Northern Conductor

[JCLeeds]

Havent really considered this until now; have been waiting for another attempt at driver.
But there have been a few trainee conductor roles recently, and hating my current job with a passion, starting to think this may be a good way in?
Does anyone know if this really is a good way in? Is there a better chance for the driver role once internal or not? Or do Northern look down on people only applying for the conductor as a way in to driver? Do all conductors / guards want to be drivers?

Also: with regard to the role itself, what are the hours like? Shiftwork obviously, which is fine by me; but is it broken into 4 day weeks similar to driver shift patterns? And are conductors the same thing as guards?

 

[455driver]

Yes it is a good way in, you learn a lot of stuff which is relevant to driving (a lot of the rules etc carry over) and its a good career in its own right!

I know of at least 4 people that joined as non Commercial Guards at SWT with the intention of going driving, 3 have decided to go Commercial instead (same as a conductor at Northern) and the other is happy to stay as a non Commercial Guard. Okay most do still end up going driving but driving isnt the panacea that some people think it is.
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Havent really considered this until now; have been waiting for another attempt at driver.
But there have been a few trainee conductor roles recently, and hating my current job with a passion, starting to think this may be a good way in?
Does anyone know if this really is a good way in? Is there a better chance for the driver role once internal or not? Or do Northern look down on people only applying for the conductor as a way in to driver? Do all conductors / guards want to be drivers?

Also: with regard to the role itself, what are the hours like? Shiftwork obviously, which is fine by me; but is it broken into 4 day weeks similar to driver shift patterns? And are conductors the same thing as guards?

The shifts will vary from depot to depot but normally consist of weeks of earlies (start from 0400-0700), middles (start from 0800-1300ish) and lates (start from 1300ish to 1900), possible nights as well but not very many, if any of them.
Shift length from 6 hours to 10 hours,
Guards are normally on a 5 day week.
A Conductor is a guard who checks and sells tickets.

Note I dont work for Northern so hopefully a more knowledgeable person will be along shortly but this is a bit of an overview to give you an idea.

 

[muz379]

Havent really considered this until now; have been waiting for another attempt at driver.
But there have been a few trainee conductor roles recently, and hating my current job with a passion, starting to think this may be a good way in?
Does anyone know if this really is a good way in? Is there a better chance for the driver role once internal or not? Or do Northern look down on people only applying for the conductor as a way in to driver? Do all conductors / guards want to be drivers?

Im currently a Conductor with northern - one thing I am really leaning towards is going driving

Id say go for it , assuming you make a good guard/conductor and pass the interview I see no reason getting to be a Driver eventually . The way I see it is you have an internal app form that is nowhere near as comprehensive as the external one . And if you apply at the same depot then your conductor Managers and Driver managers sit in the same office . Not to mention even if you apply at another depot your reference will come from an internal manager not some external one . Plus a lot of the older Hand driver managers will have joined the railway when being a guard before a driver was a natural transition . A lot of old hands at my depot at least see it as a natural progression .

The only think I will say is even if driving is your end game take being a guard seriously , if you balls up being a guard it really puts a downer on your chances of being a driver . A lot of people think its just checking tickets but its not . Station duties are safety critical and you could easilly cause a serious accident not doing your job properly .

Not all conductors want to be Drivers , you have some old hand conductors who are happy doing the job they do now and are just waiting out retirement , for them , they dont want the hassle of having to go back to school . You also have people who have ambitions in other directions like training , ops management or control

Also: with regard to the role itself, what are the hours like? Shiftwork obviously, which is fine by me; but is it broken into 4 day weeks similar to driver shift patterns? And are conductors the same thing as guards?

Looking at your username id guess the depot your planning on applying to is on the eastern side of the franchise .

Im a guard on the western side which has different T's & C's .
however I have a 12 week link , of those 12 weeks 8 of them are 4 day weeks . Over the 12 weeks you also get 4 long weekends , These consist of Friday , saturday ,sunday ,monday and tuesday off .

Sundays are completely optional and on the west at least guards are not compelled to work them .you get extra pay for them id you do work them .

