davyboy

You don't have to steer, or deal with passengers, all you do is start and stop, parp your horn, turn light on and off, no oncoming traffic, .....and you want a bigger that 3% pay rise?

This....despite earning 38k with overtime earnings for another 12k?

Get real!

WRX_Dazza

lol. i think the horns are automatic too

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

Yes that's all they do...

I think it's you that needs to get real mate.

TelBoy

I know a train driver. Reckons it can be the most agonizingly boring job in the world. I don't know if they need to pay the sort of money they do to retain staff who can at least hold their concentration, but i reckon it must be a pretty unfullfilling profession.

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

That £12k mentioned in overtime is just that though, overtime, they have to get up at 2 or 3 in the morning and go and earn it.

MMT WRX

Hopefully

EddScott

I don't the salaries are quite that high. I think top dollar at Freightliner is around that area but its the exception rather than the rule.

If I could retrain as a train driver I would do it tomorrow. I think its a tough job to get into. 1000s of applicants for a handful of jobs.

FlightMan

A guy I used to go to school with wanted to be a train driver. I asked him why as I thought it would a boring job. He said it wouldn't be boring as he could wave to people on the bridges.

He was an idiot.

Clarebabes

In Dave's defence I did freak when I saw how much they get paid, would never have thought it would be that much! Not like you have to have a degree to do it is it? To be on that where I work, you would have to have mucho responsibility (Area Management) and lots of qualifications in a relevant subject - and this is public sector!

Please tell me how it is worth that much money! I would really like to know!

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

Sometimes you're paid for what you know, rather that what you do.

EddScott

Are you not allowed to wave at people

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

iirc LOROL driver are on around £36-38 basic, with some earning up to £60 with overtime.

TelBoy

They're paid a lot because it's a boring job and without the attractive salary, there would be a high turnover of staff, with all the associated re-training costs etc.

FlightMan

Responsibility. An A380 pilot steers the aircraft down the runway, as soon as the main gear gets airborne, he presses auto pilot, and sits back and relaxes until the gear makes contact at his destination. He isn't paid 100k a year to fly the plane, he's paid to know how to fly it, should he need to.

555Rob555

It's only the high speed drivers that get the larger wage packets.

My old dear retrained from a conductor to a driver, and had a book thicker than war and peace to learn word for word.
She has to learn all the routes she drives, with every sign, waypoint and signal in order and to the timings.

Not my idea of fun, but where public safety is concerned, they don't **** around.

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

I'd disagree with you there, train driving hasn't always been so well paid, it's more down to the unions agreeing on attractive pay deals, a LOT of the older boys on the job have been driving for most of their working life starting with BR, maybe the job was more interesting back then but not much.

Borat_Drives_A_Scooby

You can`t race or overtake anyone driving a train or have a bout of rail rage, whats the point ?

LG John

That's really not the same deal. I know very little about flying an A380 or driving a train however, I'd bet if you plonked me in the cockpit of either and said, "make everyone safe" that I could stop the train with ease but would fail to safely land a plane. Flying a plane needs skills, knowledge and experience and the fact that autopilot exists isn't in itself a reason to suggest it's easy. By comparison there is far less involvment in driving a train and you probably have to be far more negligent to 'fvck' things up.

I don't mean to belittle train drivers, but for that money it does strike me as an easy job. There's no shame in that. On a £ per hour basis I'd bet my job is one of the easiest of anyone on the forum. My mate gets £55k a year working offshore and the actual tasks he does are super-simple. He gets paid that amount to be away from home for 2 weeks solid in a hostile environment. Train drivers presumably get paid to work unfavourable hours doing a fairly easy job that does, nevertheless, involve ensuring the safety of hundreds of passengers.

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

One question to people that think £36k is a lot of money, how many Christmas Days, Boxing Days, New Years Eve nights are you rostered to work?

TelBoy

Cookstar, try asking a group of nurses that and see if you get out alive!!

scoobyster

Always wondered - how do trains navigate? Presumably this is mostly down to the signalmen rather than drivers, but how does it all work through busy junctions and so on? Must be quite a headache, especially when some trains are more delayed than others so they're all in the wrong order. I don't think I've ever knowingly been on a train that's gone the wrong way! Is it all automated with transponders somehow?

Foofighter

And policemen/firemen etc !!

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

That's my job, and yes it's a headache.

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

Fair enough, same for the Police/Fire fighters, but surely these are jobs have other rewards than just purely financial, otherwise why do them?

NotoriousREV

Pretty easy to kill people with a train; just ignore one signal. You need to learn every route intricately and know when to brake or accelerate for things you can't even see yet. I daresay driving a tube train is a lot easier than a pair of Class 66's dragging a full load of coal up the Lickey Incline. I also wouldn't fancy trying to stop over 500 tons in a hurry because some ******** has parked his car on a level crossing. Then there's the various suicides, vandalism etc. to deal with.

It's a bit like saying being an Stockbroker is easy because all you do is buy low and sell high.

TelBoy

True, that's why the lower pay of nursing/firefighter/police is all the more baffling. But then why pay more if you can get bums on seats i suppose. But that's a completely different discussion.

It does make you wonder how the pay level for train drivers has reached this level though. Either it's due to the high cost of training etc, or that the less capable candidates you'd get if you paid less have demonstrated that you have to be a bit better than average not to get it all horribly wrong...

hodgy0_2

i think you are essentially agreeing with Flightman

TelBoy

But NotREV, *can* you actually "ignore" a signal these days...??

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

Yes, a lot of signals are fitted with AWS (automatic warning system) & TPWS (train protection warning system) .. basically if you fly through a signal displaying a danger aspect, or approach with a higher speed than authorised, you will get an automatic brake application, however not all signals are fitted with such systems due to the huge cost involved in the installation.

So yes you could just drive straight though them, it happens, not very often though.

Markus

Chappy in a control room controls things in regards to the setting of points/switches and signals.

My Grandfather was a signalman (Tonbridge Signal box) for many, many years, did look somewhat complex, but was great for a kid to watch him at work and be allowed to press the odd button.