How many members work (or worked) on the Big Railway?

[big jim]

im a young pup to the railway, only started in 2001 as a guard in chester for first north western, moving on to driving in 2002, passing out in 2003, by then under arriva trains wales, next up DRS for a short while, then fastline for 2 years until it folded, chiltern for just over 3 years and currently with colas where ive been for just over 5 years

 

it feels like ive been on the railway 5 minutes but its not until you write it sown like above you realise is 17 years which has flown by, lots of ups and downs, losing my job twice in that time being the downs but plenty of ups, i now instuct, assess have a massive route and traction card and have a number of drivers under my care as a 'principal driver'

 

admittedly i have been thinking about a change of employer recently as im not liking the way certain things are going or handled at my current company and have been offered an interview at another company but deep down i feel that as long as im left alone to do my job as professionally as i can then ill happily stick with colas for the forseeable future, i mean there arent many places you can be driving a HST one day then doing a rail drop the day after with a class 56, class 37s on ballasts on the heart of wales, sign the cambrian coast etc, next week for example i have 5 days of class 60 over the s+c which ive managed to work around 1/2 term holidays at the caravan thanks to helpful roster clarks who will help you out if you do the same for them, but you just never know quite whats round the corner!

[E3109]

Just tried to edit, to include a poll, unsuccessfully so far!

Off to work soon, I'll try again tomorrow.

 

Cheers, eastwestdivide... hope to have this sorted shortly.

[The Stationmaster]

I was a Booking Office Clerk at Reading (and occasionally Twyford and Henley) from 1980 to 1984, don't know if that was your province Stationmaster ?

 

The last time I relieved in Henley Booking Office (where I actually covered the job for about 8 months although the hours of opening were reduced because I had a full time job in Western Tower) was in 1970.  Twyford cover in the evenings was one of my regular 'nice little earners', along with Maidenhead.  Hence my working day frequently consisted of booking-on at about 05.15 at Reading (my Home Station) to travel to Henley on the branch ECS, opening Henley Booking Office until about 09.20, travelling to Reading to do my 'proper' job, then heading to Twyford at about 17.30 to cover the Booking Office there until 22.00, then (officially) travelling back to Reading to Book Off.  I was in effect the last Relief Clerk on the London Division as the last 'real' (established post) Relief Clerk had in fact been covering Henley until he got a permanent job in Reading Booking Office and it was decided I was about the only person on the London Division who could cover Henley as everywhere was short staffed for Booking Office cover.

 

It was quite amusing later when I was on the Management Training Scheme and had my Booking Office experience on the Cardiff Valleys and was 'allowed' to go on the window - absolute doddle after a London Division commuter station, never cleared a queue at the window so quickly.

 

Olddudders comments raise a fascinating question because they suggest that he might have started on the Railway Studentship Scheme in 1966 which was in fact how & when I also joined BR full time (I'd worked for them previously in holiday jobs before leaving school).  So if we were both on the same induction course at Derby that year he should also appear in a group photo of that year's intake I have somewhere (goodness only knows where alas).

[Liam]

This is a really interesting thread. I appreciate that I haven't worked on the 'big' railway, but I have volunteered on the Severn Valley Railway for five years, and who knows it would be nice to do a buffet trolley summer job on the West Highland line in a few years time.

 

I would however like to mention my dad's railway career. He joined British Rail in 1977 straight from school, and mainly worked in the guards department but eventually became press officer for Railtrack. I know his first transfer was to Doncaster to become a TOPS clerk, then to Llandudno Junction, then I think Crewe, and I believe he was also based in Reading, Derby and Worcester (in fact while he was at Reading he may have crossed paths with Stationmaster Mike).

Edited May 24, 2018 by SVRlad

[brian daniels]

Started as a secondman in 1974 and made redundant last July by DBS, 43 years on the footplate in all.. I was always interested in model railways and found it a very useful job for observing the finer details of rolling stock.

[PM47079]

im a young pup to the railway, only started in 2001 as a guard in chester for first north western, moving on to driving in 2002, passing out in 2003, by then under arriva trains wales, next up DRS for a short while, then fastline for 2 years until it folded, chiltern for just over 3 years and currently with colas where ive been for just over 5 years

it feels like ive been on the railway 5 minutes but its not until you write it sown like above you realise is 17 years which has flown by, lots of ups and downs, losing my job twice in that time being the downs but plenty of ups, i now instuct, assess have a massive route and traction card and have a number of drivers under my care as a 'principal driver'

admittedly i have been thinking about a change of employer recently as im not liking the way certain things are going or handled at my current company and have been offered an interview at another company but deep down i feel that as long as im left alone to do my job as professionally as i can then ill happily stick with colas for the forseeable future, i mean there arent many places you can be driving a HST one day then doing a rail drop the day after with a class 56, class 37s on ballasts on the heart of wales, sign the cambrian coast etc, next week for example i have 5 days of class 60 over the s+c which ive managed to work around 1/2 term holidays at the caravan thanks to helpful roster clarks who will help you out if you do the same for them, but you just never know quite whats round the corner!

