Question for Drivers: Working Branch Lines

[Mordac]

I went to Windermere with my other half a few days ago, and while we took the direct train from Lancaster, we changed at Oxenholme on the return. I told her that for most of the day, the train just shuttled back and forth, with only a few direct ones, and she remarked that it must be really tedious for drivers. Is this the case? Is getting rostered to working a branch line seen as drawing the short stick, or do people actually like it?

 

[Shaggy]

I went to Windermere with my other half a few days ago, and while we took the direct train from Lancaster, we changed at Oxenholme on the return. I told her that for most of the day, the train just shuttled back and forth, with only a few direct ones, and she remarked that it must be really tedious for drivers. Is this the case? Is getting rostered to working a branch line seen as drawing the short stick, or do people actually like it?

I'm not sure about the Windermere branch but down on my patch we have a limit as to the amount of round trips a driver can do over one line. For example, only 4 round trips to Henley, 8 to Windsor and 10 to St Ives (I think!).

Some drivers like them but like anything, do it too often and it loses its appeal.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Do branch lines often get used as routes for newly qualified drivers to drive

 

[Mintona]

Do branch lines often get used as routes for newly qualified drivers to drive

Yes, particularly if said branch line starts at a station which has a driver's depot. Personally I find pottering up and down a branch line to be the most tedious work at my depot.

 

[6Gman]

Sympathy please for the poor s*d working the Stourbridge Town shuttle.

 

[380101]

spare a thought for Corkerhill and Shields drivers in Glasgow that do 8 Paisley Canals on one diagram! Tedious is an understatement for that job!

 

[Bald Rick]

Spare a thought for the Waterloo & City line drivers!

Although at least now they are drawn from the Central line, so it is only part of their job. In BR days they spent all their time down there. No night work, no Sundays, no Sat PM. It was where the bad boys were sent on Form 1.

 

[Johncleesefan]

pensonally i like branch work. i find them to have a better, more relaxed and interesting scenery. has more of a laid back feel to it. the heart of wessex line being one of my preferred routes

 

[pdeaves]

I'm not sure about the Windermere branch but down on my patch we have a limit as to the amount of round trips a driver can do over one line. For example, only 4 round trips to Henley, 8 to Windsor and 10 to St Ives (I think!).

Hence it is quite possible for the branch train to pull into the main station and then the service is delayed or cancelled through lack of train crew. It can look odd to the unsuspecting public, but actually the branch crew now has something else to do (possibly even going home!).

 

[Whistler40145]

Sympathy please for the poor s*d working the Stourbridge Town shuttle.

Exactly, it's not going to be the most exciting of lines and driving a unit that looks like it belongs on a model railway.

 

[route:oxford]

In BR days they spent all their time down there. No night work, no Sundays, no Sat PM. It was where the bad boys were sent on Form 1.

Wouldn't that have been the most desirable route for anyone with "childcare issues"?

 

[randyrippley]

Must be better than driving a bus?
And as long as they're paying you, who cares about boredom and tedium?

 

[dk1]

We do both. You find branch shuttles more sociable & more time to drink coffee. Same rate of pay for easy work.

 

[168lover]

Sympathy please for the poor s*d working the Stourbridge Town shuttle.

I think that's covered by a separate company operating for London Midland so the driver's wiĺl only do that route

 

[Ianno87]

Always felt sorry for Glossop/Hadfield drivers and guards. Three changes of ends within about 15 minutes (Glossop, Hadfield, then Glossop again)

 

[bramling]

Spare a thought for the Waterloo & City line drivers!

Although at least now they are drawn from the Central line, so it is only part of their job. In BR days they spent all their time down there. No night work, no Sundays, no Sat PM. It was where the bad boys were sent on Form 1.

There is a clique of drivers who generally change over to work it.

Boring it may be, but generally they are guaranteed to finish on time, it generally works in its own way without too much management sniffing around, and the drivers have their own fiddles to make things work in a way which suits them. East London Line used to be the same.

 

[Welshman]

There is a clique of drivers who generally change over to work it.

Boring it may be, but generally they are guaranteed to finish on time, it generally works in its own way without too much management sniffing around, and the drivers have their own fiddles to make things work in a way which suits them. East London Line used to be the same.

You mean it gets so boring they learn to play the violin down there?

 

[Juniper Driver]

Spare a thought for the Waterloo & City line drivers!

