And when was your interview? Just trying to get a sense of timescales... or can I pm you?
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A career as a signaller
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MostlyHarmless
Member
- Joined
- 1 Mar 2018
- Messages
- 988
Feel free to PM me
Why is there a long list of applications for Guilford ?
Billyc87
Member
Just had my first signaller interview, parts of it went ok, feel like I messed up a couple of questions. Don’t think it’s likely I will get it, learned a lot for next time.
89jordanbj
Member
Congratulations!
What do you feel you've learnt for next time?
I'm sure you have done a great job, be positive, not a lot of people get to interview stage and that is something you should be very proud of.
Defenestrate
Member
- Joined
- 6 Aug 2019
- Messages
- 130
Isn't there a conversion course to VDU, and perhaps a separate axle counter course too (depending on what you've done etc)? Not done them myself, but i imagine they would give you most of the info you'd require?
HamSandwich
Member
Mine says the same cant wait, you heard anymore yet? Seems like theres a few of us
Nothing more yet - are you in the FB group? I'm so excited to start, October seems so far away but have to remember to try and stay patient.
nom de guerre
Member
- Joined
- 24 Nov 2015
- Messages
- 776
Nice box to work and a good roster.
croydonboy
Member
- Joined
- 10 Aug 2015
- Messages
- 28
I believe you are right! I know in training everything will be learned. I’m just keen to start learning already! I guess I will just have to sit tight until then!
Tom Quinne
On Moderation
- Joined
- 8 Jul 2017
- Messages
- 2,225
If you do the TCB course then you’ll have a VDU conversion either at school or your location if they have a sim. You’ll also do a axle counter and DC / AC course locally as well.
croydonboy
Member
- Joined
- 10 Aug 2015
- Messages
- 28
Ok. Thank you for the info Tom. This is very helpful.
Rab2018
Member
Hello. I am sure this has been covered many times before (lots to search through) but I have been invited to apply for 'Future Opportunities' vacancies...for East Mids / Lincs area. Could somebody be kind enough to explain what these roles entail and what the process is going forwards please?
Charliew24
Member
- Joined
- 26 Jun 2018
- Messages
- 32
Wow what a fantastic recap! Thanks so much for the insight. My husband is a signaller but did his training over 20 years ago when it was just 6 weeks. Good to hear more up to date advice. Thanks a lotHello everyone.
I would like to share my experience, having recently qualified as a signaller. This post may also answer a lot of questions some of you might have and I will also try and add in some advice as well.
Firstly, the recruiting process - now, I know this has changed a little, and COVID19 has also made this a different animal too. But I think one thing that has NOT changed, is this takes a while. For me, it was 9 months from applying to being offered the job. I had no real issues and I remained patient, even when stuck at pending assessment 2 for 3 months!
Once I was offered the job, it was plain sailing though. My LOM was very good, and made everything quite simple.
Next step was getting my signalling school dates! One thing to bear in mind, was I went into signalling school PRE COVID 19. So please expect some significant delays getting on tour course. My understanding is that the training schools are currently running smaller classes (up to 6 I believe) instead of the usual 10-12, and there are less courses running at once now too at each location. Results may vary, but I expect this backlog to take a while to sort.
Training School - Now here is an eye opener. This wasn’t an easy course. Not even close. People do, and will fail. We started with 10/11 and finished with 7. So please, prepare as much as you can. Expect to put in significant study in the evenings. I found joining in with a study group was the best way for me, but everyone is different.
The course itself starts at 09:00 each morning - earlier if it is your turn for the simulator session that day - and finishes around 15:30 - or later if you are on the evening simulator group!
Make best time of these sessions! And try and learn how to run the “back desk” (the simulator) as quickly as possible. There is nothing worse than having no instructor and not being able to run the simulator yourself! Not every instructor will stay behind until 18:00 each and every evening with you - they have lives too!
Classroom environment is pretty basic - Death by PowerPoint! Frequent breaks and lots of tea and coffee on hand to help keep you going!
If you have no railway experience at all, you could be in for an uphill battle! EVERYTHING is new to you and its like learning french fluently in 3 months! (Or if you speak french, another language you don’t know!)
