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How to Become a Train Driver

A Railway Register Webpage

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              Historical Background
            What Train Driving Involves
            Women as Train Drivers 
            Is it for Me?
            Making Your Job Application 
            Psychometric Testing, Interview & Assessment 
            Medical Standards
            Age Limits
            Training
            Route Learning
            A Trainee Driver's Blog
            After Becoming a Driver
            London Underground
            On-Track Machine Driver 
            Becoming a Railroad Engineer (Train Driver) in North America  
Becoming a Train Driver in Australia
            Where to Look for Jobs
            TRAIN COMPANY WEBSITES, JOB PAGES, VACANCIES & DEPOTS
             How to Become a Signaller
            Train Driving As a Hobby 
            Some Useful Websites for Train Drivers
            Testimonies
            OTHER CAREERS

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WELCOME   (Top) 

So, you're thinking about trying to become a train driver, wondering what it involves and how to go about getting started in the profession? If you got here by typing a query into a search engine then I can tell you that you have arrived at the only significant resource on the internet concerning how to go about becoming a train driver in Britain - so search no further!

What do I know about it? Well I've been on the footplate for over thirty years now, driving for over a quarter of a century  and occasionally instructing new drivers from their very first time 'in the chair', as well as training and assessing experienced ones. All the following is written from that perspective of that experience.

Train driving does not require any high academic achievement, but you do need to be self-disciplined, comfortable working alone for long periods, able to handle responsibility and be able to be trusted to apply safety-critical procedures without being constantly supervised. If you're one of life's worriers the job will kill you, so forget it! Beyond that any sensible and reliable person should be able to become a Train Driver. As with any job, what you get out of train driving depends very much on how you approach it and what you want to make of it. It can be very rewarding and is far better than most occupations; however, if you want to be bored and disaffected you'll find plenty of opportunity for that too! One thing you shouldn't do is go for the job for the money. I've seen people do that with the result that they are trapped in a job they dislike but which is so well paid that they can't afford to move on.

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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND   (Top) 

Traditionally, boys were recruited onto the steam railway at the age of fourteen as engine cleaners with only a basic education. After a year or so of laborious engine cleaning combined with general shed duties, such as assisting the boiler-smiths and fitters, they would be examined and passed out by a locomotive inspector as being fit for firing duties. Now re-classified as Passed Cleaners, from this point on they could be used by the shed foremen as firemen on such workings as local goods trips or yard shunting. Incredible as it now seems, there was no paid, formal training at all. Cleaners taught themselves and attended unpaid Mutual Improvement Classes (MICs) run by experienced drivers and firemen in their own time, often between church and brass band practice on Sunday morning in a driver's front parlour! Eventually a cleaner would obtain a full time fireman's appointment, often posted to a depot far from home, beginning the slow progression through the rosters, called links. This would see them starting on shed, local and shunting work, gradually venturing further afield, then onto semi-fast passenger work and long-haul freights before finally getting onto express passenger trains. Promotion through the links and grades was on a rigid system based on length of service or seniority, what is commonly known as 'Buggins' Turn'! After ten years or so, and still studying in his own time, a fireman would be examined and passed for driving, becoming a Passed Fireman, thereafter being available for the most lowly driving duties, usually shunting or preparation & disposal of locomotives. Finally, perhaps in his late thirties or early forties he would obtain promotion to Driver and begin the long haul through the links all over again, perhaps not becoming a 'top link' express driver until just a few years before retirement.

London to Brighton in 4 minutes - 1952                              Let's go to Birmingham - 1962

Around the late '60s - early '70s, with the advent of diesel and electric traction, firemen became Secondmen, or Drivers Assistants as they were re-named once women began to be recruited into the footplate grades. The early '70s also saw BR introduce a formal training course called the MP12, which eventually led to the disappearance of the semi-official and unpaid MICs. Typically, one would join BR straight from school at sixteen and might be a DA for around five years before being sent on the six month long MP12 and being passed out as a Relief Driver. Shortly after, at the age of 21 or 22, promotion would be gained to Train Driver, usually at one of the lowly and unpopular suburban commuter train depots around the big cities with their rather boring and repetitive work. Most would simultaneously register a preference to transfer back to their home depot or to somewhere with a more interesting and varied workload once they had enough seniority behind them to get in.

With the phasing out of double-manning in the nineteen-eighties the Traincrew Concept was introduced. This saw conductors (and occasionally signallers or station staff) being selected for driver training with little or no 'front-end' experience. This was followed by the Sectorisation of BR into InterCity, Network SouthEast, Regional Railways and Railfreight sectors. This led to train drivers specialising in driving only certain types of train in more geographically limited areas. For many of the older and experienced drivers the reduction of route coverage and train types they handled damaged the perceived quality and interest of the job. The Traincrew Concept also resulted in a sharp rise in the age at which people became drivers, from their early twenties to more like their thirties and forties due to the sudden eligibility of large numbers of older conductors.

The further division of BR into some thirty Train Operating Companies (TOCs), which were subsequently franchised or sold to private firms, has further reduced the scope of train driving. The advent of privatisation saw the route of promotion to driver initially concentrated on conductors and there became little chance of other grades obtaining driving positions. A few companies, notably Virgin, experimented with recruiting trainee train drivers from outside the industry (off the street and boil-in-the-bag drivers are the contemptuous terms used by existing train crew) in the hope that such people would not be encumbered by the perceived baggage of old railway attitudes as certain managers chose to see it. On the one hand such candidates lack a feel for the industry, its peculiar ways of working and are completely inexperienced; on the other I can testify that they have a better attitude, are eager to learn and seem to be easier to train. Another big difference is that they value their job more as they are not approaching it with the sense of entitlement that went with the old promotional systems. Despite mixed results it seems that this will become an increasingly common route for selecting new train drivers. It's strange that in the space of thirty years we went from a situation where new train drivers were highly experienced but had no formal training to one where we have formal training but the newbie can have almost no experience; the first time they have to deal with an out-of-course situation is as the driver in charge!

So, you have two main alternative routes to becoming a train driver today. Either do a few years as a conductor (Train Person with the freight companies - a sort of shunter-come-DA) or come to it in later life as a second career. We now have quite a number of drivers who have joined after careers as bankers, journalists, solicitors, teachers or from the military or medical professions. The military, especially ex-NCOs seem to be especially favoured. My opinion is that this latter arrangement will become the norm and that train driving will be a job people come to more in maturity than youth. This is slowly changing the social make-up of the profession as it becomes better educated, more widely experienced and more middle-class. If you are thinking of becoming a Conductor, whether as a long term career as a staging post to becoming a Driver, there is a website offering advice at Becoming a Conductor.

Much of the training infrastructure that existed under BR was wrecked in the hiatus of privatisation. This, combined with new managers' (often from the bus industry) under-estimation of what is involved in the job, led to a national shortage of train drivers in the late 'nineties. This shortage, combined with the multiplicity of companies, introduced market forces into the job for the first time and saw pay rates rocket from a basic of £11,500 at the end of BR to anywhere between £33,000 and £44,000 today, depending on the company. That rise isn't really as large as it looks, partly because BR is now a long time ago, partly because today's basic pay rates include many payments which were bonuses and enhancements under BR. Even so, if taming the unions was a principal objective it has to count as a spectacular political own-goal for the Conservative Party. Market forces in the new structure are far more effective at raising pay than going on strike when you work for a national monopoly! It has also introduced the phenomenon of drivers switching employers to gain better rates and conditions or to move to a location which suits them. This puts further pressure on the employers as they struggle to retain their expensively trained drivers.

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WHAT TRAIN DRIVING INVOLVES   (Top) 

These are some of your possible working environments....

Class 170       Class 170 Cab   

Class 37 Cab  Class 47 Cab       HST Cab   Class 158 Cab

(Click on the pictures to enlarge in a new window)

You can see some other modern trains and cabs in these external links: Class 66 loco; Class 67 loco; Class 143 DMU; Class 165 DMU; Class 168 DMU; Class 170 DMU; Class 175 DMU; Class 180 'Adelante' DMU; Class 321 EMU; Class 332 EMU; Class 334 EMU; Class 375 EMU; Class 456 EMU; Class 458 EMU; Class 460 EMU; Class 465 EMU; Class 508 EMU; Eurostar; Class 390 'Pendolino'. A selection of other cab interiors will be found here and here.

The Working Day: Being a train driver involves erratic working patterns and Conditions of Service which vary from one TOC to another. In theory, turn lengths can vary between about five and eleven hours but in practice most come in at around seven to ten hours. Woking hours are subject to what are know as the Hidden Regulations* which specify that you cannot work a shift longer than twelve hours and then only if there is no driving involved after the eleventh hour. You must also have a minimum of twelve hours off between shifts. (* Named after Anthony Hidden, the consultant who compiled the report on drivers hours for BR - nothing to do with the regulations being secret!)

At a typical passenger company you might do a week of early turns booking on between about 0430 and 0730, a week of so-called 'middle' turns booking on between about 0930 and 1300, then a week of late turns booking on between 1300 and 1700 and finishing after midnight. More commonly these shifts may simply be arranged as alternate weeks of lates & earlies. There may be the occasional week of nights during which you will carry out preparation and positioning of trains ready for the next morning's service. At freight TOCs there is a greater preponderance of night work. Those freight depots which carry out engineering work also have a high incidence of weekend working, a lot of which is at night. Some InterCity and most freight firms require a limited degree of lodge or double-home working which will see you staying in an hotel away from home between shifts. Fortunately they like to keep this to a minimum because of the cost. Shown below are a couple of representative diagrams from the London Midland depot at Birmingham New Street and the Cross-Country depot at Cambridge to give you an idea of the sort of work a regional operator does. 

(A few sample diagrams from other TOCs - especially freight companies - would be welcome here if you are a driver and would care to drop me a line!)

The working week is normally 35 hours, though there are still a few companies working 37 hours or even longer. Bear in mind that this is an average over the link and that individual hours-per-week could vary between roughly 30 and 42. Depending on which firm you work for your week might be spread over four or five shifts, with either one or two No-duty or Rest Days days per week. Companies with two ND days in the week usually arrange them so that you are Friday & Saturday off one week, then Sunday, Monday & Tuesday the second week, followed by Wednesday & Thursday off the third week. This arrangement yields a five-day long weekend every three weeks. As far as possible the roster would be made up of three week segments similar to this:

Notice how the railway week begins on Sunday, not Monday. Notice also how weeks of earlies and lates alternate. It is desirable to do this so that pairs of drivers who arrange a regular swap between themselves to work permanent earlies or lates remain paired as one of them goes off the bottom of the roster and back to the top. To do this the roster ideally has to be divisible by two. If it is also divisible by three (i.e. 12, 18, 24, 30 weeks) it ensures that a long weekend falls neatly every third week. However, overarching constraints mean these ideals are not always possible. Larger depots may have several of these rosters, called links. As mentioned before, these links were traditionally promotional with the higher links attracting the more agreeable and better paid work and being staffed by the more senior drivers. Although this still often happens the more even characteristics of a depot's work these days means there isn't much difference in the work content of the links. At some depots the links have even become non-promotional and you stay where you're put, although there may be an element of choice as to which one you end up in. Companies with one no-duty day per week, such as Virgin, bank the notional second no-duty day from each week to give a clear week off every fifth week.

Sunday Working: The guaranteed working week on the railway has always run from Monday to Saturday with Sundays counted as voluntary overtime. This means you can opt not to work a Sunday or even opt not to work Sundays at all. However, you are required to indicate that you do not wish to work a Sunday by early the preceding week in order that your turn can be covered by a spare or volunteer driver. 

This applies to most railway grades and it comes as a big surprise to outsiders to learn that the Sunday train service is run almost entirely on a voluntary basis. The low rates of pay in the past meant that most drivers worked all the Sundays (and often Rest Days) they could in order to earn a living wage, with the result that the Sunday service was reliably covered. The fact that train driving is very much better paid today means that many drivers have made the lifestyle choice to forgo the extra money and have every Sunday off. This has meant that at some depots the management are having a real struggle to cover the Sunday service and are sometimes cancelling trains because no staff are available.

