Learning to drive a tram - its easy! NOT!

[Acorncomputer]

... and

[dkightley]

ASSESSMENT DAY - Saturday 21st May - The result!

"There are one or two things I've observed that I'd like to discuss with you...but may I first congratulate you on passing the assessment."

One huge sigh of relief!!!! I can now drive trams of class H1 (a range of trams that just have a handbrake as the service brake) in service under supervision of an experienced driver.

The assessor talked me through the three points that he felt I needed to address....all fair points and I'm hoping further practise will resolve.

Bubbling with the news, I was asked to allow the assessor time to speak to my fellow trainee, who had not yet been told of his result...which I later found out was that he had not been successful - a dampener to the proceedings, as I knew he was capable of driving to the required standard...but nerves seemed to have got the better of him, and he made a few fundamental errors.

To round the day off, I was offered the chance to go with one of the service tram drivers for the two trips that remained for the day. And did I need to say "Yes, please." ? And the tram was Southampton 45: http://www.flickr.com/photos/deltrems/2 ... otostream/

So.....after driving two trips with passengers, we put the tram to bed.......and seven of us went out for a nice meal at a Chinese restaurant in Belper.

[englishinnz]

Hi Doug,
Thank's for that account of your adventure, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about it.

I never got to go to the Crich tramway museum when i was living back there in blighty. It was right on my door step too !!!!!

I shall endeavour to put that right when (hopefully) I return to England in the near future.

Thank's again,
Terry.

[Acorncomputer]

Hi Doug

Congratulations, but we knew you could do it anyway

It is a long time since I was at Crich so another visit is definitely on the list of things to do. I think a lot of things have changed.

[stephenholmes]

Congratulations Doug
I am hoping to vist Crich again this year
Kind regards Stephen

[briyeo1950]

That was an excellent read Doug, thanks very much for the insight into tram driving, more please. By the way what was the fault with the tram than went flash bang?.
Didn't I spot you on East Midlands news a few weeks back when they featured Crich, looking a little bit like a wartime refugee

[partyspiritz]

Well Doug what can I say

Very well done and its about time



Regards



John

[Retro]

Congratulations Doug. A great achievement and your posts about it have been very interesting. It's great to hear what others are doing in the real World.
Kind regards James.

[john13]

Well done Doug. Interesting experience.

Cheers

John

[dkightley]

Many thanks guys for your most kind words....although I have only reached the first hurdle in the quest to become a qualified driver!!

I now have to complete 8 full days supervised driving experience over the next four and a half weeks...one of the days with my instructor as the supervising driver. Then, on Saturday 25th June, I have the big one! My driving test proper!

Billed as "The test from Hell!", I will be pushed to the limit on safely managing a tram. I will be asked to do things at unexpected times, be urged to break the rules, be asked to perform emergency procedures, be distracted...and generally deliberately stressed so to see how I respond...and most importantly, show that I can keep calm and ensure the tram and its passengers, and any members of the public walking in the street, are kept as safe as possible.

I already have some of my days booked...over weekends....but I'll have to take at least two days off work to fit all the days in. And I'll continue the blog so you all can follow how I get on....which could well be slightly embarrasing if I flunk the test!!

And to answer a couple of questions....I've no idea what the fault was on Sheffield 74, although I may find out...seeing as the fault manifested when the driving school were using it. And yes, you did see me on East Midlands Today! They came to the museum to film for the "What's on!" series....and as one of the event organisers for the 1940s event that was taking place over Easter, I was asked to be interviewed. And I wasn't a refugee! I was the Mayor of Crich. Refugee, indeed!

[gswindale]

Yep - congratulations on your progress so far.

I'm sure you'll be fine with the "test from hell!"

Look forward to hearing how you get on over the coming weeks.

[Tonysmedley]

I wonder how strict the training was in the heydays of tramways?

Tony

[gswindale]

One would hope it would have been relatively strict (unlike the driving test years ago), however I guess back then people were likely to be more aware of trams than they might be now on a trip to Chrich.

All in all I would guess that it was fit for purpose.

Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk

[oldrocker]

And I wasn't a refugee! I was the Mayor of Crich. Refugee, indeed!

You wore your normal clothes then !

[dkightley]

I wonder how strict the training was in the heydays of tramways?

From what I can gather, the training was minimal. "That makes it go. That stops it. Now get out there and shift that tram!"

There are three things that make the training at Crich somewhat different to the old days.

Firstly, the trams are now museum artefacts....and spares are not available any more. Break something....and you have to make a replacement!

Secondly, the infrastructure at Crich is very much of a "compromise" between different track profiles, overhead type and construction...and its generally worn out! Some trams cannot access some of the roads in the depot because the curves are too tight, and another permutation of trams will only fit on the centre roads of each depot. And drive bogie cars too fast through some of the points...and there's a chance one of the axles will derail! The trams have to be treated with a lot of TLC.

And thirdly, the regulations covering light rail operators...and the museum is classed as a light rail operator....are far stricter on the standard of training, and indeed driving, than they used to be a hundred years ago! A silly example is that the standard of eyesight required to drive a tram at 16mph at Crich is far stricter than what is needed to drive a 40 ton HGV at high speed on the motorway!

And yes, pedestrians nowadays have zero tram awareness! Ask any Blackpool tram driver how often they nearly wipe a pedestrian out!