Elizabeth Line / Crossrail Updates.

[2750Papyrus]

4 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

In my day, a CEO tended to wear a tie.....

 

Standards......

[Grovenor]

I'm rather pleased that tie wearing is no longer seen as an important qualification. I've disliked them since school days when I even managed to be tieless in the class photos.

[Oldddudders]

I think I see a collar and tie as a mark of respect for customers and colleagues/employees. A video intended to be viewed by stakeholders and opinion-formers strikes me as pretty important.  I always wear a bow-tie when doing front-of-house duties at our am-dram theatre in Torquay. 

 

When I applied to join the railway in 1966, a suit and tie were expected at the interviews I attended, which were with very senior railwaymen. Apparently one chap turned up sans tie, and was simply asked where it was, and then sent packing. 

 

I did say, in my day.

[Ron Ron Ron]

30 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

In my day, a CEO tended to wear a tie.....

 

Ties have been "out" for more than a decade now.

Before I retired, one of my former CEO's (a right shyster he turned out to be), was the first senior manager we had who was into the, then new, "suit, no tie" look.

This was around 2008 or 2009 IIRC ?

It was funny to see the whole executive team and most of middle management suddenly ditching their ties, without any prompting.

Some of them looked super cool, but half of them couldn't carry it off, with it making them looking half dressed and sometimes a bit scruffy.

 

.

[Ron Ron Ron]

Crossrail is in the final run up to Trial Running.

When Trial Running is completed (includes intensive running), then the next stage will be Trial Operations, where the proposed service is run, building up in stages, up to the full operation, with volunteer passengers etc.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 21, 2021 by Ron Ron Ron

[phil_sutters]

47 minutes ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

 

Ties have been "out" for more than a decade now.

Before I retired, one of my former CEO's (a right shyster he turned out to be), was the first senior manager we had who was into the, then new, "suit, no tie" look.

This was around 2008 or 2009 IIRC ?

It was funny to see the whole executive team and most of middle management suddenly ditching their ties, without any prompting.

Some of them looked super cool, but half of them couldn't carry it off, with it making them looking half dressed and sometimes a bit scruffy.

 

.

Wasn't Mr Virgin Branson who first ditched the tie at CEO level?

[Grovenor]

2 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

When I applied to join the railway in 1966, ......

I did say, in my day.

So it seems your day started 4 years after mine.

[Fenman]

4 hours ago, 2750Papyrus said:

 

Standards......

Women have never been expected to wear a tie, though I suppose in those days they weren’t expected to be CEOs, either. 

And in my experience, most men’s taste in ties is about as poor as you can get: often shiny polyester, and with some sort of “novelty” pattern that they think is humorous. But isn’t. 
 

Thank God we don’t still live in those days. 

 

Paul

[Oldddudders]

4 minutes ago, Fenman said:

And in my experience, most men’s taste in ties is about as poor as you can get: often shiny polyester, and with some sort of “novelty” pattern that they think is humorous. But isn’t. 

I would occasionally wear a truly distasteful tie, which elicited comments. I would then show them the label - Buckingham Palace, where MiL had bought it as an invited guest. 

 

I wore a tie to my second wedding. It depicted a scene on an Underground escalator in the '20s, being a pull from a contemporary poster. Sherry and I made a joint speech, and I was able to recount a Lutyens story - the reception being in a pub he designed - about his fight with a civil servant named Baker over the budget for the Viceroy's Palace in India. Not for the first time, the budget-holder beat the architect, and Lutyens described it as his Bakerloo. 

[billbedford]

3 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

I would occasionally wear a truly distasteful tie, which elicited comments. I would then show them the label - Buckingham Palace, where MiL had bought it as an invited guest. 

 

 

Designed by Phil the Greek?

[Bernard Lamb]

I remember a tale from work re ties and dress down Friday.

A new boss introduced the idea.

For the first few week all went well and then a few of the women started to wear designer casual cloths.

These clothes got more and more expensive as the competition to show off increased.

There was a woman working there as a temp who had previously worked at another branch and I knew her from there.

We were talking about Friday dress and she said that she would play  a little joke next week. I had an idea as to what form this would take as I new her background and that her husband was one of the top jewellers in Leicester. She turned up on Friday in full gear, sari embroidered with gold thread and getting on for £500K in gold ornaments.

None of the women ever dressed up again on a Friday.

Bernard

[woodenhead]

20 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

I think I see a collar and tie as a mark of respect for customers and colleagues/employees. A video intended to be viewed by stakeholders and opinion-formers strikes me as pretty important.  I always wear a bow-tie when doing front-of-house duties at our am-dram theatre in Torquay. 