Enjoy it while you can I would be. You are in the best company for traction variety I do miss the BR locos. If it changes you can always change again. But you can look back and think yep I’ve had a good few years driving some good loco types. A lot of the new guys at our place are leaving to go on to passenger work they have had a gut full of class 66 locos and all their faults. But bet they will be bored in a year or two

[43110andyb]

I started BR as an apprentice in 1989 and became a member of Darlington a Model Railway Club the same year..............and I'm still on/in both! Edit- not forgetting a few name changes on the way from BR to NR -but the same job from the same depot!

Edited May 24, 2018 by 43110andyb

[Rivercider]

I came from a railway family, and with trains in my blood joined BR in 1977, in the WR Civil Engineers in Bristol, where my youthful enthusiasm was tolerated.

Next year I moved into the TOPS Office which was a much more 'industrial' atmosphere, some of my colleagues took the mickey out of me,

but a number of experienced old hands were happy to pass on their experience and tales of railway life.

By the mid 1980s I was at WR HQ at Swindon, and again knew many experienced older railwaymen who were very helpful, but sectorisation started,

to be followed by continual re-organistation, which pretty much beat the enthusiasm out of me.

After dodging three office closures, and a couple of re-locations, I saw the writing on the wall and eventually I took redundancy from EWS in 2007.

 

With more time on my hands I started visiting model railway exhibitions for the first time since the 1980s, Mrs Rivercider suggested I get a layout myself. 

I had a layout built, basically an enlarged shunting plank, but find that I operate it much less than I thought I would, but now visit more exhibitions when I can,

 

cheers

[Mike Storey]

I am not sure girls actually knocked the trainspotter out of me, as I think it had largely lapsed before I had much success with them at skool. Perhaps the demise of steam was more significant. As I think my profile probably says - I then embarked upon 38 years of undetected crime against the railway! I had a charmed career. I joined after A Levels, selling tickets as part of a skool-leavers’ training scheme. That was in 1966. From ‘68 to ‘73 I worked in Control, being lucky in falling into an Area Controller’s job at the age of 20. During those years, Continental and then US HO were the most successful modeling efforts I enjoyed, although I essayed LBSCR in OO, and found the skill deficit far too great.

 

In ‘73 I gained a place on the Management Training Scheme and then trod the required path through local management, which I didn’t greatly enjoy, but it resulted in an offer to join the Divisional team as Operating Assistant, and I relished the three years until Divisions were abolished in ‘84. Marriage in ‘74 and a first house resurrected the LBSC ideas, but the kits still didn’t fall together during these years. As others have said, enthusiasm was contained in public, and I actually had to stand down from a society when I saw a conflict of interests. I can also say that managing a carriage-cleaning depot and arguing with what was said to be the most militant Guards’ Depot in the country were not a great spur to the hobby.

 

I was then offered (again - that word charmed refers!) the job of Infrastructure Planner for the Region. Then NSE came in and I took the South Central Investment & Planning job, followed by Investment Manager at NSE HQ. In 1990 I found myself working jointly for BRB Finance and Projects on a hearts-and-minds exercise, building on work Touche-Ross had undertaken for the Board. During this period a colleague’s enthusiasm for the US scene, ancient and modern, had rekindled that interest, and a loft layout that actually ran, latterly with DCC, was the result.

 

I found myself running a large IT project in 1993/4, in concert with Mike Storey at times, and when change abolished the sponsors, moved to BRIS Privatisation, where I remained until all the engineers had been sold into slavery. Travelling the length and breadth of the country every four weeks was not the least attractive aspect. On a Tuesday afternoon my boss - a former Area Civil Engineer - and I would travel from Edinburgh to York. The temptation to get off at Alnmouth at this time of year was enormous..... He modelled O Gauge, and his father, sometime Investment Manager in Scotrail, had a large garden layout in Hamilton on which we spent a most pleasant evening. Another colleague, fresh to the industry but with a history of “collecting locos for traction” while at uni, had a lathe in his large Ealing flat and would turn up wheels etc for colleagues. A brief period planning to privatise the BR Property Board was halted by the 1997 election, and I then found myself consulting at Silverlink Trains, with whom I connived to jump ship and become an employee. Enthusiasm was rife there, and the very bright young lady managing the rolling stock leases had many friends in the enthusiast sector. Deltics seemed heavily favoured by some of them, although it was to a Lima Silverlink gronk that I added the ‘Catherine’ nameplates for her. Not every colleague has a full-size loco named after them! At home the US layout burgeoned, with sound adding a dimension.

