No plans too at present though anything is possible. There is a very large pool of drivers at the 3 P depots down here that sign them, so fir the sake of 3 diagrams id be surprised if any effort was made to train anyone else up, but stranger things have happened.
Thank you
During disruption what would be the furthest they're likely to go?
List in post #770 updated
That would seem a reasonable timeframe to hopefully allow GWR to acquire some stock such as TfW’s 158s.
Surely if they are staying on until 2025 some PCs will have to have big exams done to keep enough in traffic?
There should be enough mileage in the fleet to allow them to run until 2025, particularly with the reduced diagrams, without needing to do any exams above a D exam. The same should also apply to engines - there should be no further QL3 or QL4 engine overhauls.
Well Plymouth drivers sign all the way to London! But seriously, Taunton most likely the limit, as Plymouth were forced to remove Taunton to Bristol from our route card a couple of years back.
Exeter could take them to Cardiff.
Only if they remove them from their traction cards. Exeter occasionally covers Par/Plymouth work so it would be detrimental to the company to do that.
They will be forced to remove them the same way Plymouth drivers where forced to remove Bristol to Taunton (even though many protested and wanted to keep it on cards knowing it would frequently be needed for diversionary purposes). But the policy these days is , once the depot loses a route or traction, then it is removed from the card, and probably rightly so in all honesty. And dare I say it, but when has being "detrimental" to the company been a problem before. Plymouth losing Taunton to Bristol proved extremely detrimental, but it was still ploughed through.
Slightly off topic but during diversions how far would Plymouth drivers take services?
During booked diversions, Plymouth drivers will only go as far as Exeter usually and thus put a lot of pressure on Exeter drivers to uphold the service these days! However when a none planned diversion is necessary then the Plymouth driver will drive say Paddington to Bristol where the train will have to stop out of course to get a Bristol route conductor or driver to replace as far as Taunton where the Plymouth driver will take over again. As you can imagine this isn't conducive to recovering much delay time and isn't terribly effective.
Fortunately the guards management are more enlightened.
Well without a driver they ain't getting past Taunton, guard or not. (Not saying I agree or disagree with this stance BTW!)
Why wouldn't they be? When your depot loses a route or traction you sign it off. Its not like the old days , the ops standards and what not require a decent level of coverage of a route or traction in order to keep it. Not quite sure why an Exeter driver would want to keep it on when they don't have too, especially with the current industrial dispute?!!
True, but that's the way the railway works. Its a slippery slope otherwise. Too many incidents have occurred over the years caused by unfamiliarity.
Route knowledge is lost after 6 months not 24 hrs.
Not in reality. As I said Plymouth drivers forcibly lost Taunton to Bristol overnight. It is lost after 6 months if the depot still retains the route but the driver in question for whatever reason hasn't gone over said route.
That was a managerial decision and one that has backfired regularly.
Completely agree!!! Backfires on a weekly basis! I myself have been shafted on several occasions, stuck the wrong side of Bristol waiting a route conductor !
At our place they leave it on until you sign it off or your next biannual rules. I still sign class 156s even though we've not had any for 4 months
And that's sensible too be honest. But it needs to be a consistent approach, you can't have one depot forced to lose route and traction instantly whilst another can keep it on indefinitely.At our place they leave it on until you sign it off or your next biannual rules. I still sign class 156s even though we've not had any for 4 months
