A typical day in your life as a guard might include:
Book on. Check your notices, sign for retail equipment, make a drink and have a natter in the mess room and go and find your train - depending on your location and the time of day this might involve going and finding it following overnight stabling, or picking up a train partway through a journey.
The first priority once onboard is safety - make announcements, operate the doors correctly, deal with any minor or less minor faults arising.
You also sell and check tickets, and provide customer service, resolve complaints, solve dilemmas and provide operational support to the driver where required. You're responsible for the safety of your passengers, the safe loading and operation of the train and sometimes making important decision. You'll get a break during the day and work is dependent on location.
At the end of the shift, you might have to kick everyone off the train, lock it up and what not, or you might just walk off depending on the circumstances. Pay in your machine, check your next shift and you're done.
All in all it's pleasant enough day to day, pretty varied and involved and I love it. 90+ out of a hundred shifts will be as above with maybe the odd issue to provide some jnterest/challenge/vexation.
Do bear in mind however that at any point and with no warning whatsoever something serious could go wrong and then you will earn your money. Someone could jump under your train and strand you, not to mention traumatising the driver, for hours. You could hit a car on a level crossing causing a whole world of problems. A passenger might have a heart attack and die on board. Someone for no reason whatsoever might take exception to your asking them for a ticket and swing for you.
In all the above situations, and many more that could arise from the trivial to the direst emergency, you are required to keep your head, be responsible, and act in accordance with the training you are given, take charge as appropriate, and work as part of a team, or if necessary alone.
They are particularly unlikely to happen but I mention them because they will definitely come up in the recruitment process and in training. The way I sum it up is that as a guard, the point you will come into your ultimate action and responsibility is potentially when someone you know and get on with is dead at the front of the train and you still have to function.
If you have the right temperament to pass the tests, recruitment process and training you will be fine, but it's important to know exactly what you're walking into if you take a safety critical role on the railway.
As I said above - I love it and I'd not move on for the world. The vast majority of the time it's a fantastic job, the wages are good, the people are great and it's worth every minute of the hassle you occasionally get (which to be more realistic is more likely nowadays to involve some scummer or other passively refusing to pay than a rail disaster!).
Very best of luck to you all in your applications
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And no offence to 'plastictaffy' but those who want to 'read the paper all day with their feet up' are a disgrace to the grade and should be in their local Jobcentre via performance management. That's not the job anymore and if you think it is, it's outevolved you.
Back cab heroes are not to be encouraged.
