Thank You, Driver

[busbyjambo]

My 3 year old grandson is fascinated by Pendolinos and on Tuesday (11th) afternoon my wife took him to Cambuslang station to see a passing Euston - Glasgow service. They waved as the train came through and the driver waved back and gave a couple of blasts on the horn. I won't say which service in case what the driver did was against the rules, but if he happens to read this forum I'd just like him to know that a wee boy was thrilled to bits and it certainly made his day.

 

[paulypaul]

Awww. What a lovely story.

 

[Temple Meads]

Not a particularly uncommon happening, indeed some drivers give a lusty blast on the horn when they see a guy filming their train, and in my case that usually results in a very shaky video when I jump at the unexpected sound!

Some of my fellow young enthusiasts are a bit horn obsessed though.

 

[davido39]

Great to hear things like this still happen, I can imagine your grandson will not forget that for a long time to come, in fact I can see you being dragged by the hand to the station again.

Lovely to hear and well done to the Virgin driver.

 

[D365]

Nice story, I like those cheerful kind of drivers!

 

[gavinjustice]

A similiar thing happened to us a while back when we took my baby brother (who was only 2 then) to see some trains at Rutherglen and he got some waves and toots from the driver and when we take him out we normally get the odd toot from a Scotrail or Freight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYKPlZlwEcs&feature=youtu.be

he also shouts on me halfway hrought the video

 

[ANorthernGuard]

If I see kids (or adults) on bridges/stations waving I always give them a blast on the horn, worth it to put a smile on their faces.

 

[D365]

I like you!

 

[Geezertronic]

I've had a few 390 drivers wave and blast the horn on departure from Birmingham International before, keeps the kids happy

 

[dk1]

Always give a toot & a cheery wave if i can. Costs nothing but sometimes i forget how loud a DVT horn can be & frighten the living daylights out of the poor little mites

 

[pendolino]

Always give a toot & a cheery wave if i can. Costs nothing but sometimes i forget how loud a DVT horn can be & frighten the living daylights out of the poor little mites

Me too. The depot whistle on a 377 is great for this as a) it doesn't make a small child burst into tears and b) it sounds like Thomas the Tank Engine.

 

[tsr]

I don't ever wave manically but sometimes I do give a small wave in a "hello" sort of way. My more enthusiastic friends are much more liable to be a bit crazier!

In my local area, FGW staff are the best at responding, with a cheery wave often coming from both the driver and (if they're in the back cab) the guard. A bit of tooting is not uncommon, either. Gatwick Express drivers must have quite a boring time of it if they have too many Victoria<>Gatwick runs that day, so they often use the horn in a friendly sort of way. I think they enjoy it and, of course, it's an express service, so it seems more acceptable!

Southern and FCC staff don't seem to be quite as amused, but maybe that's just the hit and miss nature of things.

 

[notadriver]

If I see kids (or adults) on bridges/stations waving I always give them a blast on the horn, worth it to put a smile on their faces.

How do you give them a blast on the horn?

 

[ainsworth74]

How do you give them a blast on the horn?

Unless I'm very much mistaken the horn in the back cab is fully functional even when the train is going the 'wrong' way for that cab

 

[the sniper]

Unless I'm very much mistaken the horn in the back cab is fully functional even when the train is going the 'wrong' way for that cab

You're not mistaken.

 

[notadriver]

I didn't think guards were allowed to sound the horn from the rear cab ?

 

[pendolino]

I didn't think guards were allowed to sound the horn from the rear cab ?

I don't know of any rule that says they can't but I can't see any legitimate reason why a guard would need to under normal circumstances except in an emergency. If I thought I could hear the horn being sounded from the back cab, I'd start to wonder what the **** was going on and stop to investigate. If it turned out to be the guard messing around, I would be extremely ****** off.

 

[ANorthernGuard]

Why? The only time the driver neefd to be worried I'd when he hears the train in distress sound, we use the horn on a regular basis, it stops things like kids and adults who are thinking of crossing the tracks and puts smiles on kids faces, I don't know of anyone to get into any bother with it lol

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

[youtube]Qsf37Qw73e8[/youtube] 1:50 was the best I've ever got, shame the driver can barely be seen thanks to me failing at YouTube

 

[DiscoStu]

This story reminds me of the kid waving to the driver of the 37 in this video (not mine) .... this kid got some fantastic thrash rather than a honk of the horn though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtCX8_wnnyM

 

[dk1]

I didn't think guards were allowed to sound the horn from the rear cab ?

You need to tell that to one of our conductors. He always blasts & puts his fingers up to the signallers at Saxmundham. We usually get an message across the RETB that the bloody kids are in the back cab again

 

[gavinjustice]

This story reminds me of the kid waving to the driver of the 37 in this video (not mine) .... this kid got some fantastic thrash rather than a honk of the horn though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtCX8_wnnyM

A Scotrail done that to me around an hour ago when I was out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNd6QHYWyKg&feature=youtu.be

I gave a slight wave to the driver