Be prepared each day - silly thinks like having the correct stationary, having dividing/marking tabs to put in your rulebooks etc will make your life much easier when it comes to study. Flash cards - I cant stress these enough.
There were 3 Written exams when i completed the course on weeks 3/6/11.
Week 3 was basic signalling (the easiest of the 3 by far, but still plenty you are expected to know)
Week 6 was the difficult one, and covered some quite heavy topics like wrong direction moves etc which for me at least, was difficult to grasp.
Week 11 covers a bit of everything, but was possibly the heaviest exam of the lot, covering everything you learned from week 7 onwards.
There were also multiple practical assessments on the simulator covering the normal running of trains, Line blockages, obstruction danger and a final week 12 assessment which takes around 3 hours. It’s referred to as the worst shift you will ever have
However, the course has now changed, and I’m sure someone who has done it more recently than me can chime in here, its now 10 weeks, with only 2 written tests i believe?
The instructors (or WDS) are mostly excellent. If you get Phil or Tom, you are laughing - absolute top notch.
Best advice I can give? Go prepared. Have flash cards handy, something to organise your rule books with, maybe even learn a few of the bell codes before you go - These are available online with a quick search. Most importantly, enjoy the course. I loved it, it was something completely different for me and a real challenge. I don’t know anyone who didn’t put tonnes of hours study in that passed.
A small point to note - Signalling school is very classroom based, and the free food in the hotels is tasty... you have been warned!
Once I Got through signalling school, I managed a week off then straight into training in my new Signal Box. However, COVID 19 meant getting into the box was a real struggle, with many staff uncomfortable with having another in the box with them. Normally it would have been 2-3 weeks to “pass out” and start running the box by yourself but for me it was closer to 3 months due to the lack of time spent training.
Last thing - It’s well worth it. This is a great job, Network rail look after their staff (from what I can see anyway) and if you are comfortable with your own company a little single manned signal box is a nice place to be for 12 hours at a time!
If anyone has any questions, more than happy to help you out.
Hello everyone.
I would like to share my experience, having recently qualified as a signaller. This post may also answer a lot of questions some of you might have and I will also try and add in some advice as well.
Firstly, the recruiting process - now, I know this has changed a little, and COVID19 has also made this a different animal too. But I think one thing that has NOT changed, is this takes a while. For me, it was 9 months from applying to being offered the job. I had no real issues and I remained patient, even when stuck at pending assessment 2 for 3 months!
Once I was offered the job, it was plain sailing though. My LOM was very good, and made everything quite simple.
Next step was getting my signalling school dates! One thing to bear in mind, was I went into signalling school PRE COVID 19. So please expect some significant delays getting on tour course. My understanding is that the training schools are currently running smaller classes (up to 6 I believe) instead of the usual 10-12, and there are less courses running at once now too at each location. Results may vary, but I expect this backlog to take a while to sort.
Training School - Now here is an eye opener. This wasn’t an easy course. Not even close. People do, and will fail. We started with 10/11 and finished with 7. So please, prepare as much as you can. Expect to put in significant study in the evenings. I found joining in with a study group was the best way for me, but everyone is different.
The course itself starts at 09:00 each morning - earlier if it is your turn for the simulator session that day - and finishes around 15:30 - or later if you are on the evening simulator group!
Make best time of these sessions! And try and learn how to run the “back desk” (the simulator) as quickly as possible. There is nothing worse than having no instructor and not being able to run the simulator yourself! Not every instructor will stay behind until 18:00 each and every evening with you - they have lives too!
Classroom environment is pretty basic - Death by PowerPoint! Frequent breaks and lots of tea and coffee on hand to help keep you going!
If you have no railway experience at all, you could be in for an uphill battle! EVERYTHING is new to you and its like learning french fluently in 3 months! (Or if you speak french, another language you don’t know!)
Be prepared each day - silly thinks like having the correct stationary, having dividing/marking tabs to put in your rulebooks etc will make your life much easier when it comes to study. Flash cards - I cant stress these enough.
There were 3 Written exams when i completed the course on weeks 3/6/11.
