When enthusiasts become staff......

[D1009]

They think that the fact that they are enthusiasts means that they know EVERYTHING, and that knowledge translates to power, and that power goes to their head. They are generally hugely officious, and lack the ability to work alongside colleagues and can often put themselves in ham with the public as they fail to understand that dealing with people is a dynamic and challenging situation, and does not fit into their world of trains and numbers!

But aren't there parallels with that in other industries ? Nowadays the interview process normally revolves not around what you know but how you would react to a given situation. As far as the recruitment process goes these days, railway knowledge counts for very little.

 

[Zerothebrake!]

Personally I think that you 'need' to have a certain amount of interest to be able to do the job - otherwise why would you want to fall out of bed at 2am on a regular basis for such a small return?!We have one particular character at the depot who's always slagging people off for doing this and doing that in their spare time then he goes and names all of the Class 52 westerns in number order!..ever tried coming out of the closet ya big crank?!They're out there plenty..

 

[Flamingo]

That luckily shouldn't be a regular issue however like you mentioned you will always get the minority whom say that they know so much more by reading from books (or a mate knows about something yadda yadda)

Remember a certain poster said he'd be a shoe-in for a drivers job as he was good on some Train Simulator? :roll:

 

[LE Greys]

Remember a certain poster said he'd be a shoe-in for a drivers job as he was good on some Train Simulator? :roll:

Ever heard of the volunteer guard in the General Strike. An N2 had a heck of a struggle to get to Finsbury Park. Later when the guard had a word with the fireman (also a volunteer) the fireman said that he had never expected a local service to be such hard work.

"Yes, and it's thanks to me that we didn't roll backwards down the hill," said the guard. "Good thing I screwed the brake down hard!" :roll:

 

[WCMLaddict]

I would call myself a very mild enthusiast and must say that the bit of knowledge I had before joining the railway industry was very helpful to me and my employer. It certainly saved me a lot of time in terms of learning about the organisation, regionalisation and the relations between different TOC FOC and services companies.
I work for an organisation that tries to work with every company that has anything to do with railways and my role is to build relationships at different levels. So again a bit of enthusiasm and background knowledge helps me whether I talk to directors or platform staff.

I've been reading this forum for a long time but actually it is my first post so hello everyone.

 

[Flamingo]

G'day

 

[Sir_Clagalot]

I took a photo of a pair of 37s departing the other day in full uniform with my ticket machine round my neck as I had just stepped off my train at the turn round!!!

 

[90019]

Now that 158801 has brought it to my attention, I have also noticed that if you're say, a seasoned software developer, it'd be to your credit to have your own blog showing your "wares" and shouting your interest from the rooftops. Same with other professions, even therapists and the likes. Whereas on the railways, as some have alluded to, some light to moderate banter should be expected if you admit to being a rail fan.

I think you're actually drawing comparisons between slightly different things - if you're a software developer and spend your own time developnig software, you're basically doing your job in your spare time.
If you're, say, a driver and a spotter, your interest is related to your job, but isn't the same thing.

 

[DownSouth]

I think you're actually drawing comparisons between slightly different things - if you're a software developer and spend your own time developnig software, you're basically doing your job in your spare time.

Not really. There's a big difference between doing your job for the purpose of making your company a profit and developing an unrelated open source app in your spare time. You're doing something a little similar to your job.

It would be quite comparable to a railway staff member who volunteers at a heritage/tourist railway on the weekend or rostered days off, they are doing something a little similar to their job.

 

[cuccir]

Not really. There's a big difference between doing your job for the purpose of making your company a profit and developing an unrelated open source app in your spare time. You're doing something a little similar to your job.

It would be quite comparable to a railway staff member who volunteers at a heritage/tourist railway on the weekend or rostered days off, they are doing something a little similar to their job.

I know that Google do (or at least did) have a policy whereby all their software developers were given 20% of their time, that is 1 day a week, to explore personal projects and interests, with the catch being that they become Google's if they're successful. I think that's how Google Earth/Maps first emerged...

