25-04-2012 First day...

Well I was hoping that a short entry would be needed tonight so that I can reflect on today's driving but I don't think it's going to be that short.
For someone on day 1 I had quite  a lot thrown at me! The weather itself down south has been abysmal and my first journey resulted in me sliding past the 5 car stop at Fratton and that was quite scary in itself.

Anyway eventually back down at the Harbour (Portsmouth) ready to depart for a service to Waterloo via Basingstoke, everything was going fine until we approached Fareham and there's a very bright red signal on the end of the platform. Lo and behold as we came to a stop the radio springs into life and its the signaller. He tells us that there's some flooding up ahead and that can we stop at the signal at Botley and give him a ring back. So signal clears and off we got towards Botley. Next signal we come to (before the station) is red as well. As we come to a stand again the radio jumps into life and the signaller is back. As were still approaching the signal we don't answer him (as per the rules) but by the time we stop he has gone. We try and call him back but there's no answer, so on with the Hi-Viz jackets and were climbing out of the train to go and use the phone at the station. I wish I had a camera on me today as seeing your train on a single line in the middle of no where is something of a novelty. Anyway we speak to the signaller, and he tells us that he has had reports of a trespasser somewhere between us and Botley station and that we are to travel at caution and try and spot them. So off we go again and this time we are only going between 15-20mph (again as per rules) looking for someone who might be wandering along the track. As we roll into Botley station we can see the police on the platform and they have someone detained with them so its obvious that they have found who we were looking for. As I stop at the stop mark we have yet another red in front of me. Again we try and contact the signaller but we can't get through so its back out of the train and down to the signal phone. The signaller tells us that there's flooding ahead and that as a result he can't clear our signal. We're to pass it at danger with authority and proceed at caution. When we arrive at the flooding we are authorised to travel over it at no more than 5mph.

So back to the train and after speaking to the guard I pass my first signal at danger (with authority!)
Proceeding at caution to where the signaller told us the flooding was and I could see it on the track, the local fields have flooded and are leaking onto the track. Its not too bad but as the rules state 5mph is the top speed and this flooding stretched for 1/2 a mile! At 5mph, it takes ages!!!

Anyway the flooding by then had started to affect the other line so we had to contact the signaller again to tell him that the other line was now affected. As you can see in this picture taken from SWT's twitter feed the flooding caused a fair amount of delays and our train arrived at Eastleigh just over half hour late.

The journey then continued fairly normally until we arrived at Basingstoke where (and not to our surprise) given a NOT TO STOP order to run fast to Waterloo. Sounds good to us! With a good run we could gain a bit of time and our next service would leave London on time.
We leave and accelerate up to 100 mph (a first for me) and we go flying up the fast line. I looked across as we came through Farnborough (what should have been one of our stops) and see a few people hanging about on the platform. As we pass, the guard contacts us and says that control have asked if we can NOW stop at Woking. Fortunately, we have enough time to do so and we start braking for it. It turns out there was miscommunication between the guards at Basingstoke where one relieved another and they had not told passengers that our trains stopping pattern had been altered, so when we arrived at Woking there were a number of people getting off!

We had a fairly good run from there to Waterloo and we eventually arrived at 26 minutes late. No break for us and after a quick check its straight round to platform 14 where our next train is already waiting for us to go. A passenger stood next to the train asked me as I walked past if there was a problem with this train (it was already 6 minutes late) and I told him that it was missing me! He laughed and left me to go and set up.

The rest of the day to be honest was fairly quiet running with delays because of the weather which also made station stops very tricky, especially when you consider that I was day 1 trainee with my Instructor.  Still hopefully tomorrow will be much easier and after today I feel that I am almost ready for anything!!

24-04-2012 And so to the driving...

Well I am at the point of the training I have been looking forward too. Proper driving! :) Monday I spent the day at Basingstoke training school, where I had a human factors brief. It showed how your mind works and how different factors can adversely affect you. It also showed how your short term memory can only hold about 7 items and for no more than about 10 seconds although for me that sounds wildly optimistic!! We further learned how, being tired effects you and what you can do to make sure that your concentration remains high. An interesting day in all and at the end of it we had a nice chat about the next stage in our training. It was also the first day in a few weeks where the entire course was together again in one place and it was good to trade stories and experiences and was good to see only a few mistakes were made like missing the AWS!

I came back to the depot today and as luck would have it (as I was raring to start driving) I had a company development day. It was a day you do twice a year with other drivers and you get together and discuss what's going on with the company and what drivers can do to help. We talk over incidents that may have occurred not just at SWT but all over the UK and try to learn why they happened and what can be done to avoid doing it as well. Not a bad day and it gave me a chance to meet some other drivers and also spend the day with my DI ready for tomorrow.

