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Train Driver Gloves?

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TeaTrain

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Hello everyone. As you may know from my Dear Diary thread (which will be updated soon, first week has been pretty intense!) that I have now started my Driver course.
In 2 weeks we will be introduced to the sim. I thought about wearing a pair of gloves when in the sim and driving actual trains. I want to do it because of Covid but also for myself to feel clean and in respect to my fellow drivers. I have a tendency to sweat profusely from my hands and nobody wants that rofl

This is a personal choice of course and understand most don’t use gloves. I have seen some from other TOCS wearing them though occasionally.

What do you think about wearing them?
Is there any you can recommend that are lightweight, thin enough and breathable?

I realise it’s a bit weird lol. Thanks in advance.
 
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Cherry_Picker

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One of the upsides of covid is that driving cabs have never been cleaner. There will be wipes and/or a cleaner giving the cab a once over every time someone new is on the footplate.
However if you want gloves then fingerless ones might work better when it comes to needing to push buttons or operate touchscreens on newer traction. Some drivers just keep a cloth with them and use that as a barrier on the power brake handle.
 

TeaTrain

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I see thanks for your help. Fingerless gloves would work well. I will be driving 185s and as of yet have no idea about them!
 

Stigy

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I don’t, nor do many other drivers at my TOC where gloves whilst driving. Not least because from my point of view they’re uncomfortable to wear all the time, be it reusable gloves or surgical ones. We are issued with wipes and sanitiser, which I use when taking over a train, even if the cleaners have just been in the cab....because things like the GSM-R and Cab to Cab handset tend to get missed, and in my opinion these are the most important bits to keep clean (I always sanitise my hands, so things like throttle/brake controllers aren’t as crucial in my eyes.
 

8J

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I see thanks for your help. Fingerless gloves would work well. I will be driving 185s and as of yet have no idea about them!

185 cabs are pretty disgusting to be honest but I find wearing gloves with a power brake controller as sensetive as the one on a 185 may not be very practical.

The TMS on a 185 is not touch screen but the PIS now is.
 

dan4291

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County Durham
Japanese train drivers wear them and they seem to manage just fine! And as for touchscreens, you can get proper gloves that work with them, handy when you need to use your phone whilst on a cold station platform!
 

Cho cho 25

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I see thanks for your help. Fingerless gloves would work well. I will be driving 185s and as of yet have no idea about them!
I’m a trainee driver currently getting ready for my pass out in 8 weeks. A few in my toc wear the disposable gloves I personally don’t. I’ve bought a bottle of anti bac spray so I spray the desk as soon as I get in. By the time I’ve set the cab up it’s pretty much dried. If I change ends or change over to another driver I just give the desk a quick spray again. I also use an alcohol gel to clean my hands between every change of ends and change over etc.
 

Aictos

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One of the upsides of covid is that driving cabs have never been cleaner. There will be wipes and/or a cleaner giving the cab a once over every time someone new is on the footplate.
However if you want gloves then fingerless ones might work better when it comes to needing to push buttons or operate touchscreens on newer traction. Some drivers just keep a cloth with them and use that as a barrier on the power brake handle.
Just a point of order here but some TOCs do provide their drivers with hand wipes so they wipe down the cab themselves at the beginning of end of their journey.

Now I don't know who else do this but Thameslink and Southern I'm believed do this even though the cabs are also wiped down by the train cleaners.

The other thing I see drivers wear are disposable gloves so that may be of something that your TOC may provide.
 

Red Devil

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I don't wear gloves. We're supplied with alcohol wipes which I use on all instruments, handles etc of each cab I use.
 

theironroad

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London
One of the upsides of covid is that driving cabs have never been cleaner. There will be wipes and/or a cleaner giving the cab a once over every time someone new is on the footplate.
However if you want gloves then fingerless ones might work better when it comes to needing to push buttons or operate touchscreens on newer traction. Some drivers just keep a cloth with them and use that as a barrier on the power brake handle.

Unless a driver uses their own wipes (company were providing them in depot) , there's no supply in the cab for us and rate for cab to be cleaned between use by anyone else. Does happen sometimes but with no consistency.

Hello everyone. As you may know from my Dear Diary thread (which will be updated soon, first week has been pretty intense!) that I have now started my Driver course.
In 2 weeks we will be introduced to the sim. I thought about wearing a pair of gloves when in the sim and driving actual trains. I want to do it because of Covid but also for myself to feel clean and in respect to my fellow drivers. I have a tendency to sweat profusely from my hands and nobody wants that rofl

This is a personal choice of course and understand most don’t use gloves. I have seen some from other TOCS wearing them though occasionally.

What do you think about wearing them?
Is there any you can recommend that are lightweight, thin enough and breathable?

