Commute to your depot?

[Jadey]

Hello All,

I’v been offered a start date as a trainee driver for a depot that’s 25miles away from me. It’s about 40 minutes on a clear run, so around 1 hour 20 mins each day without traffic.

Does anyone currently regularly commute this and how do you find it after driving a train all day?

Many Thanks

 

[baz962]

I'm 54 miles away from mine . If I drive and there is no traffic , it's bang on an hour. I only drive on dead earlies or lates . Usually I take a train and all in takes around 1 hr 40. That includes driving to my local station , the train journey to London and then walking around the corner and getting one of our train's to my depot. I don't struggle with it at all and I can relax on the train down.

 

[theironroad]

I'm 54 miles away from mine . If I drive and there is no traffic , it's bang on an hour. I only drive on dead earlies or lates . Usually I take a train and all in takes around 1 hr 40. That includes driving to my local station , the train journey to London and then walking around the corner and getting one of our train's to my depot. I don't struggle with it at all and I can relax on the train down.

That's a lot of travel each day before and after work. Does that include allowances for delays, train or otherwise?

 

[baz962]

That's a lot of travel each day before and after work. Does that include allowances for delays, train or otherwise?

No , that's the usual straight there .

 

[StaffsPM1]

I used to travel about 60 miles to work to my depot. like has been said above. drive only on early earlies and late lates and train normally which was 90 minutes. As long as I had a good book or a film to watch or I could catch up on sleep I was happy (when on the train obviously!)

 

[S-Car-Go]

I'm still a trainee driver and my commute is about the same. 20 miles/35mins each way with no traffic. An hour in the worst rush hour. Mostly on A roads. It's generally fine, as shift times vary, so I'm commuting mainly outside of peak hours. The exception was during classroom training, coming in for starts 8-9.30am everyday was a bit of a chore.

 

[Twotwo]

Mine is a 10 minute drive lol

 

[387star]

I used to commute an hour but we had taxis for any starts /finishes you couldn't get the train in for and living far away the first train didn't get in till about 0620 not good at a depot with loads of early starts likewise last train back was 2330. Taxis were a godsend when they didn't drive like idiots or had you running up the road after them !

 

[driver9000]

When I have to drive to work my commute is similar to the OP being 25 miles/45 minutes approximately. I have no problem with the commute even after a 10 hour shift covering a few hundred miles in control of a train and when I do go by car it's normally off peak or in the small hours so traffic is generally free flowing. I also have the option of commuting by train for a lot of our turns so I use that option mostly.

 

[Economist]

It should be doable, my commute is a similar distance, there are a few things that I'd recommend doing though.

Firstly, have two or three different routes that can get you to/from work and know them well.
Check the traffic before you leave the house, if one of the routes is heavily delayed, you can use your alternatives.
If you live near a railway station that can get you to/from work, consider getting the train in if you're on a middle shift (i.e. 9-5 or similar).

I used to commute an hour but we had taxis for any starts /finishes you couldn't get the train in for and living far away the first train didn't get in till about 0620 not good at a depot with loads of early starts likewise last train back was 2330. Taxis were a godsend when they didn't drive like idiots or had you running up the road after them !

Haha, I know the feeling, don't even get me started on the taxis. I've seem them do nearly 40 in a 20, try to get me to sign blank waiting-time dockets, claim that I wasn't there, the list is almost endless...

 

[Jamie Price]

Hello All,

I’v been offered a start date as a trainee driver for a depot that’s 25miles away from me. It’s about 40 minutes on a clear run, so around 1 hour 20 mins each day without traffic.

Does anyone currently regularly commute this and how do you find it after driving a train all day?

Many Thanks

I'm a guard, but I live 27 miles from my depot, can't do it any quicker than 40 mins even in the dead of night! I nearly always have to drive because of the shift times, it's manageable for me, but obviously i havent got to then drive a train for 8 hours. I always walked to work when I drove buses as I couldn't stand another minute of driving outside of work. Hopefully you can make it work as it's so worth the commute!

 

[SlimJim1694]

Some of the commutes above are frankly staggering. My commute is 25 minutes and I want to cut that down. It worries me that someone commuting 1hr 40mins each way is potentially in charge of a train, signalling, dispatch or other safety related tasks. What time are they getting out of bed for an 0330 book on?

 

[baz962]

Xxxccc

 

[Lewlew]

Some of the commutes above are frankly staggering. My commute is 25 minutes and I want to cut that down. It worries me that someone commuting 1hr 40mins each way is potentially in charge of a train, signalling, dispatch or other safety related tasks. What time are they getting out of bed for an 0330 book on?