Because of this some companies are moving to including Sundays in the four (or five) day working week so that it is rostered as a normal day. This isn't as easy as it sounds though because doing this effectively involves taking driver hours out of the Monday to Saturday roster in order to transfer them to the Sunday. This either requires a reduction in weekday train services or requires more drivers to be employed. Because of these difficulties some companies are trying to change the Conditions of Service so that drivers work an agreed maximum number of committed Sundays each year on a compulsory overtime basis. This is deeply unpopular and has only been introduced at a few firms (such as Virgin) at the price of very much higher salaries. More of these changes can be expected though.

Rest Day Working is allowed at most companies and is voluntary. If you work a rest day you must still ensure that you adhere to the Hidden Regulations which require you to have twelve hours between shifts and do not allow you to work more than thirteen days consecutively without a day off. This also applies to working extra Sundays.

Leave is normally rostered as a week's Early Leave in the Spring, two weeks off in the Summer and a week's Late Leave towards the end of the year. This is supplemented by a variable number (typically eight to ten) of odd days - floaters - to be taken off, by application, when you want. Bank Holidays are nowadays treated as ordinary working days, apart from Christmas Day & Boxing Day when the railway virtually shuts down and almost everyone is booked off anyway.

Pay varies widely but you can expect it to be much lower (about £12-16,000 lower) during training and in your first probationary year as a Post-Qualified Driver - PQD. See below for pay rates.

Seniority still determines link progression once you become a train driver or the arrangements if you are made redundant, but it is no longer critical in determining whether you get the job in the first place: suitability now comes into it. This has been decried by some as meaning that you only get the job if your face fits. However, as those whose faces don't fit usually turn out to have a poor attitude, have caused operational incidents, are constantly being late, persistently taking short-term sick leave or creating other problems this is probably just as well! Once you've been a conductor for a few years your managers' know what you're like and they will not appoint people with poor records or who are temperamentally unsuitable.

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WOMEN AS TRAIN DRIVERS   (Top) 

The first women were appointed as Drivers Assistants around 1977, shortly after the Equal Opportunities Act came into force. Many of the older drivers at that time had been footplatemen since before the war and some had very old fashioned working class attitudes. They viewed the modern generation of male DAs, like myself, who hadn't spent years cleaning and firing, with deep suspicion and it is hardly surprising that many of them were wary of the prospect of women entering the footplate grades. Frankly, they weren't used to working with women and some were simply frightened of them! Things weren't helped by the fact that these were the industrially troubled 'seventies and that a few of the women who joined then were politically motivated and looking to cause trouble. Given the often poor reception they got, it was a brave woman who would be among the first in the business.

Eventually things settled down and the first female drivers appeared in the early 'eighties. Attitudes, and the atmosphere of the job, have mellowed greatly since then and women driving trains are no longer a cause for comment. Even so, there are no more than a few of hundred women driving trains nationally, though London Underground has been especially keen to recruit them. Although the profession is and probably always will be numerically male-dominated, the macho and sometimes misogynistic attitudes of the past are long gone and women today need not feel intimidated about going for the job on those grounds. Indeed, being a woman is probably now an unfair advantage in the intense competition for Trainee Drivers' posts.

There is nothing in train driving that women are no perfectly capable of doing; the hardest physical task is coupling and uncoupling locos with the freight TOCs - and even this is more a matter of knack than brute strength. Another problem with the freight companies is that you can sometimes be on the loco for several hours and the alfresco toilet arrangements might not appeal! The only real reservation is as to whether the working patterns of the job are compatible with bringing up school age children without a suitably placed partner at home to help. Legislation which came into force in 2003 requires employers to give serious consideration to accommodating parents of young children on suitable turns where feasible and it will be interesting to see how this works out. It's still early days yet but it is only fair to warn that the limited experience so far has not been very encouraging. I suppose it is foolish to imagine that such accommodation doesn't give rise to a degree of resentment among colleagues which, although it may be suppressed by anti-harassment policies, is undoubtedly there and has ways of making itself felt.

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IS IT FOR ME?    (Top)

ASLEF have produced a number of inspiring articles in their Locomotive Journal under the title 'Key Workers'. They include interviews with people who have come to train driving after careers as reporters, footballers, bankers, sales reps, sales managers and the like. Read their own stories... You can find back issues of Locomotive Journal here. Have a look at Jan 2006 p17; Feb 2006 p17; Mar 2006 p17; Apl 2006 p16-17; Jun 2006 p17; Aug 2006 p19; Sep 2006 p19; Oct 2006 p19; Nov 2006 p19;Jan 2007 p19; Feb 2007 p19; Mar 2007 p10; Jun 2007 p19; Aug 2007 p18; Oct 2007 p18; Nov 2007 p19.

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MAKING YOUR JOB APPLICATION     (Top)

Train driving is notorious for having one of the most difficult selection processes to successfully negotiate in any industry. The first thing to understand is that there are an average of 317 applications for every train driving job that comes up. They aren't betting odds, and the odds are getting longer as the attractions of the job become apparent to a wider, better educated and more experienced pool of potential applicants. It also means that you will have to work hard to get to first base. Still, it isn't quite as bad as it sounds as many of those applications are of very poor quality and I expect they hit the back of the bin faster than an 'exclusive' invitation to a Reader's Digest prize draw! If you could see some of the sloppy, illiterate and stupid* e-mails I sometimes receive in response to this website you might not worry quite so much about the competition....!  ( * Well... I mean, people regularly write to ask me if there is any general advice I can give them as to how to go about becoming a train driver. I don't know what they must think this webpage is for?!).

Anyway, no specific educational requirements are laid down by most TOCs but you should nevertheless be fully literate, numerate and have a good general education. You should also be the sort of person who is able to maintain concentration while working alone, be calm in difficult situations, be able to make decisions, have a high degree of safety awareness and  be well organised and reliable. You must also have the right to reside and work in the UK. Although I say that formal educational requirements are not laid down the sheer weight of competition for places means that a good higher education will help you to stand out from the crowd. My feeling is that as more and more people come to train driving in later life we will see many future drivers bringing degrees and other qualifications from their earlier careers. Besides, many Personnel Managers are degree holders themselves and people do so love to build the world in their own image!

Some TOCs allow you to make an initial CV application by e-mail, others want you to send a covering letter with a filled-in application form, so you have to ask them for that first: go by the job advert. Keep a copy of any forms or letters you send in a folder and take them along to any subsequent interview. If you speak by phone to anyone at the firm you are applying to, make sure you make a note of their name, position, phone number and phone extension. Ask for an e-mail address if it seems appropriate.

Covering Letter: Whether you are applying by CV or application form you should also enclose a covering letter. Your letter should be in the style of a business letter, it can be hand written and should contain your contact details, even though they're also on the CV or application form. State clearly what job  it is that you're applying for (and at what location) and where you saw it advertised. If you are making a speculative application you should say specifically what type of work you are applying for; just asking 'have you got any openings' looks too vague and half-hearted. Explain in a few sentences why you particularly want that job and try to give an impression that you know something about the company you are applying to; nothing is worse than an application which looks as if the same thing has been sprayed around several different firms with only the address changed. Draw attention to one or two points expanded on in your CV or application form to explain why you think you are well suited to the job with that company. Try to find out the name of the person you are writing to. This not only ensures that your application goes to the right desk but makes it look as if you've bothered to find out who they are. Take your time and think carefully about your covering letter; it's the first thing they read...  and it may be the last!

Application Forms: If you are sending one of these a full CV will not be needed. Read the whole of the form through first before you begin to fill anything in. If it asks for black ink and capital letters use black ink and capital letters; this isn't the time to express your individualism. Sketch out your answers on a separate piece of paper first, especially the bits where you have to compose a paragraph or two. Check your spelling before you write anything down.

 Your C.V. : (curriculum vitae = life story) This should be aimed at making you look attractive to your prospective employer. Given that your application may one among thousands you will want it to stand out. These days CVs are normally composed on a word-processor; gone are the days when they had to be done in your best copperplate! Use a good wide border, leave white space between sections, use bold type to begin sub-sections and bullet points to set out lists of qualifications and the like. Try to keep the whole thing within two sheets of A4, print it single-sided in at least 12 point Times or Ariel type to make it easy to read, use a decent quality paper (not cheap copy paper or coloured stuff) and again - spell-check it !!  You need to set out the following:

* Personal details: Give your name and address followed by your home phone number, mobile number and e-mail address. If you don't have an Anglo-Saxon name it is a good idea to make it clear whether you are a man or a woman by putting Mr/Ms/Mrs in front of your name; it saves any embarrassment later!

* Education: You can probably skimp on listing your GCSE passes (unless they're all you've got or you are a school leaver) as they can look a bit silly coming from a grown adult - a bit like listing your Cycling Proficiency Test and swimming certificates! Give more prominence to your A-level results, emphasising things that might be of interest to a TOC, such as any business, engineering or transport related courses you have taken. Then move on to any Degrees, again giving prominence to anything especially relevant. Finally, mention industrial training courses taken, commercial qualifications and training qualifications such as D32, C25, NEBOSH, H&S and the like; companies are very interested in these.

* Previous Employment: Start with your current job and work backwards, including part-time work. List employers, addresses, dates employed, locations and positions held. Again mention anything a TOC might find interesting, such as whether you worked in a public-facing role, retail, food service, or did safety-critical work. If you are used to irregular shifts, night work or to working weekends, say so.

* Interests: You want to look like a well-rounded personality here, easy to get on with but not too bumptious and outgoing - that has recognised safety implications for train driving. Contrary to the received wisdom, being a railway enthusiast is fine as long as you don't come across as a total anorak. For Train Drivers' positions TOCs need calm, steady and responsible individuals who don't take risks: listing you hobbies as 'scuba-diving, mountaineering, parachuting and touring beer festivals might not be a good idea! Try something like 'gardening, walking, theatre and computers' instead.

* Other Skills: A TOC would probably like you to be computer-literate, able to use word-processors etc. Also, if you have first-aid skills or fire training it would be worth mentioning them. Likewise foreign languages and whether you have a car, bus or HGV driving licence.

* Getting to Work: Ironically, people who are reliant on public transport aren't much good to public transport operators because of the need to get to and from work in the small hours when public transport isn't running. If you have a car and can get in at any hour you should mention this. Likewise if you live near the depot at which you are hoping to be based or are prepared to move house you should make this clear. It's also a good idea to mention that you are willing to move around to pursue promotional opportunities if this is relevant. Some TOCs specify a maximum distance or travelling time (commonly 30 minutes) that you can live from your depot, so be ready to field this question at your company interview. Some TOCs won't even give you an interview unless they know you already live close to one of their depots.

* If You Are Already a Train Driver: You will have to fill out a Transfer of Safety-Critical Information form as illustrated in Appendix D of the RGS Approved Code of Practice - Train Driving (click here for the links) - it's on page 59. This is evidence of your safety-critical work record and will be sent to you after your initial contact with the company. Your existing TOC is also obliged by RGS to pass on certain details (Appendix E - on page 61) about your existing safety record to your new employer. (Your Driver Manager will probably already have experience of this process so you could ask). Mention your existing route and traction knowledge together with anything relevant to the job, such as whether you have experience as a supervisor, instructor or have any qualifications like D32, C25 or Health & Safety. If you have a good safety-of-line record (lack of SPADs & station over runs) and such like, say so; also if you have a good attendance record. If you are applying to move between a main line TOC and a metro or underground company or vice-versa (or from abroad) your existing driver's qualifications will not be transferable. Nevertheless, a lot of people selected from elsewhere for assessment end up failing the psychometric tests or the medical. So, point out that you have already passed the psychometric tests (if you took them) and that you are currently medically fit for train driving - it should give you an edge. State what period of notice you have to give your current employer before you can leave. This can be a problem these days, although TOCs will often come to an arrangement between themselves, especially if your leaving does them a favour, such as if your depot is over-compliment.

