About to leave the RAF

Hi guys,

Just signed on to this forum. Been looking for trainee train driver/ train manager jobs for a while now before I leave the RAF soon.

I have applied for the XC Train Manager job at Birmingham as i'm relocating back to the West midlands. Hopefully I will at least get to the assessment stage.

Seems talking to a mate of mine who drives for Southwest Trains, trying to get into the train driving world is hard as nails. I am gutted I missed the recent Chiltern recrutiment drive in August for Trainee Drivers but I thought i'd be cheeky and phoned them direct to ask if they would be likely to recruit in the near future and it seems they will be in the new year but no dates confirmed yet.

I'd love to work for Virgin Trains as I know they are really good employers but the last time, I believe, they recruited Trainee Drivers was 2003/ 04 - is this correct? Surely they must be due a recruitment drive soon?

I have emailed Freight Train Companies and this seems the best route into being a driver but I really want the passenger side of driving. I've registered with my local train operators: London Midland, XC, Virgin etc as I will be living in Coventry and Birmingham is only a 15 min train journey away.

Any advice you can give other than keep plugging away is very much appreciated.

Cheers.

Hi, I left the RAF last June. I was contracting for 12 months as I had applied for a trainee driver role with DB just before I left. It is quite hard to get into, and it does take an age to get through the whole process, but worth it if you can afford to wait.

I had done 12, so had the lump sum to fall back on (since spent it on other random stuff), plus the contracting for a year helped build up some money. I had enough to boost my salary during the training phase, but I haven't really touched it and should be qualified by the end of the year, so all is good.

They really love the ex-military, which will definitely help. Keep trying mate, but just be prepared to wait.
Keep us up to date with your progress.
Emma.

Same here, A Tech A for 23 years, been out 8 years nearly and currently "on hold" with FGW. There were many many examples I used in my application and through the interviews, I'm 48 now so age no barrier it seems (it's illegal anyway to discriminate on age but you know what I mean).

Cheers guys, I've done nearly 20 - 13 in the RAF Regt and 7 as a Pers Spt Officer. I'm happy to do other roles other than driver and quite fancy on board manager. Like you guys I'm not in a massive rush as have pension to fall back on. I really don't want a HR job as people said I should do because of my background as don't want to sit behind a desk any more.

I'll keep looking, things seem to pop up from time to time.

FGW have a depot for TM's in Worcester, if that's any good to you. They also have catering staff there - don't rule that out, it's a very good foot in the door, which leaves you in the position of being an internal candidate for TM and Driver jobs.

I always wanted to be a passenger driver, surprise surprise I ended up on freight and I honestly don't think I could do passenger work now.

Local to Coventry it's really only London Midland among the passenger companies that will train you up to be a driver. XC and Virgin are in the enviable position of being able to take on only qualified drivers rather than trainees. However, they will take on trainee train managers and catering staff.

I would persist with the driving if that's what really floats your boat. Being ex-military you will have a number of advantages over the common or garden variety of trainees. The big challenge is getting through the first sift and securing a place on an assessment, so go big on the qualities that the train operators are looking for. The rest of it is then down to aptitude.

O L Leigh

Cheers for all replies - hopefully a new year will bring new jobs. I'm still looking at both Freight and Passenger trains. I'm quite flexible on travel too so if needed I will go outside the Midlands and commute.

You do have to consider that many operators will have limits on travel to work so commuting may not always be a good option. Ideally you should be looking close to where you live. But leaving that aside, you will have to factor these things into your working day, especially because you will be working shifts. If you've just done an intensive ten hour shift, do you want to have a one hour commute at the beginning and end of your day?

Take some time to think about what you want to be doing. Decisions you take now will impact on the opportunities you have in future. If Coventry is where you want to be then your options will be dictated by that location. You'll have access to Coventry, Brum, Rugby and Northampton, but locations further afield might be a bit of a stretch.

O L Leigh

I done 14yrs RAF, came out in 98, joined railway as a senior steward 2000, then 6 months later trained as a train manager. now 14 yrs later i start as a trainee driver with a freight company in january....ive been trying for nearly 2 years to get a drivers job....ive come accros a lot of ex military on the railway for obvious reasons we have the skills and qualities that they are looking for, taking nothing away from guys and gals of the street who also meet the standards they are looking for...

stick with it, keep knocking on doors, never give up trying, come back stronger if you have a set back and i guarantee you will get what you want in the end...

In the Coventry area as said you really only have London midland to join as a trainee, it's only a small depot most trainee jobs come up for new street.
Other driving depots near by would be rugby both DB schenker and freightliner both freight, also you have DRS at daventry freight again.
Looking a little further thameslink which used to be FCC at bedford churns trainee drivers out in droves, might as well stick a learners sticker on the door,people come and go willy nilly.

I leave the RN after 23 years next month, just applied for a part time role with east coast based in newcastle. Hopfully this will lead to a permanent role when the new franchise starts in feb next year. My background is Catering/ front of house so dealing with customers is pretty bread and butter for me, i'd love to get an onboard role but platform work will suit me for now. i've been applying for the last 6 months with various TOC's had my knockbacks but i just keep plugging away. perseverance is definately the key.