My earliest book on was 5am which meant I had to be on the 0342 train so out of bed just before 3am. But then I was finished by 1pm so had plenty of time for sleep in the evening.

I then moved further away and if there was engineering works it would often take me 3 hours to get home in the evening. So I moved closer, and now have a 25 minute walk to work.

I was happy with the first commute as it was more often than not just over an hour each way and plenty of trains. The second place was served by SWR, need I say anymore?

 

[PudseyBearHST]

Some of the commutes above are frankly staggering. My commute is 25 minutes and I want to cut that down. It worries me that someone commuting 1hr 40mins each way is potentially in charge of a train, signalling, dispatch or other safety related tasks. What time are they getting out of bed for an 0330 book on?

At my previous depot, there were plenty of drivers that had commutes of 2+ hours each way. I agree that I could never do that though

 

[tlionhart]

Your commute time sounds average.
It depends exactly where you’re commuting to. If it’s central London depot then the commute won’t be bad at 1am or 4am. It’s during rush hour that’s a pain! (Or finishing at 2pm...busy but not as busy as getting into town)
It helps if you can break the commute up with a train into work.

My commute is 30mins on a clear run but I time 60mins to 1:30hrs to get in on a typical afternoon. I travel 22miles to work.
You could always opt for permanent lates (if your depot has it) it’s better to have a longer commute to work than on the way home. It’s nice to finish and have a clear run. Again, it depends on your depots workload. If you’ve only driven 300miles with 10 stops and on greens, then the drive home isn’t bad whatever the time. If you’ve done 100 stops, restrictive signals and lots of speed changes...then the quicker commute home is the best

 

[387star]

Commuting can be exhausting even on a train.
You should give up a seat on the train but I've had many instances where people choose to stand in vestibules etc.. makes it awkward sitting down! The other issue is when there are train delays/industrial disputes to contend with. You feel like passengers will take it out on you ! When I worked with Thameslink you weren't officially allowed in the back of Southern trains which was infuriating although some Guards let you in.

 

[sw1ller]

Get a motorbike! Fun ride through all the traffic on the way in to work, free parking, drive trains for a few hours, nice blast home on empty roads on the way home.

 

[SlimJim1694]

Commuting can be exhausting even on a train.
You should give up a seat on the train but I've had many instances where people choose to stand in vestibules etc.. makes it awkward sitting down! The other issue is when there are train delays/industrial disputes to contend with. You feel like passengers will take it out on you ! When I worked with Thameslink you weren't officially allowed in the back of Southern trains which was infuriating although some Guards let you in.

Commuting to work by train in uniform is asking for it. Keep your work bag and uniform jacket in your locker and go in wearing your own jacket.

 

[theironroad]

Commuting to work by train in uniform is asking for it. Keep your work bag and uniform jacket in your locker and go in wearing your own jacket.

Sounds like a plan.

 

[theironroad]

My earliest book on was 5am which meant I had to be on the 0342 train so out of bed just before 3am. But then I was finished by 1pm so had plenty of time for sleep in the evening.

I then moved further away and if there was engineering works it would often take me 3 hours to get home in the evening. So I moved closer, and now have a 25 minute walk to work.

I was happy with the first commute as it was more often than not just over an hour each way and plenty of trains. The second place was served by SWR, need I say anymore?

No doubt your TOC attains 100% performance and punctuality every period and never has engineering works or anything go wrong.

 

[Lewlew]

No doubt your TOC attains 100% performance and punctuality every period and never has engineering works or anything go wrong.

I take it you work for SWR? Try commuting with them. I often went a longer way via GWR just to avoid SWR. I'm not putting all blame on them but they are nothing compared to what SWT were.

 

[387star]

Sounds like a plan.

I was too lazy to walk back to the depot to dump my stuff.

I used to arrive back at at midnight with a roller bag and drag it through the streets...one way to annoy the neighbours ! Yeah I should have gone plain clothes in hindsight and changed at work or at least just left my jacket at work . To begin with I was so proud to be a driver I wanted to show it off haha

 

[High Dyke]

The Mem is a guard and commutes 25 miles to her depot. She allows about 45 mins for the journey, depending on time of day and amount of eejit motorists on the road. She has little patience for some.

As a relief signalman, whilst I have a base location (for admin purposes), my commute can vary from 8-10 minutes up to 1hr 40 mins (in summer that journey can be nearer 2 hours to some locations).