* If You Have Been a Train Driver in the Past: If you have left the industry or been made redundant very recently your competencies will be valid for up to six months. If you apply to another TOC during this period you will be counted as being currently qualified. After that you go 'out of competency' and will be liable for some degree of refresher training. This state of affairs will persist for up to five years (see page 16-17 of the RGS) provided you can show evidence of your past qualifications. After that you will be considered as a new applicant and will require full re-training. This being the case it would be a good idea to try to obtain a copy of your documentation before you leave your old TOC in the first place - you might want it again one day, though your employer should retain it for five years anyway.

* If You Are a Foreign Train Driver: You must have the right to live and work in Britain and have a good standard of written and spoken English. Foreign train driving qualifications are not recognised on Network Rail or vice-versa. To drive trains in Britain you need a Certificate of Competence to drive trains on Network Rail infrastructure which can only be obtained in the employment of a British TOC. There are moves to introduce some sort of inter-available licence within the EU but this seems some way off - if it ever happens. So, all a foreign qualification does is to give you an advantage in the application process as it gives an employer some confidence that you are up to the job if they take you on. Once engaged you will have to go through the training process from scratch just like any new trainee. Rare as this pathway is to becoming a driver there are some people who have done this, mainly Dutch drivers working in south-east England.

* What You Don't Need to Mention: Political inclination, age, trade union activity, opinions about privatisation, religion, marital status or sexual orientation. You don't need to send a photograph either (unless asked).

Getting a Reply: You will, of course, hope for a fairly rapid answer to your application, or a least an acknowledgement that the TOC has received it. Unfortunately things don't work that way and some people report waiting many months for a reply. You must understand that when train companies advertise externally for Trainee Train Drivers they often get THOUSANDS of responses. Once they've got the office door open and found their desk under the pile of mail it then takes someone five minutes to open each letter, scan to see what job is being applied for, grab a standard letter, stuff it in an envelope, address it by hand, chuck it in the 'Mail Out' tray, then file the application. That's eighty-three hours work for someone just to acknowledge a thousand applications! And all that is before they actually start to read the applications properly, assess them and sort them into piles of 'Yes', 'No' & 'Maybe'. Given this, I suggest you enclose a stamped, addressed postcard for acknowledgement or else send your application 'Recorded Signed For' from a Post Office so that someone has to sign for receipt. That way at least you know they received it and you can check this by 'Track & Trace' on the Royal Mail website. After that, patience is called for..... patience.

What are my Chances?  Quite honestly, lousy, unless you've really got the staying power to achieve your goal. It breaks down something like this: When a TOC advertises for external applicants they get an average of 317 hopefuls for each train driving job. 106 will not even bother to pursue their own application, probably because the TOC has left it for so long that they have either lost interest or grown old and died. 146 get chopped by Personnel in the first sift (Hey, Joe, come and see what this pillock's written!!) before invitations are sent out, leaving only sixty-five. Of these another twenty-two will not bother to respond despite being invited to the assessment centre.... you can see how half-hearted a lot of your 'competition' is! Of the forty-three remaining, twenty-six will fail the assessments; a little more than half. The only reason the failure rate isn't higher at this stage is that most of the real dead-beats have already dropped out. Seven more will quit before the final stage (why, having got this far?). Six fail at the final interview and two more drop out before the medical, probably because they realise that some previously undisclosed condition or bad reference is going to be picked up. That leaves just two candidates to trouble BUPA of whom one will fall at the final hurdle. So, what do you reckon your chances are of being the last man standing out of that lot? Sadistically, even if you pass all this it doesn't necessarily mean that they are actually going to offer you the job.... and they can keep you hanging on for months waiting for a decision... and then they can change their mind....

Try Again.... In the words of Clive Newton, a senior partner at Korn/Ferry, a leading recruitment consultancy. “Recruitment is a rejection process. If I'm recruiting in a good time, I may get 100 applicants for a job; now I'm getting 1,000 and have to reject 999. One of the helpful things is just to understand the statistics. The people who are best equipped to deal with a downturn are those who can say, ‘I'm rejected, but I don't feel rejected'. Those for whom, no, no, no', doesn't put them off.”  'Understand the statistics'... quite! The sheer numbers applying for so few positions mean that even if you are eminently suitable it remains highly likely that you will be passed over the first or second time around. So its important to remember that being crowded out by the mass of applicants should not be taken personally. Have another go...!!

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PSYCHOMETRIC TESTING, INTERVIEW & ASSESSMENT     (Top)  

Many thanks to Alan for much of the information in this section.

Some information on Train Driver selection and psychometric testing standards will be found in the following documents:
Train Driver Selection  - (3751).
Recommendations for Train Movement - Staff Suitability and Fitness Requirements - (3561). 
Psychometric Testing - A Review of the Train Driver Selection Process 
These rules are laid down by the RSSB which the TOCs abide by - but may exceed. If these documents get moved so that the above links will not work click here and search for the document you want using the numbers given in brackets above.

If you are short listed on the basis of your written application you will be invited for...

• Psychometric Testing

• Manager Interview

• Structured Interview

• Medical

They like to do the assessments in this order because this is the order of probability in which candidates are likely to fail - so it minimises the number they need to bother with at the next stage. If the interviews take place on the same day as the psychometric tests they will probably take place after lunch when those who have failed the psychometric tests have been sent home. However, these things may take place at different locations, so don't be surprised if the whole process is spread over three or four days. Because of this the stages may also not take place in the sequence listed here. 

Psychometric tests to assess your suitability for driver training are carried out either by the TOCs themselves or at specialist independent centres. Those I aware of are at:  Basingstoke (South West Trains); Birmingham (London Midland Trains); Cardiff (Arriva Trains Wales); Crewe (Virgin Trains); Crewe (Competence & Compliance); Derby (Catalis Rail Training / Sloan Shrago); Doncaster (EWS); Glasgow (First Scot Rail); London (South Eastern Trains); London (ITAC); Manchester (Northern); Newport (First Great Western); Southend (c2c); Knollys House, East Croydon (Southern); Stratford (ONE) and Watford (OPC). 

The test administrator will welcome you and provide you with all the materials required for the tests (paper, pens instructions etc). Before each module (whether computerised or paper) you will be given the chance to work through some examples. The administrator will check you have answered the sample questions correctly, and if you haven't, will explain again what is required. Always make sure you understand what you are supposed to be doing in each test. Once the test starts the administrator cannot give you any assistance. The content and sequence of these tests will vary depending on the testing centre used but consists of four parts and will be along these lines:

First is a Mechanical Comprehension Test (MT4) which is designed to assess your understanding of basic mechanical principles, essential for the traction training you will receive as a Trainee Driver. You will be given a question booklet and an answer sheet (Virgin send out a practice booklet about a week before). The booklet will contain about thirty-six multiple-choice questions, and you are given eighteen minutes to answer as many of them as possible. The questions take the form of diagrams of mechanical structures and you are asked a question about each diagram. For example, a diagram might show four cogs and the question may be "If cog 'A' moves anti-clockwise, which way will cog 'C' move?" You are marked on both speed and accuracy so work as quickly as you can but only as fast as you can think.  If you aren't sure about a particular question leave it and move on to the next; if you have time you can always come back to it. In this test you must achieve a fixed percentage of correct answers to progress. Don't worry if you aren't that mechanically minded, many of the questions are more a matter of logic rather than mechanics and you can just work them out! I understand that a book called Mechanical & Spatial Relations Tests by Joel Wiensen is a useful guide to these tests and has sample papers. Available from www.amazon.co.uk/ , the ISBN is 0-7641-2340-8. (Thanks to Steve for this tip). I have heard that at least one TOC has dropped this test as they found they too many people who would have made perfectly good drivers were failing it. 

Second is the Trainability for Rules & Procedures (TRP) Test which is a pen & paper exercise consisting of two parts. This test is designed to assess your ability to learn new information and recall that information. The first part is a comprehension test in which you listen to a tape about a train driving related topic, read a long-ish passage on the same subject and are then given about five minutes to make notes. Be sure to write down the key points; it is a proven fact that information remains in your head longer if you write things down! After having about five minutes to study your own notes and the write-up they will be collected by the administrator and you will be given a question booklet and answer sheet. There will be around eighteen multiple-choice questions to answer about the subject you have just heard and read about. Each question has four possible answers and you have seven minutes to answer the questions. Typically, one answer is obviously wrong but two others will be pretty nearly right, so you need to tread carefully. The second part of the test is more complicated and is basically it is a 'logic' assessment. You will be given a booklet which contains, for example, a series of printed dials, and you will be given instructions as to what to do when the dials point to particular positions. Everything is multiple choice and you have eight minutes to do about forty of these exercises, so you have to work very fast. A variation on the TRP that you might encounter is the Rules Acquisition Aptitude Test (RAAT). This is very similar to the TRP except that instead of an audio tape you only read passages of information similar to the sort of rules and procedures you would encounter on the railway and then answer multiple choice questions about them. All these tests are quite complicated, but once you understand the logic behind them (and make sure you do understand from the administrator) you should be ok.

Third is the Concentration or Group Bourdon Test - 'the infamous dots'. This test measures your ability to maintain concentration while doing a repetitive task. It may be pen & paper or done on computer depending on the test centre. You see five pages or screens each with 25 columns. They contain patterns of three, four, five and six dots and you've got to cross out patterns of four. Every two minutes the tester says 'change' and you must move on to the next page or screen. Ten minutes of solid concentration. The point is to work as quickly and accurately as possible. This is one of those things that  sounds as if it ought to be simple, but more people fail this test than anything else. A variation on the GBT which you may encounter with some companies (notably Virgin) is the Safe Concentration & Attention Test (SCAAT). This is in three parts of three pages each, one minute each for each part. The first is similar to the GBT in that you have to find and cross out a target shape among the three pages of various shapes. Next, you have to find and cross out two target shapes at the same time. In the last part you not only look for target shape on each of the three pages but also look for a shape that changes on each line; i.e. you have to do two things at once. An application which simulates the Group Bourdon Test has been created by someone who has done the test. The tool incorporates the SCAAT system too - both on-screen and in printed form so you can now practice for both tests prior to assessment. It allows you to see what is required and to hone your skills for the big day!  Many thanks to Chris Gresham for creating this tool; you can download it free from here. 

Fourth is the Fast Reaction & Co-Ordination Test. You will be allocated a computer with a monitor, keyboard, a pair of headphones and a set of foot pedals. When the test starts you will see a series of five flashing colours appear on the screen and you must press the appropriate coloured key on the keyboard when you see each one. At the same time, you will hear through the headphones a series of high and low pitched sounds and you must press the appropriate button (clearly marked HI and LO) on the keyboard. As if that wasn't enough, you will also see yellow boxes appearing at the bottom left and right of the screen when you must press the appropriate (left or right) foot pedal. You get two practice runs then two six minute tests. During the first test the stimuli speed up twice during the course of the test. As the colours and sounds speed up, you will get lost - everyone does. The point is to see how far you get and how you recover. Do not just hit out at anything in the hope of catching up; you will lose points for pressing incorrect buttons. Simply pause for a while, compose yourself, then try and pick the test up again where you're at. In the second test you respond to the stimuli at your own pace for the full six minutes. Be warned though - you can't just idle along slowly, you have to go as fast as you can manage or you will fail. Both tests are marked on speed and accuracy. People who have failed and re-taken this test report that playing computer games like Tetris or Space Invaders for some time beforehand can be very helpful. (You can download these sorts of games from various shareware websites). A toy called 'Bop-It' is also strongly recommended as a preparation for this test. Available from www.amazon.co.uk/ of from toy shops at about £20.

The Manager Interview.  This is a conventional job interview, probably with an operations manager and a drivers' depot manager. They will ask you why you want to join the company, why you think you would be good at the job you are applying for and how you think you would fit in. Make sure you have done your homework about the company, its activities, geographical range, depot structure, parent company etc. because you're bound to be asked about it. You can hardly apply to Southern and then ask if they run services to places like Peterborough and Oxford or whether they run freight trains! They may also ask you questions such as "What have you done in your current job that has involved using co-ordination?; If I asked your employer what they think of you, what would they say?; If I asked your mother what she thought of you, what would she say? or Would you be able to cope if someone decide to jump in front of the train you were driving?" 