And here it is... This is my first duty in full driving and as you can see has a 0700 start so I think an early night after dinner for me!

Just a quick one to help you with abbreviations...

PC - Prepare Circuits (Set up cab for service)

TC - Trip Circuit (Close cab down when finished)

RELD - Relieved by (someone takes your train)

REL - Relieve (you take the train from someone)

PNB - Personal Needs Break ( Grub :) )

PASS - Travel Passenger (Get on the train but don't drive it)

AP - Attach Portion (Couple to another train)

DOO - Driver Only Operated (Empty coaching trains that have no guard)

444/450 - Class of train that service should be

Anything else you would like to know, leave a comment and I'll try and answer it!!

18-04-2012 an update...

Good afternoon

Just a bit of an update, nothing really new has happened to me as of late, but I thought an update would be an idea just to show that I am still alive and well!

Since my last update when I was driving a diesel down to Exeter I have spent a few days on class 455 suburban stock and have seen visits to both Chessington South, and I also had a go from Waterloo to Guildford via Epsom and actually drove past the house of Jimmy White the snooker player!!
I must admit that I had a comfortable feeling driving one of these trains. They are so simple and are very good for braking, it was also nice not to have any modern technology on this units like a train management system, it felt like the train was much more "mechanical". It's a shame that I won't be driving these at Fratton!

Since the 455's I have started on 458 "Juniper" class trains. These are mostly found on the Reading line and when I drove one on the slow speed days I must admit I didn't really like them. However, since driving one empty yesterday and driving a very busy 0724 from Reading to Waterloo this morning I now have a new respect for them. Their braking is absolutely amazing. the brake control is fully adjustable and goes from Low to High. When driving normally, to brake the train you put it to Low which is the trains lightest braking setting and the deceleration is amazing. You very rarely move the controller past "Low" and I can only imagine just how good the brakes are if you put it into High!!

On another note, I had my first train fault today on the above service. I pulled into Richmond and after the doors released and alarm sounded on the cab. Consulting the TMS (Train Management System) it told me that the Call for Aid button had been pressed in coach 6. After contacting the guard to let him know what was happening I contacted the signaller to tell him of the delay. While I was waiting I saw that the Call for Aid was sorted and that I could continue. However, it immediately came on again and we got no response when we attempted to speak to it. The guard could not reset it and neither could we, so being very wary of the fact that my train was 5 minutes late already, was absolutely packed and there were trains starting to stack up behind me, we contacted fleet control at Waterloo to see if they could help us. It turned out they couldn't but they did give us permission to continue and allow us to be met at Waterloo by a fitter (which is good as I didn't really want to turf everyone out at Richmond!!)
After speaking to the signaller again, we continued on and eventually arrived at Waterloo 7 late. My old habit as a guard kept making me want to reach for the handset and make a PA announcement but then it occurred to me that I had a guard of my own to do that for me!!
Other than that, an uneventful day. Heavy rain has made driving a little challenging today and it is set to be the same tomorrow. Back to Reading again tomorrow which means getting up at 0400! Might as well go to bed now!!

10-04-2012 Diesels to Exeter

Just a bit of an update.

I drove my first diesel today in the form of a class 159 down from Salisbury to Exeter St David's. It is probably the only time I will ever drive down here considering that Fratton do not sign this route. Nevertheless it was fun and I did enjoy it and its a shame that I won't sign the units for a good few years.

Still it was good to drive down into deepest Devon and got experience with the driving of a 159 as they are somewhat different to the Desiro's that I am used to so far.

Tomorrow sees me up at Clapham Yard to drive a class 455 for the next few days. We will be an empty train tomorrow and then back to passenger services for the rest of the week!

04-04-2012 Calmer now

I still haven't got rid of the smile I got from driving yesterday. It got bigger today as I walked up platform 8 at London Waterloo watching passengers board my 8 car class 450. It suddenly dawned on me that I was going to be one that is driving them to their destinations and that scared me a little.

I got into the front cab and set the cab up ready for service. I had about 5 minutes before I was due to leave and I was watching the sheer number of movements of trains coming and going. A minute before departure and my controlling signal W15 is stubbornly refusing the clear and is still red. We had heard as we walked up the train that there were line problems causing hassle around the Basingstoke area so I just assumed that this was what was delaying me leaving. Still that all changed when 2 minutes late the signal finally cleared for the Up Relief line and seconds later I got the ready to start signal from the guard. This in itself was unusual as I, in the past, have always been the guard giving the driver the signal and so it was really a strange feeling to be the other end.