Week 3 was basic signalling (the easiest of the 3 by far, but still plenty you are expected to know)
Week 6 was the difficult one, and covered some quite heavy topics like wrong direction moves etc which for me at least, was difficult to grasp.
Week 11 covers a bit of everything, but was possibly the heaviest exam of the lot, covering everything you learned from week 7 onwards.
There were also multiple practical assessments on the simulator covering the normal running of trains, Line blockages, obstruction danger and a final week 12 assessment which takes around 3 hours. It’s referred to as the worst shift you will ever have
However, the course has now changed, and I’m sure someone who has done it more recently than me can chime in here, its now 10 weeks, with only 2 written tests i believe?
The instructors (or WDS) are mostly excellent. If you get Phil or Tom, you are laughing - absolute top notch.
Best advice I can give? Go prepared. Have flash cards handy, something to organise your rule books with, maybe even learn a few of the bell codes before you go - These are available online with a quick search. Most importantly, enjoy the course. I loved it, it was something completely different for me and a real challenge. I don’t know anyone who didn’t put tonnes of hours study in that passed.
A small point to note - Signalling school is very classroom based, and the free food in the hotels is tasty... you have been warned!
Once I Got through signalling school, I managed a week off then straight into training in my new Signal Box. However, COVID 19 meant getting into the box was a real struggle, with many staff uncomfortable with having another in the box with them. Normally it would have been 2-3 weeks to “pass out” and start running the box by yourself but for me it was closer to 3 months due to the lack of time spent training.
Last thing - It’s well worth it. This is a great job, Network rail look after their staff (from what I can see anyway) and if you are comfortable with your own company a little single manned signal box is a nice place to be for 12 hours at a time!
If anyone has any questions, more than happy to help you out.
Great review and personal thoughts!
I've been in the grade less than a year and Cleanshirt's review is an almost mirror image of my experiences throughout recruitment and training.
Although my fun is continuing, I'm required to write up reflective task journals for my apprenticeship which is being administered by Babcock.
As far as I know, all new entrants will not be classed as apprentices.
I'm not jealous at all
You will get interview.. Get ready.
When you say we won’t be treated like apprentices, how will the way we are treated differ? Thanks
Roadster 7
Member
- Joined
- 24 Oct 2017
- Messages
- 38
Hello everyone.
I would like to share my experience, having recently qualified as a signaller. This post may also answer a lot of questions some of you might have and I will also try and add in some advice as well.
Firstly, the recruiting process - now, I know this has changed a little, and COVID19 has also made this a different animal too. But I think one thing that has NOT changed, is this takes a while. For me, it was 9 months from applying to being offered the job. I had no real issues and I remained patient, even when stuck at pending assessment 2 for 3 months!
Once I was offered the job, it was plain sailing though. My LOM was very good, and made everything quite simple.
Next step was getting my signalling school dates! One thing to bear in mind, was I went into signalling school PRE COVID 19. So please expect some significant delays getting on tour course. My understanding is that the training schools are currently running smaller classes (up to 6 I believe) instead of the usual 10-12, and there are less courses running at once now too at each location. Results may vary, but I expect this backlog to take a while to sort.
Training School - Now here is an eye opener. This wasn’t an easy course. Not even close. People do, and will fail. We started with 10/11 and finished with 7. So please, prepare as much as you can. Expect to put in significant study in the evenings. I found joining in with a study group was the best way for me, but everyone is different.
The course itself starts at 09:00 each morning - earlier if it is your turn for the simulator session that day - and finishes around 15:30 - or later if you are on the evening simulator group!
Make best time of these sessions! And try and learn how to run the “back desk” (the simulator) as quickly as possible. There is nothing worse than having no instructor and not being able to run the simulator yourself! Not every instructor will stay behind until 18:00 each and every evening with you - they have lives too!
Classroom environment is pretty basic - Death by PowerPoint! Frequent breaks and lots of tea and coffee on hand to help keep you going!
If you have no railway experience at all, you could be in for an uphill battle! EVERYTHING is new to you and its like learning french fluently in 3 months! (Or if you speak french, another language you don’t know!)
