First day doing new Job today as Train driver today. Follow your dreams!
- Thread starter David_VI
- Start date
Awesome story, congratulations.
Can I have a ride in the cab?
No
I'd love to be able to one day.. My dad is mega proud of me, afterall he's into trains and I hope one day I can get permission to let him have a journey. It's all very serious though, have to have your manager with you.. distractions bad!Ah cool! I will read!
As a commuter on the line you're working on, please stop in the right position
And congrats! Do they do anything to prepare you with the (as I understand it) inevitable fatality?
Like I said in a previous reply, if it happens you attempt to follow proceedure, so stop, put out an emergency call which stops trains. Then get relieved and your manager checks how you are before taking you home. You can then choose whether to come back to work or have time off. You do get a bit of pay I believe, but this changed recently, then changed again so not sure.
Not really inevitable, some drivers have been on for all their working life and not had one yet some can start and within the first 2 years have a couple.
Apparently it's been the worst year in a while for it, we're already on 29 suicides on the Greater Anglia area.
One last week at Shenfield survived, albeit with no legs and one arm..
Who knows how you'l feel after that!
I went to school in Cheshunt. During six form, two students separately lost their dads to train suicides. Seems to be a really big problem in the area.
Congrats on the job though. I hope you never have to experience anything like that.
Never knew it was that complex - I'm not sure it would be a job I could do - I'd probably make a colossal mistake within a week of starting. Fair play to you if you for doing it!
That post... My god... Even the TL;DR section is borderline TL;DR.
How many words can you use to say:
"wanted to be a train driver since I was a kid, didn't know how to become one, stuff happened which made me sad, did some stuff to get some certificates, became a train driver, now im happy"
??
It was actually quite interesting and well written. When I got tho the bottom I did think to myself, how come I've read this far, I never read this much on GD. It was a good post.
Well done mate, sounds like a stressful interview process.
Well I did my first shift last night and nearly made a few errors, but minor ones that mean you have to do extra walking
. The way my line in the rota fell meant the shift was a spare one, so you're essentially a cover person but on the depot that generally means you just help out the main guy on that shift..
Now tonight I am not spare, I am the only guy on the shift so.. heres when I see how I do when the phone rings and control want things swapped around and I have to think on my feet!
Well I did my first shift last night and nearly made a few errors, but minor ones that mean you have to do extra walking
The way my line in the rota fell meant the shift was a spare one, so you're essentially a cover person but on the depot that generally means you just help out the main guy on that shift..
Now tonight I am not spare, I am the only guy on the shift so.. heres when I see how I do when the phone rings and control want things swapped around and I have to think on my feet!
good to see you getting your dream career going
So they pretty much leave you alone from day 1 then? no one around to help you out / mentor you in the job??
good to see you getting your dream career going
So they pretty much leave you alone from day 1 then? no one around to help you out / mentor you in the job??
As a depot driver you have 25 days with an instructor at the depot, this is after you've done about 4 months on rules and traction.
You learn most of the job during those 5 weeks but when you're passed out you're on your own.
At depot's like Colchester most shifts are alone and in charge of the depot so have to make all the decisions when things go **** up. Other bigger depots, like say Ilford or Crown Point which are maintenance depots have around 10 depot drivers on at once with one guy organising the lot. Colchester, Clacton, Gidea Park and Southend are smaller (Colchester only holds 24 trains over night) so during the day you're on your own. There is a lot of sitting about in the office.. But it's the night time where shifts overlap more and you're on the go non stop.
I'm fine with the driving and the planning to a certain extent but when things go wrong and control phone up and ask for a certain unit to go on a certain diagram, or change their mind about something... I'll have to think on the go and adjust plans. That's what i'm most worried about.
They say it's good for your first shifts to be on days where the network goes **** up and trains fail... makes sense but still a bit daunting.
David
One last week at Shenfield survived, albeit with no legs and one arm..
Having seen the "aftermath" first hand I can only feel for the driver..
Was in the first of the first class carriages from Liverpool St -> Norwich a couple of years ago when we had a jumper.. herd a bang and then a red mist / streak appeared along the windows on the left side.. wasn't pleasant.. when the police turned up all you could hear was "here's another bit"..
10 mins later the air-ambulance landed and I thought they were being a bit optimistic at that point!
Good luck with the job! Its a real achievement in life when you work your dream.
Until your first SPAD and you get hauled over the coals.......
Congratulations though, just make sure you keep aware at all times and watch for those lights...
Yeah red is a scary colour for this reason. Humans make mistakes, but if you hold your hands up usually they will help you out. A recent pass out has lost their job after they passed a signal at danger but tried to cover it up.. So honesty is the best policy!
Soldato
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Dont normally read posts this long, but glad I did, well done 
