driving a Class 40
- Thread starter Ben1337
- Start date
LieLestoSbrat
LRW and UKBL Team Member
I think the only way of earning money now from driving a Class 40 is by being employed by say EWS or WCRC (examples) and being selected as a driver for a Class 40 railtour. But then comes the problem, you need to be passed out to drive the Class 40 and I can't see EWS paying to have you trained on a loco that you will probably only drive once in a blue moon.
Rob
Rob
LieLestoSbrat
LRW and UKBL Team Member
From what I've heard from people who used to work for BR, you would have to be trained on each type of loco before you where able to drive it. I think its partly so you know about the brake force of each loco and how much it can handle, diagnosing faults and fixing them if its possible.
Rob
Rob
I was also told by BR drivers in the past,as Rob said, it was necessary to be trained up for each particular class of loco as well as learning the routes on which it would run.
I do seem to remember that it was possible to do Driver Training days at East Lancs. Railway and that the Class 40 was one of the locos available but I don't know if thats still the case.
Also as Rob said, there are only a limited number (One!! - 40145) of Class 40's cleared to run on the mainline at the moment and I'm sure they have plenty of drivers happy and qualified to do the honours!!:hehe:
Chrisw27
I do seem to remember that it was possible to do Driver Training days at East Lancs. Railway and that the Class 40 was one of the locos available but I don't know if thats still the case.
Also as Rob said, there are only a limited number (One!! - 40145) of Class 40's cleared to run on the mainline at the moment and I'm sure they have plenty of drivers happy and qualified to do the honours!!:hehe:
Chrisw27
The normal practice for "heritage" traction would be for the railway company to use older drivers who had driven the locos in their revenue earning days, though obviously as the years pass this will happen less and less.Also, both Drivers and Guards need refreshers on traction which they haven't actually worked in 6 months.
Yeah.I was also told by BR drivers in the past,as Rob said, it was necessary to be trained up for each particular class of loco as well as learning the routes on which it would run.
I do seem to remember that it was possible to do Driver Training days at East Lancs. Railway and that the Class 40 was one of the locos available but I don't know if thats still the case.
Also as Rob said, there are only a limited number (One!! - 40145) of Class 40's cleared to run on the mainline at the moment and I'm sure they have plenty of drivers happy and qualified to do the honours!!:hehe:
Chrisw27
It's a shame that there are a limited number of them left.
But what I would like to do with one is drive it every day.
The only surviving mainline 40 isn't used on charters everday. The best way is to become a voulenteer on the East Lancs railway where it is based. You will not get paid for it but I imagine that EWS/ WCRC have enough drivers to drive it anyway. Even if you can only go up there once a year or something, you will have a higher chance of driving it.
Wessex_Electric_Nutter
New member
Good luck, it won't be possible, because you have to be over 21 to drive trains.
I think its 21 for steam and deisel drivers and 18 to be passed as a fireman on steam locos so sorry Ben, but I'm not sure on the ages of driver experince courses.
I already knew that because when I was about 9 or was it 15 I asked a train driver whether i could drive a train and he said that you would have to be over 21.
But the funny thing about that was I went inside a class 47 that was driving a pullman which I was riding on about a month ago and I've been keeping it a secret because i want to show you a video of my day out. and i told the train driver all of the controls and he asked
and I said quite funnily
and so that's why i said that I only need to know where the controls where.
so if I was going to have a job at 16 I think that I could be as good as a 21 year old. Only a bit rougher on the controls.
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If only life was so simple ?:hehe:
You need to be 21 (or approaching 21) you will find it hard to actually find a company willing to spend money on training you up (training costs a company about £250,000 per driver ! )
Companies would rather tempt (poach) ready qualified drivers from other companies .
You'll find that for every job vacancy that does involve training from scratch that there will be at least 2000-5000 applicants (I believe this figure was a lot higher last time freightliner advertised).
Should you be lucky in getting a job then you're looking at 6 to 12 months training (not on full pay) and the training is intense like knowing the rule book back to front and Learning routes and traction.
You'll then be subject to 3 monthly downloads or ride outs to monitor your driving and a yearly rules exam (and some companies have you on probation for up to 3 years! )
Don't get me wrong it is worth the slog , but you can kiss any sort of a normal social life goodbye and the railway operates 24/7 ! Getting out of bed at 2am in January with snow on the floor and a howling gale outside can push you too your limits !
All I can say is Good luck
You need to be 21 (or approaching 21) you will find it hard to actually find a company willing to spend money on training you up (training costs a company about £250,000 per driver ! )
Companies would rather tempt (poach) ready qualified drivers from other companies .
You'll find that for every job vacancy that does involve training from scratch that there will be at least 2000-5000 applicants (I believe this figure was a lot higher last time freightliner advertised).
Should you be lucky in getting a job then you're looking at 6 to 12 months training (not on full pay) and the training is intense like knowing the rule book back to front and Learning routes and traction.
You'll then be subject to 3 monthly downloads or ride outs to monitor your driving and a yearly rules exam (and some companies have you on probation for up to 3 years! )
Don't get me wrong it is worth the slog , but you can kiss any sort of a normal social life goodbye and the railway operates 24/7 ! Getting out of bed at 2am in January with snow on the floor and a howling gale outside can push you too your limits !
All I can say is Good luck
yeah. if only.
that's a lot of money to be spending on drivers.
I could get a loft conversion and probably a lot more for that kind of money.
Yeah. you would expect this after advertiseing.
And there's only one position that they would like.
well everything has it's liitations.[/quote]Everything has its limitations.
Eg.PCs has a limitations of you not being able to feel anything that happens behind the screen. EG the interiors of the trains in trainz going round a curve and you don't feel anything.
and about the social life part: Like school hasn't taken some that away already.
Another thing : I used to volunteer on a preserved railway and nearby was the site of a large MPD.Many of the ex drivers from the MPD still lived locally, and as soon as we started running trains they showed up and expected to drive the trains! They were told quite bluntly that they had to do some physical grafting on the track before they were allowed anywhere near a train....we never saw them again..
Wessex_Electric_Nutter
New member
Another thing : I used to volunteer on a preserved railway and nearby was the site of a large MPD.Many of the ex drivers from the MPD still lived locally, and as soon as we started running trains they showed up and expected to drive the trains! They were told quite bluntly that they had to do some physical grafting on the track before they were allowed anywhere near a train....we never saw them again..
I wish the rules were the same on Ropley shed. It seems like you can start within a year, after that, have nothing to do with the running of the shed. To be honest, in my opinion, if you going to drive trains on a preserved line, you should also help those in need on the shed. (Although, others may disagree)
Ben, especially in the case of Kettles there are a thousand and one dirty, unpleasnt and dangerous jobs to do before and after its ready to drive.Also if you do a search for D8233 on Youtube they have done a video montage of some of the restoration work on the sole surviving Class 15.Its mind boggling.
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