Why do you want to be a train driver?

[TheVicLine]

how about not saying:

because I'm an enthusiast and can't wait to get my mates filming me over the routes.

Ha-ha love it, I had a guy watching me with binoculars last week as I pulled into Manchester Piccadilly, weird.

 

[JAMBO]

If you like the time off and your holidays then a drivers position would suit you very well,lost count of the days I have had off this year!

 

[plastictaffy]

You will lose the passenger attributes of your job if you beacame a driver, would you be happy with that?

Yes, of course I would. But apart from the passenger part of it, everything else would still be the same. There'd still be skirt to look at on the platform, I'd still have a damn good union, I'd still get fiddles and so on.

 

[TDK]

Yes, of course I would. But apart from the passenger part of it, everything else would still be the same. There'd still be skirt to look at on the platform, I'd still have a damn good union, I'd still get fiddles and so on.

Whilst looking at that skirt errrm oops there goes the red I should have rememberd was there


It naive of you to say that everything would be the same apart from the passenger side, the only comparison is the shifts

 

[youngboy]

Ok, I am intrigued on the reasons why all these folks on this forum and country wide want to be a train driver. This is a question that is asked when at interview so if you could answer honestly.

I will start this off with why I wanted the job!.

Change in career, I ran my own business before and had enough.
Easy on my body - I did manual work.
Money - good salary
Loner - All my hobies and my previos work was alone and this apealed to me.

Be as honnest as you can and the answer I always wanted to be a train driver is a fail

Waited before I answered this to see others reasons for wanting this role. My own reasons are identical to yours TDK, as I already explained to you about my main reason for wanting out of my current job.

TBH I would gladly take other roles including MDD or platform duties, financially we are ok and the change is 99% down to medical reasons and wanting to maintain good health longer.
It does surprise me however that with 3000 going for the last FTPE jobs and probably 100's of lurkers and one time posters on here that this thread hasn't been as overwhelmed as I thought it would.:roll:

 

[TDK]

Waited before I answered this to see others reasons for wanting this role. My own reasons are identical to yours TDK, as I already explained to you about my main reason for wanting out of my current job.

TBH I would gladly take other roles including MDD or platform duties, financially we are ok and the change is 99% down to medical reasons and wanting to maintain good health longer.
It does surprise me however that with 3000 going for the last FTPE jobs and probably 100's of lurkers and one time posters on here that this thread hasn't been as overwhelmed as I thought it would.:roll:

Maybe most of the folks on here do not want everyone to know their reasons

 

[Minardista]

Likelihood of me ever actually doing this? Almost zero. But anyway...

The following are in descending order of importance;

Solitude
My low threshold for idiot tolerance has not really gone well in teamwork situations in the past. Working in an office wasn't too great either. Getting the cab to yourself for long stints sounds great!

Shift pattern
Some may find the non-standard hours a pain. I have to say the opposite. I simply can't function around this mundane 9-5 lifestyle many people seem to operate.

Layovers
Those long shifts are often punctuated with frequent short breaks due to layovers (depending on the type of work you're doing obviously). Great!

Money
I wouldn't have to be worrying whether I could afford rent at the end of the month anymore!

Wouldn't care what I got assigned to tbh, I don't dream of flying down WCML at 125, if I had to drive a clapped out 314 on the Cathcart Circle all day I'd be fine with that!

 

[choo~choo]

Less hours than current role.

Good flexibility/swaps.

Being out and about as opposed to being office based.

Downside is less pay tho.

 

[notadriver]

Less hours than current role.

Good flexibility/swaps.

Being out and about as opposed to being office based.

Downside is less pay tho.

What's your current role ?

 

[choo~choo]

What's your current role ?

Ops TL

 

[notadriver]

Would the drop in pay be just during training ? The reason I ask is train driver is one of the highest paid jobs on the railway. Only senior management usually get paid more.

 

[TDK]

Ops TL

For ATW?

 

[choo~choo]

Would the drop in pay be just during training ? The reason I ask is train driver is one of the highest paid jobs on the railway. Only senior management usually get paid more.

For 3yrs.. My role is pretty well paid on the railway..

For ATW?

Yes..

 

[shirleyd286]

I want to become a train driver because I hate office work, I'm fed up of excel and 9-5 is just awful. I like responsibility, discipline and rules and regs (instilled by a good military career) providing a service, good salary and I've found the industry fascinating since I was young. I take my boy to NNR to see the Steam engines, its just great.

 

[JCLeeds]

1) Its one of the few jobs that you need no experience in that pays more than I earn now
2) Better hours - currently work 50 hr weeks, 5 days out of 7 with rarely 2 days off together and rare weekends off - worked over crap shifts - either 9-6 or 10.30-7.30 so you never get proper evenings - would much rather work 35 hrs with longer blocks of time off
3) Hatred of current job: having the same conversations with customers for 11 years, employers moving goalposts all the time so I sell more and more but earn less and less bonus, yearly income not increased for 7 years with job perks being removed all the time
4) Don't mind or even quite like working alone
5) Job security and final salary pension
6) Its probably the last of the 'dinosaur' jobs with a strong union

 

[TDK]

So anyone brave enough to admit they want to be a train driver because they are a railway enthusiast then, and that is the only or predominant reason?

 

[455driver]

I wanted to to it for the prestige and glamour!

I got that wrong didnt I.

I was a bus driver for a number of years and one day I thought to myself "do I want to do this until the day I retire", I decided "no I dont" so decided to turn my hobby into a career, and here I am.