The Structured Interview will probably come next. This is an interview conducted according to laid down guidelines to maintain fairness and non-discrimination and will probably be given by a couple of people from the Personnel Department.

Before the interview starts you will be given a form to complete which will ask you to write a brief description of some experiences you have had. For example "Describe a time when you had to cope in an emergency. Give an example of when you have worked as part of a team. When have you had to use procedures? How did you use the procedures? Where did you learn these procedures? Have you been in an emergency situation before? What did you do? Have you ever done a training course that lasted more than two weeks and what was it? What was your biggest achievement on that course? Why do you think this was your biggest achievement? Have you ever had to deal with a big problem? How did you solve it? Have you ever had to work for long periods of time on your own?  How long at a time?" 

After about twenty-five minutes the interviewer will take this form and, during the interview, ask you to expand on your brief descriptions. A lot of supplementary questions will be along the lines of "How did you feel about this?" This interview will last about an hour. The questions may be extremely detailed and probing, so make sure you use examples of things which you don't mind discussing and can be honest about.

If you fail your Trainee Driver's Assessment you must wait at least six months before you can re-take it. If you fail twice you will not be considered further by any company - ever. A large part of the point of these tests is to see if you can do them, not whether you can learn to do them by repetition, which would be a rather different thing. The various testing centres share records, so one will know straight away if you have already failed the tests elsewhere - they aren't that thick! If you failed on only one part of the tests the first time around you will have to take the whole series again on your second try (note: The RSSB does not in fact require this but most TOCs seem to insist upon it). If you passed it used to be that you were required to begin training within one year or you would have to do the assessment again, however that has now changed somewhat. The Railway Group Standard has been amended such that the results of drivers' psychometric tests may be regarded as valid for a period of 5 years from the date of assessment, unless the individual has had a significant life event  that may have caused a decrease in cognitive ability (serious illness, accident etc.). This may be applied retrospectively to applicants assessed since 1st July 2004. However, you should understand that although the RGS allows tests to be counted as valid for up to five years there is no reason why a TOC cannot impose a more restrictive limit. E-mails I have received indicate that some companies will only accept tests as valid for two or three years.

There is a certain amount of dissatisfaction in the industry with the current psychometric assessment techniques and, to those of us who have been involved in driver training, the reasons aren't hard to fathom. I have seen many people who appear eminently fit to become train drivers unable to progress because they have not been able to pass the psychometrics. Equally, there have been a significant number of conductors who are very obviously unsuitable but who have been allowed to go forward for training simply because they have passed the tests. Some of these have then failed the driving assessments, but only after much time and expense. Worse still, some have passed and then their shortcomings have manifested themselves in a string of safety-of-line incidents, often resulting in their being sacked or taken out of the driving grade.

Because of this there are indications that a new system may be introduced. It is still very much at the development stage but it would probably be better aligned with the practical realities of train driving, perhaps using some kind of simulator. It is also suggested that, though the new system would still have the 'two-strikes-and-your-out' element, past failures under the existing system might not be taken into account. Maybe.

I mentioned above that the components of the tests and interviews are not necessarily conducted in the order listed. People have complained to me that they have started on the psychometric tests but have not been allowed to finish them before being rejected, despite the fact that they have not actually failed any of the psychometric elements. This can be listed as a psychometric 'fail' which is really tough given that you only have two shots at this and may want to try elsewhere. The problem is that the TOCs are very inward looking and look no further than the context of your immediate job application, particularly as they are paying for the process. It doesn't seem to occur to them that you might have a wider interest in the outcome and ownership of your test results beyond the immediate job you are applying for. For this reason I now strongly advise you to pay to put yourself through the psychometric tests. Not only will you be sure to finish them all but there is then no doubt about your ownership of your own results and it should give you an edge in applying for a job. It costs around £170 to £200 but is well worth the investment if you're serious about this. One of the firms that does these tests is CCL at Crewe. Alternatively you can click here for information about how to go through the tests with EWS at their at Doncaster assessment centre, just outside the station. (Thanks to Jon for this tip). I have had good reports about EWS in this regard; good at getting back to clients, answering questions and giving a choice of dates. 

Training yourself: Some people have asked me if it is possible to pay to put yourself through the whole driver training course. The answer is 'no'. The British railway industry is not structured like the airlines where individuals can pay to have themselves trained as pilots at various private flight schools before applying to the airlines for a job. All driver training courses are run by the TOCs using their own instructors, trains and facilities purely for the training of their own staff; outsiders can't pay to tag along. The fact that there is no private training system external to the TOCs means that it is effectively impossible to train as a driver unless you have actually got a driver's job to train for in the first place. This is probably just as well really as the cost of the course would likely be well over £60,000 - plus several months of your time during which you would not get paid!

                                        Haymarket to Edinburgh                                            Birmingham to London in 5 minutes

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MEDICAL STANDARDS   (Top) 

As with the psychometric tests, the sixth part of your torment, the medical examinations, are not carried out by the Train Operators themselves but at independent Occupational Health Centres such as those run by BUPA. The minimum standards themselves are laid down by Railway Safety & Standards, although in theory there is nothing to prevent TOCs imposing more stringent standards providing the minima are met. 

Some information on medical standards will be found in the following document:
Recommendations for Train Movement - Staff Suitability and Fitness Requirements - (3451). 
If this document gets moved so that the above link will not work click here and search for the document you want using the number given in brackets above.

General requirements are:

* Although height limits are not laid down in Railway Group Standards some TOCs will impose their own limits.    Ideally, your height should be between 5' 4" and 6' 4" - so that you fit the cab control desks!

* You must be generally fit (in the sense of healthy) and not grossly overweight. Body Mass Index (click here to calculate yours) should not normally exceed 33, however, the doctor may exercise discretion where there is no medical abnormality and mobility is not impaired. BMI should ideally not exceed 28 on entry.

* You must have normal hearing in both ears with no more than 30dB hearing loss averaged over frequencies 0.5, 1 and 2kHz. This is tested by playing various sound frequencies into headphones in a sound-proof booth. Provided this minimum is met without a hearing aid, a hearing aid may be used to improve hearing further.

* You must have no history of blackouts, epilepsy, sudden loss of balance, co-ordination or any significant limitation of mobility etc.

* You will be subject to diabetes (urine), Electroencardiogram (heart) and blood pressure tests.

* Be in no doubt that you WILL be screened for evidence of illegal drug use, including cannabis (and it would be a good idea to stay off alcohol the night before, just to be on the safe side).
 

The Railway Group Standard eyesight requirements are as follows:

Train driving is not permitted by persons who have lost the sight of an eye or have defective colour vision. Colour vision must be assessed 'normal' as defined by the requirements of the Ishihara Plates test - left . (You will have to ask your optician what 'normal' means in this context as this is outside my competence).

Visual Acuity Requirements are:

Distance vision shall be at least 6/9 in the better eye and 6/12 in the other eye with spectacle OR contact lenses if worn. Uncorrected visual acuity shall be at least 3/60 in each eye (This means that there is a limit as to how bad your eyesight can be even with glasses). Near vision shall be at least N8, with spectacles or contact lenses if worn. No pathological condition of the eyes likely to cause visual impairment shall be present. Bi-focal spectacles are permitted but photo-chromatic and vari-focal lenses are prohibited. Your optician should be able to advise you as to whether you meet these standards. You must not have had laser surgery to correct vision* (see below).

Contact lenses are permitted provided that the wearer has demonstrated that the lenses can be tolerated in place for the duration of the complete turn of duty of the maximum rostered length and that the nature of the work and the working environment is suitable for the wearing of contact lenses. Also a pair of spectacles correcting visual acuity to 6/9, 6/12 must be carried while at work. If contact lenses are worn, assessments of visual acuity shall be made without lenses in place, with them in place and with spectacles of equivalent prescription. It should be noted that some individual TOCs do not allow contact lenses - as I said above, they can impose more stringent criteria than the RGS-specified minimum. I suspect that this is because TOCs have an obligation to check that eyesight correction is being worn periodically and it is hard to check just by looking that contact lenses are being worn.

The foregoing notwithstanding, there is anecdotal evidence that some TOCs will NOT accept you into the driving grade if you wear glasses - though you won't lose you job if you need them in later years.

Any glasses you are prescribed must be worn on duty and you must carry a spare pair with you at all times. Sunglasses must meet BS EN 1836, shade 2.5 or better. The use of sunglasses other than those provided by your employer may prohibited by your TOC and you will need to enquire.

Please note that medical standards applying on Heritage Railways may be different to the above. As a matter of interest, driving steam locomotives while wearing glasses is now permitted, but goggles must be worn over them.

* In response to a number of e-mails I have received concerning this matter I have made my own enquiries (in mid-2004) about the reasons for this requirement, particularly because some people are of that the opinion that they may be being subject to unjustified discrimination in this matter. I am given to understand that "This kind of surgery may be associated with late complications and deterioration of vision that develop within the intervals set for driver periodic medical examinations.  The situation is currently under review in the light of recent advances of surgical technique, as well as new information about the incidence of complications."  I am told that "It is likely that new procedures and control measures will be introduced to permit individuals to satisfy the vision standard for train drivers following certain surgical procedures."

The RSSB issued a document in 2005 (RS/503 - although the document is now defunct) which "Gives guidance to help train operators make decisions when applicants for employment, or existing staff, report that they have undergone laser eye surgery". It also "outlines the principle treatment methods currently available and the possible short- and long-term implications of laser surgery". The document was issued because the draft EU Conventional Rail Technical Standards for Interoperability (TSI) Traffic Operations & Management document will permit laser eye surgery for train drivers, subject to an annual examination or to a periodicity defined by the occupational doctor. It sounds as though the change will mainly be of benefit to new entrants who have already successfully had the surgery. 

Since then the RGS document mentioned at the start of this section now gives some guidance on dealing with people with laser eye surgery. I do not know how TOCs are implementing this.

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AGE LIMITS   (Top) 

The minimum age for a train driver on Network Rail lines is 21; 18 on the London Underground or for employment wholly within depot confines. Remember that these are only legal minimums; the way the industry works these days means you will probably be well above these ages before you get a driving job. There is no longer an upper age limit for entry, but training drivers is expensive and TOCs will want to get value for their investment. It is unlikely that many firms will consider you much past fifty, although I have heard of people being accepted as late as fifty-five.

Technically, there is no maximum age for driving provided you continue to pass the medicals. If you are starting as a Conductor the minimum age on entry is 18 because it is a safety critical job and you will be handling cash. Even if your first job on the trains is on the refreshment trolley the minimum age is still 18 because you will be handling cash and selling alcohol!

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TRAINING   (Top) - Many of the links in this section had become broken and have now been repaired

Before going any further I suggest you download and save the following:

Train Driver Selection  - (3751).
Good Practice for Train Driver Training - (RS22). NEW! - well worth reading.
Approved Code of Practice for Train Driving - (3551). This document is now defunct but is worth reading. 
Train Movement - Staff Suitability and Fitness Requirements - (3451).
Recommendations for Train Movement - Staff Suitability and Fitness Requirements - (3561). 

This Railway Group Standard are issued by the RSSB and mandate training and safety requirements for train drivers and the managers. Annoyingly, these documents are regularly moved so that the above links will not work. When this happens click here and search for the document you want using the numbers given in brackets above).

You will probably also want to download copies of the various parts of the Network Rail Rule Book (You really need broadband for this). 

If you pass all the tests, the interviews, the medical and you get the job (and remember that whatever you hear on the grapevine you haven't actually got the job until you've got the letter in your hand!), there around seven to nine months of training and examinations ahead of you, plus route learning, before you get to drive trains on your own.

