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Trainee Driver Learning Structure
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To say I'm happy is the understatement of my life
Finally got there at my 3rd attempt! (6 if you include interviews for gateline, RO2 station assistant and guard)
Passed the medical and have been told my start date and it will be at Orpington which is a 10 minute walk.
Applied for Gillingham, told it would be Ashford and now been given my home station.
Roll on next month
Off to do a night shift later and to hand in my resignation.
What a bloody good feeling
Good luck to anyone in the process, don't give up and take heart that it took me nearly 3 years and all those applications. It can be done!
choochoochoo
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Anybody on a GTR course know at what points the salary ratcheted up ?
'We offer a great starting salary (increasing at key stages in your first year) '
'We offer a great starting salary (increasing at key stages in your first year) '
It is £26K training then straight up to £51 when qualified. (figs rounded up)
No mid term increases, training salary straight up to full.
That is for Thameslink, others within 'GTR' may differ.
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Congrats on passing, am so gutted I could not start Ashford on may 8th, (am flying to Australia for a month on that date). Have been told should get a start date for Ashford July time now but will have to wait and see what happens.
If it was a normal holiday I would have not gone.
If it was a normal holiday I would have not gone.
El-Alamein
Member
Well I passed my medical...big relief just awaiting the contract and confirmation for a start date of the 17th May.. Good luck to all those still awaiting a medical/ start date
It is £26K training then straight up to £51 when qualified. (figs rounded up)
No mid term increases, training salary straight up to full.
That is for Thameslink, others within 'GTR' may differ.
Prepare to be on training salary for at least 16-18 months anything less is a bonus
I'm currently in training and confirm that pretty much everything said so far has been correct, whilst different companies handle things differently, even different training schools within a company will be slightly different in terms of atmosphere etc.
If you put the work in, you should hopefully pass. Don't allow yourself to become too stressed during training, on the other hand don't be too lax. Respond positively to feedback from the training staff and don't argue with them. Your attitude will be continuously assessed, so avoid mobile phones whilst trackside or anything really daft like playing around with a third rail (pretend or not).
You will hear some interesting stories, some of them true, some of them not so much so. There was one flying around that GTR Gillingham was paying drivers in excess of £60k basic but someone probably added ten grand for fun!
If you put the work in, you should hopefully pass. Don't allow yourself to become too stressed during training, on the other hand don't be too lax. Respond positively to feedback from the training staff and don't argue with them. Your attitude will be continuously assessed, so avoid mobile phones whilst trackside or anything really daft like playing around with a third rail (pretend or not).
You will hear some interesting stories, some of them true, some of them not so much so. There was one flying around that GTR Gillingham was paying drivers in excess of £60k basic but someone probably added ten grand for fun!
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Recently finished with Northern training school in Leeds, you are booked 9-4 mon till fri for classroom weeks with the odd Sunday here and there, there are 2 weeks of front end turns which is basically observing signals in front cab, this is shift work. I wouldn't make any rock solid plans during training school as it is intense and you'll likely be doing a lot of revision at home too.
With northern it's one year or pass out, which ever comes first
choochoochoo
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I know the courses are slightly different everywhere and everybody learns at different rates but was hoping some of you guys can let me know approximately how many hours private study you are doing after class.
Just a rough idea would be fine so I can plan my evenings of study around family commitments.
Just a rough idea would be fine so I can plan my evenings of study around family commitments.
Average of 2 hours for me.
I probably did no more than half an hour an evening going over notes from the day and reading through handouts - a bit more when coming up to assessments to make sure everything was fresh.
Though I would also pull out the rule book or my own notes randomly if something occurred to me and I didn't know the answer.
Though I would also pull out the rule book or my own notes randomly if something occurred to me and I didn't know the answer.
During the rules and traction courses I was doing a good couple of hours each evening (at least). During my driving hours I was also constantly ensuring I was retaining this knowledge for my final. I put a LOT of work in during my own time. Whilst stressful at the same time it was rewarding, and as it happened I pretty much aced the assessments throughout the course. You get out what you put in, if I ended up failing the course I wouldn't have had any regrets regarding the amount of shear effort that I put in.
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I think that statement says it all. If you put nothing in then don't expect to get much out!
choochoochoo
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Thanks. I intend to give it all I've got. But just needed to know the workload so I can plan everything else around it.
Looking forward to it.
Looking forward to it.
El-Alamein
Member
Awesome information on here ref the training structure, self study etc and looking forward to starting next Wednesday.
VWCampervanman
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Personally I have to put a lot of extra work in during the evenings, It probably does average out to 2 hours per night, some nights it is less and some it is more, depending what I have been learning that day. Basically my social life stopped the day I started my rules course ! 
But that is what I expected and am happy to have this opportunity .
It has made me realise why the whole application process is so tough, far better to have failed at any of the previous stages ( as difficult as that would be ) than to fail during your training and be out of a job ! I was fortunate that I passed all stages first time, but I have had to work very hard to absorb and retain the knowledge required , and I am as confident as I can be that I will finish the rules course next week.
It really is a fantastic opportunity, and anyone who is fortunate enough to get a job offer should be confident that they have the right skills required to achieve the end goal, the only thing extra required is effort . And lets face it, if you have come this far then you wont be lacking in effort
But that is what I expected and am happy to have this opportunity .
