A career as a signaller

[SignalM0n]

Hello,

Does anybody know if there is a Bell Signals app that we can download to memorise the bell codes. I believe there was one but it is no longer on the app store.

Hi, thanks for the information about an app with bell codes.

There is an emulator for windows and MacOS called ‘Bluestacks’ (other emulators are available but I only have experience with ‘BlueStacks’. Download Bluestacks 5 from the official Bluestacks website. Right click on the icon on the desktop and ‘run as administrator’. Login to the play store through Bluestacks, search for the app and download. Each time you want to open the bell codes app, right click and ‘run as administrator’.

I am not a tech bod and despite all information I’ve come across suggesting that this is safe, I cannot be sure. You download and run Bluestacks (and any other emulator) at your own risk.

There’s a few pages online showing how to do it if you encounter problems.

This doesn’t work on iPads or iPhones - just full operating systems on laptops, if you don’t have an android device. Unsure how it runs on a Mac.

Hope this helps someone.

 

[Open_G]

Most likely be filling out paperwork, completing online modules that will help with some info for the start of IST, possibly visit your location(s) and a few other bits. 4 weeks is a long time to do stuff before IST so might get paid to sit at home.
Will be paid grade 2 before and during IST.

I was paid G1 before and during IST.

 

[red2512]

I've been told that I was lucky and signed my paperwork etc just before the change came in! So will be one grade lower than my normal hopefully

 

[Lpf93]

I was paid G1 before and during IST.

Was you going into a g2 box?

I've been told that I was lucky and signed my paperwork etc just before the change came in! So will be one grade lower than my normal hopefully

Lucky!

 

[Open_G]

Was you going into a g2 box?

Lucky!

No. At the time I think only 1 of us had a confirmed box to go to. All of us were paid at G1.

 

[red2512]

How would I know if I have a confirmed box to go to, would a confirmed location and grade mean I have a planned box to got to?

I've been lucky enough to get a G8 role at Rugby

 

[Open_G]

How would I know if I have a confirmed box to go to, would a confirmed location and grade mean I have a planned box to got to?

I've been lucky enough to get a G8 role at Rugby

I would assume so. Of the cohort of 10 on my course only one of us had a confirmed box and that was an internal secondment. The rest of us were on a year contract and had to apply for permanent roles during and after IST.

 

[vinoboxer]

Got IST coming up soon.

Any good bits of advice? Anything to settle the nerves?!

 

[Open_G]

Got IST coming up soon.

Any good bits of advice? Anything to settle the nerves?!

Be prepared to put most of your life on hold for 12 weeks.

Work out how you learn best. -repetition, silly mnemonics, reading, talking things over- etc.

Bruce’s quizzes helped me immensely. Even though largely lifted from the rule books I found they made things more digestible.

SIM as much as possible- as long as it’s good practice.

Try and get a good group bond- this can help you all get through.

Ask questions.

I made most of my notes in the evening using flash cards (written for me, not necessarily just copied from the books) tried to spend as much time in the class listening as I could. Not just note taking.

Enjoy it.

 

[Rodgie83]

Evening all. First time posting on here so not sure if I’m on the right group. I applied for a signaller’s role in November and woke up after a nightshift to a call offering me the position of a grade 2 trainee signaller in Hexham, starting in December. I’m in a bit of a pickle as I start a new role 2nd week of August. They have given me a couple of days to make a decision and I was just looking for some advice as to what kind of shift pattern I will be looking at and any progression the role of a signaller offers. Any feedback would be very much appreciated

Kev

 

[BrummieBobby]

Unsure as to the specifics of the shift pattern at Hexham, but regards to progression as a signaller, once you have passed IST, passed out the box and proved that you are competent and above all safe, it can essentially take you where you want it to take you.

