Freight Train trainee drivers, Fancy it?

Get your application in.
rail.dbschenker.co.uk/career … 62014.html

Go for it you won’t regret it one bit , I did 10 years ago and haven’t looked back

Wow that looks pretty good. Very good salary and decent contracted hours. I bet it’s going to be extremely over subscribed. In it to win it though for those that apply. Nice to see they value relevant backgrounds. 47k for mainline?!

Freight Dog:
Wow that looks pretty good. Very good salary and decent contracted hours. I bet it’s going to be extremely over subscribed. In it to win it though for those that apply. Nice to see they value relevant backgrounds. 47k for mainline?!

yeah, just bear in mind that 22 grand will be for about 12 months whilst your being trained.
DBS also have a thing going where by you cant leave within 5 years or they’ll take to you to court to pursue their costs it cost to train you which is about £52’000. To be fair to DBS they had to do that though as they were getting reamed by folk ■■■■■■■ off to other operators as soon as they trained them up.
Once your trained expect 50K +. Drivers basic hours is 35 a week.

Fair enough but to put it in perspective a new hire with a regional airline was on 23k. They also bonded you for 3 years. In addition many are carrying 100k plus training debt. GSS at Stansted offering 45k basic pa to operate 74-8 worldwide (before they went bust!). Granted it may not escalate much but it’s still good money even whilst training. Tempted myself!

It’s worth sticking the time out , freight company’s can’t get enough experienced drivers,
we lost a couple of drivers to a Middle East company that was recruiting English drivers to work on a 5 year rail contract out there ,
£120.000 basic tax free + benefits + flights home .

Flip. That’s the same if not more than Nippon Cargo are offering for drivers 20 days on 10 off, on contract, 15,500 USD basic a month plus fights home. Rail sounds like it hasn’t yet fallen under the race to the bottom decline in terms through over supply. Where’s that picture of me next to flying Scotsman at York Rail museum when I was ten to send with my app :smiley: ?

gazza1970:
It’s worth sticking the time out , freight company’s can’t get enough experienced drivers,
we lost a couple of drivers to a Middle East company that was recruiting English drivers to work on a 5 year rail contract out there ,
£120.000 basic tax free + benefits + flights home .

Who you work for gazza? Tried to PM you but it wont work.

Do they still offer the good pensions? Do freight drivers do many layovers in hotels? What’s the work pattern like? Sorry for the many q’s. Just interested.

Freight Dog:
Do they still offer the good pensions? Do freight drivers do many layovers in hotels? What’s the work pattern like? Sorry for the many q’s. Just interested.

Some of em do lodging turns but not all, depends on who you work for. Work patterns on freight can be anything. Early’s, lates, weekends and everything in between.
Pensions are among the best.
One good thing about being a freight driver is though, a thousand ton of rocks don’t moan when your late! :laughing:

Cheers for that. What kind of employer contribution on pension are we talking for example just out of interest? Also I’d imagine another attraction is you get to drive actual locomotives rather than is it a power car? I don’t know the terms you can really tell!

For comparison, if you take £8/ hour rough artic rate and based on 35 hours work out the basic salary its £14,560 pa based on 52 weeks so even the training pay is more. Sounds like it knocks spots off working on the road in this day an age if you live local to a depot and meet the grade.

Volunteered on a steam railway before marriage and fatherhood came along; Went out on City of Truro and Green Arrow (both now stuffed and mounted) and GWR 3882; For Queen fans, it was used in the video for “Breakthru”.
Can I jump the queue? :laughing:

sounds like a pretty cracking number.
tbh, if i wasn’t off at mo awaiting a bloody ct scan i’d have seriously considered looking into it.

Freight Dog:
Wow that looks pretty good. Very good salary and decent contracted hours. I bet it’s going to be extremely over subscribed. In it to win it though for those that apply. Nice to see they value relevant backgrounds.

Go for it Fright Dog, I’m sure being a pilot will give you a massive advantage over other applicants.

I’m conflicted pimpdaddy. I wish I could apply, I have thought about it today. I don’t live near a dopot (personal ties doh). Also if I were in the (unlikely!) position they offered it to me I’d be really stuck as to what to do. It’s a great job by the sounds of it with good pension and support infrastructure but would mean saying goodbye to years and years of ball breaking and money spent in aviation. Mind you that hasn’t treated me well :smiley: . What about yourself? You fancy it?

Gembo:
One good thing about being a freight driver is though, a thousand ton of rocks don’t moan when your late! :laughing:

As a matter of interest, who carries the can if it falls off? The driver? I’d take a punt at no to that.

Freight Dog:
What about yourself? You fancy it?

I do yes, I live close to a depot, meet all the requirements etc but I think/feel it will be way over subscribed & I don’t stand a chance. My neighbour has worked for them over 10yrs (ex EWS) & he wanted to drive trains, why has he not got in as an internal applicant…?

It’s one of them jobs where once you’re in its hard to get out because of the money.
Fair enough most people don’t leave but if you mess up too many times its a big hit so you do have to be on your guard.
Saying that I do enjoy it and for the hours we work the money is brilliant.
For example this week I earnt as a take home 968 quid and thats by working one Sunday which is extra and a bank holiday paid at +15%. With two more rest days and another Sunday il probably clear between 3-3500 this month.
Just to add that I drove for a passenger firm so a bit different to freight and I’m driver only so no guards which means the pressure can be on.
Pensions are still good.

Go for it pimpdaddy. Go for it guns blazing. Let them decide. Never automatically presume you won’t make it.

chilistrucker:
sounds like a pretty cracking number.
tbh, if i wasn’t off at mo awaiting a bloody ct scan i’d have seriously considered looking into it.

Had a few of them. And waiting is the worst bit. Best of luck mate.