It has made me realise why the whole application process is so tough, far better to have failed at any of the previous stages ( as difficult as that would be ) than to fail during your training and be out of a job ! I was fortunate that I passed all stages first time, but I have had to work very hard to absorb and retain the knowledge required , and I am as confident as I can be that I will finish the rules course next week.
It really is a fantastic opportunity, and anyone who is fortunate enough to get a job offer should be confident that they have the right skills required to achieve the end goal, the only thing extra required is effort . And lets face it, if you have come this far then you wont be lacking in effort
Jme_Bud
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Hi all.
I've recently passed the Multi-Modal interview with ThamesLink for the Ashford Depot job. I'm desperate to be excited but I'm yet to pass the medical
.
I've got my medical on 20th May and have been given a provisional start date of 17th July.
Thanks for all the great information here, I've learnt loads about the process. I've just got a few questions about the ThamesLink medical for anybody who has done it recently. What's the dress-code, do we dress smartly as with the assessment and interviews or do we need to be dressed in something a bit more accessible? I'm really worried because I have very very minor dermatitis on my hands. Does anyone know if this is something that is a cause for concern?
Also, I understand that as a perk of the job you receive free travel on all GTR services. Does this extend to SouthEastern, especially as we will be training with SouthEastern? How soon do we receive this perk, start of training or once we've passed out?
Thanks for your help.
I've recently passed the Multi-Modal interview with ThamesLink for the Ashford Depot job. I'm desperate to be excited but I'm yet to pass the medical
. I've got my medical on 20th May and have been given a provisional start date of 17th July.
Thanks for all the great information here, I've learnt loads about the process. I've just got a few questions about the ThamesLink medical for anybody who has done it recently. What's the dress-code, do we dress smartly as with the assessment and interviews or do we need to be dressed in something a bit more accessible? I'm really worried because I have very very minor dermatitis on my hands. Does anyone know if this is something that is a cause for concern?
Also, I understand that as a perk of the job you receive free travel on all GTR services. Does this extend to SouthEastern, especially as we will be training with SouthEastern? How soon do we receive this perk, start of training or once we've passed out?
Thanks for your help.
Hi all.
I've recently passed the Multi-Modal interview with ThamesLink for the Ashford Depot job. I'm desperate to be excited but I'm yet to pass the medical
I've got my medical on 20th May and have been given a provisional start date of 17th July.
Thanks for all the great information here, I've learnt loads about the process. I've just got a few questions about the ThamesLink medical for anybody who has done it recently. What's the dress-code, do we dress smartly as with the assessment and interviews or do we need to be dressed in something a bit more accessible? I'm really worried because I have very very minor dermatitis on my hands. Does anyone know if this is something that is a cause for concern?
Also, I understand that as a perk of the job you receive free travel on all GTR services. Does this extend to SouthEastern, especially as we will be training with SouthEastern? How soon do we receive this perk, start of training or once we've passed out?
Thanks for your help.
Well done mate, 99.9% there
I wore jeans and a shirt (cleaned and ironed). You are seeing an occupational health 'person' and a doctor so you don't really need to impress as in the previous stages. Just be smart, You've also got to bear in mind that at the medical you have to a couple of little 'movement' tests and as a male I had to remove my top for the ecg :roll:
Cannot comment on the dermatitis, it's something you'll have to ask at the medical. Can't see it being a problem though.
Before you start you will receive a 'letter of authority' to travel on GTR services and a temporary pass for Southeastern.
It's the last day of my first week of training and I have just received my permanent travel card for all of GTR. (thameslink, southern, southestern, gatwick express, great northern)
Jme_Bud
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- 22 Mar 2017
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- 38
Well done mate, 99.9% there
I wore jeans and a shirt (cleaned and ironed). You are seeing an occupational health 'person' and a doctor so you don't really need to impress as in the previous stages. Just be smart, You've also got to bear in mind that at the medical you have to a couple of little 'movement' tests and as a male I had to remove my top for the ecg :roll:
Cannot comment on the dermatitis, it's something you'll have to ask at the medical. Can't see it being a problem though.
Before you start you will receive a 'letter of authority' to travel on GTR services and a temporary pass for Southeastern.
It's the last day of my first week of training and I have just received my permanent travel card for all of GTR. (thameslink, southern, southestern, gatwick express, great northern)
Thanks for the info mate, cheers!
The rules course is pretty tough, especially the latter stages, however keep it above 95% and they'll be happy. 90% is good, anything below that will generally require improvement. At my place, 80% and below is a fail and if you fail one Rules exam then you are normally removed from the course.
Traction is a different beast entirely, at my place you have a Traction Manual but no handouts and you basically have to learn everything from your own notes. The Walkaround assessments tend to be more subjective than the exams in that each assessor will have a different style. You can, I believe fail a Walkaround on a single item if you really struggle on it and they won't tell you if you have failed until you've done all of the Traction assessments, which is a few days. The good news is (I think) most people have two attempts at Traction.
Traction is a different beast entirely, at my place you have a Traction Manual but no handouts and you basically have to learn everything from your own notes. The Walkaround assessments tend to be more subjective than the exams in that each assessor will have a different style. You can, I believe fail a Walkaround on a single item if you really struggle on it and they won't tell you if you have failed until you've done all of the Traction assessments, which is a few days. The good news is (I think) most people have two attempts at Traction.
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