The Railway - Keeping Britain on Track - Tuesdays BBC2 - 9pm

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  • swillsswills Posts: 4,004
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    Yeah, but it's still easy, sitting there pressing a button every
    few minutes, obeying simple signals and signs.

    green light - go,
    yellow light - slow down,
    red light - stop

    It's routinely tedious, with days going by without incident.
    You only need the Rule Book when things go wrong.

    Not a bad job for £44k pa


    Most could not even handle the shifts, let alone the workload, some TOC's / FOC's have 24 shifts, one for each hour of the day, vary from 6 hours to 12 hours, and you can do many changes of shift in a week, if you work 6 days, you could do 5 maybe 6 different shifts in that time. main requirements are for a rest day 32 hours off (1 day + a shift) and between shifts 12 hours, so you could do 2300 to say 0700, and ben back at 1900 for 1900 to 0700, then rest day, and back about 1400 the next day for another turn, of course unless you have more than one day off, Alchohol is a big 'no-no' zero tolerance (quite rightly) if you used the ruke book, just for when things go wrong, you soon be up sh** creek !:eek:
  • StansfieldStansfield Posts: 6,097
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    Trudie the Driver was very funny last night...."Lot of forms to fill in"

    Great end to this series, hope there is more next year.....has to be.:cool:

    But the Guy at the maintenance depot, who found a Foot...and what was it, a Jaw.:(
    bgtension wrote: »
    Needed subtitles for last nights episode:D
    Just those guys in the Glasgow Tunnel...laying track.
    Bit harsh making an 86 year old stand all the way to London.
    I would have got on the Train with him, and found a Seat for him.
    spookyLX wrote: »
    I wanna go on The orient Express
    Me Too.
    It's all garlic to me!
    I thought Ian said Garlic too.....but what a great Track Walk he has.....apart from the dead Animals he has to pick up, I was expecting a Rat to come out of the first one he moved.:eek:
  • Wallasey SaintWallasey Saint Posts: 7,595
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    Quite possible I've seen that and forgotten it :)
    Which channel was that, what was it called?

    Forgotten what it was called but was on BBC1 on Thursday nights, New Cross Garage was of the featured Garages in the programme.
  • pinkyponk34pinkyponk34 Posts: 1,244
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    swills wrote: »
    sounds like he hasn't ! maybe he'd like to have a go at a 747 too, must be just as easy:D

    I haven't driven a train, but I've accompanied the drivers many times, so I have more of an idea than most..

    If you can drive a car, [ with training obviously ] you can drive a train.
  • User68571User68571 Posts: 3,901
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    I enjoyed the last night, tbh I like all the episodes!

    Something I picked up on was the female driver wasn't even acknowledged at the change of shift, the driver got off and walked straight past her.....what a rude ****.

    Ticket man was a little over friendly for my liking, 'good lads good lads' etc...and found the abusive drunk funny, drunk passengers are not funny in anyway , not when they're giving you grief.

    I was thinking back to the bloke at that really isolated signal box, at first thought I was quite taken in with the charm of the remoteness but upon seeing it again (my OH hadn't watched) I think his attitude was actually a little offish. He was complaning about how much he hates human contact and the likes, well without humans using 'his' railway he wouldn't have a job, also getting paid to sit around reading books and tending to 4 trains an hour sounds absolute doddle, no wonder he doesn't want it to go. He had this borderline smug contempt for people working in towns, completely unappreciatative those people provide him things he needs to live out his hobbit like existence. Now i know I'm being probably overly critical, but just thought some of his opinions were in bad taste given the relative doodle of a job he's got. It's nice to know the cost of my ticket includes paying for him to sit around all day...

    Anyway enough of the moaning, I really enjoyed the series as a whole, as a daily commuter it was nice to see some of the 'otherside' of it for a change. I'm amazed at the fines, and the percarious nature of the entire timetable determined by the slightest problems. It was a very well done series.
  • pinkyponk34pinkyponk34 Posts: 1,244
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    Something I picked up on was the female driver wasn't even acknowledged at the change of shift, the driver got off and walked straight past her.....what a rude ****.

    I noticed that too, the driver should have passed on relevant info re the train and the service to the new driver on handover, not even a hello or a howdy do.