I realise it’s a bit weird lol. Thanks in advance.

Before covid I've only ever seen a couple of drivers use gloves, very rare indeed.
 

Cherry_Picker

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Unless a driver uses their own wipes (company were providing them in depot) , there's no supply in the cab for us and rate for cab to be cleaned between use by anyone else. Does happen sometimes but with no consistency.

Guess we are lucky at my place then. The cabs are cleaned at any terminus where we have cleaning staff based, we get issued with wipes and hand gel too.
 

TeaTrain

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443
I was issued with hand gel today. My bag is basically full already with the two sectional appendix. No room for anything else
 

Cho cho 25

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I was issued with hand gel today. My bag is basically full already with the two sectional appendix. No room for anything else
You’ll soon learn to keep them in your locker plus there’s only certain segments of the rule book you need to carry with you.
 

Stigy

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You’ll soon learn to keep them in your locker plus there’s only certain segments of the rule book you need to carry with you.
All our documents bar NR3190 forms are electronic now. It’s a godsend. I printed some route maps off myself and laminated them as a quick reference if needed though.
 

Cho cho 25

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All our documents bar NR3190 forms are electronic now. It’s a godsend. I printed some route maps off myself and laminated them as a quick reference if needed though.
Your lucky. We still got to carry the paper copies with us. I’ve got myself a little book where I’ve written down all my routes and reference points so if I ever need them I’ve got them in my bag.
 

Aictos

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10,403
I don’t, nor do many other drivers at my TOC where gloves whilst driving. Not least because from my point of view they’re uncomfortable to wear all the time, be it reusable gloves or surgical ones. We are issued with wipes and sanitiser, which I use when taking over a train, even if the cleaners have just been in the cab....because things like the GSM-R and Cab to Cab handset tend to get missed, and in my opinion these are the most important bits to keep clean (I always sanitise my hands, so things like throttle/brake controllers aren’t as crucial in my eyes.
For Southern and Thameslink but I'm going to use the Class 700 as a example the idea as it was explained to me is that the train cleaners using paper towels and spraying the cleaning chemical onto it wipe down the GSM-R/PA handsets, both handrails by the cab doors, the bar on the back of the door into 1st Class and the door handle in 1st Class and of course make sure the tiny bin is emptied. They then have another paper towel to dry off the stuff they just cleaned.
 

driver9000

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I was issued with hand gel today. My bag is basically full already with the two sectional appendix. No room for anything else

Take out the sections that are relevant to the routes you will be working and leave the rest behind. I only carry a few photocopied pages of local instructions and route clearance tables that detail restrictions for the units I work.

I've never seen a Driver wearing gloves when working trains before or during the pandemic. Our cabs are currently being cleaned at the end of each journey and have also been treated with a long life antibacterial substance. I don't think my working environment has ever been this clean!
 

TeaTrain

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13 Aug 2014
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443
Thanks everyone for the insights. I will certainly be only taking the relevant parts @driver9000 when I know which parts they are! I can’t carry the whole lot around . It’s a good job my bag has wheels.
 

Gemz91

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1 Feb 2013
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If you want gloves, maybe look at car driving gloves? Get a couple of pairs so you can rotate them and wash one and wear another. Some car driving gloves are breathable. I've never owned a pair of them though!

I've always carried hand gel and anti-bacterial wipes, even long before we had ever heard of Covid. Just sit and have a look round the mess room, the amount of drivers who come out the toilets without washing their hands, drivers picking their noses whilst driving, spraying food out of their mouths when their eating. Its quite regular at my place to find finger nail clippings on the driving desk, sausage roll flakes. I'm not clean freak by any means of the imagination (even went through a spell of unemployment where I'd have no worries of fishing food out of public bins to eat), but the idea of the germs on the driving controls makes me weasy. For many years I've always been wiping down my driving cab before I set off. Never trust anyone else to clean it neither.
 

Red Devil

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If you want gloves, maybe look at car driving gloves? Get a couple of pairs so you can rotate them and wash one and wear another. Some car driving gloves are breathable. I've never owned a pair of them though!

I've always carried hand gel and anti-bacterial wipes, even long before we had ever heard of Covid. Just sit and have a look round the mess room, the amount of drivers who come out the toilets without washing their hands, drivers picking their noses whilst driving, spraying food out of their mouths when their eating. Its quite regular at my place to find finger nail clippings on the driving desk, sausage roll flakes. I'm not clean freak by any means of the imagination (even went through a spell of unemployment where I'd have no worries of fishing food out of public bins to eat), but the idea of the germs on the driving controls makes me weasy. For many years I've always been wiping down my driving cab before I set off. Never trust anyone else to clean it neither.
Amen to that brother.
 
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