 

When I applied to join the railway in 1966, a suit and tie were expected at the interviews I attended, which were with very senior railwaymen. Apparently one chap turned up sans tie, and was simply asked where it was, and then sent packing. 

 

I did say, in my day.

 

20 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

 

Ties have been "out" for more than a decade now.

Before I retired, one of my former CEO's (a right shyster he turned out to be), was the first senior manager we had who was into the, then new, "suit, no tie" look.

This was around 2008 or 2009 IIRC ?

It was funny to see the whole executive team and most of middle management suddenly ditching their ties, without any prompting.

Some of them looked super cool, but half of them couldn't carry it off, with it making them looking half dressed and sometimes a bit scruffy.

 

.

When I began work, if you left the floor you were working on then you had to put your suit jacket on.

 

I was wondering the other day, if I had a job interview now, what would I wear, I don't even wear a shirt day to day let alone pants and a tie.

[woodenhead]

20 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

Crossrail is in the final run up to Trial Running.

When Trial Running is completed (includes intensive running), then the next stage will be Trial Operations, where the proposed service is run, building up in stages, up to the full operation, with volunteer passengers etc.

Volunteer passengers - that's why we're coming out of lockdown, they need dummies passengers to test the trains out.

[corneliuslundie]

Why a tie? That's newfangled. Let's go back to wing collars etc - or the "pantaloons", ruffs etc worn my Henry VIII (but not his marital habits).

I always wore a tie for work and still have several in the wardrobe but they rarely come out now except for funerals.

However, I also have full tails etc which I used to wear during Victorian Week in Llandrindod Wells - very enjoyable but now unfortunately a shadow of what it was. And a DJ for next time I am invited to the annual dinner of the Worshipful Company of Lightmongers - which used to be a regular when I was working.

Horses for courses.

Jonathan

PS Glad to see the progress on Crossrail even if I am unlikely ever to need to use it.

 

[caradoc]

I was expected to, and did, wear a tie at work, because my role was customer-facing; The customer being my TOC Control colleagues who until 1994, had been my fellow BR workers ! I hated wearing one, putting it on at the start of my shift and removing it at the end, and since retiring have not worn a tie again (family weddings excepted). It is an item of clothing that serves no useful purpose whatsoever (unless of course you want to strangle a co-worker......)

 

[chrisf]

I am amazed at the transformation of Acton Main Line station.  In an earlier incarnation it was the scene of much of my early spotting and until 1962 trolleybuses ran past the entrance.  I hope that the new building and the improved train service will justify the investment.

 

Oh, and I hate ties.  I never wear them except for my rainbow tie, aka The Tie, which graces my neck on a few special occasions.

 

Chris 

[Ron Ron Ron]

The only ties I wear these days are the cable ties that Mrs. Ron uses to strap me to the bed posts, before giving me 40 lashes of the......Ooops ....Wrong forum...... 

[Pacific231G]

When I worked for the Balliol Boys Club, turning up for work in a suit and tie meant you were going for a "board" (Beebism for job interview)

The newsroom I worked in during the 1980s did have a clean shirt, tie and jacket on a hangar. They were for emergency use in case one of the hacks had to read a news bulletin or do an unexpected piece to camera. (smart trousers not part of that kit because the camera shot was never that wide) 

 

It always seems a bit daft to have the "customer-facing" male staff wearing a tie  but it having to be a clip on tie in case said customers try to use it to strangle the customer facing staff (Does customer-facing mean "never turn your back on the b*st*rds" ?)

 

ISTR that railway staff used to wear red ties as these could theoretically be pressed into service as emergency red flags. I always thought a red pocket hanky would be quicker. By the time you'd untied your red tie, whatever you were trying to use it to stop happening would likely have happened. (I've got several railway rulebooks and in none of them does it say "drivers must bring their train (including light engines and inspection trolleys)  to an immediate stop if they see a servant of the company removing their tie"

Edited March 22, 2021 by Pacific231G

[RJS1977]

Did the female staff have to wear scarlet petticoats?

[Huw Griffiths]

45 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

When I worked for the Balliol Boys Club, turning up for work in a suit and tie meant you were going for a "board" (Beebism for job interview)

 

This probably explains why I never got accepted for training as a sound engineer:

• I never studied at Oxbridge - more like a (then) Polytechnic.
• Also, I never went to a fee-paying school - my parents could never have afforded that.