BR was always deeply reluctant to spend money on training facilities and their schools were often housed in decrepit old buildings.  No one who went there can fail to remember such appalling places as Crewe or Waterloo South Side, with rain coming through the roof and chalk-dust on every surface. One of the benefits of privatisation is that many TOCs have opened shiny new training academies with proper facilities, audio-visual training aids and usually a canteen. You can expect to be in a small class of about twelve trainees. You should approach your training in a sober and professional manner. Train companies cut long service staff a lot of slack but not newbies. They are pretty strict in the way they conduct their Driver Training Courses and you will be expected to turn up in good time each day, be well dressed, have all the materiel you need and get back from lunch punctually. You will generally not be allowed leave whilst training - so any holidays you may have booked before landing your new job will fall by the wayside. Err... you did take out holiday cancellation insurance, didn't you?
 

             Train driving consists of four main components:

                      1. Knowledge of Rules & Regulations

                2. Knowledge of Traction

                3. Train Handling

                4. Knowledge of Routes

The system of training naturally reflects this. Rules, traction and train handling are the three main parts of the course proper. The fourth, route learning, will certainly be touched on during training (especially if you happen to do your Handling Training over routes you will be working as a driver) but most of which only takes place after you have passed out. The training today is mostly based on the Driver 2000 course which replaced the old MP12 and revolves around the Network Rail Rule Book. There are moves afoot to introduce a National Standard drivers' course along the lines of the S/NVQ which will result in the award of a Train Driver's Certificate of Competence. (Oddly, train drivers do not have licences as such, their qualifications are just kept on file by their employers. However the EU has plans to introduce a licence, if it ever happens).

The exact training schedule will vary from one company to another but will look something like this, spread over seven months:

Week 1 - Will cover TOC information and policy and give you an overview of the Driver Training Course. You will also be issued with all the publications and training materiel you will need.

This is followed by Personal Track Safety (PTS) training based on Section G2 (Personal Safety) of the Rule Book:

Here you learn the essentials of managing your safety when working on or near the line. One of the first things is to learn are the names of the various parts of the railway - lineside, cess, four-foot, six-foot, ten-foot, refuge etc. Then you need to learn how to use high-visibility clothing, what lineside signs mean, what constitutes a position of safety, know how to ascertain the line speed, from which direction trains can approach on each track and how to contact the Signaller. You learn where you should and shouldn’t walk, which direction to face, what Limited Clearance signs mean, how often to check for approaching trains and what to do when they appear. Even though train drivers don’t get directly involved with how engineering staff set up safe systems of working during engineering work you will still need to learn about Green Zones and Red Zones, Controllers of Site Safety (COSS), Site Wardens and Lookouts. There will be overhead (Section AC) and third-rail electrification (Section DC) systems to learn about. You need to know what the various components are called, how to behave in an electrified environment, how to contact the Electrical Control Operator, get the current turned off and deal with emergencies involving electrification equipment.

After all this you will pass out on PTS. It is essential to do this first so that you can go out on the track. Train drivers do not have individual PTS cards as the qualification is included in the Train Driver's Certificate of Competence. Additionally, some companies may give you training in first-aid and fire fighting.


Weeks 2 to 5 - An Introduction to Railway Operations. You will be briefed by a Driver Manager, be instructed on cab etiquette and be given a Trainee’s Log Book. This book details your work on the course and will be maintained by your instructors and yourself. For about three days each week you will undertake cabs rides with senior drivers to familiarise you with your future working environment. There will be visits to a Power Signal Box and a Mechanical Signal Box to see how Signallers work, probably also a visit to your TOC Control Room. You will also be shown around a Train Maintenance Depot and look at the work of depot drivers.

Weeks 6 to 9 - Core Rules. This is a complex and intensive four weeks in which you need to get to grips with the Rule Book and associated publications.

Rule Book Sections to be studied (not necessarily in this order) will include:

Section G1 - General Safety Responsibility

This section deals with such as Drugs & Alcohol* policy , medical fitness, publications, clothing, going onto the lineside, walking routes, how to stop trains in an emergency, cab etiquette and cab passes, your responsibilities if there is an accident, fire or security alert. You will be taught about making clear, safety-critical communications; what it is you need to say, how to come to a clear understanding with others and learn the phonetic alphabet. You may practice communications in simulated exercises. * The railway alcohol limit is only 29mg per 100ml of blood as against the road limit of 80mg.

This section also deals with Dangerous Goods Incidents. Although you will only work trainloads of dangerous goods if you are a freight train driver all drivers need to have an understanding of how Dangerous Goods are identified and what to do in the event of an accident involving them.

Section S - Signals

Section S1 explains what the various Fixed Signals look like and what they mean. It covers semaphore, colour light and multiple-aspect signals; subsidiary signals, Stop Boards, Marker Boards, route indicators and nomenclature. You may also at this point be introduced to Lineside Signs: There are many types of signage in use including speed restrictions, bridge plates, electrification and Limited Clearance warnings; mileposts, gradient posts, Sandite and low adhesion markers; radio channel boards, Neutral Sections, Rail Gaps, AWS, Whistle boards and various signal post plates.

Section S2 concerns Observing & Obeying Fixed Signals. This involves your general duties, how to react to stop signals, shunt signals, yard exit signals, and how to handle failure and unusual situations.

Section S3 describes Train Protection Warning Systems – TPWS & AWS. This is a system which sounds a bell in the cab at green signals and a horn at yellow and red signals. The horn has to be cancelled by the driver within 5 seconds or else the brakes will apply and stop the train automatically.  You also to learn about the track equipment and the various lineside signs that concern AWS. You also learn about the Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS) that overlays and works in conjunction with AWS at many critical signals. This is basically a system that stops the train should a danger signal be approached too fast or if the signal is passed at danger. Again, there are various items of lineside equipment to know about, such as Train Stop and Overspeed loops. Then there is the train-borne equipment and cab indications and controls. You will learn about what to do when TPWS intervenes and about how to use it in degraded working conditions as well as what to do when it fails.

Section S4 deals with what a driver is to do when a train is detained out-of-course at signals. You learn about using Signal Post Telephones (SPTs), National Radio Network (NRN) communication, Cab Secure Radio (CSR), and about going to signal boxes to report a detained train. Soon you will be learning about the new digital Global System for Mobile Communications -Railway (GSM-R) radio system too. You will learn about the various signs that appear on signals and how they regulate what you need to do in communicating with the Signaller. As usual there will be extensive discussion about what to do during degraded situations and when equipment fails.

Section S5 deals with the many situations in which you might legitimately pass a signal at danger. This could happen during engineering work, because of a signal or track circuit failure, to assist a failed train, to examine the line, during pilot working, single line working or for many other reasons. You will need to understand what to do, how to control your train and what speeds to run at during these degraded, commonplace and potentially dangerous situations.

This section will also cover Temporary Block Working when the normal signal equipment is out of use. Working with handsignallers will be discussed as will passing a signal at danger on your own authority and what happens when signals are passed at danger without authority (SPADs). There will also be a section on SPAD awareness training - something you will constantly briefed on throughout your career. Because of the criticalities involved you will be expected to come to a very thorough understanding of the issues and procedures involved.


Section TS - Train Signalling

After looking at the signals themselves you will go on to how trains are signalled. Rule Book modules TS1 to TS7 are not issued to train drivers but instead you will be taught about the principles of the various block systems in a more general sense.

Absolute Block (i.e. semaphore & colour light signalling). Here you learn about Stop, Distant, Shunt and Subsidiary signals; what they look like and what they mean; bracket and gantry signals and how they route trains. You look at signal control, interlocking, how signal boxes work to each other and the purpose of block instruments. You’ll learn the meaning of Station Limits, Block Sections and how trains are signalled along the line in both normal and degraded working conditions. You also learn about Intermediate Block Sections and colour light signals - not to be confused with multiple-aspect signals.


Multiple Aspect Signalling You need to understand the meaning and application of two, three and four-aspect signals, subsidiary signals and how they are controlled from Power Signal Boxes. Also how trains transition between three- and four-aspect areas and between multiple-aspect and semaphore areas. We discuss track circuits, overlaps, axle-counters and how multiple-aspect signals divide the track into Signal Sections. We learn about how Controlled, Automatic and Semi-Automatic signals work, how they are differ from each other, their purpose and the rules involved with each type. You learn about Route Indicators, Theatre Indicators and flashing yellow aspects approaching diverging junctions. Then there are signals more rarely encountered such as repeater, co-acting, limit-of-shunt, SPAD indicators, and ‘off’ indicators. Again, the working of these systems during normal and degraded working will be discussed at length.

Also considered is how single lines are worked under the various systems. In the future there will be the new European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS, also at Wiki) of signalling to learn about.

One section that is issued to Drivers is Section TS8 which deals with Level Crossings - see next section (TW8).

Section TW - Train Working

Section TW1 is a long section which looks at the preparation and movement of trains in general. This covers such matters as booking on and off, the equipment and publications you need to have with you and the reading of and signing for notices. You will learn about route and traction knowledge requirements and about coupling and uncoupling of vehicles. One section covers the classification and speed of trains and another deals with communications and communication equipment. You learn about external train lights, hauling dead vehicles, travelling in driving cabs, carrying out running brake tests, when to sound the horn, what to do when there are people on the line, use of the Driver’s Reminder Appliance (DRA), the stopping of trains en-route, gradients, fog, falling snow, station duties, working of doors, re-starting the train and what to do at the end of the journey. There will be a section on what to do during low adhesion conditions. You also learn about what to do during Permissive Working (i.e. when more than one train can be in the platform), propelling movements and examination of the line.

Section TW2 deals with matters relating specifically to the working of multiple-unit passenger trains: Before entering service, power doors, door defects, brake systems & defects, working in snow, platform equipment, stopping at stations, overrunning stations and coupling & uncoupling.

Section TW3 deals with the working of locomotive hauled trains, which these days is mostly freight trains. It covers light locomotives, train preparation, brakes systems, doors, starting and stopping passenger trains, coupling locomotives and assisting trains.

Section TW5 (there is no TW4) is an important and lengthy section covering defective train equipment. This involves such things as defective speedometers, TPWS, horns, windscreen-wipers, doors, door controls, lights, buzzers, radios, sanders, DRAs, tilt systems, Track Circuit Activators (TCAs) broken windows, brake isolations etc. You also look at what happens when you need to use the Emergency By-Pass Switch (EBS) on multiple-unit trains and at how to deal with hot axle-boxes.

Section TW6 looks at how single lines are signalled under the various systems and will probably be dealt with when you are learning about signalling systems generally.

Section TW7 looks at how Wrong Direction Movements are made. You might make these if you overrun a platform, after taking a wrong route, when the line is obstructed or during an exceptional incident.

Section TW8 is concerned with Level Crossings and should be read in conjunction with Section TS8. Here you learn about how Manned Barriers, Automatic Half Barrier (AHB), Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) crossings and various sub-types work and how you behave towards them. You consider approach speeds, Wrong Direction controls and the handsignalling of crossing during failure situations.


Section SS - Station Working and Shunting

Section SS1 is concerned with station duties and train dispatch: Who is in charge, platform equipment, opening of doors, barrow crossings, safety of passengers, retrieving articles fallen on the track and giving the driver authority to start the train from staffed and unstaffed stations.

Section SS2 deals with shunting in yards and siding: Working of points, yard signals, stop boards, ground frames and the control and making of movements. You will also learn about yard staff, cleaners, fitters and shunters and how to communicate and work with them. Then there is the matter of shunting handsignals both by day and night. Coupling and un-coupling of vehicles and units will be dealt with as will working through wash plants and movements within depot buildings and at fuel-points.


Section SP - Permissible Speeds and Speed Restrictions

This section deals normal linespeed restrictions: how to find out about them in publications and the various ways in which they are indicated at the lineside. Differential speed restrictions will also be looked at.

You next learn about how Temporary Speed Restrictions are imposed, notified and withdrawn. You will be taught about weekly and monthly notices and about the function of the Late Notice Case at your depot. Also what the various speed boards look like, how they are laid out and how to react to them. Unusual situations will also be covered such as speed restrictions beyond diverging junctions, restrictions within restrictions and differential restrictions. Failure situations will also be dealt with such as what happens when boards are missing.