Part of my job involves informing people about transport options, ticket costs, locations of timetables, etc. Hanging around here and being a 'timetables enthusiast' certainly helps, and I think I do my job better for it (I also think I got the job because of it - when asked the question 'And what websites offering public transport information are you aware of' I was able to spout out a long list!), it clearly isn't necessary either.

 

[90019]

Not really. There's a big difference between doing your job for the purpose of making your company a profit and developing an unrelated open source app in your spare time. You're doing something a little similar to your job.

It wasn't meant in the sense of actually doing your job, but doing the same thing as you do in your job, in your spare time.

 

[KYellowhammer]

Remember a certain poster said he'd be a shoe-in for a drivers job as he was good on some Train Simulator? :roll:

Looks like I signed up too late for the forum flamings then

 

[PaxVobiscum]

Remember a certain poster said he'd be a shoe-in for a drivers job as he was good on some Train Simulator? :roll:

Back in the days when children and their lucky parents were still allowed flight deck visits on planes, I remember an Air 2000 'Pilot Not Flying' talking about the Microsoft Flight Sim with my kids and asking how they were getting on with the landings because every time he tried to land he crashed the plane. We hoped he was joking.

 

[Minilad]

Back in the days when children and their lucky parents were still allowed flight deck visits on planes, I remember an Air 2000 'Pilot Not Flying' talking about the Microsoft Flight Sim with my kids and asking how they were getting on with the landings because every time he tried to land he crashed the plane. We hoped he was joking.

I must admit I have never fancied doing a driving sim as I am scared I would be rubbish at it

 

[IanXC]

Back in the days when children and their lucky parents were still allowed flight deck visits on planes, I remember an Air 2000 'Pilot Not Flying' talking about the Microsoft Flight Sim with my kids and asking how they were getting on with the landings because every time he tried to land he crashed the plane. We hoped he was joking.

I used to know a Senior Training Captain for a UK Charter Airline who was always quite sceptical of Microsoft Flight Sim when he flew Boeings. The moment they converted to Airbus his view completely changed, "hardly worth bothering to go to the simulator, I can sit in my pyjamas with flight sim and its just as good"!!

 

[tsr]

I took a photo of a pair of 37s departing the other day in full uniform with my ticket machine round my neck as I had just stepped off my train at the turn round!!!

I'm pretty sure a NR worker who was meant to be doing some emergency engineering near CLJ today was actually trainspotting ... and you'll probably see at least one member of Southern staff at the end of the platform when there's a VSOE service stopped for operational reasons at Redhill.

 

[AlterEgo]

Enthusiasts can often make excellent staff. It really is a boon to speak to someone on the railway who has a real love of the industry and who takes time to amass knowledge beyond the minimum remit of their job. It does of course take the right sort of enthusiast to make a great employee; ideally you want the kind who almost evangelise about the railway, trying to make the ordinary passenger fall in love with it too.

Enthusiasts can also make awful staff - some will treat the railway as their personal toy, with a sense of superiority and an anti-passenger stance. There are a minority in customer facing roles who simply are not suited to the job. That said, a lot of train planners and Control staff are cranks!

Like others have said, it really depends on the individual. There are 'staff-enthusiast' types on here (that I haven't met) who really seem to know their job, and I'm sure they make excellent staff.

I hope this post comes across in the right manner!

 

[Bellwater]

We seem to have several levels of Enthusiasts.

Genuine out and out Bashers/Spotters.
Those who reminisce for days of better traction(like myself).
Occasional enthusiasts.
Those who do a bit on Preserved Railways.

Fortunately we don't have any 'I work on a Preserved Railway therefore I am better than you' types.

 

[Mike C]

I hope this post comes across in the right manner!

It does and I know exactly what you mean and agree completely.

I work with both types and while some make the job easier, others make it harder for sure.

 

[NLC1072]

As an enthusiast that works on the railways, I will happily bend over backwards for my customers as much as possible to make their time enjoyable. I never seem to lose interest in the railway, but I do not see my local units as interesting any more, so I just have to travel more! To be fair, being an enthusiast it does help me with my job because I know a more in depth knowledge on the operations side as I am customer facing, I can deliver more accurate information than that of my colleagues can a lot of the time and can take pride in doing so.

