Anyone on here work in the train industry…whether as conductors, drivers, whatever? I’m thinking of a career switch…i currently work in oil and gas, but our company is slowly going under, and redundancy doesnt look that far away for many of us. I’m a nurse by profession, so work will be easy to come by, but tbh, i dont want to go back to nursing. I’ve always had a train fascination, and would – i think – love to be a conductor or driver. I live close to Darlington station so the East Coast Mainline is nearby..it passes my house….so Virgin seems a most likely place to start. Are those in the industry able to recommend it? What is the pay like? the conditions for working etc?

Good money but not sure how easy it is to get in.

love to be a conductor

You know what all the strikes are about, right?

Virgin still use them..nor were they on strike!

love to be a conductor

Well, they’re electrifying the Paddington-Bristol route so you might be in with a shout… 😀

You know what all the strikes are about, right?

Not sure what the average staff count is for an intercity train on ECML is but it’s a bit more than those commuter boxes the southerners moan about – driver, guard(s), food staff, trolley pushers, even bin-emptiers who seem to ride between stations. And when the VTEC franchise comes back into public ownership it’ll be like a Hong Kong hotel where there’ll be jobs for everyone comrades!

Well, they’re electrifying the Paddington-Bristol route

They’re doing some of it, but definitely not through Bath.

They only recruit at certain times of the year and they are always massively over subscribed, but you’ve got to be in it to win it i suppose.

Edit – Virgin are not recruiting at the moment.

Not sure how to do online sarcasm, but here goes…

Why would anyone want a job on the railways? With all the strikes, surely the working conditions must be bad, pay ever so low and working hours really long…?

I mean, it’s not like you get £50k p.a. for driving a train four days week plus the option of significant overtime on top and free rail travel for your family is it?

Sarcasm over.

Appreciate that it’s rarely that simple, but drivers do more than ok. Wish my careers adviser had told me about the benefits at school.

Not sure I’d want my kids to go into it though (primary age). The gravy train is reaching the terminus I think. Trains are relatively easy to automate (compared to cars), so the revolution must be on its way. Long term (>20 years) career prospects probably not that good.

Although, with the unions, who knows?

Northern Rail, Grand Central and TPE all run through Darlington too. The faster the trains normally equals better pay/conditions but can also be harder to get into. Driving can be quite a repetitive solitary job but that suits some, passenger drivers have to deal with the public too to a certain degree so can have that to deal with as well.

I’m NR, Telecoms maintenance at Route level. I’m a first responder for want of a better term for anything from a broken/vandalised lineside phone to our version of proto-skynet Telecoms network. Money/pension/T’s & C’s are very good. Downside is that most of the time I feel like Archibald Tuttle in Brazil or Captain Yossarian in Catch 22.

I’m a project manager for NR. I love my job for the range in problems (i mean challenges) encounter and best of all seeing my project being built and used. The best recently was biulding the stabling lines at Maidenhead for the crossrail trains. With NR there are a range of opportunities (workforce is ~35000 so there really is a job for everyone somewhere).within the train companies, the people in the roles seem to love it but yes, very hard to get there. The strikes over train guards, imo, are unions fighting a change that is coming hence why strikes are spreading to other tocs. Its only a matter of time before trains are doo (driver operated), its basically breaking the unions (again imo who are frigging it for so many and have probably lost the support of most of the public).

I have a relative who is a driver. He enjoys it and his family get virtually free train travel. Good pay too. Seems like a good job. Can’t see it lasting though. Surely trains will go self driving before too long. Conductoring must be a dying trade too.

I’m a signaller, been one for 28 years no intention of changing, don’t have to deal with the public which is great and although we are monitored via voice com checks and constant assessment it’s fine. I wouldn’t like to be a driver, looking at two rails all day would drive me nuts and they are heavily monitored via cab downloads, how they keep their concentration I’ll never know. And it’s signallers who get to steer the trains, drivers just make them stop and go, oh and get pushchairs trapped in the doors once all conductors are gone!

My stepson drives for Freightliner, he recently applied for, & was offered, a a job with Trans Pennine but after some deliberation knocked it back, reckoning he’d have to work (like actually drive) a lot more than he does now to make not a lot more money.
He went for an interview/assessment with Virgin & almost walked out half way through & says he wouldn’t want to work for them anyway!
It’s easy money hauling freight.