As an example, you could stay at Hexham, you could go for the higher grade locations at Tyneside or Carlisle (Both within an hour of Hexham so commutable if you have family commitments in the locality) you could relocate to virtually anywhere in the country if you fancy it, you can get into Control, you can get into training new signallers, you can get into a MOM role (Mobile Ops Manager, they respond to incidents, deal with issues on the ground)

The experiences and skills you will gain as a signaller are highly valued by the industry. As a personal example, I have progressed to higher grade signaling (Currently a grade 7) but I have former colleagues who have moved to higher grades than me, both in the locality or relocating to a new area, have moved to Control or have become MOMs; alternatively some have stayed in grade 2 / 3 boxes because they are content to do so.

 

[Shunkadunk]

Cheers thanks for the response was under impression from the info in the network rail advert that it was grade 3.

Just done my video based scenarios. Not a fun experience

Yeah shows here cupar is grade 3 https://careers.networkrail.co.uk/j...nkled-Errol-Cupar-Carnoustie-Inverkeilor/2124 . Maybe have made a mistake on the advert. I just did them as well, I didn't think they were really that challenging but that made it more nerve-wracking for me because I wasn't sure if I was missing loads out. What did you make of them?

 

[Buiadh]

Scotland doesn’t use equalisation for Sundays (or Rest Day Working), it has a well established ‘priority order’ instead. This is totally different and too complicated to go into here.


Carnoustie is a grade 3 box, open 24/7 with a 12 hour roster and booked Sundays.

Thanks for the response, it's very useful. Is Inverkeilor 24/7 also?

Also in another post you mentioned Carnoustie runs different changeover times to Cupar? 12-00-12 Vs 6-18-6? Which is which?

I also did my scenarios the other day, and same as the other guys I struggled with their seeming simplicity. But I talked about prioritising safety etc. Fingers crossed!

 

[Napier]

I love life on shift, especially day shift - busy and the day goes quickly!

Active? I make sure I answer bells promptly, the timetable where I am is about 4 trains an hour so plenty of getting up and down and out of my seat, if there are any long empty bits I can always do some squats or lift some weights inbetween. Opening the windows allows some fresh air in to wake you up a bit if needed, especially when it's snowing! Food/tea/toilet breaks are all managed around trains, timetable depending. My toilet is outside so I have to look ahead and work out when I can nip down (as I can't hear any bells from there). It's all manageable once you get used to it.

Timetabling could be better in most areas, section timings are somewhat to be desired with some services especially when running back to back, in the past these issues have been flagged up with TRC on my area but they don't seem to have the gumption to want to approach Northern about altering timings so services are delaying each other! When you dismantle the timetable on my area you see that they run non stopping trains behind stopping terminator services this leads to the non-stopping service being checked in the shorter sections.

I also have an outside toilet and find extremely difficult to take a PNB when running trains as the block is occupied the majority of the time, as we all know you can’t just leave the SB with an occupied block for safety reasons, fitting meals in can sometimes be a challenge especially with certain dietary needs meaning regular non processed meals are required.

Scotland doesn’t use equalisation for Sundays (or Rest Day Working), it has a well established ‘priority order’ instead. This is totally different and too complicated to go into here.


Carnoustie is a grade 3 box, open 24/7 with a 12 hour roster and booked Sundays.

Evening all. First time posting on here so not sure if I’m on the right group. I applied for a signaller’s role in November and woke up after a nightshift to a call offering me the position of a grade 2 trainee signaller in Hexham, starting in December. I’m in a bit of a pickle as I start a new role 2nd week of August. They have given me a couple of days to make a decision and I was just looking for some advice as to what kind of shift pattern I will be looking at and any progression the role of a signaller offers. Any feedback would be very much appreciated

Kev

Hexham is a mixed bag from experience, it has a high volume of through traffic plus terminators in total 100 plus movements on a dayshift if you take in the shunting from down to up for the terminators and passing freight, also it is a regulating point so critical decisions have to be made TRC are worse than hapless!

