Do Train Drivers Smoke on Duty?

[mattdaniels]

Sat here on a train rattling along at a rate of knots. I'm in the front carriage four rows back from the bulkhead to the cab. All the windows are sealed and there is no one else in the carriage. The waft of what I am sure is ciggie smoke has just engulfed the carriage and is not going away.

Just wondering if the driver is having a cheeky one and if it's common practice and what other things the general public don't know about that train drivers get away with on duty?!

(may be lots of anonymous posts on this thread now)

[Pugland53]

Well as you know smoking is banned on trains, but that's not to say people don't do it. I don't know of any drivers who have done it but I have changed cabs and smelt smoke, so the guard must have had a cheeky fag in the back. I have heard quite a few stories of things drivers have got up to, but they are not for a public forum unfortunately!

[anonymous-user]

mattdaniels said:

what other things the general public don't know about that train drivers get away with on duty?!

Some years ago I (at eleven years old) went to work with Gramps and spent most of the day driving a four car EMU between Grove Park and Bromley North.

[mattdaniels]

Pugland53 said:

I have heard quite a few stories of things drivers have got up to, but they are not for a public forum unfortunately!

Spoilsport!

Crossflow Kid said:

Some years ago I (at eleven years old) went to work with Gramps and spent most of the day driving a four car EMU between Grove Park and Bromley North.

Cool! It's a route I know well having commuted from Grove Park for about 8 years. Always seemed a bit of a pointless branch to me but there was always activity on that line especially at the weekends - my house was near the line and there always seemed to be a big yellow engineering train chugging up and down on Sundays.

Edited by mattdaniels on Wednesday 19th January 08:02

[Rower]

[ It's a route I know well having commuted from Grove Park for about 8 years. Always seemed a bit of a pointless branch to me but there was always activity on that line especially at the weekends - my house was near the line and there always seemed to be a big yellow engineering train chugging up and down on Sundays.

Edited by mattdaniels on Wednesday 19th January 08:02

Coincidentaly I also live very close to a branch line with lots of commuter activity for an hour or so in the morning and evening , during the day about 2 trains an hour . However it spends an amazing amount of time shut whilst 'engineering works' are carried out ?? Loads of track replacement etc etc I know this is off topic but has anyone any ideas ?

Rower

[mrmaggit]

Could be testing equipment and crews before going on the main line.

I know the Nottingham end of the Great Central and also up near Worksworth do a fair bit of this, I'm given to understand that part of the track near East Leake is actually 125mph rated, as they re-laid the track prior to starting on part of the WCML, BICBW.

[Podie]

Rower said:

[ It's a route I know well having commuted from Grove Park for about 8 years. Always seemed a bit of a pointless branch to me but there was always activity on that line especially at the weekends - my house was near the line and there always seemed to be a big yellow engineering train chugging up and down on Sundays.

Edited by mattdaniels on Wednesday 19th January 08:02

Coincidentaly I also live very close to a branch line with lots of commuter activity for an hour or so in the morning and evening , during the day about 2 trains an hour . However it spends an amazing amount of time shut whilst 'engineering works' are carried out ?? Loads of track replacement etc etc I know this is off topic but has anyone any ideas ?

Rower

I need a bit more than "big yellow train" to go on.

If it looks like an old InterCity, then it's the NMT - the measurement train. It's basically a data logger that examines the track at line speed. It can tell the difference between gauge corner cracking and a bit of leaf at over 100mph.

If it's something slow moving, it could well be a tamper. The stoneblowers have STONEBLOWER written down the side in big writing.

[43034]

mattdaniels said:

Sat here on a train rattling along at a rate of knots. I'm in the front carriage four rows back from the bulkhead to the cab. All the windows are sealed and there is no one else in the carriage. The waft of what I am sure is ciggie smoke has just engulfed the carriage and is not going away.

Just wondering if the driver is having a cheeky one and if it's common practice and what other things the general public don't know about that train drivers get away with on duty?!

(may be lots of anonymous posts on this thread now)

It's not allowed, no. But many old school drivers are set in their ways.

They'll have fags in the cab, and quite usually they'll know who is relieving them. If it's a person who may cause bother, a quick spray of deodorant usually does the trick and if it's someone else who smokes, they'll leave the cab as it is for the next driver.

Just a note to say, I'm not a driver, nor do I smoke

Podie said:

I need a bit more than "big yellow train" to go on.

If it looks like an old InterCity, then it's the NMT - the measurement train. It's basically a data logger that examines the track at line speed. It can tell the difference between gauge corner cracking and a bit of leaf at over 100mph.

If it's something slow moving, it could well be a tamper. The stoneblowers have STONEBLOWER written down the side in big writing.

It won't be the NMT if it's Grove Park, that would've been too big of a working to go unnoticed in the crank world(and nothing ever does nowadays).

So it was either a stone blower as you, or a tamper or some 37s/31s on a test train.

[dudleybloke]

there was a guard on the wolvo-coventry service about 10 years ago who late at night used to do the announcements in various comedic accents.
made the journey a laugh.

[Camaro91]

It wasn't the Track Recording Unit was it? Converted DMU that pootles around recording track geometry and spraying paint after twist faults etc.

Had the priveledge of a few days on it 2 years ago. Another one is Mentor (overhead line) but that's one converted car with a bubble for viewing the test pantograph, with two Network Rail class 31s either end, it's pretty ancient but fit for purpose.

[Hooli]

I know a chap who works on Mentor. Mad huge beard but nice enough bloke.

[Camaro91]

I know the chap you mean. The advice given to me before boarding Mentor was "take biscuits"