-
Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
GTR St Albans drivers?
- Thread starter Smelliott
- Start date
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
3 week rotation , set rest days, long weekend every 3rd week.
Mostly Sutton loops if I remember rightly.
12 committed Sundays a years, 3 per quarter. These can be given away if there's drivers who want the day.
7 days notice for all other Sundays not to work them.
3 shifts, red blue and black.
Mostly Sutton loops if I remember rightly.
12 committed Sundays a years, 3 per quarter. These can be given away if there's drivers who want the day.
7 days notice for all other Sundays not to work them.
3 shifts, red blue and black.
If you use TL trains, it’s worth speaking to drivers in the know that currently work on TL north. Spoken to several Cricklewood / St Albans drivers in the past few days both current and recent ex GTR. They all say stay put at my current TOC. The work is as they say ‘horrific.’ Constant Sutton loops, minimal route card, one traction, lots of time in the seat, DOO. All the GTR drivers I’ve spoken to in the past few days state ‘they are both the worst depots to go to’ within TL north. Speaks volumes when GTR are recruiting qualified drivers, when it’s something that they haven’t done for over 8 years at the least.
Last edited:
tiptoptaff
Established Member
- Joined
- 15 Feb 2013
- Messages
- 3,029
Care to expand? As STA is Stafford and CWD is Creswell
D6130
Established Member
At a rough guess, I would say St Albans and Cricklewood.
tiptoptaff
Established Member
- Joined
- 15 Feb 2013
- Messages
- 3,029
Indeed - but forum rules are you must give full-hand the first time you use short-hand, for those that don't know. Especially if you're using CRS codes for the wrong placesAt a rough guess, I would say St Albans and Cricklewood.
Traindriverone
Member
Hi, is this the same case for GTR Great Northern depots like Hornsey or KX?
In all honesty I didn’t ask about the GN route depots although the Cambridge depot was mentioned and favoured for the work content and variety.
Traindriverone
Member
Thanks,
If any GN drivers here can give an insight would be great.
Hornsey and kings cross are both quite work intensive routes, lots of inner suburban workings and tend to be more feeder depots for new starters.
Pretty much any depot at TL/GN will be fairly work intensive but obviously some are better then others.
They will all have long amounts of time in the seat for the most part so its not somewhere you'd go to put your feet up, they get their moneys worth thats for sure.
The pay is good but I think TL and GN have a different roster so not everything is comparable.
Pretty much any depot at TL/GN will be fairly work intensive but obviously some are better then others.
They will all have long amounts of time in the seat for the most part so its not somewhere you'd go to put your feet up, they get their moneys worth thats for sure.
The pay is good but I think TL and GN have a different roster so not everything is comparable.
Thanks for the replies so far. I'm already doing intensive metro work with relatively little variety, so that part of it doesn't faze me.
Re: Time in the seat, what are we talking on an average shift? It's not been uncommon for me to do 7 - 7½ hrs in the seat in recent memory. Bleurgh.
Re: Shifts, I understand there are nights as part of the regular roster? If you wanted to swap these out are there plenty of people keen to take them off of you? Some depots/TOCs night shifts are seen as cushy, others not so much.
Thanks for your help, really appreciate it!
Re: Time in the seat, what are we talking on an average shift? It's not been uncommon for me to do 7 - 7½ hrs in the seat in recent memory. Bleurgh.
Re: Shifts, I understand there are nights as part of the regular roster? If you wanted to swap these out are there plenty of people keen to take them off of you? Some depots/TOCs night shifts are seen as cushy, others not so much.
Thanks for your help, really appreciate it!
Last edited:
I worked at SAC - Feel free to message me. Got out 2 years ago thankfully. TTDARL was right - horrid work. I heard a number of 30 that have left since the depots opened. There is a long list of drivers that want to move back to Bedford but when I left that was over 40!!
Over half of my original shift have left either moved to GN, Luton, a new toc or into some kind of management role basically anything to get out.
Over half of my original shift have left either moved to GN, Luton, a new toc or into some kind of management role basically anything to get out.
Morning, would be interested to see why you come to this conclusion? New to the forum so unable to private message.
Reading some of these comments is enough to put you off haha from what I gather the work is not very good and it would also put me off
westcoaster
Established Member
Time in the seat a single loop St Albans to St Alban's is 3hrs 15 minutes so two a day.
Not all shifts are double loops (some go to Bedford and rumours of learning London bridge)
Nights around every 12/15 weeks, 7 in a row Wednesday to Tuesday. Think there are 3 jobs, Most nights end up on cricklewood depot prepping then ECS to St Alban's in the morning.
Nights is the killer for me. Currently don't have to do them, would like to keep it that way. Sounds like it's not necessarily easy to swap them. I'm also, controversially, pretty happy with my current TOC. Everyone in the mess room whinges, naturally, but I've found them very reasonable. Whereas I've consistently heard bad things about GTR. The big improvement would have been killing my commute (I detest driving into London), but don't think the trade-off is worth it for me.
whoosh
Established Member
- Joined
- 3 Sep 2008
- Messages
- 1,375
Kings Cross used to be a large traincrew depot but was downsized in 2018. There's only about 30-36 drivers there now. They sign to Cambridge and Peterborough on 387s and 700s. All outer suburban work.
There is a waiting list to get there.
Hornsey traincrew depot opened in 2018 with most of Kings Cross displaced there.
it now has three links:
Inner Suburban - about 70 drivers. 717s only. Kings Cross/Moorgate to Baldock via Welwyn and Hertford.