Currently the shift pattern is non-compliant with the new NRP because it is not 60hr compliant, this is currently being looked at and from what I have been told several new rosters are being considered but none of them offer a good work/home life balance but are considerably better than the management proposal that was put forward, but whatever roster is selected it has to be implemented by Jan24, Hexham is very busy with level crossing use two or three of them are quite prolific with the usage mixture of farm/fishing and residential some days receiving in excess of 100 calls a day on a bad day, in the past it has had three failed attempts at a regrade to a grade 4 everyone agrees it should be except the regrade panel!

There is a reason why it has such a high turnover of staff and why nobody wants to work it!!

Evening all. First time posting on here so not sure if I’m on the right group. I applied for a signaller’s role in November and woke up after a nightshift to a call offering me the position of a grade 2 trainee signaller in Hexham, starting in December. I’m in a bit of a pickle as I start a new role 2nd week of August. They have given me a couple of days to make a decision and I was just looking for some advice as to what kind of shift pattern I will be looking at and any progression the role of a signaller offers. Any feedback would be very much appreciated

Kev

Current roster for Hexham


Weekends are not 12 hour shifts, box closes Sat/Sun night after last trains
Mon to Fri are 12 hour day night turns.

As stated in previous posting this is subject to change by early Jan 24.

 

[Prospire]

Is anyone able to offer some useful resources to read up on before starting my IST? I have my medical in two weeks and still waiting on a start date so figured I might as well use this time to build up some knowledge even if it's just railway history etc. rather than signalling specific.

Thanks.

 

[Napier]

Is anyone able to offer some useful resources to read up on before starting my IST? I have my medical in two weeks and still waiting on a start date so figured I might as well use this time to build up some knowledge even if it's just railway history etc. rather than signalling specific.

Thanks.

I wouldn't try to learn anything to indepth, but certainly learning bell codes and railway terminology, difference between AB and TCB and the definitions could ease the pain of the first few days of IST, I know the delivery is very different to what it was when I attended. TS1 might help if you don't already have it. A few of the bell codes and class of trains below but don't rush it, I used flash cards to learn them and when at IST spend time wisely on the sim, a little bit of research can help you a long way but to much can simply chock your grey matter up, it does eventually all click together some get it quicker than others.

 

[The Puddock]

Is anyone able to offer some useful resources to read up on before starting my IST? I have my medical in two weeks and still waiting on a start date so figured I might as well use this time to build up some knowledge even if it's just railway history etc. rather than signalling specific.

Thanks.

Since some changes to the course structure were made in June this year, the fortnight before you go to IST is now spent doing elearning and other online activities which serve as a basic introduction to the rail industry and to signalling. This is to give you more preparation and context for the course rather than just launching into it cold. So you don’t really need to do anything until your first day.

If you do decide to learn the bell codes as suggested by the poster above, I would suggest not getting hung up at this stage on what the various terms and classes of trains mean. That will all come later but for the moment just learn that 3-1-1 means ‘Is line clear for class 4 train?’ or 2-4 means ‘Blocking back inside home signal’ without worrying about understanding what a class 4 train or home signal actually is.

 

[Napier]

Since some changes to the course structure were made in June this year, the fortnight before you go to IST is now spent doing elearning and other online activities which serve as a basic introduction to the rail industry and to signalling. This is to give you more preparation and context for the course rather than just launching into it cold. So you don’t really need to do anything until your first day.

If you do decide to learn the bell codes as suggested by the poster above, I would suggest not getting hung up at this stage on what the various terms and classes of trains mean. That will all come later but for the moment just learn that 3-1-1 means ‘Is line clear for class 4 train?’ or 2-4 means ‘Blocking back inside home signal’ without worrying about understanding what a class 4 train or home signal actually is.

From what i've been told the quality of the IST is questionable now.