 

Silverlink, successor London Lines and ultimately WAGN saw me through to chosen retirement in 2004, and I was treated with a ridiculous degree of deference, although I felt my knowledge was hideously out of date. Moving to France provided a 20’ x 17’ barn and that is full of railway, with multiple prototypes and settings, all 16.5 mm. The portable HOm layout is still under construction, but two out of three boards are wired and tested so far. 70 this year - I hope! - and modelling remains the activity of choice.

 

God you're old.

 

You didn't mention surviving Derek Best's tea? Made me wot I is.

[Mike Storey]

I started BR as an apprentice in 1989 and became a member of Darlington a Model Railway Club the same year..............and I'm still on/in both! Edit- not forgetting a few name changes on the way from BR to NR -but the same job from the same depot!

 

You are still an apprentice???   

 

Seriously, there must be very few who have managed that in recent years. Good on yer.

Edited May 24, 2018 by Mike Storey

[43110andyb]

You are still an apprentice???   

 

Seriously, there must be very few who have managed that in recent years. Good on yer.

You are classed as an apprentice until at least 30 years service I reckon -29 years and there are still a fair few ahead of me!!

[Nearholmer]

In my 42nd year of working in the rail industry, having spent about a third of that with British Rail and Network Rail, the remaining two thirds The Underground. I’ve tried to retire once, but that turned into something more like a sabbatical, because I was actually quite rubbish at being retired; I plan to try again later this year, and see if I can get it right this time.

 

Been a railway modeller of various sorts throughout that time, but I have never had even the teensiest desire to build models of the railways I’ve worked on at the times I’ve worked on them .......... it’s always been something that provided a counterpoint.

 

As for ‘enthusiasts in the profession’, there have always been plenty, up to and including the highest level, but work is work, and a hobby is a hobby, and people know when and how to ‘switch brains’.

[great central]

This is me.

 

I work at a small village station that sees few services, and even less after the morning "peak".

 

Not thought about bringing models to work to work on before though.

Not sure if I would do either, but if I'm just doing a simple clean, might be worth it.

 

I've got a small toolbox with a couple of plastic wagon or coach kits to work on if I'm spare in the boot of my car. Problem is I do the main assmbly at work easily enough but I now have several dozen assembled kits awaiting painting, lettering and weathering at home.

[brightspark]

I am not sure that I count, but...

I decided when leaving school that I was not going to work on the railways as it was my hobby. So I went into aerospace. Until last month when I started a new job in the railway industry (does that count?). I am now involved with couplers, transmissions and radiators. 

 

Hopefully I will get a few outings to customers.

[St. Simon]

Hi,

 

A lot of members will already know my railway career, but here we go...

 

Joined NR as a Permanent Way Maintenance Technician Apprentice (fancy name for Track Monkey in Training) in September 2013, working down on HMS Sultan for 9 months before deciding I didn't quite like being a Track Apprentice, so left the company for three months.  

 

In September 2014 I rejoined as a Trainee Signalling Designer with Network Rails Infrastructure Design Group - Signalling in their Reading Scheme Team and I have been there ever since. I was promoted to Assistant Signalling Designer in June 2017 and then full Signalling Designer only a couple of weeks ago (May 2018). In that time I have gained both my Signalling Design Assistant and Signalling Designer IRSE Licenses and my Engineering Techinican with the Engineer Council.

 

I know 5 1/2 years doesn't seem like a lot to the very experienced that already have contributed to this thread, but I really enjoy it and looking forward to many more years to come (and hopefully promotion to Signalling Principles Designer!).

 

Simon Paley EngTech

 

Signalling Designer

Network Rail

[The Bigbee Line]

I started in 1982 and have had the opportunity to experience many things that other enthusiasts would pay to do.  Starting at Ashford in Kent on the platform, a bit chunk of time at Dover with the cross channel freight operation, then moving on to Dollands Moor, Wembley, ending up at Paddington with Railfreight Distribution, then in 1997 moving into the engineering side with EWS, leaving to join GE in wagon leasing, then joining Arlington Fleet Services at Eastleigh Works from 2008 until 2013, when I had a go at retiring.  That, in my opinion was cr@p, you become 'invisible' so when asked 'can you just' I jumped at the chance.  Now I'm back in full time employment, busy, but getting to go places that others only dream of. 

 

As they say it's fortunate that my job is also my hobby.  I enjoy and am comfortable in the railway environment, but it is not the same railway as when I started.  No longer can you scrounge some paraffin from the signalman when the tail lamp has gone out......

