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FGW are great to work for. Perhaps if you applied last August, and haven't heard back, you would be better off considering another career path. No-one is entitled to a job on the railways.

Quod Erat Demonstrandum.

Well, I thought it was funny. But then, I have a sense of humour.

Got a feeling there was a tree question as well as lots of cog questions; around 30 qs in total.

I was only aware of one mech test. I did the same one at the start of the course with FGW as I did with DBSchenker at a driver assessment day back in April '12.

The 3 months so far have flown by. A weeks leave just finished; I was slightly concerned that I'd be a little rusty when I got back but it turns out most of what I'd learned to date is still rattling around up there somewhere. Last but one week of rules at the moment, it's pretty much an...

At least I couldn't say in the interview that I wanted the job for the money - I had no idea what the wages were until a couple of weeks after I started the trainee driver course. Even then it was via the grapevine rather than a briefing from payroll.

FY '12-'13: Trainee: £23,392 Qualified: £42,333 (LTV) Both based on a 35 hr week. 7% salary deduction for the pension - £21754, £39370, before tax/NI Overtime, not pensionable, on top. Not sure if there's any London weighting. No word of pay rise for this year, probably won't even start...

During the classroom phase there is little to stop you 'freelancing' in a part time role in whatever other job you may choose. Whilst there is a fair amount to learn it shouldn't require hours of revision every weekend. I know of a student on a course that volunteers for an unpaid role on the...

Beat me to it. WTF was my first thought to the question too.

Opposite for me. I finished mech in about half the allotted time. The dials took much more thinking time, particularly for those where the pointers were in the same shade and one had to take account of the numerical indication.

What? On the dials? I'm quite surprised that you had time to go back over double checking!

Just to note that latest 'word on the street' is that FGW need ~400 drivers over the next 5 years. That's pretty much a course of 12 starting every other month for the foreseeable future. Our instructor says that he has been forewarned that 'things are likely to get very busy' over the next few...

Hmm, not sure I'd recommend the guessing game. I worked through steadily and completed roughly 2/3 of that assessment, fairly confident that they were all correct although disappointed not to have finished. I found out during week two of the driver training course that I got a...

With ~400 applicants per position it would be a disservice to rush the process, particularly as it's competitive in nature. It would be harsh to inform someone that they had passed the assessment then tell them a few weeks, if not months, later that they hadn't been selected.

I wouldn't be at all certain that they themselves knew the answer to that.

You will initially train on the 'commuter' types at first, such as the 165/166 'Thames Turbo'; the exact traction will depend on the depot which you end up in and the type(s) they operate. You will likely train on the Type 43 as you progress to higher links.

Crew room rumour has it that circa 700 drivers will be required across all First Group TOCs over the next couple of years; call it ~200 at FGW I guess...

I'd imagine FTPE is fairly similar to FGW. FGW training takes a minimum of 42 weeks, assuming the requisite 250 hrs, including 50 (or is it 40 - whatever) night is reached before the final assessment week. For the course starting Feb 4th we were given week 12, 21 - 27 April, as leave...

FGW deduct 7% of basic pay - overtime does not count towards the pension. No idea what the company provides but I think the FSP accrues at 1/60 per annum, so 20 years will give 1/3 of the final salary as a pension, circa £15K at today's rate. I believe there is a lump sum of 3 x the annual...