Marches line- singing conductor

[LowLevel]

Politely -

You say it is not appropriate. That's your opinion and fair enough.

But you are not a driver. And you haven't worked these units. It is ridiculously loud, added to the welsh/English announcements the last thing you want is some pretend stars in your eyes effort.

It is pointless reporting it, as said guard is praised by the company. The easiest and safest option is to hit the switch and get back to controlling the train safely without distraction.

Drivers are taught to eliminate distraction. This is the quickest and most effective way.

Guards should be seen and not heard (at least by the person at the front) and I say this as one of the biggest cheerleaders for them.

Luckily on the new units you can kill the pa carriage by carriage. So 2/3rds of the people will suffer the waffle.

I am familiar with the awful TrainFX system that needlessly broadcasts PA announcements at the driver and I am in no way disputing your point which is that unnecessary distraction is poor behaviour from the guard - it is in fact part of the training, in theory, to remain to the point in order to avoid distracting the driver and I'm aware of operating incidents where announcements either auto or manual have been cited as contributory distractions.

I do however stand by my point that fudging the on board equipment is not the way to deal with it and so we had best agree to disagree on the matter and move on!

 

[43066]

But you are not a driver. And you haven't worked these units. It is ridiculously loud, added to the welsh/English announcements the last thing you want is some pretend stars in your eyes effort.

Well I am a driver (not sure why that matters?) and I think @LowLevel, a highly experienced railwayman who knows the score, has this exactly right.

I would never even contemplate the action you suggest. The correct thing to do, if the announcements are distracting you, is to go back and instruct the guard to stop making them.

It is pointless reporting it, as said guard is praised by the company. The easiest and safest option is to hit the switch and get back to controlling the train safely without distraction.

So, just go back and tell him to stop doing it. If that fails, at the next station stop, ring the Bobby, ring control and explain the situation. Tell them you won’t move the train unless he pipes down. That will get the message across.

I doubt any TOC would praise this kind of behaviour - we have a TM who made announcements in different regional accents - he was ordered to stop doing it sadly (to my disappointment, I found it utterly hilarious. Of Indian origin himself, he’d alternate through Indian-English, Geordie, brummy, scouse, Irish - all uncannily accurate to the point where it was hard to believe it was the same person speaking. Apparently the straw the broke the camel’s back was when he made an Irish-accent announcement and mentioned potatoes which, to be fair, was going too far and got him reported.)

Drivers are taught to eliminate distraction. This is the quickest and most effective way.

Nonsense.

Drivers are *not* taught to trip circuit breakers to switch off PA announcements. It’s a stupid thing to do, you’re basically meddling with a safety system, and could get you into a lot of trouble if you’re caught doing it.

Guards should be seen and not heard (at least by the person at the front) and I say this as one of the biggest cheerleaders for them.

Rude and unnecessary. This comment does not paint you in a good light and frankly comes across as arrogant.

Luckily on the new units you can kill the pa carriage by carriage. So 2/3rds of the people will suffer the waffle.

So you do it regularly? Next time you have a ride out, flip the PA CB and ask your manager what he thinks?

 

[gimmea50anyday]

I would hope that is any driver was distracted by my use of the PA they would inform me directly and I can then do something about it with immediate effect. That would be the pro-active, sensible and most effective way to deal with it…..

 

[TheEdge]

Its arguments like this that make me happy the 745 and 755s have a legitimate option to mute the PIS and PA system in the drivers cab...

 

[GalaxyDog]

"Guards should be seen and not heard"

Found the driver then...

~~

As said before, it's a double edged sword. Question for those drivers who are complaining or thought-experimenting about hearing the guard too much, and it is a legit one: do your stock not have cab to cab, or cab to TM booth internal phones? Surely a quick friendly "Heyup, appreciate you're trying to do your best but could you wind it down a bit, it's a bit distracing mate" would do the trick if the guard/TM is safety conscious at all? Asking only from someone who works battered old DMUs and would probably be akin to a caveman on a jet liner should he ever someday work a Pendo, Voyager or mordern thing.