Finally you look at what happens when it is necessary to impose a speed restriction without previous notice. Attention will be paid to how a driver is advised of such restrictions and what special lineside apparatus is involved.


Section M - Mishaps, Incidents and Extreme Weather

Section M1 looks at what happens when trains are stopped by accident, fire or division. You learn about what to do in these dangerous situations, who to contact, how to carry out Emergency Protection with detonators and track circuit clips, deal with fires and carry out both controlled and emergency evacuations of passengers.

Section M2 deals with the more commonplace event of train failures: Contacting the Signaller, carrying out Assistance Protection and the arranging and providing of assisting trains. This section will also deal with how the trains are signalled in these situations and you will learn what to do when you are the driver of the assisting train.

Section M4 (there is no M3) contains additional instructions for movements in floods and snow and deals with snowploughs.

Section M5 deals with the Managing Accidents. As well as your immediate duties as a driver you will also learn about how major incidents are dealt with: The appointment of officers, handling the media, rescue operations and the preservation of evidence. This section will also deal with fatalities on the line (fatalities to trespassers and suicides being something you will almost certainly have to deal with at some point in your career).


Section P - Working by Pilotman

Pilotman Working is introduced to ensure safe working of trains following the failure of equipment or an obstruction of the line. You will learn about how and why the pilotman is appointed, what he does, when he rides with you and when he issues you with a Driver’s Ticket; how signals are worked and how movements are made.

Section P1 deals with how trains work in both directions over one track of a double track railway when the other track is out of use. This type of working used to be very commonplace during Sunday engineering work but is rarer today now that blockades tend to be used. It will deal with how SLW is set up and withdrawn, the appointment and functions of the pilotman, SLW Tickets, control of movements in right and wrong directions, what happens during train failures and where there are more than two running lines. 

Section P2 goes on to deal with Pilot Working single and Bi-directional lines during signal and track-circuit failures.


Section T - Track & Signalling Work

Although you will only be directly involved with engineering trains if you join a freight company that does such work you still need to be acquainted with how engineering possessions are conducted. This part of your course will deal with the protection of engineering possessions and worksites, signalling arrangements, Persons-in-Charge (PICOP), Engineering Supervisors, how authority for movements is given and how possessions are withdrawn. The only section that is issued to Drivers is Section T11, which deals with movements into, out of and within possessions. Several other sections not issued to Drivers deal with the operation of the possession itself, the conduct of work, Handsignallers duties and the loading & unloading of engineering trains.


Other mattes that will be dealt with during your Rules course will include Lifestyle and Shiftwork Awareness training, SPAD Awareness  training and Professional Driving Techniques.

The last two days of this period will be Rules Examination with a Driver Manager.

Weeks 10 to 14 - Traction Theory Training. These four weeks will be mainly in the classroom, though there will probably be a depot visit early on so that you can get a sense of the layout of the various train parts you will talking about. The basic format is that you always do your initial theory training on whatever has been designated as the basic traction for your company or depot. At freight companies this will be the Class 66 locomotive, while at passenger companies it will be the predominant multiple-unit type. After doing your basic traction you may train on additional types or in some cases this will be left until after you have completed your Driver’s Course, particularly if it involves cross-training between diesels and electrics.

You will learn about the layout of your basic traction in detail: The names of all the parts, where all the circuit breakers, fuses, isolating cocks and emergency equipment are located. Then you will learn about the diesel engine, power control, the fuel, oil, coolant and fire suppression systems. You will learn about the braking system, how the brakes are controlled along the train and about how to deal with failures and isolations. You will also look at secondary systems such as air-conditioning, suspension, passenger information systems and train lighting. If you are learning electrics the diesel part of this course would be replaced with learning about how power is transmitted to the train, transformers, thyristors and power control issues.

Train preparation and disposal duties will be covered in detail as will the identification of faults and failures. You need to know which symptoms relate to which sorts of fault; how to trace faults and correct or overcome them. There will be an Traction Theory assessment at the end of this module.


Week 15 - Practical Train Handling on a Depot. This is where you get to drive a train for the very first time - albeit at about 5mph on a depot under the close supervision of your instructor. It just gives you an opportunity to practice getting comfortable in the cab, manipulating the driving controls, moving away safely and gently and stopping the train accurately. You will also gain an insight into shunting movements in a depot environment. Again, there is an assessment.


Week 16 - Route Learning Principals. This week is aimed at familiarising you with what it is that constitutes Route Knowledge, how that knowledge is gained and what you need to absorb as you go out route learning. The main part of this week will be your assignment to go out and learn a short section of core route and draw a map of the route which you will present at the end of the week.


Week 17 to 28 - Practical Handling. At last, this where you finally get to handle real trains, not training trains (that would be too expensive) but trains in actual revenue service. Over these twelve weeks you will undertake two to three hundred hours driving, a third of which will be in darkness.  You will be assigned one-to-one to an Instructor Driver who will teach you all about what we now call professional train driving - how to start away, accelerate and brake, stop at stations and carry out station duties; how to recognise signals, learn the route, observe speed restrictions and react to events. The instructor will also teach you about working to schedule, the DRA, TPWS, interpretation of signals, correct use of the horn, stopping out-of-course, using the SPT, running brake tests, the differences in handling between tread and disc braked trains, changing ends and to generally put into practice all you've learned in the classroom. You will probably start out on off-peak or empty trains and simple routes before moving on to busier trains and complex areas as your experience builds.

You will also visit maintenance depots learning where all the equipment, circuit breakers and isolating cocks are on the trains you will be driving as well as how to prepare, test, dispose, couple & uncouple them and how to deal with simulated failures.

Many companies have invested heavily in driving simulators, some of which have full motion platforms and are very realistic. If you are taken on by such a company some of your initial 'driving' will be on these and they are a very good way of dealing with situations not usually encountered.

A Class 170 simulator used by Central Trains in Birmingham
(Click on the pictures)

You will be given extensive instruction on the fraught issues of how to start and stop trains under the low adhesion conditions of the leaf-fall season - assuredly no joke despite the sarcastic rubbish you see annually in the media. Almost certainly some of this will be done on a simulator, although some companies go one better and give skid-pan training on specially oiled sections of line under a possession or on a heritage railway. If you’re not doing your training in the autumn you will also be accompanied by an instructor for a few days during the worst of your first autumn after passing out - you’ll need the guidance!


Week 29 - Handling Assessment.  This is a full week of practical assessment of your train handling skills and underpinning knowledge which will be conducted by a Driver Manager. If it all goes well then....

That's it - you're a certificated Train Driver, authorised to drive trains on Network Rail lines!     

Since you were probably not allowed to go on holiday while training you will now take a couple of weeks deferred annual leave before going on to start your route learning.

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ROUTE LEARNING   (Top) 

You are now a Train Driver, but it isn't quite over yet. Before you are of any actual use for driving trains you need to learn the routes you will be driving over. For all that route learning seems to be treated as a 'bolt-on' to basic driver training, route knowledge is really the heart of the job in my opinion. In a way a train driver drives the route as much as he drives the train and without a really thorough knowledge of his routes a driver can't function properly.

The reason that route knowledge is so important is that trains have very long stopping distances. For example, a train making a normal service stop from 125mph could be braking for up to three miles before the platform. Even from 90mph a train will be braking for over a mile, and heavy freight trains something similar. This means that trains cannot be driven on line-of-sight like road vehicles and so a train driver has to know what is ahead before it becomes visible. This is why train drivers can only work over routes they have learned and been assessed on; they cannot simply go anywhere like road vehicle drivers.

You will be given a Route Learning Ticket each day (which gives you authority to be in the cab) and you will then ride up and down learning the routes which pertain to your depot or link. Also, PC based route learning packages and videos are beginning to be introduced which allow an instructor to take you over a 'virtual' route pointing out its essential features at leisure. When you are satisfied you know where ALL the stations, speed restrictions, signals, signal boxes, level crossings, gradients and other features are you are tested on your knowledge by the Driver Manager or Instructor responsible for you. This will either be done with a question and answer session in front of the manager or with a multiple choice route assessment package on a PC. A recently introduced practice, especially if you are a new driver, is to supplement this with your manager (or instructor) taking you out for a drive over the route to be signed. During this you will be expected to describe the route and explain what you are doing as you go along. If your manager is satisfied as to your competency you then sign your Route Card for that route and your Driver Manager will counter-sign it. You are then fully qualified to drive the traction you have previously passed out on over that section of line. You then learn your next route etc. Signing your first route is a red letter day as this is usually the point at which you go from your Trainee Driver's pay rate to your probationary or even full driver's rate!

Once you've learned a few key routes you will find yourself being pulled off route learning and being booked out on turns driving over them. In between driving duties you will get days to learn the rest of the routes you need to know. If you fail to work a route or traction for six months you automatically go out of competency - whether you like it or not - and are no longer permitted to work them without refresher training. You must ask your manager for time to refresh your knowledge.

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A TRAINEE DRIVER'S BLOG   (Top) 

To get a feel for what the whole training process involves you can have a look at the weblog of of a driver who trained with 'One' Railway (now National Express East Anglia) in 2005 by clicking here. The experiences are typical of what can be expected at a passenger TOC. (Many thanks to the author for allowing me to display this materiel).

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AFTER BECOMING A DRIVER   (Top) 

As a qualified driver you will be assessed at regular intervals by your Driver Manager, who in turn is regularly assessed by his manager. They will take a cab ride with you every six months to assess your driving behavior with different types of train or brake. Some of this may be done on simulators. Every two years you will sit a PC based assessment package on rules and regulations. You also get a Safety Briefing every few months when you are shown videos on things such as driving in snow or driving techniques in the leaf fall season as well as being briefed about recent operating problems, rule changes, company policy etc. These bi-ennial tests and Safety Briefings are in the process of being replaced by a twenty-four month cycle of eight Safety, Training & Update (STUD) days every third month. These will include a refresher and test on a different part of the Rule Book each time together with various videos about SPADs, low adhesion precautions, alcohol policy etc. Cab rides or Formal Driving Assessments will become more frequent too. Drivers are also subject to unobtrusive assessment by their managers which can include them riding unannounced in the train or back cab, speed gun checks, radio checks and Train Data Recorder downloads.

Established train drivers have a routine medical every five years, becoming annually after the age of sixty. In addition, 5% of drivers are randomly selected each year for an unannounced drugs & alcohol test. Other drugs and alcohol tests may be given for cause, i.e. after an operating incident. These latter are just routine operating procedure and do not imply guilt.

One of the downsides to train driving is that there are poor prospects for forward promotion, making it a bit of a dead-end job. This is why it is so important to be really sure you want the job in its own right and to stick with it. The main promotional opportunities are to Instructor Driver, Driver Manager or perhaps to a Control post. The first will involve you in the training of new drivers, carrying out traction conversions when new classes of locomotive or unit are introduced and doing route knowledge and cab ride assessments. When not instructing, you will cover your normal driving turns. The second is much more of an administrative job, involving passing out new drivers, doing safety briefings, routine assessments of existing drivers and ensuring their equipment is complete and their competency qualifications are up to date. Disciplinary functions are also dealt with. To put it bluntly, much of being a Driver Manager is little more than box-ticking drudgery and it is very hard to get good drivers to go into management at all, with the implications that has for the quality of management personnel. A small number of Driver Managers pass into senior  management, managing other Driver Managers or become Service Delivery Managers.

Alternatively, most TOCs allow you to make at least one lateral move within the company as a driver. This would allow you to move to a preferred depot if the one at which you initially got your driving job was not your ideal choice. You can also consider driving jobs with other companies, though if you were to change companies shortly after passing out as a driver your employer could require you to re-imburse some of your training costs - though if the other company wants you badly enough it may well bear the cost. Changing companies can have serious implications for your pension and travel concessions and needs careful consideration. (This doesn't apply when a franchise changes or is restructured since any transfer of employment then takes place under TUPE regulations).

