A typical day in the life of a modern train driver

[XPTE]

Are there are any modern day train drivers here? Preferably passenger train drivers. If so, I'd be interested to read a report on how a typical day as a train driver is for you, such as which routes/services you get to drive, when and where you take your breaks, lunch breaks, etc.

[Dewgel]

Are there are any modern day train drivers here? Preferably passenger train drivers. If so, I'd be interested to read a report on how a typical day as a train driver is for you, such as which routes/services you get to drive, when and where you take your breaks, lunch breaks, etc.

Here! I drive the Tyne And Wear Metro. Currently we're forced to work long hours, but when I get to South Shields (end of shields line) I go to the vending machine and go in the office and grab a snack, then get back the to Cab.
It is hard and sometimes stressful, having to wait at a red light for some tit
head Arriva Trainee to pass by at 25km/h on the 70km/h zone.
I will make a report when I have enough time to, but for now that's all you need to know, right?
PS. It is pretty easy to do, I find. Although looking out for cars flying past the crossings is pretty hard... I once encountered bricks being lobbed off the window by some pissed man...

[Kevo00]

It is hard and sometimes stressful, having to wait at a red light for some tit
head Arriva Trainee to pass by at 25km/h on the 70km/h zone.
I will make a report when I have enough time to, but for now that's all you need to know, right?
PS. It is pretty easy to do, I find. Although looking out for cars flying past the crossings is pretty hard... I once encountered bricks being lobbed off the window by some pissed man...

On the Tyne and Wear Metro don't you get quite a lot of hooliganism? Especially on the South Hylton line I would have thought .

[Goingnorth]

It is hard and sometimes stressful, having to wait at a red light for some tit
head Arriva Trainee to pass by at 25km/h on the 70km/h zone.
I will make a report when I have enough time to, but for now that's all you need to know, right?
PS. It is pretty easy to do, I find. Although looking out for cars flying past the crossings is pretty hard... I once encountered bricks being lobbed off the window by some pissed man...

On the Tyne and Wear Metro don't you get quite a lot of hooliganism? Especially on the South Hylton line I would have thought .

Yeah I really miss Sunderland, lovely place.

[ca55ie]

See THIS link about a district line (London Underground) driver's day. Feel free to e-mail him questions, as dave is a good friend of mine!!!

[FGWDriver929]

Well, as a newly qualified FGW HST Driver, I can tell you that there is no typical day as a driver! Some days are long (10 hours) some are short (6 hours) some are simple ferrying backwards and forwards to the depot, others are long distance work, some days you are rostered as 'spare' and get to sit around drinking lots of tea and chatting, waiting for a job to come up.

And of course, there is always every chance that sh*t will happen, and everything will go wrong, and you'll end up staring at a red signal for an hour (or more!).

As for routes, I am currently learning the road from Paddington To Bristol, and this is my 'core route' the one route that every paddington/Bristol based FGW driver knows. As i get more experienced I will learn more routes i.e cheltenham + gloucester, weston super mare, cardiff etc but it is quite a long process, as you only learn more roads with experience and link progression.

Our top link drivers know all routes availible to a Pad man, and all traction (HST's, 180's and 47's/57's) and one day, so will i.

While I'm on the subject of experience, i couldn't help but notice this quote:

It is hard and sometimes stressful, having to wait at a red light for some tit
head Arriva Trainee to pass by at 25km/h on the 70km/h zone.

Well excuse me, but as a former tit head trainee myself, I cannot accept this constant opinion from supposedly brilliant train drivers that all trainee's are 'useless, boil in the bag, good for nothing's off the street who know nothing about the railway.' I have just come through a hard and intensive course that most older, more experienced drivers wouldn't manage to get through (no disrespect intended) and frankly, I have worked my backside off to get where I am today, and still the modern railway training schemes are dismissed by these old hand drivers. The old drivers seem to foget that once upon a time, they were knew to the railway too, and after all, we all have to start somewhere.

I mean, for christs sake, the railways come in for enough critiscism from outside (i.e the media) without constant bickering from it's own staff!!! All drivers should be pulling together to help one another, not taking the p*ss, just because a guy hasn't worked on the railway for umpteen years!!!

Anyway, rant over now! I hope this has helped

Peace out

[allypally]

someone on my MSN contact is a driver for Amtrak. If you want to know more, pst here and i will give you a forum link.

[Tomnick]

someone on my MSN contact is a driver for Amtrak. If you want to know more, pst here and i will give you a forum link.

Sounds interesting - it'd be good to know, from the inside, how the railways work 'over there'!

[Dewgel]

Well, as a newly qualified FGW HST Driver, I can tell you that there is no typical day as a driver! Some days are long (10 hours) some are short (6 hours) some are simple ferrying backwards and forwards to the depot, others are long distance work, some days you are rostered as 'spare' and get to sit around drinking lots of tea and chatting, waiting for a job to come up.

And of course, there is always every chance that sh*t will happen, and everything will go wrong, and you'll end up staring at a red signal for an hour (or more!).