 

[DaveTM]

@Jadey

I have a 37 mile commute. It is 45 minutes in at the start of an early early or out at the end of a late late. But if I have an early late or a late early I end up fighting with the normal 9-5 office worker traffic. And there is always the chance they will close the motorway in the dead of night for resurfacing. I cannot recommend it. If circumstances didn't dictate that I have to stay living where I am, I would move to within walking distance of my depot.

Incidents have a tendency to happen towards the end of a duty, particularly long duties, because that is when drivers are most fatigued. A 45 minute commute turns a 9 hour 15 minute duty into a 10 hour duty. If you are 45 minutes away from depot, pretty much every duty becomes effectively a long duty.

In turn, this means that to compensate you have to be better rested before starting your commute than a driver who lives closer to the depot would. So not only do you lose 90 minutes of your life every working day in commuting, but you also lose a few minutes extra in sleep too. One of the draws of train driving is the amount of free time a driver gets. Commuting wastes this.

So in conclusion, congratulations indeed on your job offer! Definitely do not let your commute put you off accepting the offer - it is a great job / lifestyle / surprisingly-well-paid-passtime. If you have to stay put where you are, you WILL be able to live with it. But if you can, once you get that key and pay scale, use the newfound friendliness of bank managers to put a mortgage down on a small palace near the depot!

 

[387star]

Commuting to work by train in uniform is asking for it. Keep your work bag and uniform jacket in your locker and go in wearing your own jacket.

There's some issues with this

You need to wash your uniform so will.need to take things home anyway
What if a train home is coming in at the end of a tiring shift. Walk back to the depot to change and miss it ?
Some turns you're better off booking on at a different depot so it's handy to be in uniform
Some turns I'd finish at finsbury park and make my way home to Chichester on the last train from Victoria.
Granted doing routes I learnt to cover up with a works shirt underneath to prove who I was !

 

[jamesst]

15minute drive (20-30 In heavy traffic) for me, even that seems long for me at 1 in the morning!

 

[SlimJim1694]

@Jadey

I have a 37 mile commute. It is 45 minutes in at the start of an early early or out at the end of a late late. But if I have an early late or a late early I end up fighting with the normal 9-5 office worker traffic. And there is always the chance they will close the motorway in the dead of night for resurfacing. I cannot recommend it. If circumstances didn't dictate that I have to stay living where I am, I would move to within walking distance of my depot.

Incidents have a tendency to happen towards the end of a duty, particularly long duties, because that is when drivers are most fatigued. A 45 minute commute turns a 9 hour 15 minute duty into a 10 hour duty. If you are 45 minutes away from depot, pretty much every duty becomes effectively a long duty.

In turn, this means that to compensate you have to be better rested before starting your commute than a driver who lives closer to the depot would. So not only do you lose 90 minutes of your life every working day in commuting, but you also lose a few minutes extra in sleep too. One of the draws of train driving is the amount of free time a driver gets. Commuting wastes this.

So in conclusion, congratulations indeed on your job offer! Definitely do not let your commute put you off accepting the offer - it is a great job / lifestyle / surprisingly-well-paid-passtime. If you have to stay put where you are, you WILL be able to live with it. But if you can, once you get that key and pay scale, use the newfound friendliness of bank managers to put a mortgage down on a small palace near the depot!

I agree 100% with what you say about commuting times. It literally is dead time. If you are commuting 3 hours a day on a 4 day week that's 24 hours, or a whole day and night, you have lost to it every 2 weeks.

I agree about living near the depot too, but in London buying a place near the depot is not feasible for most people on a drivers wage. It makes you wonder how people in worse paid jobs get by. I guess that's why they haven't put up interest rates for years, because the second they do most of London and the southeast will find itself repossessed.

 

[387star]

I agree 100% with what you say about commuting times. It literally is dead time. If you are commuting 3 hours a day on a 4 day week that's 24 hours, or a whole day and night, you have lost to it every 2 weeks.

I agree about living near the depot too, but in London buying a place near the depot is not feasible for most people on a drivers wage. It makes you wonder how people in worse paid jobs get by. I guess that's why they haven't put up interest rates for years, because the second they do most of London and the southeast will find itself repossessed.

Thameslink offers all night services every night except Saturday from three bridges to Bedford and there are some pretty early kings cross to Peterborough workings as well. I've seen tube drivers at Bedford a Southern driver at Luton and another Tube Driver at Peterborough. In fact Peterborough must have a sizeable driver population.

 

[Wildcard994]

1hour 30 mins commute, this allows little delays here and there and have never been late in 5 years. I do permanent lates which helps a lot I think. Saying all that, I hate it.
I normally get 9hour 30 min days so add in the commute to and from work and a day at work takes up my whole day with no time for anything else. Would love a move closer to home but southeastern are never recruiting