NLC1072

 

[ex-railwayman]

We seem to have several levels of Enthusiasts.
Genuine out and out Bashers/Spotters.
Those who reminisce for days of better traction(like myself).
Occasional enthusiasts.
Those who do a bit on Preserved Railways.

That's a very good analogy of the OP, as being an enthusiast was seen as a recreational past time, and covered everything from the historical side of things to taking photographs, or, bashing/gricing, etc.
I started being interested in trains on World Cup Final Day in 1966, sitting on my Uncle's garden fence watching the steam locos shunting wagons in Toton yard. Fortunately, in the 70's, I was taken on as a railway clerk and carried on being interested and as working on the railway offered you the chance to travel the country on the BR network, it was a cheap recreational hobby to ride around spotting numbers, and absorbing everything that went on at various yards, stabling points, docks and seaports. My Uncle and his son were both miners in Notts/Derbyshire and I went to various collieries and watched the MGR's being unloaded whilst they cleaned up after a shift.
Most of my railway colleagues were enthusiasts in a way, and as we all worked for BR, it was a family, whereby, getting the chance to get round a Motive Power Depot was a lot easier back then when you could request it via the Depot Supervisor, flash your ID card, tell them that you were also a Supervisor, Manager, etc, and would be allowed to visit 99 times out of 100 as you could be trusted with the Health & Safety formalities and other legal, and union practices, when walking around.
Many old railwaymen would probably agree that the Steam and BR Blue Days were the best for trainspotting, as so many varied classes of locomotives were worth watching and listening to, nowadays, I be bored stiff watching the same 'boxes on wheels Americanised locomotion' that keep appearing, you'd be surprised at the number of 'fans' around, some of the lads at Trent PSB would ring me up at work and tell me what locomotives were about on any STN's, as they knew I'd be interested and would pass the information on to others, steam specials were always well appreciated.
I doubt very much if I'd have the inclination to travel 200 miles on a whim to see a modern loco, but, I never hesitated to go and listen/watch a Deltic, Class 40, or Class 37's on Lickey bankers, for a few hours with lunch in a country pub and a quick half of the local bitter, it made the 'hobby' so much more enjoyable.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

 

[350401]

*post deleted*

 

[Beveridges]

Railfans becoming staff? I think it makes you lose interest myself. Also you can never admit it at work or you get the p**s taken out of you unbelievably! Yet there are loads of others who are clearly spotters who will also not admit it! Never admitting it is the unwritten rule at most places, but for some reason its clearly OK to have an interest in cars if you work on the railway (certainly is seeing how often Top Gear is on and the sort of expensive cars they've all got at BPN)??

 

[Grantham]

There has long been a cringe about enthusiasts on the railways (here in Australia, just like over there) but it seems to be reducing. At work I tend to claim to be a retarded dribbly foamer, just to worry the new blokes. Of course it doesn't usually take long for them to work out that I am almost human.

One thing I point out is that airline pilots are usually aviation enthusiasts, and who would they want to fly them on holidays? Some grumpy, lazy fart with the attitude that they should have to do the bare minimum work for the maximum pay (and i usually name lazy, rough train drivers they know as examples of this attitude!), or someone who really enjoys flying the aircraft and pays special attention to getting every detail as good as he can? Like balancing fuel, flying at the smoothest altitudes, giving a commentary when there is something interesting out the window...it usually gets them thinking!

Of course, there is often time to take the odd photo...

 

[krisk]

Also as an enthusiast I find it helps me in my job as my railway knowledge can come in handy when a person asks me about connections etc

It's also nice to be out and about in a job instead of being stuck in the same building every day.

It's also nice to talk to other enthusiasts tho we did have one last week who was being a bit of a breast as he wanted a cab ride in a 390 and couldn't understand why the TM wouldnt walk him to the front of the train and let him see the cab and ride from Stockport to Piccadilly.

Jog on.