Be prepared each day - silly thinks like having the correct stationary, having dividing/marking tabs to put in your rulebooks etc will make your life much easier when it comes to study. Flash cards - I cant stress these enough.
There were 3 Written exams when i completed the course on weeks 3/6/11.
Week 3 was basic signalling (the easiest of the 3 by far, but still plenty you are expected to know)
Week 6 was the difficult one, and covered some quite heavy topics like wrong direction moves etc which for me at least, was difficult to grasp.
Week 11 covers a bit of everything, but was possibly the heaviest exam of the lot, covering everything you learned from week 7 onwards.
There were also multiple practical assessments on the simulator covering the normal running of trains, Line blockages, obstruction danger and a final week 12 assessment which takes around 3 hours. It’s referred to as the worst shift you will ever have
However, the course has now changed, and I’m sure someone who has done it more recently than me can chime in here, its now 10 weeks, with only 2 written tests i believe?
The instructors (or WDS) are mostly excellent. If you get Phil or Tom, you are laughing - absolute top notch.
Best advice I can give? Go prepared. Have flash cards handy, something to organise your rule books with, maybe even learn a few of the bell codes before you go - These are available online with a quick search. Most importantly, enjoy the course. I loved it, it was something completely different for me and a real challenge. I don’t know anyone who didn’t put tonnes of hours study in that passed.
A small point to note - Signalling school is very classroom based, and the free food in the hotels is tasty... you have been warned!
Once I Got through signalling school, I managed a week off then straight into training in my new Signal Box. However, COVID 19 meant getting into the box was a real struggle, with many staff uncomfortable with having another in the box with them. Normally it would have been 2-3 weeks to “pass out” and start running the box by yourself but for me it was closer to 3 months due to the lack of time spent training.
Last thing - It’s well worth it. This is a great job, Network rail look after their staff (from what I can see anyway) and if you are comfortable with your own company a little single manned signal box is a nice place to be for 12 hours at a time!
If anyone has any questions, more than happy to help you out.
Brilliant! Thanks for taking the time to write that, it is very helpful. I'm due to start York signalling school on the 16th November.
Dumb question time, when you say use flash cards are these just small cards with brief notes on them?
Thank you
Last edited:
pocketjacks
Member
Just completed my video interview, wow that was tough!
Well done!
If I may, was it 8 questions around the NTS values?
I’m interested in the structure of the interview, did you have a set time to answer the questions?
Did you have to talk about yourself too?
All the best and fingers crossed for you
Roadster 7
Member
- Joined
- 24 Oct 2017
- Messages
- 38
Thank you, I've not used flash cards before but they sound a great idea and I will definitely try them.
Not sure on which hotel yet. Pleased to have got York, not a bad train journey from my closest station of Oakham.
Do the school give you a rule book that you can highlight relevant parts in or do you have to keep the rule book neat and not defaced?
Dave Tasty
Member
The process is slightly different. I think they are expecting a shortage in signallers going forward and are preempting this. I cannot offer more than that regarding the first part of your question as I do not currently work as a signaller so have no inside knowledge. The application form requires you to answer 6 questions not the usual 69 and you select the areas that you wish to be considered for. If you make the sift you will be invited to interview stage. This consists of 2 psychometric tests, a scenario based video interview and finally a virtual interview over wepow with a couple of people from network rail. I assume that you are graded on all four parts and that decides the outcome of your application. All the details and links are supplied as you progress so its not difficult to navigate through. I had previously completed the psychometrics but these were different to the usual ones so had to complete them again. Hope this helps.
Just heard from Onboarding that my pre-employment checks are complete and that they have contacted my line manager for a proposed start date! I guess there are a lot of variables here for a date to be set but can anyone with recent experience advise on how long it took? Itching to hand my notice in and find out where I'll be studying.
Thanks for this Cleanshirt, really insightful and a great help to us that are waiting to start signaler school. Great points re use of flash cards - I’ll definitely get some before I start in September. Did your group study together on an evening? Just curious as to how it works and why some of the cohort failed?Hello everyone.
I would like to share my experience, having recently qualified as a signaller. This post may also answer a lot of questions some of you might have and I will also try and add in some advice as well.
