Talking to a driver who applied to operate trains,he said they only give you 2 chances,if you fail twice you cannot apply anymore for any train job for life,very strict on that apparently,does annoy me calling them drivers,after all they don’t drive them do they,they operate them so should be called train operators,anyone ever see the film unstoppable with denzil Washington,they stopped the train didn’t they,lol
truckman020:
anyone ever see the film unstoppable with denzil Washington,they stopped the train didn’t they,lol
Love that film. Total “leave your brain at the door as you wont need it” mindless action.
truckman020:
Talking to a driver who applied to operate trains,he said they only give you 2 chances,if you fail twice you cannot apply anymore for any train job for life,very strict on that apparently
This is true, as I have done it twice and didnt get through.
Passed some parts on the first attempt, so only had to re-do the parts I didnt get through on the second attempt. Passed them no problem on the second go.
Got selected to go to the second phase of tests - passed some of the tests, but failed one part.
Unfortunately, my mum died like 2 days before the second phase of tests, so my mind wasnt really on the task - I should have postponed, but thought I could wing it. that up, didnt I?
Got told that there were possibly some changes coming along that meant I could get a further chance at re-doing the selection, but not seen any more about that since - my last go was about 2 years ago, so I would have to completely start again as the test results only last 2 years.
There were hundreds of people at the 2nd go of the first selection phase - and this process was taking place over a week - so god knows how many people were called to the tests and how many applied in total - this was for First Capital Connect and was for 2 positions based out of Bedford.
Training salary was about £25k which was for a period of about 18m if I recall correctly. Training was to be done at their facility in Hornsey (North London).
Post-training salary was £35K-£38k I think - cant remember exactly.
But there were other perks, such as free travel on FCC trains, discounted LUL/oyster card for family, etc.
Apparently, lorry drivers tend to make good train driver material, as they are used to working alone for long periods of the day…
All in all, I am gutted I didnt get through as I think it would have been a good job
Not sure how the 48K works- a mate of mine works 4 on 4 off on days for a rail freight company, and speaking to him tonight with overtime(+1 shift every 4 weeks) he is well over 60K a year, maybe once a month he does a run which means him overnighting in a hotel all paid for. In his words no stress no hassle, he is treated as a professional- 60K a year for only working 6 months (+ overtime) seems pretty good to me
All you lot on here who knock unions, spit when they are mentioned, and think solidarity is a dirty word, should notice the wages compared to ours. 
Can of worms wide open 
Lost my train of thought on this one…can’t seem to keep on track.
robroy:
All you lot on here who knock unions, spit when they are mentioned, and think solidarity is a dirty word, should notice the wages compared to ours.
^^^ This.
eagerbeaver:
Lost my train of thought on this one…can’t seem to keep on track.
That’s because you’re off the rails mate…
I thought this sort of work was dead mans shoes type.
robroy:
All you lot on here who knock unions, spit when they are mentioned, and think solidarity is a dirty word, should notice the wages compared to ours.Can of worms wide open
Well a train driver won Mastermind, and to my knowledge, as yet a truck driver hasn’t!
I believe that is the answer… 
The train driving exams are rock hard. I went for a job a couple of years ago with a company called Direct Rail Services. They had me going down to Crewe for the 1st exam, which I passed. The 2nd one in Carlisle I passed too. That still wasn’t good enough to get to the 3rd stage in Watford. 
That was down to the last 31 from 900 applicants I was told.
Evil8Beezle:
robroy:
All you lot on here who knock unions, spit when they are mentioned, and think solidarity is a dirty word, should notice the wages compared to ours.Can of worms wide open
Well a train driver won Mastermind, and to my knowledge, as yet a truck driver hasn’t!
I believe that is the answer…
No, … that was the cheat on 'Who want’s to be a millionaire, somebody was giving him Signals.
robroy:
Evil8Beezle:
robroy:
All you lot on here who knock unions, spit when they are mentioned, and think solidarity is a dirty word, should notice the wages compared to ours.Can of worms wide open
Well a train driver won Mastermind, and to my knowledge, as yet a truck driver hasn’t!
I believe that is the answer…No, … that was the cheat on 'Who want’s to be a millionaire, somebody was giving him Signals.
Cough cough!
Sod driving a train, all those near misses every few minutes with trains coming the other way at 125mph…
Malky80:
The train driving exams are rock hard.
Why? What are the type of questions? All questions are hard unless you know the answers.
Evil8Beezle:
eagerbeaver:
Lost my train of thought on this one…can’t seem to keep on track.That’s because you’re off the rails mate…
Maybe you`re getting ideas above your station…!
dri-diddly-iver:
Malky80:
The train driving exams are rock hard.Why? What are the type of questions? All questions are hard unless you know the answers.
The failure rate for the first exam was very high. That’s why. They weren’t questions you know the answer to. Even practising for it was almost pointless. You either had to memorise passages or work out answers on the spot. I wish it had been general knowledge though 
. I also had my writing arm in cast in the first exam, which really didn’t help.
Rikki-UK:
Not sure how the 48K works- a mate of mine works 4 on 4 off on days for a rail freight company, and speaking to him tonight with overtime(+1 shift every 4 weeks) he is well over 60K a year, maybe once a month he does a run which means him overnighting in a hotel all paid for. In his words no stress no hassle, he is treated as a professional- 60K a year for only working 6 months (+ overtime) seems pretty good to me
Sorry was slightly out on what I remembered,but I sppose an overtime shift per month @ £23ph would boost the pay packet a bit too.
andy_s:
I thought this sort of work was dead mans shoes type.
Nah, just like everything else, the dead mans spotty youth aint interested 
My cousin has just failed her first attempt, and she is a “clippy”, the company she works for [in Yorkshire] can`t get the right calibre of “potential” driver, so they are doing something similar to “warehouse to driver scheme”, just like some of our big boys have tried [and failed on one contract I know of]…
Her husband is already a train driver, and its the money that is the main motivator in all this, he has a stake in a race horse FFS…
And another mate of mine, has just retrained as an under ground train driver @ 61 
…they can`t get them in London either, 60k or no 60k
Malky80:
dri-diddly-iver:
Malky80:
The train driving exams are rock hard.Why? What are the type of questions? All questions are hard unless you know the answers.
The failure rate for the first exam was very high. That’s why. They weren’t questions you know the answer to. Even practising for it was almost pointless. You either had to memorise passages or work out answers on the spot. I wish it had been general knowledge though
Take a look on this:
traindriver.org/assessments–interviews.html
The group bourdon test is the one that kills many people off - it’s difficult but there are online practice tests.
I got to Watford, but blew out on the computer reactions tests, so didn’t get to the formal interview stage.