Shifts wise , my earliest start is 04:00 , latest finish is 01:20
You do a week of Lates ,followed by week of earlies followed by a week of lates then middles again and it repeats .
Earlies is 04:00 to 06:00 start time
Middles is 07:00 to 09:00 start time - sometimes lower links dont have these because the higher links absorb those jobs as earlies .
Lates is anytime after 11:00 .although in lower links you usually have later starting lates like 15:00 & 16:00 as you work later .
I wouldnt worry too much about shifts because if you dont enjoy them there will always be someone who wants to do a permanent swap one way or the other .
The lower links feature a lot more spare turns which aren't necessarily good because your job can be changed 3 hours either way and you can be restored to longer jobs . so its a bit unpredictable .

One thing to bear in mind is that currently there is no night work , however there has been in the past and with re franchising and routes being swapped between Northern and TPE I wouldn't start the job banking on not having to work nights because the provision is there in the T's & C's so if it was introduced you might have to take it on .

Guards vs Conductors is semantics on northern really . Northern give you a badge that says conductor , everyone refers to you as a guard . Basically you carry out the rulebook definition of guard dispatching the train and carrying out protection in an emergency . However you also have retail duties

 

[Adam0984]

If it's Leeds we have a 4 day week near enough + about 1 in 4/5 Sunday's. Earliest start is around 0430 with the latest finish at 0120. We have no nights. And it's a week of earlies and a week of lates with only a few middles when Ya first start. There is at the moment quite a few conductors going to be drivers as it's seen as part of progression through the railway.

 

[JCLeeds]

Thanks everyone thats all really good info. I think I will apply next time it gets advertised. Adam yes my most likely depot would be Leeds. Good to see that guards there are progressing to be drivers; do they ever get opportunities to apply as drivers that dont get advertised externally?

 

[302PS]

It would appear they do yes, quite often
......

 

[387star]

It would appear they do yes, quite often
......

That's how it should be good to see

 

[JCLeeds]

Can anyone tell me more about the conductor role, and what it entails, particularly at Northern? I guess there is more to it than riding the routes checking & selling tickets?

 

[Mattmatt]

Can anyone tell me more about the conductor role, and what it entails, particularly at Northern? I guess there is more to it than riding the routes checking & selling tickets?

Where do you start; if your working in the west; you'd spend a couple of months at Bolton training centre, & then you spend some time at your depot with a minder, then back school again before your pass out. Once on your depot, you'd have a full rules & traction test over a couple of days. Once you've passed, you'd then start your route learning (if at Piccadilly) you'd learn Hadfield first as its your core route (this could change tho) then your sat spare for a while while your route learning (in between being called to cover jobs on routes that you sign) this can take anything upto 3 to 4 months sometimes quicker depending on the train plan, note the train plan comes first over route learning, so you'd be prepared to be pulled of a route learning turn to cover a job if needed.

So once you've covered all your routes and they've been signed off. [Pic guards sign, Hadfield, Sheffield, Crewe, Stoke on Trent, Chester, Lime Street -via Warrington central, Rose Hill, Buxton -link 3 & above and all turnarounds in between] you then fall into the Surplus link, you could be that for a while, as there are link changes once a year. We Have 5 actual links, link 5 being the one with the earliest (0415) and latest (0215) finishes. You could spend up to 3/4 years in link 5 before you move up.

So once you've passed out & your working trains, you've got the safety of all your passengers to worry about as well as selling tickets, doing the doors correctly (get that wrong & you're off trains with a safety of the line incident on your file -which will make it harder to get a promotion etc)


Traction wise, you'd sign 142, 150/1, 150/2, 156, 323.

You do your rules every two years & have a ride out with a manager every 6 months

Many think the role of the guard us just selling tickets etc, it isn't, if something happens you'd may have to provide emergency protection or assistance protection etc, you need to know your routes & traction inside out. Plus what Signal box your under, type of signaling in use etc.

I genuinely enjoy the job, everyday is so different & the guys in depot are a top bunch too. Sorry I can give a insight into Piccadilly.

 

[Adam0984]

Pretty much same set up at Leeds.
Trainings at Leeds.
Route learning first I believe is Leeds/Bradford FS/Skipton/Ilkley
There's a lot of routes at Leeds so route learning can take a while.
Again you go into the surplus link until a place in link 3S comes up then you can typically expect to be in there about 3 years before 2A/2B
Traction is 142/144/150/153/155/158/321/322/333

 

[JCLeeds]

Brilliant, thanks everyone this is all really good insight