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I saw a 66 the other day repainted into the new orange and yellow. I actually thought was Colas Rail, and was surprised to find out it was Freightliner. I thought at the time, "What a mistake! Let's be revolutionary and look like one of our competitors instead of evolving the brand - because...

I've heard various things about the 'Driver Shortage' at the beginning of Stagecoach. One of the things was that they thought they had too many Drivers and offered voluntary redundancy. But they hadn't taken into account the route and traction knowledge of the depots. So the newly uncovered...

All very well, but they'd need bodyside cameras and, perhaps more of an issue, somewhere to place the DOO screens in the cabs. They really need somewhere electrified with Guards, unless they undergo modifications. Also.... Electrostars have a programme planned to fit with Driver Machine...

Covered in dead flies I believe. In foggy weather. But the dead fly issue affecting the illumination seemed to be glossed over.

I did Short Term Timetable Planning for South Eastern years ago: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/train-planners.59171/#post-963312 Might be worth a read to give you an idea. Good luck! Long Term Planning (LTP) is planning for the twice yearly permanent timetables. Short Term Planning...

It's actually fairly rare to remain 'spare'. When you are spare on the roster you can be given an uncovered turn of duty that starts +/-2or 3 hours (depending on company - some are even more flexible!) either side of your spare start time. If you remain spare, then you can be sent to cover part...

@Horizon22 Edited: Yes it was a bit nonchalant, what I meant was that it does take longer with Station Staff and Guards as there are more people and steps involved. It shouldn't take that much longer though. The point is, there's been a tendancy to keep increasing the time that doors may be...

15 minutes?! Even 2 minutes is utterly ridiculous. I press 'doors close' at T-12 seconds, get interlock, check the monitors, check the signal, and wheels move on the dot. Up to 1 minute with all the bat waving and ding ding station staff and guard stuff isn't unrealistic, but anything longer...

@L1234 There used to be (and probably still are) some duties that are 'pass' to Blackfriars, St Albans, or Luton at the start - you may well find you'll be able to travel straight there and sign on there. Each of those locations should have a signing on sheet and a late notice case. Certainly...

Probably because squaring up any mistakes with the Signalman is not available anymore because of signal box data-loggers, radio and phone voice recorders, forward-facing cameras on the train, a black box on the train (On Train Data Recorder), and all the passengers have cameras on their mobile...

You have a limited number of Mon/Tues/Wed/Thurs/Fri restdays per year. Will you work some of them. "Yeah, who cares!" You've a limited number of Saturdays off per year, will you work some of those - when your kids are off, and your friends and family organise meet ups and events and...

Well you used to be told to do 'Front End Turns' which means shadowing a Driver (who isn't a DI) for their turns of duty, watching them drive, and learning as much as you can from day to day things and the routes you go over, which would keep you ticking along until a DI became available. I...

DI is Driver Instructor. You'll have a person training you in the classroom for rules and traction (the different types of train), and usually one of those Classroom Trainers will take you out for your first drive on an empty train. On the Great Northern this is normally a class 717 on the...

Glad I'm in good company regarding opinion of the original, 'Taking of Pelham 123'. What a great film! The book is worth a read too, with an attempt for Woodlawn 141 to follow the hijacked train using the express tracks when it sets off after the money has been handed over. Also it's the...

In addition to the above comment, there's actually quite a few drivers at my TOC who swap for nights as they see their family when they finish work for breakfast before going to bed, and the family go to work or school, and have an evening meal with them before going to work. If you follow the...

Saturdays are optional? Since when?!

Same seats with a handkerchief velcroed on. Really missing out! It shouldn't be unreasonable to expect any customer to be able to access any available class of accommodation, you are right. If first class on these trains, really was first class - like a Mark 4 is for example. If Mark 4s...

Whilst we wait for someone with hopefully more information, my understanding is: Sun out, day lodge, Mon back, Tues out, day lodge, wed back, Thurs out, day lodge, fri back, Saturday - doesn't run. They have crew based at both the London and Scottish ends. I don't know if it's a 6 day week...

Ha ha ha! Yes that's true.

Well I stand corrected on the seats, although they look like the same ones fitted on LNER, just blue. I thought they were to be compulsorily reserved too. I suspect you are right about ORCATS.