Although at least now they are drawn from the Central line, so it is only part of their job. In BR days they spent all their time down there. No night work, no Sundays, no Sat PM. It was where the bad boys were sent on Form 1.

Totally wrong,used to love it down there and used to swap for the jobs if I had a surface job..Great laugh although it was the early 90's when I worked there before we lost it to LUL.

If I got fed up I could still work on the surface.Wasn't always down there as I had surface work as well.Used to swap with drivers who didn't want to work down the W+C.Only our depot worked down the W+C so got to know our own depot drivers.

Still miss it but guess it wouldn't be the same now.Not worth losing any work,even the Waterloo and City Line as in the quote "Variety is the spice of life".

Plenty of Sundays/Overtime/Night work/Saturday PM and whatever on the surface if wanted or booked.The guards were confined down the W+C though.

The trains were great.Real Westinghouse "Old Skool".Till the new stock came,that is.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Lymington must be the most boring branch for drivers in SWT teritory. Would a newly qualified driver doing that branch have to learn 158s/159s and 450s?

 

[Mojo]

You mean it gets so boring they learn to play the violin down there?

It's not boring at all. Paid travelling time, stepping back (at both ends at peak times), local arrangements with spares all reducing the amount of time spent in the cab. Plus it's manual driving unlike the rest of the Central line when running in service and as it's usually the same faces it's a nice little community.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Totally wrong,used to love it down there and used to swap for the jobs if I had a surface job..Great laugh although it was the early 90's when I worked there before we lost it to LUL.

If I got fed up I could still work on the surface.Wasn't always down there as I had surface work as well.Used to swap with drivers who didn't want to work down the W+C.Only our depot worked down the W+C so got to know our own depot drivers.

Still miss it but guess it wouldn't be the same now.Not worth losing any work,even the Waterloo and City Line as in the quote "Variety is the spice of life".

Plenty of Sundays/Overtime/Night work/Saturday PM and whatever on the surface if wanted or booked.The guards were confined down the W+C though.

The trains were great.Real Westinghouse "Old Skool".Till the new stock came,that is.

Are they on a rota for determining who drives the W&C and who drives the Central line?

 

[Mojo]

Are they on a rota for determining who drives the W&C and who drives the Central line?

Yes, there is a roster for drivers based at Leytonstone depot; some duties on this roster are Waterloo & City duties. However the majority of staff will be in the syndicate ("Mafia") where duties are distributed based on a number of factors such as personal preference and also other things which I won't go into here.

 

[swt_passenger]

Would a newly qualified driver doing that branch have to learn 158s/159s and 450s?

Would any driver, newly qualified or not, ever drive a train he hadn't qualified for? Seems a strange question.

 

[driver_m]

Would any driver, newly qualified or not, ever drive a train he hadn't qualified for? Seems a strange question.

You'll get conducted on route or traction of anything you don't sign. Once you get put in a link the onus is on the company to train you on whatever is in that link. So if it's say links work is a mix of EMUs and you only sign say a 321, then you'd be conducted on everything else.

 

[Shrimper]

Always felt sorry for Glossop/Hadfield drivers and guards. Three changes of ends within about 15 minutes (Glossop, Hadfield, then Glossop again)

There is an agreement in place to limit how many round trips they can do in a duty for that very reason!

 

[tramdan]

Sympathy please for the poor s*d working the Stourbridge Town shuttle.

A mate of mine is one of them, he loves it! He estimates around about 43 round trips per shift, out of a total 107 round trips that are operated Monday-Friday.

 

[Harbornite]

Lymington must be the most boring branch for drivers in SWT teritory. Would a newly qualified driver doing that branch have to learn 158s/159s and 450s?

Well obviously, what else are they going to drive down there?

Speaking of 159s, has one ever appeared on the branch or has it always been 158s on weekdays and 450s on weekends since the slammers went in 2010?

 

[LowLevel]

Always felt sorry for Glossop/Hadfield drivers and guards. Three changes of ends within about 15 minutes (Glossop, Hadfield, then Glossop again)

If it's anything like our shuttle work you dump your bag in one end and just take your ticket machine on your shoulder and a bottle of drink with you!

 

[3141]

Holborn to Aldwych was once known as the "penance railway". One minute each way, in tunnel.

 

[swt_passenger]

Speaking of 159s, has one ever appeared on the branch...

Yes they have. Picture attached from 2009 some time. I might be correct in thinking that 159s were often used for the training.