Hi everyone I have finished all my checks (medical etc ) and am due to start my course in September in Birmingham, I’ve got a few questions hopefully you’ll be able to help with .
1. Is there anything I can revise before the course starts? (Books, Training manuals , Videos etc)
2. With the Exams do questions need to be answered Verbatim and are they short answers or large paragraphs ( I’m used to large paragraphs Verbatim as this was what most exams required when I was in the Navy not that I enjoyed that)
1. Don’t bother revising anything before you go, just enjoy the last few weeks where you’re not having to fill every minute of your day trying to remember occasions to authorise a wrong direction move and similar Railway factoids.
I did buy a copy of LTC Rolt’s ‘Red for Danger’ though, it’s an interesting book about loads of railway accidents and what caused them. If you’re doing an Absolute Block course some of it will even make sense after a while!
2. The exams are a mixture of multiple guess and written. The written answers have a substantial element of verbatim writing of certain bits of the rule book, the rest is writing what actions you would take in the scenario presented to you.
Good luck with the course, and with the job once you pass
Hi everyone. Just got my medical on Friday now. Was wondering if someone could actually go through the average day? I’m gonna be grade three, be nice to get an idea of what the first thing y’all do and after if that makes sense?
The average day of a grade 3 signaller?
Get into the box, do a handover with the person you are taking off for 3 minutes.
Have an extended chat with them if you get on well and they aren’t in a hurry to go home.
Get the kettle on.
Make a few trains go backwards and forwards, making sure they all go in the direction they are supposed to. Move some trains out of the way if they are holding other trains up.
Read a book with a cup of tea when there are no trains on.
Maybe do a few line blocks if there is work that needs to be done on track.
Continue running trains as they come.
Give the box a bit of a clean.
Your relief turns up, do a little hand over and stop for a chat or go home.
Get home and forget about your day because you’re in a job where you almost never have to take your work home with you.