Northern Driver Training

[Newapplicant]

Hi all,

Apologies if this is in the wrong section of the forum but my question regards training and more specifically route learning. I'm just curious to know what the process is once the classroom side of training is completed and you start learning to both drive and the route learning aspect.

Specifically how does it work, I realise you will be placed with a DI but are you learning only a set route or do you follow the route that your DI drives? Presumably once you've built up the required number of hours and are able to drive without the presence of a DI you'll drive the route learnt with your DI?

I'm currently going through the application process with Northern and I'm hoping to be a driver from Leeds should I be sucsessful. I'm currently at the psychometric stage.

Thanks in advance.

 

[skyhigh]

Specifically how does it work, I realise you will be placed with a DI but are you learning only a set route or do you follow the route that your DI drives? Presumably once you've built up the required number of hours and are able to drive without the presence of a DI you'll drive the route learnt with your DI?

You are placed with a minder driver, not a DI. You work their shifts and drive their trains. The core routes for Leeds are Knottingley, York mainline and triangle. As part of your hours you have to complete a certain number of trips over some or all of those routes before your final assessment. Once you pass that assessment you can then drive alone on the routes you have been assessed on. Therefore you will find you drive routes with your minder that you won't sign yourself for several years after you've passed out, if ever, if you don't go into a link that signs it.

 

[16.19]

Hi all,

Apologies if this is in the wrong section of the forum but my question regards training and more specifically route learning. I'm just curious to know what the process is once the classroom side of training is completed and you start learning to both drive and the route learning aspect.

Specifically how does it work, I realise you will be placed with a DI but are you learning only a set route or do you follow the route that your DI drives? Presumably once you've built up the required number of hours and are able to drive without the presence of a DI you'll drive the route learnt with your DI?

I'm currently going through the application process with Northern and I'm hoping to be a driver from Leeds should I be sucsessful. I'm currently at the psychometric stage.

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

Once you pass your assessment & verification exam at driver academy you’ll then progress to traction conversions, class 333, 150’s and soon 195 and 331 if you’re applying for Leeds.

Once that’s out of the way you’ll then do your Part B (15 hours under instruction with your DTM) and your Maps course.

You’ll then be placed with a Driver Minder (or Mentor as were called now) for your driver handling, which includes learning the ‘triangle’ and York Mainline routes.

 

[skyhigh]

Once you pass your assessment & verification exam at driver academy you’ll then progress to traction conversions, class 333, 150’s and soon 195 and 331 if you’re applying for Leeds.

Not quite - 150s are core traction at training school, you convert to 155s and 158s at Leeds (plus 333s and potentially 170s depending who your minder is).

Once that’s out of the way you’ll then do your Part B

Now referred to as the Mod 5

 

[16.19]

Not quite - 150s are core traction at training school, you convert to 155s and 158s at Leeds (plus 333s and potentially 170s depending who your minder is).


Now referred to as the Mod 5

I've just been given a trainee last week; he came out with all traction apart from 195, 331 and 170's. Imagine sending trainees out with minders without being able to drive 195's or 331s! Something to do with the union not agreeing a training package should be sorted out soon if it hasn't already!

Haha indeed, Mod 5

 

[Newapplicant]

Thank you all for your swift and very helpful replies.

I realise it's a long way off yet, should I get the job but I can't help but get excited about my future career becoming a real possibility and the thought of being able to drive trains for a living is a dream of mine.

So if I've understood you all correctly, expect to start on a 150 (if at Leeds) and generally do the Leeds to York route and learn from there.

Forgive my naivity - what's a link?

 

[skyhigh]

I've just been given a trainee last week; he came out with all traction apart from 195, 331 and 170's. Imagine sending trainees out with minders without being able to drive 195's or 331s! Something to do with the union not agreeing a training package should be sorted out soon if it hasn't already!

Haha indeed, Mod 5

I know a trainee got given a minder in 2B (might be your trainee!) and didn't sign 170s, but they got put on a course pretty sharpish. It is madness not teaching new drivers the CAF stuff.

Forgive my naivity - what's a link?

Essentially a shift pattern. It will have a certain number of weeks (a week is called a line) and will have all your rest days, booked jobs and spare turns for each day. You just rotate down a line each week and when you get down to the bottom you start from the top again. It means that you know what you'll be working in months time.

Each link only contains booked jobs that include work over certain routes - generally the more senior you get the more you learn and the more routes you can work.

So if I've understood you all correctly, expect to start on a 150 (if at Leeds) and generally do the Leeds to York route and learn from there.

150s are currently the first thing you'll learn, and when you're finished at training school you will learn 155s, 158s and 333s before you go with a minder. There is talk of 195s becoming the first train you learn but who knows if that'll happen. With a minder you'll go anywhere, but when you pass out you'll definitely work triangle (Leeds-Bradford, Skipton, Ilkley) and learn York and Knottingley pretty quickly. Hope that helps.

 

[16.19]

I know a trainee got given a minder in 2B (might be your trainee!) and didn't sign 170s, but they got put on a course pretty sharpish. It is madness not teaching new drivers the CAF stuff.


Essentially a shift pattern. It will have a certain number of weeks (a week is called a line) and will have all your rest days, booked jobs and spare turns for each day. You just rotate down a line each week and when you get down to the bottom you start from the top again. It means that you know what you'll be working in months time.

Each link only contains booked jobs that include work over certain routes - generally the more senior you get the more you learn and the more routes you can work.

150s are currently the first thing you'll learn, and when you're finished at training school you will learn 155s, 158s and 333s before you go with a minder. There is talk of 195s becoming the first train you learn but who knows if that'll happen. With a minder you'll go anywhere, but when you pass out you'll definitely work triangle (Leeds-Bradford, Skipton, Ilkley) and learn York and Knottingley pretty quickly. Hope that helps.

I’m a 2A driver so I get a lot of Blackpool / Preston which doesn’t help when my trainee can’t drive 195’s. But we’ll get there!

 

[Newapplicant]

I’m a 2A driver so I get a lot of Blackpool / Preston which doesn’t help when my trainee can’t drive 195’s. But we’ll get there!

What tends to happen in those situations, does the trainee still travel with yourself for the route learning aspect despite them not being able to drive the train or would they be temporarily moved out to another minder until you return back to traction that they can drive?

 

[skyhigh]

What tends to happen in those situations, does the trainee still travel with yourself for the route learning aspect despite them not being able to drive the train or would they be temporarily moved out to another minder until you return back to traction that they can drive?

The trainee just goes for the ride basically. The hours with a minder is more about gaining experience than constantly route learning - the trainee will drive routes they won't sign when they pass out.

 

[Raikkonen7]

I start my training for Sheffield in a couple of weeks. Could I please ask what’s the format regarding exams in the initial classroom stage? I did my signalling training a while back and had 3 exams over the 11 weeks with the first exam being week 5 from memory.