew representatives scrutinise to look for mistakes and how to make them more efficient, the unions actually help the tocs save money they are not the perceived evil some people seem to think.
Running a toc/foc that runs trains is a very complicated business
Yep.It's only then the traincrew representatives scrutinise to look for mistakes and how to make them more efficient, the unions actually help the tocs save money they are not the perceived evil some people seem to think.
Running a toc/foc that runs trains is a very complicated business
Len20 said:
Chicken Chaser said:
wobman said:
Stedman said:
Agreed
I especially enjoyed seeing all drunks going home this morning at 5am on my train ?? ?? Seriously though there's not many professions that people wave at you on a daily basis, it cheers me up seeing little kids faces as they see the train.
It's a satisfying career were you actually feel productive after a busy day driving people from a to b
Quick question for the drivers in here;
At what point in the training would you become a "qualifed driver"? I keep seeing adverts on job sites for qualified drivers but they don't generally specify an experience level. Does a minimum amount of time have to pass before you'd be eligible to apply for other companies once you're qualified?
No intention of moving myself once qualified, just curious!
Never rule out changing companies, I did after 20 years.
Good luck.
There's always opportunities popping up on the railways for qualified drivers jobs, it's weighing up the positives and negatives regarding a move.
My depot have lost 2 drivers recently and another 2 are going to other tocs, the toc they are going to is better money / better traction its all about your priorities so can't blame them.
My depot have lost 2 drivers recently and another 2 are going to other tocs, the toc they are going to is better money / better traction its all about your priorities so can't blame them.
wobman said:
There's always opportunities popping up on the railways for qualified drivers jobs, it's weighing up the positives and negatives regarding a move.
My depot have lost 2 drivers recently and another 2 are going to other tocs, the toc they are going to is better money / better traction its all about your priorities so can't blame them.
I got no more walking to work, less routes, less traction, less hassle. More pay, better T&C's, more holiday.My depot have lost 2 drivers recently and another 2 are going to other tocs, the toc they are going to is better money / better traction its all about your priorities so can't blame them.
Also have a permanent late/night link which is great no more alarms at 02.45
audikentman said:
wobman said:
There's always opportunities popping up on the railways for qualified drivers jobs, it's weighing up the positives and negatives regarding a move.
My depot have lost 2 drivers recently and another 2 are going to other tocs, the toc they are going to is better money / better traction its all about your priorities so can't blame them.
I got no more walking to work, less routes, less traction, less hassle. More pay, better T&C's, more holiday.My depot have lost 2 drivers recently and another 2 are going to other tocs, the toc they are going to is better money / better traction its all about your priorities so can't blame them.
Also have a permanent late/night link which is great no more alarms at 02.45
I’m fortunate the depot I’m at in my TOC has the most variety of route-it’s all relative of course and I’d sooner do stoppers all day than lose my key, but 140 stops in a diagram over 50 miles of route holds less appeal than semi fast/fast stuff over 250.
Saying that, I declined the opportunity a while back to change to an intercity TOC-the work sounded glorious, but a big pay cut, loss of T&C’s plus increasing the commute (not drastically, mind) weighed against the job. Shame, as I’d have loved to have driven HST’s for a bit!
CoolHands said:
As someone with a regular job ans hours, can anyone say why aren’t shifts split into 3 rather than 2? Ie the day I split into 3. Surely that’d be easier for each individual to manage, and still the same number of man-hours for the company?
Most TOC's have less trains at night, rush hours are mornings and early evenings, so they either have earlies and lates, earlies were from 00.01 to 11.59 start lates were 12.00 to 23.59 with nights every xxxx weeks on a late shift (my last TOC did this) or they cover the work by having really early starts and very late finishes.I had an interview with a freight company they had earlies from 00.01 to 07.59 start, middles were 08.00 to 15.59 start, lates 16.00 to 24.00
My current TOC has a late/night shift link wich anyone can go in if there is a vacancy.
Good thing about the railway is you can always swap shifts as long as its 'legal' companies don't care as long as the work is covered.
You can usually find someone to swap with permanently so you do earlies, middles or lates.
Edited by audikentman on Wednesday 5th January 14:58
Edited by audikentman on Wednesday 5th January 15:00
itcaptainslow said:
I find interesting how some drivers prefer less routes and less traction-give me as much variety as possible!
It's fewer routes, not less.https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/fewe...
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