As for routes, I am currently learning the road from Paddington To Bristol, and this is my 'core route' the one route that every paddington/Bristol based FGW driver knows. As i get more experienced I will learn more routes i.e cheltenham + gloucester, weston super mare, cardiff etc but it is quite a long process, as you only learn more roads with experience and link progression.

Our top link drivers know all routes availible to a Pad man, and all traction (HST's, 180's and 47's/57's) and one day, so will i.

While I'm on the subject of experience, i couldn't help but notice this quote:

It is hard and sometimes stressful, having to wait at a red light for some tit
head Arriva Trainee to pass by at 25km/h on the 70km/h zone.

Well excuse me, but as a former tit head trainee myself, I cannot accept this constant opinion from supposedly brilliant train drivers that all trainee's are 'useless, boil in the bag, good for nothing's off the street who know nothing about the railway.' I have just come through a hard and intensive course that most older, more experienced drivers wouldn't manage to get through (no disrespect intended) and frankly, I have worked my backside off to get where I am today, and still the modern railway training schemes are dismissed by these old hand drivers. The old drivers seem to foget that once upon a time, they were knew to the railway too, and after all, we all have to start somewhere.

I mean, for christs sake, the railways come in for enough critiscism from outside (i.e the media) without constant bickering from it's own staff!!! All drivers should be pulling together to help one another, not taking the p*ss, just because a guy hasn't worked on the railway for umpteen years!!!

Anyway, rant over now! I hope this has helped

Peace out

Yo dude got nothing against trainees, you should be in our staff and days out at clubs, good nights out, but we all get badly annoyed with the trainee for Arriva a couple of weeks back. He applied the emergency brakes stopping at each stop, and I had to wait on the South Hylton line.



Yes, we get a lot of hooligans on the metro, Alot of times I open the cab door, ask to see a kid who just ran on's ticket and if he hasn't got on I just tell him to . off... If he/she refuses I threaten them with my details book, which is given to Northumbrian Police etc.
Heheh, I have the power...
This kid yesterday attempted "Metro surfing", which is climbing on the couplings without paying for a ticket and riding from station to station, I wanted to go really fast but the adviser said don't...

[FGWDriver929]

He applied the emergency brakes stopping at each stop, and I had to wait on the South Hylton line.

Ok mate, i'll forgive you. That is a pretty dumb thing to do! Although my worst mistake was once, when stopped at Chippenham in a 180 adalante during my training period, i brought the train to a stop, and insted of moving the master switch to neutral and then opening the doors, I accidently switched the cab out completely, and had to set the entire cab again, causing about 5-6 minutes delay! oops!
Still, this is how we learn I guess. Fortunately I've made no major mistakes since

[Dewgel]

He applied the emergency brakes stopping at each stop, and I had to wait on the South Hylton line.

Ok mate, i'll forgive you. That is a pretty dumb thing to do! Although my worst mistake was once, when stopped at Chippenham in a 180 adalante during my training period, i brought the train to a stop, and insted of moving the master switch to neutral and then opening the doors, I accidently switched the cab out completely, and had to set the entire cab again, causing about 5-6 minutes delay! oops!
Still, this is how we learn I guess. Fortunately I've made no major mistakes since

The whole point of training is to make mistakes, If you make no mistakes your training was useless...It's like you HAVE to make a mistake...

My worst mistake was when I was tired, I woke up at 6am, got in my cab drove down the line and fell asleep, I woke after lying on the horn button (how original:P) then later that day I started doing loads of weird things like uncoupling cars while at a halt. Hehe, I'm evil. Luckily I didn't put it in reverse , because you have to walk all the way to the opposite side of the train to reverse, and drive the train from the other side...


Anyway, see ya!

[crasher]

Drivers hours
LGV(HGV) drivers have strict hours of work that are enforced by EEC laws.

Do train drivers have laws for how long can they drive before taking a break, & for length of working days/weeks.

[ArrivaTrains]

Do train drivers have laws for how long can they drive before taking a break, & for length of working days/weeks.

Yes they do, and so do Conductors too!!

Thanks

Lee


Britains newest Intercity Franchise - Now in Operation

[salopiangrowler]

yes its 40 minutes for every 3 hours i think

[FGWDriver929]

The longest we can sit 'in the seat' without a break is 4 hours, and the maximum length day is 12 hours, however, it is VERY rare to go to these lengths. It usually only happens when there is an incident on the railway, and you are stood at a signal for a sustained period of time.

For instance i was driving an HST in my training period (with a driver instuctor) and coming back from Cardiff, and there was a fire in the Burnham area (nr Slough) and all lines were blocked at the fire brigade's request. we were stopped for about 45mins at one signal, then put into the up relief platform at Maidenhead, where we stood for another hour. eventually the signaller informaed us to change ends and proceed back down ine to Reading, where we would terminate. Came close to 4 hours in the seat that day! Also had to get a Cab from Reading to Paddington in the rush hour, which was nice (not). at least I wasn't paying