Is that close enough for you TDK?

 

[TDK]

I wanted to to it for the prestige and glamour!

I got that wrong didnt I.

I was a bus driver for a number of years and one day I thought to myself "do I want to do this until the day I retire", I decided "no I dont" so decided to turn my hobby into a career, and here I am.

Is that close enough for you TDK?

Nice one 455, I knew I could rely on you to be honest fella Bus driving is a lot more taxing (not money wise) than train driving in my opinion so I think you certainly did the right thing.

 

[notadriver]

Well I think there is prestige and glamour but it depends on what you drive - i think high speed train drivers have that. Bus driving is definitely more stressful but requires less technical skills (safety critical communication) for example.

 

[Rugd1022]

Well I think there is prestige and glamour but it depends on what you drive - i think high speed train drivers have that. Bus driving is definitely more stressful but requires less technical skills (safety critical communication) for example.

I made a sly reference to the 'glamour' thing in another thread today (with tongue in cheek, sort of!) but I have to admit there are still days when I find myself tanking about through the glorious English countryside with 2,000 tons in tow and think 'blimey this is the life' or some such. It'll be the complete opposite tonight though... conducting a railgrinder from Washwood Heath to Banbury and back in the dead of night. I appreciate there are folk on here who would give their right arm to be doing it, but it's not exactly the high life I can tell you! Should be on proper mainline running jobs the rest of the week so it's six of one and half a dozen of the other...

 

[wills]

I'm currently not in the mainline industry at all and just do heritage stuff at the moment, the reasons I want to do it...

Career Change - Run my own business and spend most days in various different offices, sometimes never seeing daylight in the winter and have just begun to tire of it as I have done it since I left school! I also would welcome the SILENCE from my phones ringing constantly with people asking the same questions over and over again!

Money - Important, yes, but certainly not the main reason - I view the pay rate as a bonus to the job really. I think I would STILL want to do it even if the pay rate was low.

Working alone - I enjoy working alone and regularly do so - to get to do this in an 'office' with a changing view that needed 100% attention would be lovely - a constantly changing challenge that requires utmost care, concentration and ability.

Little boy - I always wanted to drive trains when I was a child (yes I know that's a fail on the question!). I never completed school and so when I left I walked straight into starting my own IT company. This has gone very well and as such now allows me to spend time volunteering on a heritage line which has in-turn re-ignited the spark for me to become that train driver I always wanted to be! My partner cannot understand how I can drive the same stretch of track 5-6 times a day and not get bored and I just tell her that it's what I've always wanted to do and I am determined to get there and that 1 trip is NEVER the same as the next!

Time - I enjoy working strange hours and as such I like the idea of working nights one week and then working days the week after.

 

[MCW]

I want to be one cause I just love railways so much, I just want to drive trains for as long as i can in my life and if i can do that, i'll live a happy life

 

[TDK]

I want to be one cause I just love railways so much, I just want to drive trains for as long as i can in my life and if i can do that, i'll live a happy life

Would you do it for nothing? I mean no pay!

 

[A-driver]

Would you do it for nothing? I mean no pay!

I think there is a difference between wanting to drive a train and wanting to be a train driver. I'm sure many would do the first for free but I doubt many would honestly want to spend 30 years getting out of bed at 3am and spend 10hours going back and forth over the same stretch of track every day for no pay no matter how enthusiastic you may be!

 

[455driver]

Nice one 455, I knew I could rely on you to be honest fella Bus driving is a lot more taxing (not money wise) than train driving in my opinion so I think you certainly did the right thing.

Your not wrong there, I enjoyed bus driving but find train driving to be more rewarding and enjoyable.

 

[Beveridges]

I wanted to be a Maintenance Depot Train Driver because there was no Mainline jobs available at the time and thought this would do for a while.

Turns out that I seriously underestimated how good MDD is and now having done it I really think this should have been my first choice of job all along rather than a second.

When I first started on the railway I never thought I would end up on a maintenance depot, extremely lucky or what?

 

[Juniper Driver]

Train drivers respected?!

As far as most are concerned we sit about doing nothing all day going in strike every other week if the company refuse to pay us an extra few grand!

I would say many have more respect for a delivery driver actually...you bring people food and drink. We take them to work where they don't want to be on horribly expensive, dirty, late and crowded trains!

Not respected like they used to be about thirty years ago..I think passengers are under the impression it's an easy job.The money has only improved since privatisation.IMHO

 

[david_VI]

People make out that its a fail saying you've always wanted to drive trains? Is this tongue in cheek or do they really look down on this and give you a fail in an interview?

I have this battle in my head about it being a passion and something i've always been interested in and whether I should say this..
I did a thread about it yesterday in the career forum if more people could check it out
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=86752

I have many other reasons of course.. Shift work is a plus for me.. I love working alone. The sense of pride when you get your train to the final stop.

 

[TDK]

People make out that its a fail saying you've always wanted to drive trains? Is this tongue in cheek or do they really look down on this and give you a fail in an interview?

I have this battle in my head about it being a passion and something i've always been interested in and whether I should say this..
I did a thread about it yesterday in the career forum if more people could check it out
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=86752

I have many other reasons of course.. Shift work is a plus for me.. I love working alone. The sense of pride when you get your train to the final stop.

When I worded the OP the "fail" didn't mean a fail on getting the job it meant a "fail" to this question for the Forum

Your final line in your post is good - forget the rest