Recent content by Longforgan

Protip: Do NOT look at the Rule Book until your first day at the training school, assuming you are first successful in getting a job.

Nope, totally wrong.

Those working for Network Rail in management grade bands 3 and above (i.e. the high up ones) get private healthcare. But generally Network Rail staff of all grades get very few benefits and are poorly rewarded, especially when compared with TOC and private contractor staff performing comparable...

I've seen plenty of signallers take their kids to work for various reasons, sometimes with and sometimes without their manager's knowledge. The latter is only a problem if they're caught.

Word on the street is Edinburgh will close due to space issues and 'other' concerns, and will migrate to WSSC which will require either an extension or a third floor or both. Scotland has a one ROC future.

I must admit I only considered single manned locations but then I work in an area where the nearest multi-manned box is over 60 miles away. Nonetheless I have lost 2 colleagues to diabetes in 11 years.

While there are some signallers with diabetes, they are monitored by BUPA and as soon as they develop the need to inject insulin then it is game over. I've seen it happen to colleagues twice in the past and another is currently stood down and is not expected to return. Injecting insulin is...

Flexibility premium is a national agreement as part of the JWP. RDRs in my area are on 12% because of the fixed nature of their roster. There are precious few GPRs on 36% round here either; they redrew the areas to save money but some of the more foolish ones who lost out still go to old haunts...

A couple of years ago a trainee in my area failed the school after THREE attempts at it. They didn't know what to do with her, so they had her in the office answering phones and typing up letters etc.. until the higher management decided that she should be paid off. So it is possible to fail and...

There are two types of signaller - 'resident' and 'relief'. The latter can be subdivided again into 'general purpose relief' (GPR) and 'rest day relief' (RDR). Resident signallers only work at one signalbox on a fixed shift pattern. Reliefs cover a number of signalboxes and also have a fixed...

You get used to it. Although it does take a certain mindset and type of character to be a signaller in a single manned location (and a slightly different attitude in a larger signalbox).

Different areas do things differently but in Scotland the extra hours are 'banked' to give an additional 12 hour Rest Day every 12 weeks (which is why it's a 12 week roster cycle). It did used to be a 36 hour working week but that changed in 2006. The shift pattern I have quoted is the actual...

Gross misconduct if you are caught; many have been over the years too. Not worth losing your job over something stupid like watching Neighbours, as a colleague of mine did years ago.

No, signallers in single manned signaboxes like Longforgan and Pitlochry get NO statutory breaks paid or otherwise. Breaks are supposed to be taken as workload permits which means you could in theory be working for 12 hours continuously, though admittedly this is unusual. Generally you will find...

The shifts at Pitlochry are the same (12hrs, midnight/midday) but the box doesn't open until 10:40 on a Sunday morning. Pitlochry comes under a different LOM from Longforgan. Signallers work a basic 35 hour week. The shift pattern at these boxes is 3 on 4 off over a 12 week roster cycle, with...