Rather than go into management some people choose to go into the union side of things as an elected ASLEF representative on the depot's Local Level Committee - LLC. This will involve being detached from driving from time to time to take part in drawing up your depot's diagrams & rosters and similar depot house-keeping functions. You will have the opportunity to go on ASLEF sponsored industrial relations and workplace oriented training seminars and might also become a Health & Safety Representative.

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LONDON UNDERGROUND   (Top) 

As I have little knowledge of the Underground please refer to District Dave's London Underground Site which has a good deal about the recruitment and training of London Underground train drivers. There is also a good deal about the trains and a description of a typical day's work. (Many thanks to Dave for these links). Much of Dave's information can also be found on Tubeprune; an unofficial website for people working on the London Underground and those interested in it. Tubeprune is one of the best sites about the Underground.

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ON-TRACK MACHINE DRIVING   (Top)  

Tamping machines, ballast cleaners, rail grinders etc. are known as On-Track Machines, or OTMs. These machines are driven, operated (and often partly maintained) by specialist OTM Drivers. The infrastructure maintenance companies which employ these drivers often recruit externally and train them from scratch. OTM drivers are required to meet the same medical and training standards as drivers at normal Train Operating Companies. Here is a description of what is involved, written by someone who is going through the process after coming out of the RAF:

 “The selection process was in five stages and was managed by a specialist company in Derby:

*  Stage one was the submission of C.V. to the firm. Candidates should ideally have had experience in the railway industry and / or have a good mechanical or electrical skill set;

*  Stage two was a batch of standard Train Driver aptitude tests conducted at a selection centre;

*  Stage three was conducted at the EWS testing centre in Doncaster and was the battery of psychometric tests, followed by an interview with a member of the recruitment company;

*  Stage four was interview by two managers from the Infrastructure Maintenance Company that was going to be employing me;

*  Stage five was the BUPA New Train Driver medical with drugs screening.

My experience of getting the job was that the process was very similar to that employed by the RAF. It was a process that I was familiar with having run one of the RAF’s recruitment offices for three years. We where provided with standard briefing notes of the psychometric tests and examples of the aptitude tests. On the whole, the stage one recruitment process was a straight forward exercise in C.V. composition and submission. The selection process was challenging, comprehensive and left me feeling I was joining a professional organisation.

The position was pitched as a three year traineeship with the new employees being trained on the company’s various OTMs, firstly obtaining competence and operational effectiveness on one machine before moving on to the next. This is interlaced with driver training, initially by being trained to operate as a Driver’s Assistant. 

The company seems to have a good remuneration package within the rail plant hire sector. Trainees start at £17,000 p.a. and can progress up to £25,000 as a qualified OTM driver. Despite having the same skills as a TOC driver, plus the skills of operating and maintaining complex, computer controlled plant and an in-depth knowledge of track geometry, the basic salary is 20% to 60% less than for TOC drivers. And then there’s all the night work… !

The job is certainly not regular, either in routes worked over or the equipment used. There are plenty of extra turns available to those who want them, with the top earners making around £45,000. Those who stick to just their rostered turns earn around £33,000 gross. However, as I mention above, there is now the opportunity to progress to conventional freight train driving”

(My thanks to Stewart for this contribution.)

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BECOMING A RAILROAD ENGINEER (Train Driver) IN NORTH AMERICA   (Top) - thanks to Rob for some of this information.

To become a Railroad Engineer you must first of all have the right to live and work in the USA or Canada and have a good standard of English. According to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen website (the US equivalent of ASLEF) you must also be at least 21, have a minimum of a good High School education, meet high medical standards and have completed the Engineer's training course. You will nearly always have to start as a Conductor or Brakeman and work in those grades while you train. 

The US Railroad Retirement Board issues a list of vacancies across the USA each month which you can view here. The same page has a list of links direct to US railroads' website job pages (including Canadian National and Canadian Pacific).

A major difference from the British practice is that in the US you can pay to put yourself through the Conductor or Engineer training programs. Dakota County Technical College provides Conductor training and the not-for-profit Modoc Railroad Academy (in California) does Conductor and Engineer training - but you have to pass the Conductor program first! Also have a look at the National Academy of Railroad Sciences College in Kansas City. These courses are developed in association with major railroads and those carriers often use these colleges to train their own staff or else employ graduates directly from them. Such colleges run placement programs for their graduates although they won't guarantee you a job. Modoc claims to have a 94% placement rate. There are over a dozen colleges in the USA which offer similar courses and also Associate Degrees in Railroad Operations. You can view links to some of these colleges here.

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BECOMING A TRAIN DRIVER IN AUSTRALIA   (Top) - thanks to Chris for this information.

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WHERE TO LOOK FOR JOBS   (Top) 

The obvious places to look are the websites of the Train Operating Companies, many of which have an Employment page, and these are listed in the next section. Remember that few Trainee Driver positions are advertised publicly and if they are the adverts are likely only to appear in the local press relating to the depots concerned. They will also attract a large number of responses. So, it's best to approach the companies personnel departments and express an interest first. Most driving jobs you will see advertised in the railway press (Rail is the most likely) are for people who are already qualified drivers. It should be borne mind that there is a semi-official agreement between TOCs not to actively 'poach' qualified drivers off each other. This agreement is not always observed, especially by the freight firms, but even so there is nothing to stop individual drivers from themselves applying to transfer to another company when they see an advert. Because of this there may be a degree to which some of the advertisements supposedly for 'Trainee' Drivers are really come-ons for qualified drivers to apply!

If no driver's jobs are being advertised at the company you want to work for you could think about applying for a conductor's job with a view to seeking a driving job later. If no Conductors vacancies are immediately available you might consider joining on the refreshment trolleys with some of the regional companies. It might seem a long way from driving trains but it gets you out and about on the trains and gives you a chance to show willing, especially if you are just out of education and perhaps too young for the TOCs to immediately consider for driving. It may even be possible to do this in the summer holidays while still at college. Prove yourself reliable for a few months and you could well be on the next Conductors' - even Drivers' - course!

If you see a suitable job advertised on a TOC website just follow the instructions to apply. If, as is usually the case, there are no jobs currently advertised, go to the TOC's home page and look for the Contact Us tab. Send them a brief e-mail saying you wish to apply for a job and ask them to send you the postal address of their Personnel Department. Once you have it you can make up your CV as described above and make a speculative application. This can often be a better bet than waiting for jobs to be advertised as once they are advertised publicly there will be so many applications that it is difficult to stand out from the crowd.

Likely websites for job ads are the   and   trade newspapers. Rail Professional's jobs page is here.

Hundreds of hours work have gone into compiling the FREE information on this website... 

If you found this website useful I'd really appreciate it if you bought one of the above products (with which I have no connection) by clicking on the banner.
I get paid a fee which goes toward my holidays - thanks!
Or perhaps you might like to make a donation?

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TRAIN COMPANY WEBSITES, JOB PAGES, VACANCIES & DEPOTS  (Top) 

The following is a list of Train Operating Company websites together with direct links to their Recruitment pages where they have one. For each company I have also shown such train crew and train crew and related jobs that I am aware of being advertised during MARCH from various sources. Don't be too reliant on this as I may not be able to keep these details right up to date; check the Jobs pages for yourself as some adverts may only be on for a couple of weeks. Also check for the many non-train crew jobs that may offer a way into the industry - I don't show these.

I can’t promise that this list of depots is totally accurate and up to date, especially where freight depots are concerned, but it should be somewhere very close. A few I’m not sure about have a question mark against them (corrections welcome). Pay rates are the latest to hand, but these are always changing and some are bound to be out of date. London Weighting is not included in these figures. You can read more about company-specific conditions on the ASLEF website - go > 'Workplace' > 'Company Information'. (As the information there does not seem to be well maintained I would be grateful if existing train drivers would check the information below as regards pay rates etc and let me know the up to date position with their own company).

PASSENGER TRAIN OPERATORS:   (Top)   

FREIGHT TRAIN OPERATORS:   (Top) 

EXCURSION TRAIN OPERATORS:   (Top) 

Their Safety Cases do not allow them to train drivers from scratch in-house and so they only recruit existing qualified drivers from elsewhere in the industry. As the work may be part-time they mainly recruit older drivers who may be looking to reduce their time commitment. 

IRISH TRAIN OPERATORS:   (Top) 

I know little about the recruiting practices or depot structure of these companies (information welcome) but their websites are listed below:

UNDERGROUND AND METRO TRAIN OPERATORS:   (Top) 

Information about driving for these companies from anyone currently working for them would be welcome.

OTHER OPERATORS:   (Top) 

Hundreds of hours work have gone into compiling the FREE information on this website... 

If you found this website useful I'd really appreciate it if you bought one of the above products (with which I have no connection) by clicking on the banner.
I get paid a fee which goes toward my holidays - thanks!
Or perhaps you might like to make a donation?

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HOW TO BECOME A SIGNALLER   (Top)

I don't know of any websites that tell you how to go about this but according to the page on the Network Rail site they train 400-500 new Signallers a year, far more than I would have imagined. Much of the training takes place at purpose built centres in Watford and Leeds. This could be a really useful and educational way into the industry, especially as the minimum age is only 18 instead of 21 and holds out the possibility of moving on to train driving with a TOC later. I should think the medical standards are about the same as for train drivers. Network Rail job vacancies are here and the e-mail contact is careers@networkrail.co.uk. Some general information about British signalling will be found at The Signal Box.

Vacancies for Signallers in July: Signaller at Ely, Montrose, Stonehaven & Swindon.

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TRAIN DRIVING AS A HOBBY  (Top) 

Perhaps you're already too advanced in your own career to consider train driving for a living, but have always fancied having a go. You could try doing a Train Driving Experience Course on one of Britain's many Heritage Railways. You need to be moderately fit to do these courses and they can cost up to a few hundred pounds, but that may seem a small price to pay to realise a childhood dream. Shop around; you can choose between steam and diesel courses, the diesel ones often being cheaper. Click here to see a full list of links to these lines - you will probably find that many of them do Driver Experience courses. A selection of them are: East Lancs, Severn Valley, Mid-Hants. The Llangollen line has a webpage about the experience courses they run and another describing what happens on the day. 

I recommend Clive Groome's Footplate Days & Ways courses which are conducted by Clive, an experienced ex-BR steam driver and his colleagues. These are held on the Lavender Line, and the Llangollen Railway.

If you find you like the experience you could join one of these heritage railways as a volunteer in the Locomotive Department. Again, refer to the Heritage Railway list and contact a likely railway near you - they're always looking for new volunteers. You will have to start as a loco cleaner, gain experience and qualify to move up to fireman and eventually on to driver. The key to getting on on these lines is to be a regular attendee, be prepared to get stuck into some dirty jobs and be keen to learn. You may have to undergo a medical examination. Have a look at how to become a steam or diesel driver on the Llangollen Railway.

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Footplate Equipment - 'Recreate the Look' - with John Beesley

If you become a regular on one of Britain's many heritage lines you'll want to look the part and John Beesley makes this possible with his authentic looking range of caps, jackets, bibs & braces, as well as firing shovels, tea cans, bags and various oil cans and lamps. His website is here. 