Outer Suburban. 700s only. Kings Cross to Cambridge. About 15-18 drivers.
Fleet moves (nicknamed 'Martini link'!) 12 or so drivers. Do inner suburban duties on 717s, outer suburban duties on 700s to Cambridge and Peterborough. Sign to Three Bridges depot for fleet moves between there and Hornsey.
You'll start in Inner Suburban link if you go there, which is all 717 mostly all stations work.
Because of how the roster works on Thameslink, you are limited with the people you can swap with.
The roster is:
Monday Tuesday off week 1,
Wednesday Thursday off week 2
Friday Saturday off week 3
But, unlike other TOCs like Southern, the switch from lates to earlies takes place at the midweek rest days instead of at the end of the week.
So - you'd be lates Wednesday week 1 to Tuesday week 2, then earlies Friday week 2 to Thursday week 3.
If you're nights, you can only really swap with someone on your shift (Red,blue or black) with the same rest days as you. And you'd only get lates in return on your swap. So you can only swap with a third of the depot.
If there's 36 drivers, you are blue shift - there's only 12 of you. One of them's you, so there's 11 you can swap with. One or maybe two will be nights as well, so that leaves 9. Sickness and holidays leaves... not many!
The Great Northern depots (like Hornsey) are on a different roster, which alternates earlies, lates each week, so it's easier to swap. People have regular swaps there, and people can have earlies or lates if they get rid of their nights.
Yikes! It's swap-central at my current TOC. I'm a swappoholic!
whoosh
Established Member
- Joined
- 3 Sep 2008
- Messages
- 1,375
I d say about 40-50% have regular swaps on the Great Northern. I.e: They pair up with another driver so one always works earlies and one always works lates. Nights on the GN aren't part of of the early late pattern, but break it up, so you just need to either work them or find someone to swap that week with. There are quite a few who like nights on the GN.
Thameslink though - you're stuck with that pattern I described earlier.
Thameslink though - you're stuck with that pattern I described earlier.
Welwyn is a good depot, their work is fairly good. There's two links, a GN link which signs the surburban services (moorgate/kx to stevenage and welwyn) and Cambridge. Seven oaks link signs the suburban services, Cambridge and Seven Oaks. I'd say their diagrams are quite decent in comparison to hornsey link 3.
Hornsey has 3 links. Link 3 is purely surburban service and it can be intense but its the same stuff everyday and driving the same traction. Link 2 is Cambridge and link 3 is suburban, Cambridge, Peterborough and 3 bridges.
Nights are every 5 weeks at hornsey link 3 and every 7 weeks at welwyn. Plenty of swaps available and easy to get. I personally just do nights or lates.
Hornsey has 3 links. Link 3 is purely surburban service and it can be intense but its the same stuff everyday and driving the same traction. Link 2 is Cambridge and link 3 is suburban, Cambridge, Peterborough and 3 bridges.
Nights are every 5 weeks at hornsey link 3 and every 7 weeks at welwyn. Plenty of swaps available and easy to get. I personally just do nights or lates.
Avoid all these depots the work is pure garbage minimum turn around time and you will be worked like a dog. I was at Hornsey for 3.6 years and I hated every minute of it, plus it is a hard depot to get to. St Albans is pure Wimbeldon loops nothing else Cricklewood is not any better why do you think they are advertising for qualified drivers for the first time in many years.
I think Cricklewood go to Orpington, too, so that’s a little better than St Albans style death by Sutton Loop, albeit still not great. Otherwise a guy who just joined my depot from CRI would concur with your post!
Fine for trainees who won’t know any different, hard to imagine it will appeal to many qualified drivers, as indeed this thread demonstrates! I do wonder why they haven’t simply filled the vacant slots with newly qualified ex trainees; I can only think they’ve had a lot of levers, are desperate to fill vacant lines on the roster, and qualifieds are quicker to train.
Does anyone have any insight?
Last edited:
Termak
Member
So from what I’m reading here, if I had a choice, say between GTR, West Midlands Railway, and East Midlands Railway, I should avoid GTR at all cost? (Welwyn Garden City)
Very few diagrams go to orpington so you wouldn't be driving there very often. EMR have Sundays in where as WMR don't and a very similar salary. Obviously plenty of factors to take into account before selecting which TOC you would like to work for
Termak
Member
That’s 3 points against EMR then for me, 1. going in as a depot driver, 2. Sundays in, 3. Mostly nights if I chose to accept their offer. Only comparison now is GTR and WMR, thanks for that and sorry for diverting the chat.
As a trainee, go where you can get a key.
As a qualified driver either WMR or EMR would be better, with both offering fully guarded limited stops work. Between those two EMR pay a little better (certainly in London), stop a little less and do some true Intercity work, whereas WMR is all outer suburban EMU work. WMR also don’t have a London depot.
EDIT: Re. your last post EMR Kettering do take on trainees, and do mostly Corby electrics, so would be similar to WMR Bletchley in some ways (albeit with less variety.)
Termak
Member
Thanks for that, will take whichever comes first then. EMR June training, (provisional), other 2 on DMI stage.
Personally I’d take GTR (any depot) or WMT over doing years on the shed with EMR for half the money.
At EMR you will be a depot driver at either Nottingham or Derby. Kettering will be mainline and so would st pancras. Nights for mainline are four every two to three months and you can swap them out. Not too sure about the Kettering roster but st pancras have around 16 Sundays and after block leave you will be doing a few less and you can book off ad hoc. I do probably between 5 and 10 a year. Also the nights aren't passenger work so just fuel or prep . All RDW is time and a half.