Anyway, we left Waterloo 2 late and headed down towards Clapham Junction watching trains coming and going, still in awe about how busy it is. Despite being checked down by signals towards Clapham Jct and giving someone a heart attack when I blew the horn going through the station as they were near the edge, it was fairly uneventful down to Woking. My station stops are already improving no end and I don't think passengers would have noticed my inexperience. Driving truly is something else and would recommend it even now to anyone, and I realised that I cannot wait until I am fully qualified and doing this everyday for myself!

We were still two minutes late at Woking as I didn't really have the chance to catch any time up. One of the best feelings today was being confident enough to wave at passing drivers and better still sound  a quick horn to children who were stood on overbridges (something that I used to do about 10 years ago!) and before I knew it I was coming down the mainline and had left Basingstoke with just one more station to go! We were almost back on time as there is a bit of time between the last two stations and as I approached I was checked down to the last signal before the station waiting for the return service to depart the platform. I was preparing to stop as it passed me but fortunately the signal cleared for me and rolled into Basingstoke platform 1, 1 minute early. After securing the train, I could finally relax!

All again tomorrow!! :D :D :D

03-04-2012 Aaaaaaaggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS in all my excitement I forgot to wish BDT4-12 the best. they started yesterday and I have a personal friend on that course. Good luck mate, and if any of you read this, feel free to say hello if you see me!!

Well I am just home from my first day on the mainline and I still have a massive smile on my face.. I just don't seem to be able to shift it! :D I started at Clapham Yard and almost immediately I was slow speed driving again up to the outlet signal and onto the mainline. We sat quietly for about 5 minutes while trains whizzed by still sat at my red position light, then without warning the points ahead of me swung over and my signal cleared. No more hesitation for me and I reset the DRA and took power at 5mph over the points onto the mainline.

As soon as my train was clear I was told to open up and then for the first time I went above 5mph and accelerated up the linespeed of 60!! Now I was in a class 450 and frankly the power these units give is amazing and before I knew it I was shutting off and coasting.

I was waving at passing trains and watching like a hawk for signals even though I had a very knowledgeable trainer sat next to me giving instructions.

In a manner of speaking I went in at the deep end and anyone who has ever been in that area will know that it is an incredibly complex area with many tracks, trains and signals to watch for.

I felt comfortable though and I decided that the cab of a train is definitely where I want to be for a job.

My first shock was approaching my first red mainline signal, and that was a nerve wracking experience as the signals around Waterloo have been passed before (definitely to be avoided!!) but I stopped and as I did so it cleared showing me entering platform 9 but also that there was a train already there.

I pulled in very cautiously knowing that a train will be there and lo and behold a class 444 was there and I had to approach carefully. The instructor knew the train much better than me and had to keep telling me to take the brake off, but its hard to do that when you are approaching a train and it feels like it is getting very close, very quickly!!

Still I stopped 6 feet away as per the rules, and secured the train and could finally relax (phew!!) What I didn't realise how much my hands were sweating and I had only done a 5 minute trip!!

I changed ends and set the train up ready to take it as far as Woking when one of the other trainees on the train would take over. I should stress why I remember that today was an empty train so we didn't have to worry too much about passenger comfort.

My signal cleared and we were given right away by the platform assistant and off we go again!
I took the train down towards Woking on both the fast and slow lines and the instructor commented on how well I handled the train, I put this down to all the years of driving I have done on OPENBVE!!

I braked well for cautionary signals and also for speed limits both permanent and emergency and also tried my hand at stopping at Walton on Thames and Woking. The first station I had to brake a bit harder than was usual as I was going faster than the train appeared to be going, however I still stopped at the mark with no jolt. At Woking, I feel that I managed a much better stop and sat bang on the 4 car mark.

So 450042 is the first mainline unit I have driven and as for tomorrow....

2L25 1012 South West Trains service from London Waterloo to Basingstoke. In passenger service. With yours truly driving. Wish me luck, there's rain on the forecast ......

me before proceeding on my first trip

cab of 450042

another picture showing my work "office"

450042 today's unit that I drove...

02-04-2012 Last day of slow driving...

After driving a class 450 today up and down 49 road at Clapham Yard at 5mph, tomorrow is another big day...

I will be taking an empty train onto the mainline for the first time and travelling at normal linespeeds and also observing signals. Definitely brown trousers time.

If all goes as planned, I will be driving my first train (which should be a class 450) out of Clapham Yard just towards the end of the morning peak and then go up to Waterloo. Then change ends and make my way towards Woking on the slow lines.

That will be it for tomorrow but that's plenty to be getting on with. After that day, the following one will see me driving not only mainline, but with passengers!!

It's also goodbye today for 7 of my colleagues as for this part of the training we split up into groups of 4 and won't see the other trainees until we go back to the training school (for a human factors brief) on 23rd April! Hopefully, there will be some good stories to tell and hear by then!

Wish me luck!!