 

[Jaytee1977]

Hello everyone just after advice. Once again I failed to get an interview. Can anyone offer any advice as to whether I need to tweak my initial application answers or is it because there were others that performed better on the online assessments.
My back ground in the army and working on the oil rigs plus the fact the job I do is safety critical with other people's lives in my responsibility must stand me in good stead.
Any pointers to enhance my chances next time are greatly appreciated. 4th time now

Oh and is the PTS course done at IST

 

[Napier]

Hello everyone just after advice. Once again I failed to get an interview. Can anyone offer any advice as to whether I need to tweak my initial application answers or is it because there were others that performed better on the online assessments.
My back ground in the army and working on the oil rigs plus the fact the job I do is safety critical with other people's lives in my responsibility must stand me in good stead.
Any pointers to enhance my chances next time are greatly appreciated. 4th time now

Oh and is the PTS course done at IST

The railway isn't a happy place at present!

 

[Jaytee1977]

The railway isn't a happy place at present!

Quite possibly but this doesn't answer my question though. I would like advice on how to improve my application. Feedback from recruitment is vague

 

[The Puddock]

Oh and is the PTS course done at IST

The vast majority of signallers don’t hold PTS competence.

 

[Napier]

Quite possibly but this doesn't answer my question though. I would like advice on how to improve my application. Feedback from recruitment is vague

Generally feedback is very hard to get unless you know the hiring manager, but they do love buzz words in interview and if you have a degree they'll love that, it doesn't really matter what in as having a degree demonstrates you can learn at a high level, it can be a who you know and not what you know scenario!

The main thing is be honest with any answers and use in favour key words/buzz words, online assessments are cobblers it was much better when you went to Manchester to do the aptitude testing in a classroom enviroment, keep plugging away thats all you can do.

As stated signallers don't have a PTS now, requirement was removed years ago now you just fault it and wait for the Sick & Tired to turn up.

 

[AA Steve]

The railway isn't a happy place at present!

Could you possibly elaborate on your comment please, Cheers.

 

[Rodgie83]

Timetabling could be better in most areas, section timings are somewhat to be desired with some services especially when running back to back, in the past these issues have been flagged up with TRC on my area but they don't seem to have the gumption to want to approach Northern about altering timings so services are delaying each other! When you dismantle the timetable on my area you see that they run non stopping trains behind stopping terminator services this leads to the non-stopping service being checked in the shorter sections.

I also have an outside toilet and find extremely difficult to take a PNB when running trains as the block is occupied the majority of the time, as we all know you can’t just leave the SB with an occupied block for safety reasons, fitting meals in can sometimes be a challenge especially with certain dietary needs meaning regular non processed meals are required.




Hexham is a mixed bag from experience, it has a high volume of through traffic plus terminators in total 100 plus movements on a dayshift if you take in the shunting from down to up for the terminators and passing freight, also it is a regulating point so critical decisions have to be made TRC are worse than hapless!

Currently the shift pattern is non-compliant with the new NRP because it is not 60hr compliant, this is currently being looked at and from what I have been told several new rosters are being considered but none of them offer a good work/home life balance but are considerably better than the management proposal that was put forward, but whatever roster is selected it has to be implemented by Jan24, Hexham is very busy with level crossing use two or three of them are quite prolific with the usage mixture of farm/fishing and residential some days receiving in excess of 100 calls a day on a bad day, in the past it has had three failed attempts at a regrade to a grade 4 everyone agrees it should be except the regrade panel!

There is a reason why it has such a high turnover of staff and why nobody wants to work it!!


Current roster for Hexham
View attachment 140239

Weekends are not 12 hour shifts, box closes Sat/Sun night after last trains
Mon to Fri are 12 hour day night turns.

As stated in previous posting this is subject to change by early Jan 24.

Thank you very much for the feedback. Looks like I better get some sleep

 

[Napier]

Could you possibly elaborate on your comment please, Cheers.