    Let's hope it's not a men's only club and that the two lady drivers on the East Coast route are routinely snubbed .
  • Alfie155Alfie155 Posts: 54
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    I enjoyed the last night, tbh I like all the episodes!

    Something I picked up on was the female driver wasn't even acknowledged at the change of shift, the driver got off and walked straight past her.....what a rude ****.

    Ticket man was a little over friendly for my liking, 'good lads good lads' etc...and found the abusive drunk funny, drunk passengers are not funny in anyway , not when they're giving you grief.

    I thought it was just me - very offhand attitude unless he was embarrassed to see a tv camera there as he alighted from the cab.

    Re the drunk - i liked the way the guard got the train underway asap when he realised he had got off! Well you would wouldn't you. I was reminded of the recent case where a big guy chucked an antisocial yoof off a train to the acclamation of the passengers but ended up being charged for assault. The passenger in the blue shirt looked like he could have dished out a similar form of treatment to the pixelated drunk.
    Why do they do that? He should be shown for the oaf he was and maybe will behave better in the future.

    Excellent series though - very good to see behind the scenes and to get the staff perspective on how awful some members of the traveling public can be.
  • zandarzandar Posts: 929
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    What an excellent series.

    I had to switch on the sub-titles for the Scottish episode as I had a job understanding several people - especially as annoying music was added when they were speaking. Goodness knows how the foreigners understand many Scots. Even the Frenchman working as a cleaner in Edinburgh spoke clearer English! (Note his comment about the TGV being about twice the speed of the fastest British trains. Of course, that meant major investment in new routes through the countryside rather than using a Victorian railway - a case for HS2 going all the way to Scotland)?

    Surely, it is high time that our lesser used lines through rural areas such as the Scottish Highlands & Cambrian Coast, were replaced with modern tracks with concrete sleepers and long welded rail? Presumably, this would cut down on maintenance, allow faster speeds and a quieter journey for passengers.

    It is ridiculous that Virgin use diesel Voyagers between Birmingham & Edinburgh / Glasgow - being that the entire route is under wires. Surely, the UK government should order electric trains to operate these routes and shift the Voyagers to other routes not under wires? This would allow a cascade of diesel trains to help solve overcrowding without having to order new diesel trains being as electrification is going to take place over many of the non wired routes.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 344
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    zandar - 'Even the Frenchman working as a cleaner in Edinburgh spoke clearer English'

    As an English person (by upbringing) who, has lived and worked in Scotland for years I am a bit cheesed off by that remark.

    It may take time to get used to the Scots accent, especially Glaswegian, but that doesn't mean the people aren't speaking clearly. It means you aren't used to the cadence and lilt of the accent. The Edinburgh accent is usually very clear. Certainly I have never 'needed subtitles' to live and work here and I have to say the Scots by and large are great about having to understand a 'southerners' accent.

    The French guy was not particuarly clear in the way he spoke either.
  • pinkyponk34pinkyponk34 Posts: 1,244
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    I suppose the amount of traffic dictates the grade of sleepers and the type of rails used.

    With 4 trains a day it makes sense to keep running costs to a minimum on these little rural lines. I have seen concrete sleepers on sections of highland single lines

    I thought wooden keys to secure the rail went out with steam trains !
  • lundavralundavra Posts: 31,790
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    I suppose the amount of traffic dictates the grade of sleepers and the type of rails used.

    With 4 trains a day it makes sense to keep running costs to a minimum on these little rural lines. I have seen concrete sleepers on sections of highland single lines

    I thought wooden keys to secure the rail went out with steam trains !

    There is a lot of work on the West Highland line but no idea what they are doing. The sleeper is not running this weekend because of some work.

    There have been a lot of contractors around for some time and encampments with plant, rail etc stored.

    Any work is difficult because it is a single track so needs a complete closure for work.
  • Bulletguy1Bulletguy1 Posts: 18,429
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    Stansfield wrote: »
    Trudie the Driver was very funny last night...."Lot of forms to fill in"

    Great end to this series, hope there is more next year.....has to be.:cool:
    I liked her jovial demeanour. Very pleasant lady and good on her for suddenly deciding to make a job change. It wouldn't bother me whether it was a man or woman driving the damn train.....after all they all have to be qualified before being let loose just like everyone else.