 

[Sprinter107]

"Guards should be seen and not heard"

Found the driver then...

~~

As said before, it's a double edged sword. Question for those drivers who are complaining or thought-experimenting about hearing the guard too much, and it is a legit one: do your stock not have cab to cab, or cab to TM booth internal phones? Surely a quick friendly "Heyup, appreciate you're trying to do your best but could you wind it down a bit, it's a bit distracing mate" would do the trick if the guard/TM is safety conscious at all? Asking only from someone who works battered old DMUs and would probably be akin to a caveman on a jet liner should he ever someday work a Pendo, Voyager or mordern thing.

99% of our guards do a good job with the announcements. Passengers need information, and those guards do just that. We have just a couple of guards who go overboard, and of one of those, his voice just booms into my cab, and I mean booms. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I did ask him to tone it down, and he said "no, i enjoy speaking on the PA". So what are you supposed to do ?

 

[GalaxyDog]

99% of our guards do a good job with the announcements. Passengers need information, and those guards do just that. We have just a couple of guards who go overboard, and of one of those, his voice just booms into my cab, and I mean booms. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I did ask him to tone it down, and he said "no, i enjoy speaking on the PA". So what are you supposed to do ?

That's a different kettle of fish. You've tried the friendly/advisory approach, he's not taking it on board. Explain to him why he needs to tone it down (I presume you have?) - if he is still being an ass, then take it further and do as you need. You say he 'booms into the cab' - is he too loud then? Another honest question, do modern PAs have a volume control? (asking as my stone age sets do not.)

 

[Eccles1983]

Well I am a driver (not sure why that matters?) and I think @LowLevel, a highly experienced railwayman who knows the score, has this exactly right.

I would never even contemplate the action you suggest. The correct thing to do, if the announcements are distracting you, is to go back and instruct the guard to stop making them.



So, just go back and tell him to stop doing it. If that fails, at the next station stop, ring the Bobby, ring control and explain the situation. Tell them you won’t move the train unless he pipes down. That will get the message across.

I doubt any TOC would praise this kind of behaviour - we have a TM who made announcements in different regional accents - he was ordered to stop doing it sadly (to my disappointment, I found it utterly hilarious. Of Indian origin himself, he’d alternate through Indian-English, Geordie, brummy, scouse, Irish - all uncannily accurate to the point where it was hard to believe it was the same person speaking. Apparently the straw the broke the camel’s back was when he made an Irish-accent announcement and mentioned potatoes which, to be fair, was going too far and got him reported.)



Nonsense.

Drivers are *not* taught to trip circuit breakers to switch off PA announcements. It’s a stupid thing to do, you’re basically meddling with a safety system, and could get you into a lot of trouble if you’re caught doing it.



Rude and unnecessary. This comment does not paint you in a good light and frankly comes across as arrogant.



So you do it regularly? Next time you have a ride out, flip the PA CB and ask your manager what he thinks?

I have done it with a manager present. They enquired why I had done so and tried to claim "safety system" like you have done.

I asked them to show me in the rulebook where it forbids it. I am still waiting as I am not DOO.

I was asked to not do it, but was not ordered to do so.

 

[43066]

I have done it with a manager present. They enquired why I had done so and tried to claim "safety system" like you have done.

I was asked to not do it, but was not ordered to do so.

So what does that tell you?

 

[Towers]

I've watched, and laughed quite a lot at, the various clips on YouTube of the famous Southern driver doing his thing - the Ambassador apologises that the Ferrero Rocher have run out, and the one where he briefly turns off the lights and makes ghost noises, are brilliant

At the same time though, you can't help but cringe thinking about how deep the brown stuff would be if he had a major operating incident whilst doing his compere bit down the PA, especially when you can hear the AWS ringing away in the background!