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SOME USEFUL WEBSITES FOR TRAIN DRIVERS  (Top) 

Adhesion Working Group  The Adhesion Working Group is a non-profit making cross-industry focus group with the sole objective of researching and developing initiatives to combat the effects of low wheel / rail adhesion. 
Annesley Fireman Chris Ward gives you a taste of what it used to be like in steam days at Annesley shed on the old Great Central main line in Nottinghamshire.
Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - (ASLEF)  The train drivers' union. ~ Wikipedia ~
Association of Train Operating Companies - (ATOC)  Umbrella organisation representing the various passenger train operating companies. ~ Wikipedia ~
Automatic Train Protection Transmission and Moving Block Signalling  ~ Wikipedia ~
British Signalling - What the Driver Sees  A good explanation of the basics for those new to railways. ~ Wikipedia ~
CIRAS - Confidential Incident Reporting & Analysis System  CIRAS is a method of collecting confidential data from safety critical staff in the railway industry, and produces reports of a type which rarely come to light through the official reporting and investigation procedures of the industry concerned. Issues a quarterly journal.
Community Safety  Works under the wider community safety banner in support of the industry's efforts to tackle railway crime, level crossing safety, personal security and fatalities management. The unit can also provide support if required to industry partners interacting with the victims of railway accidents. A newsletter is a monthly publication available to download. Its aim is to keep industry practitioners informed as well as those from partner organisations working in or interested in community safety issues.
Department for Transport  Sets out British railway policy and specifies and monitors the passenger franchises. Has a Rail Group. ~ Wikipedia ~
Devil's Guide, The  A major practical information resource for railway industry professionals.
ERTMS  The European Rail Traffic Management System. ~ Wikipedia ~
Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate (HMRI)   Division of the HSE responsible for railway safety and incident investigation. ~ Wikipedia ~
Institute of Railway Operators   Founded to promote professional standards in railway operation.
Locomotive Manuals  A selection of old diesel locomotive drivers' manuals.
Office of the Rail Regulator (ORR)  Issues operating licenses, polices access agreements, enforces competition law and protects passenger interests. ~ Wikipedia ~
On Train Monitoring Recorder  The Arrowvale Electronics system. ~ Wikipedia ~
One TN A trainee driver's weblog
Rail Safety & Standards Board  The RSSB is a not-for-profit company owned by the railway industry whose role is to provide leadership in the development of the long term safety strategy and policy for the UK railway industry. Includes Railway Group Standards Documents.  ~ Wikipedia ~
Railway Signs & Signals  A website that illustrates and explains all the signs and signals you see at the lineside. ~ Wikipedia ~
Railway Technical Pages  An excellent resource, well worth an occasional look to see what's new.
Safety Critical Communications Formed to provide guidance and strategic leadership to industry on the issue of operational communications. The site contains briefing materials on railway communication protocols.
Signal Box, The  One of the best sites for all matters relating to British railway signalling. Mainly concerned with mechanical signalling, this website looks at the types of signals, block systems, lever frames, explains the rules of signalling. ~ Wikipedia ~
Signal Passed at Danger (SPADs)  From the Rail Safety & Standards Board. Includes monthly SPAD reports. ~ Wikipedia ~
OpsWeb  Formerly known as SpadWeb, the website of the Operations Focus Group has broadened its scope to take in all operating matters. On this site you will find descriptions of various operating incidents, some of the reasons why they occur and what the railway industry is doing to prevent them. You will also find illustrations of the safety systems in use on the UK's railway network, simple explanations of how they work, research documents and links to other related sites
Track Access  This company produces route learning materiel for train drivers and some of it is available online. Industry members can request a user ID and login.
Track Off website is operated by The Partners Against Railway Crime  a partnership of all companies and organisations within the rail industry established to reduce the high levels of crime on the UK rail network.
Tracksafety   Tracksafety is the web site of the Track Safety Strategy Group (TSSG) works to improve the safety of people who work on or about the operational railway.
Traindriving.com  Information on steam and diesel driving experience courses.
Train Protection & Warning System - TPWS  How it works. ~ Wikipedia ~
UK Rail Staff  For staff of UK railway companies (National Railways, Underground and Metros) to share job related matters and social chat.
UK Railway  The main British railway newsgroup.

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TESTIMONIES: This Website Changes People's Lives!!  (Top) 

These are some of the responses I have received from people who have read this website and gone on to build a new career in train driving. So, get to work on your CV and there is every chance that you could be successful too ............

W writes:

Just wanted to write and say that I have just been offered a depot driver job with East Midlands Trains, thanks in no small part to the information available on your excellent website. Thank you for all your efforts in creating an indispensable resource for aspiring drivers.

A writes:

I have just recently started work as a trainee driver with my local TOC and would like to say many thanks to you for putting in the hard work and dedication to your excellent website. I often looked at and got ideas from the website whilst going through my application/interview process, which really helped me to no end and gave me a much better understanding to the job and process itself. It will no doubt lend itself again to me whilst going through the training process.

G writes...

I noticed your web site around 18 months ago and took the time to read it through. Anyway, to cut along story short, I have just completed and passed my assessment. I thought I'd send you an email to thank you for a excellent site; I don't think I would have passed the assessment without your information and knowledge.

P writes...

J writes... 

B writes...

I’d just like to say thank you for producing and maintaining such an important resource for many operational ‘hopefuls’ like myself.  I have had your website saved in ‘my favourites’ for a few years now, and it is something that I refer to frequently. 

Your site has helped me secure no less than two jobs at Heathrow Express! I first saw the job vacancy for Customer Service Representative on your site some while ago.  After being offered the job and then completing six months of operational experience, I was allowed to take my driver assessments, which I passed first time.  I will begin my Customer Service Operator (driver) training at the end of the month, and I will no doubt continue to use your website as an invaluable resource throughout.

K writes...

Just passed my assessments for first Great Western and have got my structured interview this Friday. Thanks to your website it has been a great help...

A writes...

I have had my assessment today and passed, which is largely down to your website.  So I would just like to say cheers.

C writes....

N writes....

I am just emailing you because I wanted to thank you for your brilliant website that you have created. I have just received a letter today from Northern Rail offering me a Trainee Drivers job. Your website helped me immensely during the interview and the assessments which I took at Doncaster. With the help of your website I knew what was expected of me during the assessments. Thanks so much and I wish you the best for the future.

R writes....

Thank you for providing such an informative web site. I have been reading it for a few years and have just received my offer letter to start training. The information on your site guided me through the whole process and I am sure was a key part of my success. I now have the hard work ahead of me but have a good idea what to expect thanks to you.

D writes...

M writes from London...

I would just like to thank you for your excellent web site. I decided I would like a career in train driving several years ago, prior to my contract terminating with HM Forces. Not knowing where to start, I stumbled across your web site. I have found this to be a wonderful tool and very helpful in preparing me for the journey ahead. Although the odds at getting over all hurdles weren’t great, I persevered and have just received confirmation that I will start as a trainee driver with Southern next month. Your web site was invaluable and I possibly may have not have passed all the assessments without knowing what was ahead. I realise the hard bit is yet to come, but am looking forward to the challenge ahead. Once again, thanks.

S writes...

Hi, I want to thank you on your wonderful website. It is thanks to this website that I was fully prepared for all the stages of the interviews. Today I received a job offer with a TOC for a trainee train driver, and I owe it all to your wonderful website.

T writes from Eastern England:

D writes from the West Midlands......

I have been looking at your website for the last 12 months looking for opportunities in my area for trainee train drivers... and applied before Christmas.

I then got a letter through the post in early January asking me to go a selection event.... and I was naturally delighted. I found out that there were 450 applications for fourteen jobs and that we were in the last 70 at this stage.  Everything went well at this event, I interviewed well and passed all the preliminary tests. The only doubt in my mind was that I was 22 years old and everybody else was over 30 and they wouldn't pick me.

Around a week later, I received a letter inviting me to **** for the main assessment. This was when your website really came into use. I knew exactly what was coming up thanks to you so I was more than prepared. After I completed the tests, my assessor said I had done exceptionally well on all of them; the concentration test was slightly lower than the others but nothing to worry about.

At this stage I think it was down to about 30 people, so I still didn't get my hopes up. I was sent for a medical, which was a doddle, and then heard nothing until this morning when I had a phone call offering me the job. I am still in shock but I thought I would take time out and e-mail you to thank you for the site. If it wasn't for your site I wouldn't have even known about the job. Please keep this site going for other hopeful candidates in the future - you are doing a great service for the rail industry.

S writes....

I found your website sometime ago 18 months ago, I think.  Anyway I have followed you information and landed myself a new job as a trainee driver. Started two weeks ago and having great fun!

D writes.....

Just a note to say thanks for the website.

I contacted you when I was temping for Xxxxxx back in January 2005 about the 1 day assessment with XXX Trains. Well, I passed that, started training less than 1 month later, passed my rules and traction and am now out with my Driver Instructor. Rules are hard – the cramming needed means that even someone who is in Mensa can fail so badly that they don’t get invited for a resit – we saw it on our course.

If it wasn’t for your site I simply wouldn’t have been prepared for the kind of thing that came my way. It also convinced me that in a few years time I can move away from London and still keep this exciting new vocation going.

D writes.......

After being an avid viewer of your site for months and months I finally got a job as a trainee driver with Arriva Trains Wales. This was my fourth or fifth go, as on previous occasions my applications were never answered or I got through the first tests and was then rejected. Motto being – never give up! A great site which really helped me a lot.

Mc writes from Scotland........

I passed the test on Monday and today I received a letter from the TOC offering me a position at Inverness. I'm dead chuffed and can't wait to start. Thanks again for your site.

J writes from the North of England.....

I just wanted to thank you for your selfless and informative website. I first came across it, by accident, over three years ago (I think), and this planted the seed in my mind of train driving being a possible, albeit remote, career option. 17 months ago I noticed some trainee driver vacancies advertised.

To cut a long story short, after a 16 month application process across two different TOCs (franchise change) and having applied for one depot and been interviewed for a second, I have been appointed to a third and feel privileged to get the chance to join the railway as a driver, with my local operator. Given the odds involved, passing each of the many stages involved was a pleasant surprise every time. This third depot is actually the one closest to my home so they have shown some consideration on this point.

Thanks to your website I feel that I have some idea of what to expect and, despite some initial apprehension, am very much looking forward to my chance at this new career. Without Railway Register I would still be plugging away at my current steady but uninspiring job.

N writes.......

Thank you very much for your website, it helped me a hell of a lot. I took the test in September 2005 and passed with flying colours although I was very nervous!! I am just waiting for my final interview to become an on-track machine driver.

M writes......

I discovered your incredibly useful website back in 2004. After using the advice and information, I made a successful application to become a trainee driver with Arriva, as it was then, in November of 2004. I started my training in February 2005 and qualified in December. Thanks to Railway Register I am now in a career that I thoroughly enjoy. If anyone is interested in becoming a train driver, then Railway Register is an excellent and first rate resource. Thank you!

A writes.......

I just wanted to drop a quick email to say thanks to your great site. I took my test in April and next week I start as a trainee with Southern. Along every step of the way I referred to your website and I cannot stress highly enough how much help it has been to me. In fact on the day assessment only two of us passed and we were the only ones who had visited your site - and Chris Gresham's  Group Bourdon Test website - we had both had the opportunity to do the tests beforehand and both passed. I have no idea why people turn up unprepared when your website is there but there you go. Thanks very much for all the information and please keep up the good work - it makes a real difference.

P writes........

Hi, just want to say thanks for a fantastic website that has helped me secure the position of trainee train driver with Silverlink. Thanks again for your help.

S writes......

Unlike everyone else in the Testimony section, I didn't quite make it. However, you did help me get down to the last 18 (out of 450 applicants) with First Capital Connect and for that I am very grateful. Even if you fail at the last hurdle, there is much to be gained by going though the process.

A writes.....

G writes......

S writes..........

H writes.........

M writes.........

Hello, I'd just like to thank you for making a very informative site. I've been trying to get on at Northern for nearly 2 years since they were first North Western. I've kept coming back every so often to read the recruitment procedure just see where I'm up to. Anyway, just before Christmas I got my contract in the post and I start as a trainee soon. After reading your site I know the hard work has just begun! Thank you once again for a very informative site.

Hundreds of hours work have gone into compiling the FREE information on this website... 

If you found this website useful I'd really appreciate it if you bought one of the above products (with which I have no connection) by clicking on the banner.
I get paid a fee which goes toward my holidays - thanks!
Or perhaps you might like to make a donation?

The Night Mail - 1936

Part 1                                                                           Part 2

Part 3

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Thank you for your interest & support!!

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Contact Me

To contact me about this webpage you should e-mail: h2batd[dash]mail[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk, making the obvious corrections to the address - this is done to minimise the amount of spam I get.

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