[andyman7]

I joined in 1987 having decided to take a year off from education after A levels which after 31 years I appear to still be on. Unlike some I've never tried particularly hard to hide my interest but in truth although the nuts and bolts of operations interest me I have always been more fascinated by the railways' role in society, their history and their part in the economy, from the industrial revolution onwards. As such it has suited very well a career in the commercial side and one that has proved very fulfilling. Having been lucky enough to have joined when staff travel still applied to the network and reached the point where myself and my family enjoy unlimited travel  is a real pleasure - worth more to me than money could ever buy, and something I make full use of. 

Edited May 24, 2018 by andyman7

[beast66606]

Never been employed by the railway but back in the day I was frequently found working signal boxes around the Merseyside area - including being caught by officialdom on several occasions. I actually went to signal school  - yes, even though I wasn't employed I attended the old LYR school in Manchester - such were the railways in the old days.

 

I'm what could be called an (very) enthusiastic amateur.

 

No longer modelling due to a change in circumstances but still enjoy looking at the good modelling of others.

[John M Upton]

Eleventh year on the railways now, still a guard on the sunny Sussex Coast with Southern (now GTR although us and the Thameslink bit seem to be still very much separate, almost like estranged cousins) usually to be found sauntering up and down anywhere between Portsmouth and Seaford in a 313, sometimes including this one:

 

Southern Class 313/2 313201 Littlehampton 1/5/18 by John Upton, on Flickr

 

Occasionally they let me loose over old turf on a 377 covering OBS work (a guard who doesn't close doors basically - don't ask!!) which can take me pretty much anywhere else from time to time.

 

I did have an opportunity to join the railways in 1993 but turned it down, big mistake I reckon!!

[russ p]

Started on the BR YTS at Middlesbrough in 83 which was great as I got to sample a lot of different roles on the railway and became a seconndman in 85 and a driver in 88 pre concept

My spine has two default positions rail, class 37 and road Austin/MG maestro being driving both for over 30 years and still do. Long may it continue!

Edited May 24, 2018 by russ p

[mark axlecounter]

I am a relief signaller and have been for just over 10 years now. Started at 25 in 2008 and still in the same job 10 years later. I had 8 boxes to learn and work but 2 have gone to cctv and worked in the power box. One day I will try for a mom ( mobile operations manager) but I want to get another few years experience first.

 

I am lucky to have a good manager who lets me do my railway modelling in the box, as long as I don’t delay trains or leave a mess for the other shift to clean up then he is happy for me to do it.

All my colleagues know I’m into the railways and they never take the p/&s our of me.

 

Mark ( the grabbing relief)

Edited May 24, 2018 by mark axlecounter

[Calimero]

Always been interested in trains, started on BR morphing into Mainline, EWS then via Chiltern, DRS, Southeastern, Overground and back to DRS.

 

Just got back into modelling but my modelling has been hampered for many years by trying to be a perfectionist getting right stock, wagons etc for the era. So I said sod it, it's for my enjoyment no one else's and have started building a Southern region layout. The stock is wrong, the modelling practices unorthodox and construction methods carried out on a scale of agricultural to industrial!

 

I still enjoy my job despite the railways being clinical and somewhat boring at times but satisfy my time searching for old railways, reading up on the history and mooching around for relics. I also like to try and imagine some of the places I work and drive to in model form, I've quite a catalogue of plans and ideas for layouts that will never be built but so what!

[bescotbeast]

I've often wondered how siggies utilise their spare time, especially on AB lines that don't see too many services.

Must be a lonely task at times John, no doubt the free time comes in handy if you've got projects to work on.

As an aside, I wonder how many PSB guys who are railway modellers get the chance to do a bit of fettling?

I find time for modelling which can help with the stress of the job at times

[PaulRhB]

Started with levers and oil lamps via another box then ended up in a panel after a year, done various secondments but the panel is still the day job.

Used to do a lot outside the box so got to ride test trains, rail grinders etc to operate ground frames and barriers.

As they deemed you needed a ticket for everything that used to be part of being a Signalman I got those but after 18 years it's been decided we won't go out anymore so won't be refreshing those anymore or enjoying burgers on barrier jobs

Not bad though I've been paid to make three fully signalled model railways and paint presentation models as part of it because they knew I modelled trains

Edited May 24, 2018 by PaulRhB

[bescotbeast]

Eleventh year on the railways now, still a guard on the sunny Sussex Coast with Southern (now GTR although us and the Thameslink bit seem to be still very much separate, almost like estranged cousins) usually to be found sauntering up and down anywhere between Portsmouth and Seaford in a 313, sometimes including this one:

 

Southern Class 313/2 313201 Littlehampton 1/5/18 by John Upton, on Flickr

 

Occasionally they let me loose over old turf on a 377 covering OBS work (a guard who doesn't close doors basically - don't ask!!) which can take me pretty much anywhere else from time to time.

 

I did have an opportunity to join the railways in 1993 but turned it down, big mistake I reckon!!

We've probably been on the same train John when I've either been travelling to or from work.