TOCs striking, a massive industrial action scheme by RMT for NR that ended with NR employees being screwed over, short staffed especially signalling, and they are looking to shed more roles at ground level in maintenance, very little S&T cover working with degraded situations for days in signal boxes and Maintenance is practically mothballed, staff morale especially the ones with lengthy service is below rock bottom, some managers use pseudo bullying as a way of man management.

When you constantly have vacancies in some areas and specific roles that’s a story in itself, when you have SM's and ASM's leaving to take early retirement because of IME, TME management tactics and budget cutting especially where safety is concerned and finding another job post railway when they could easily have 10 years service left, boat loads of blue hats being thrust into roles with no life or people experience straight off a diet of cheap cider and pot noodles.

But then they blame the staff on the ground because they don't want to work over time because of short staffing, training is watered down now far too much emphasis put on online delivery, bending the rules to suit specific ideas and a serious lack of knowledge in the planning departments by staff who have no idea what it's like to be on track and have no local knowledge of what they are planning.

The list really is endless and it's all in a pursuit to cut budgets and make you do more for less, maybe I sound sour bitter and twisted, but no it's real at first I thought it was just my route but sadly is seems to be wide spread ever more so after devolution of the areas, they created thousands of managerial posts after devolution but are looking to cull the ground crew.

A massive void exists between middle and senior management that the truth doesn't bridge, "Everything is ok here nothing to see" is the common attitude!

 

[Jovisd79]

After a bit if advice from those in the no. I've been offered job as grade 2 at Cambridge. I went to have a look around and seems I'll be on the cctv crossing station which they don't think I'll have to do the signalling course for, looks a bit of a tedious role. Would have liked to have done ist straight away. I just wondered, once you're in, what's the scope for internal progression, I think there are g5 and g 7 there are well, are there often chances internally for roles?

 

[Napier]

After a bit if advice from those in the no. I've been offered job as grade 2 at Cambridge. I went to have a look around and seems I'll be on the cctv crossing station which they don't think I'll have to do the signalling course for, looks a bit of a tedious role. Would have liked to have done ist straight away. I just wondered, once you're in, what's the scope for internal progression, I think there are g5 and g 7 there are well, are there often chances internally for roles?

Always plenty of movement in the ROCs

 

[ArchangelA]

Is anyone able to offer some useful resources to read up on before starting my IST? I have my medical in two weeks and still waiting on a start date so figured I might as well use this time to build up some knowledge even if it's just railway history etc. rather than signalling specific.

Thanks.

In reality you don't need to pre-read anything before starting this course as it's aimed at people with no railway experience coming off the street so to speak. The WDS will provide you with all the information that you need during the first days of the course. However, if you wish to be super-efficient you could always create yourself an account on the RSSB website https://www.rssb.co.uk and read up on some of the material to be found on there. I would recommend that you view the RED safety videos in particular. You could also use this site to access the standards catalogue where all of the Rule books can be found in electronic form. You will certainly need the information in there once you start training. You should be provided with all of the Rule books that you need to read when you join the course, but I've always found accessing them electronically on the RSSB website to be very helpful. Even now, some 2 years later.

 

[Napier]

In reality you don't need to pre-read anything before starting this course as it's aimed at people with no railway experience coming off the street so to speak. The WDS will provide you with all the information that you need during the first days of the course. However, if you wish to be super-efficient you could always create yourself an account on the RSSB website https://www.rssb.co.uk and read up on some of the material to be found on there. I would recommend that you view the RED safety videos in particular. You could also use this site to access the standards catalogue where all of the Rule books can be found in electronic form. You will certainly need the information in there once you start training. You should be provided with all of the Rule books that you need to read when you join the course, but I've always found accessing them electronically on the RSSB website to be very helpful. Even now, some 2 years later.

The modules are difficult to navigate around now as some have been combined with others, so I prefer to use the RSSB Master Module PDF and it gives you the search option if you need a bit of a helping hand and you can use the correct phrase etc.