Firstly, the recruiting process - now, I know this has changed a little, and COVID19 has also made this a different animal too. But I think one thing that has NOT changed, is this takes a while. For me, it was 9 months from applying to being offered the job. I had no real issues and I remained patient, even when stuck at pending assessment 2 for 3 months!
Once I was offered the job, it was plain sailing though. My LOM was very good, and made everything quite simple.
Next step was getting my signalling school dates! One thing to bear in mind, was I went into signalling school PRE COVID 19. So please expect some significant delays getting on tour course. My understanding is that the training schools are currently running smaller classes (up to 6 I believe) instead of the usual 10-12, and there are less courses running at once now too at each location. Results may vary, but I expect this backlog to take a while to sort.
Training School - Now here is an eye opener. This wasn’t an easy course. Not even close. People do, and will fail. We started with 10/11 and finished with 7. So please, prepare as much as you can. Expect to put in significant study in the evenings. I found joining in with a study group was the best way for me, but everyone is different.
The course itself starts at 09:00 each morning - earlier if it is your turn for the simulator session that day - and finishes around 15:30 - or later if you are on the evening simulator group! Fridays can see you on your way home by midday.
Make best time of these sessions! And try and learn how to run the “back desk” (the simulator) as quickly as possible. There is nothing worse than having no instructor and not being able to run the simulator yourself! Not every instructor will stay behind until 18:00 each and every evening with you - they have lives too!
Classroom environment is pretty basic - Death by PowerPoint! Frequent breaks and lots of tea and coffee on hand to help keep you going!
If you have no railway experience at all, you could be in for an uphill battle! EVERYTHING is new to you and its like learning french fluently in 3 months! (Or if you speak french, another language you don’t know!)
Be prepared each day - silly things like having the correct stationary, having dividing/marking tabs to put in your rulebooks etc will make your life much easier when it comes to study. Flash cards - I cant stress these enough.
There were 3 Written exams when i completed the course on weeks 3/6/11.
Week 3 was basic signalling (the easiest of the 3 by far, but still plenty you are expected to know)
Week 6 was the difficult one, and covered some quite heavy topics like wrong direction moves etc which for me at least, was difficult to grasp.
Week 11 covers a bit of everything, but was possibly the heaviest exam of the lot, covering everything you learned from week 7 onwards.
There were also multiple practical assessments on the simulator covering the normal running of trains, Line blockages, obstruction danger and a final week 12 assessment which takes around 3 hours. It’s referred to as the worst shift you will ever have
However, the course has now changed, and I’m sure someone who has done it more recently than me can chime in here, its now 10 weeks, with only 2 written tests i believe?
The instructors (or WDS) are mostly excellent. If you get Phil or Tom, you are laughing - absolute top notch.
Best advice I can give? Go prepared. Have flash cards handy, something to organise your rule books with, maybe even learn a few of the bell codes before you go - These are available online with a quick search. Most importantly, enjoy the course. I loved it, it was something completely different for me and a real challenge. I don’t know anyone who didn’t put tonnes of hours study in that passed.
A small point to note - Signalling school is very classroom based, and the free food in the hotels is tasty... you have been warned!
Once I Got through signalling school, I managed a week off then straight into training in my new Signal Box. However, COVID 19 meant getting into the box was a real struggle, with many staff uncomfortable with having another in the box with them. Normally it would have been 2-3 weeks to “pass out” and start running the box by yourself but for me it was closer to 3 months due to the lack of time spent training.
Last thing - It’s well worth it. This is a great job, Network rail look after their staff (from what I can see anyway) and if you are comfortable with your own company a little single manned signal box is a nice place to be for 12 hours at a time!
If anyone has any questions, more than happy to help you out.
Last edited:
Tigerned371
Member
Could be weeks
Great tips, thanks mate!
I applied in Jan, interviewed and offered job in feb, start date was initially 27/4 with school the week after in York. This got delayed due to Covid and I’m due to start school in September but now in Coventry.
HamSandwich
Member
Cleanshirt, thank you for such a thorough write up. I have a start date but no signalling school date yet, however I'm going to get some blank flashcards ordered on your advice!