    The Scottish scenery was brilliant....great 'work place' though easy to see how the environment can be a bit extreme at times. Shame about that little abandoned house. Didn't look like it needed much work to restore either so I was surprised someone hadn't snapped it up.
  • Jaycee DoveJaycee Dove Posts: 18,762
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    Hope we get a follow up series. This has been good TV. Though not sure what new areas are left. Maybe a special - covering something like The Railway at Christmas?
  • Prince MonaluluPrince Monalulu Posts: 35,900
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    I enjoyed the last night, tbh I like all the episodes!

    Something I picked up on was the female driver wasn't even acknowledged at the change of shift, the driver got off and walked straight past her.....what a rude ****.

    As someone else said, maybe he was caught on the hop with a Camera crew and production staff standing at the train door, she seemed quite friendly with him and knew his name.

    Chap doing the track walk very much 'worked' for me, could have followed him wandering up the track with the occasional bit of chatter for ages.
    Think I might watch that one again, won't download it though.

    Must say I'm surprised how much they pay their cleaners up there, I assumed just above minimum wage, say £7 ph would have been top wack.
  • jonnyinscotlandjonnyinscotland Posts: 999
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    Strange that Scotrail didn't take part.
    lundavra wrote: »
    Could just be that they have built up a relationship by working with the other companies in other programmes but I would have though they could have found some stories from the trains running on the West Highland line.

    Presumably First weren't interested in appearing. Filming probably coincided with the InterCity West Coast franchise process which could be a reason why.
  • spookyLXspookyLX Posts: 11,730
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    Jonwo wrote: »
    I wonder if the other train companies will consider taking part should there be a second series, we didn't see either Southern or South West Trains or stations like Waterloo, Victoria, Clapham Junction etc

    After the Underground and the Railway, wonder what's next in line for a TV series? Buses? Taxis?

    They are currently filming for a show based on overground transport Buses etc my friend who works for TFL was asked to be in it she said no way lol
  • owl61ukowl61uk Posts: 3,003
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    I suppose it would infringe the Ticket Collector's human rights to walk down the train with a bin liner so people could deposit their rubbish like air cabin crew do.
    They do little else anyway it seems.

    Ive been on the west coast mainline Glasgow to Birmingham with Virgin and someone comes round at least 3 times on the journey collecting rubbish. Trains are generally clean and toilets are also OK
  • The_SleeperThe_Sleeper Posts: 200,432
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    I

    I thought wooden keys to secure the rail went out with steam trains !

    The wooden keys are for the check·rail !!
  • streetwisestreetwise Posts: 787
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    I enjoyed the last night, tbh I like all the episodes!

    Something I picked up on was the female driver wasn't even acknowledged at the change of shift, the driver got off and walked straight past her.....what a rude ****.


    To be fair, maybe he was a bit taken aback by the filming. :eek: ;)
  • grumpyscotgrumpyscot Posts: 11,343
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    Stansfield wrote: »
    Just those guys in the Glasgow Tunnel...laying track.

    The tunnel wasn't in Glasgow - it was between Edinburgh Waverley and Edinburgh Haymarket - 45 miles from Glasgow!
  • JeffG1JeffG1 Posts: 15,243
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    grumpyscot wrote: »
    The tunnel wasn't in Glasgow - it was between Edinburgh Waverley and Edinburgh Haymarket - 45 miles from Glasgow!
    Wherever it was, I still needed subtitles for that bit. But I got on fine with the rest of the programme.

    I left them on after that, and was interested to see that when the line walker was talking Gaelic, the text was reproduced in both langiuages in the subtitles. Thought I was watching BBC Alba for a moment :)

    To a non-Gaelic speaker, it doesn't sound anything like it's written, though I suppose there must be some rules!
  • InspirationInspiration Posts: 62,694
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    Being re-shown on Sunday afternoons.. first episode on now.

    Love behind the scenes shows like this!!!
  • InspirationInspiration Posts: 62,694
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    To add to my post above.. wish I hadn't watched. Was pretty depressing all round really. If it wasn't trains crammed full of unhappy people it was talk of suicides. Really didn't help my Sunday afternoon mood. Normally there is a good balance of the good and not so good stories. But the episode just seemed full of unhappy passengers and unhappy staff.
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