This is a blog written by a new recruit to ‘One’ railways in West Anglia (now National Express East Anglia) who joined the railway in March 2005 after several years in other jobs. The experiences are typical of what can be expected at a passenger TOC and cover his experiences from interview to passing out nearly a year later, then his first few months as a qualified driver. It was written both to illustrate the training process and to provide information and encouragement to other trainees and people considering train driving as a career.
Many thanks to the author for allowing me to display this blog.
UPDATE: As of 2016, this blog now also includes the latest industry news and free advice for those wanting to get into the rail industry.The last entry from the trainee train driver training series can be found here: http://www.traindriver.org/springwatch/ We have 100s of insightful posts!
“Sybiiill…!!!”
Someone once said that a little knowledge can be dangerous. As from today, I and the others in the class have the piece of paper as proof of that. Having passed the final assessment for the “Introduction to Rules” course, our little knowledge and us are being allowed to progress to the next phase of … Continue reading “Sybiiill…!!!”
Absolute (Mental) Block
Well, I was warned that things might get a bit more complicated as time went on. Having spent all last week being introduced to the basic concepts of signalling (basic…?!), we’re now getting into the somewhat murkier waters of passing signals at danger with and without authority, temporary block working and train failures. Everything was … Continue reading Absolute (Mental) Block
All quiet on the Western Front
Since passing my PTS assessment there hasn’t really been an awful lot of note to report. The driver training is still in its initial induction phase, and we’re getting some fairly basic introductions to the various facets of the job of train driver. As well as classroom sessions and sessions out in the depot we’ve … Continue reading All quiet on the Western Front
Brown trousers optional
I’m very pleased to say that your humble correspondent has survived the week to report on passing the first training module. Being totally new to the railways, I and my colleagues were first required to take and pass the Personal Track Safety (PTS) assessment so that we could be passed competent to wander around the … Continue reading Brown trousers optional
Let’s start again, shall we?
First week at the Hornsey training school and it seems like the wheels have already fallen off. While we were busy swanning about in Ipswich last week, our instructor was scratching his head wondering where we all were. Due to a mix up somewhere along the line it would seem that us trainee drivers should … Continue reading Let’s start again, shall we?
“Hello, good evening and welcome”
It seems that my fears were unfounded. Shortly after the last entry I received details of an induction week starting on 4th April at the Ipswich Town football ground at Portman Road . The week itself was billed as a corporate induction, and centred primarily on ‘one’ as a company and why we were important … Continue reading “Hello, good evening and welcome”
The story so far…
Having already been through the recruitment and selection process there’s so much to catch up on. So, let me begin by setting the scene. Before submitting my application to become a trainee train driver with ‘one’ railway, I had no experience of working on the railways. My background was always in admin and customer service, … Continue reading The story so far…