Probably a bit of a cheek, really - imagining that they might actually consider hiring someone off a housing estate in a "new town". (Terribly bad form, old boy - just not cricket.)

 

Of course, I don't have any shortage of ties at home - it's just that none of them come from posh schools or colleges, that's all.

 

 

1 hour ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

The only ties I wear these days are the cable ties that Mrs. Ron uses to strap me to the bed posts, before giving me 40 lashes of the......Ooops ....Wrong forum...... 

 

 

This post would probably be enough to get a lot of people seriously worried.

 

Certainly enough to get me worried - as I can't find the "too much information" icon - and I don't think any of the people who run this site are exactly looking for additional work right now.

 

As for cable ties, I've always thought they're wasted on anything other than keeping wires in their place.

 

 

Huw Griffiths.    (Working class - and proud of it.)

[Ron Ron Ron]

1 hour ago, Huw Griffiths said:

 

This post would probably be enough to get a lot of people seriously worried.

 

Certainly enough to get me worried - as I can't find the "too much information" icon -

 

Ease up Huw. It was supposed to be a joke**.

As for putting the site in jeopardy...seriously?

Have you seen the internet, even respectable websites? Even newspaper sites, the BBC etc.....

 

(**. Just to be clear, I have no desire to be tied up or flogged....)

Edited March 22, 2021 by Ron Ron Ron

[Oldddudders]

13 minutes ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

 Just to be clear, I have no desire to be tied up or flogged....)

Why not?

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, Huw Griffiths said:

As for cable ties, I've always thought they're wasted on anything other than keeping wires in their place.

 

 

Huw Griffiths.    (Working class - and proud of it.)

No no no, you keep three large size ones threaded through your belt loops to act as handcuffs when policing riots.  

 

Jamie

[Huw Griffiths]

1 hour ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

Ease up Huw. It was supposed to be a joke**.

As for putting the site in jeopardy...seriously?

Have you seen the internet, even respectable websites? Even newspaper sites, the BBC etc.....

 

(**. Just to be clear, I have no desire to be tied up or flogged....)

 

Don't worry - I knew it was a joke (the clarification isn't needed).

 

I also wasn't suggesting for one second that the site could come under threat - far from it.

 

In the past, similar jokes have attracted responses along the lines of "too much information" - with nobody taking things seriously.

 

Also, I'm not aware of an icon on this site for "too much information".

 

 

Some people might have noticed that I recently signed up for RMweb Gold - and needed to ask questions (in the RMweb Gold "members lounge") about how to access some of the stuff.

 

As I suspect that other people are likely to "go for gold" in the future, I wondered if there might be some value in having a visible pointer to access instructions. However, creating such a pointer might also generate extra work in the short term - work for which there might be no appetite.

 

In other words - far from suggesting that one joke might put the site in jeopardy - I was actually making a joke, which I was certain the people who run this site would see the point of.

 

Of course, any attempt to explain my "joke", also destroys it.

 

 

Huw.

[Pacific231G]

4 hours ago, Huw Griffiths said:

 

This probably explains why I never got accepted for training as a sound engineer:

• I never studied at Oxbridge - more like a (then) Polytechnic.
• Also, I never went to a fee-paying school - my parents could never have afforded that.

Probably a bit of a cheek, really - imagining that they might actually consider hiring someone off a housing estate in a "new town". (Terribly bad form, old boy - just not cricket.)

 

Of course, I don't have any shortage of ties at home - it's just that none of them come from posh schools or colleges, that's all.

 

To be honest Huw, most BBC engineers also had perfectly ordinary backgrounds so, coming from a housing estate in a new town wouldn't have been a bar. However, competition to get in at any level was always stiff .  I did hear about one BBC engineer who, on his first day at Evesham (then the engineering training centre) asked if anyone else had been to Eton. He was considered very odd. It did though seem quite hard for engineers to move into production.

 

My own background was certainly not posh and I've never posessed an old school or college tie. 

I did an OND in marine engineering at a Poly then went on to a non-Oxbridge university where my degree was in engineering. Like many others, I got onto the bottom rung of production as a radio studio manager (in World Service) and moved into television from there. I had though spent most of my spare time as a student doing media stuff, including making programmes for the local BBC radio station. Given that there were, fortunately unbeknownst to me, many hundreds of applicants for about a dozen or so radio traineeships each year, that certainly had a lot to with it. My background was probably fairly typical of radio producers and TV directors. It was the senior appointments that  seemed to go to Oxbridge types or people with impeccable "establishment" backgrounds.  

Edited March 23, 2021 by Pacific231G