Trainee train drivers wanted...

[wobman]

Chicken Chaser said:

I think I definitely work better on lates, I can struggle through earlies as I have done for the rest of my career but they're usually 10 or 12hr shifts, so long days. I've been on a 12 pattern 2 days 2 nights 4 off for a while now but I've done 6 on 4 off, some 5 on 3 off shifts (not a fan) and some weird mixed patterns which are a combo of 3 4 and 5 days on and 3 or 4 days off.

I take it all operators run different patterns? Do you usually get long periods off to recharge or do the short shifts mean you're always at work? With 6 hour shifts I'm not sure how you manage to get your hours in!

The rostas at the depot I work at are designed over a 42 line link, different links work different routes but they are designed to work to average out as a 35hr week over the link total.
In some weeks it can vary from 1 day as spare to a week of spares, that means I can be over 3hrs forward or 2hrs back from the spare turn length.
As I said rostering can be very complicated on the railways, you take the rough with the smooth but over the length of the link it usually works in your favour.

Some tocs have Sundays in the working week others have it as committed overtime, it's very much toc or foc dependent.

[wobman]

forrestgrump said:

I’m not being glib, nor dismissive. It’s personal experience, much as your post. But this thread isn’t very balanced, there’s a lot of scaremongering on here, whereby shifts are the worst thing to happen to anybody, you’ll always be exhausted, you’ll have no life. The flip side to that is some people thrive on shift work and that there are positives to it. The conclusion is you’ll find out how you handle shift work when you do it, but don’t automatically expect to hate it or struggle with it because you’ll more likely end up doing so.

It's all relative to which toc or foc or depot you a are based, some have for better T&Cs than others or the depot workload is better. My depot used to run at pre covid 86% efficiency the next depot over 1hr away ran at 35% efficiency. They have no night shifts / shed turns / finishes after midnight and earliest start is 4.45am !

It's not scaremongering it's best to be prepared, that's my way of thinking and saying all depots have it hard or all have it easy isn't the case as we all know.

I would always say the railways is a great career choice but its not for everyone, you need an understanding partner and family. Bank Holidays don't exist as you work most of them and work most weekends.trying to get leave is hard work aswell. But you get time off in the week and long weekends as some tocs but not all.

I would always recommend doing research first before taking a job and then you are aware of the positives and negatives.




It's

[wobman]

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

[wobman]

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]

Chicken Chaser said:

2 weeks until my assessment. Lots of good positive noises amongst our PH train community. Hoping to make a good job of it and join you all.

Good luck

[wobman]

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.

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]

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.

[wobman]

I prefer permanent earlies it just suits my family life, I did 14yrs of the rotation though before that.
Back in work 3am tommorow though.....

[wobman]

Good to hear someone has passed the assessments, the course is when the hard work begins

[wobman]

demic said:

There’s also a chance to claim traveling time and get some overtime in if you have to travel from your home depot to the training school. It was a big help for me at the time as I’d took a big pay cut.

Trainees at my TOC go onto full drivers pay after just eight weeks. Youth of today don’t know they were born etc etc….

It was 12 month on training wage when I started 20yrs ago, how things have changed. My training wage was £15k and there was no opportunity for overtime whilst training.
But it was worth the wait as I went to 80% once passed out then after another year it was 100%.

Things are very different nowadays