District Drivers Logbook

Stressed!

2006-09-14T22:24:00.000Z

Hey everyone! Apologies for the lack of updates lately, but between my daughter crying and me working almost 24/7 I just don't seem to have time!

What a culture shock it's been to be back working on the buses! Instead of having 12 hours off between shifts, we only get 8.5 hours, which doesn't include travelling time etc, so I could be rostered to finish at midnight, wait for the staff bus home at 1am (I don't have a car at the moment), get home and unwind for an hour - that makes it now 2am and I could be due to book on again at 8.30am the following morning, meaning I'd have to get out of bed for 7am!

The shift lengths are quite long too. Some of them are over ten hours, which is a bloody long time to be driving for. We only get 35 minutes break out of that ten hours, so all those adverts telling drivers that "tiredness kills - take regular breaks" are obviously not aimed at poor bus drivers! There is very little time at termini, so you could be driving for 5.5 hours non-stop, dealing with traffic and passengers etc, have your 35 minute break then do another 4 hours solid driving.
I know it's my choice to drive buses, but I'm still quite shocked at how we're treated. The company I work for even charge us for using the depot car park!
We've just had a pay rise, but I'm still having to work an average 60 hour week to make ends meet. It's shocking that for such a responsible job, we're so badly paid! It's also shocking that in 2006, 95% of the drivers at my depot are so hard-up they're claiming various family tax credits etc to make up the pay.

There are actually a million whinges I've got to blog about, but I'll save them for another day! Taxi drivers: beware - you're the first to be whinged at when I have time!!

Please say hello to...

2006-08-09T12:59:00.000Z

My latest arrival!

May I present to the world Rihanna:

Born in the QE Hospital, Gateshead at 1010 this morning, 8lb 1oz.

Mother and baby doing well!

By the way, apologies for the delay in posting updates to my blog but I've been pretty much working 7 days a week lately. Further updates added soon!

Back up in the, erm, 'frozen' north!

2006-07-06T15:47:00.000Z

Well, I made it! It was a nightmare journey for my daughter and I as we drove from Newcastle to London to collect my belongings, then to Chadwell Heath in Essex to collect some stuff from my sister, then back home to Newcastle again!

In all it took us from 8am on Monday morning until 2am on Tuesday morning. The worst part of the journey was going to my sisters house, as there was an accident on the A12 and I didn't know of an alternative route. We sat in traffic around Gants Hill for about 2 hours!

Anyway, we have now sorted all of my stuff out and put it away. My wife, daughter, dog and cats are all pleased to see me home! My wife still has another four weeks or so to go before the baby arrives, but I think it will arrive earlier than planned. I'll keep you all informed.

Not sure why they call us the 'frozen north' as ever since I arrived back on Saturday afternoon, the temperatures have been in the 80s with bright sunshine. We've been forecast thunderstorms for the last 5 nights but they never arrive! The poor garden is looking parched, but at least up here I'm not subject to a hosepipe ban!

By the way, many thanks to all of you who left goodwill messages in my comments or sent me an email. All very much appreciated.

I start working back on the buses again on Monday so I'll let you know how it goes.

The Last Post!

2006-06-29T05:11:00.000Z

Yes, the time has arrived to pack up my PC and prepare for moving back north. I will update the blog once I'm back in my new job driving buses to keep you all informed how it's going and whether my wife has a boy or a girl!
Speaking of my wife, she got bit by a dog while out walking our dog yesterday. It took a chunk out of her hand so after a trip to hospital, she now has to wear a sling for a few days and take loads of anti-biotics.
I wish I knew whose dog it was, I'd go and have a 'quiet word'.

Anyway, at the time of writing (approx 6am) I only have two more days at LUL, and I'm spare both days. If I don't get any jobs to cover, that means that I'll have officially said goodbye to Upminster and the east end, to Richmond and Wimbledon and indeed to the entire District line.
It's a bit sad really. I will miss the job, despite my moanings. But even more, I will miss my colleagues. I've made so many friends from all grades of staff while I've been down here, and I know some of them read this blog, so to all of you THANK YOU!

AOL have switched off my broadband connection in readiness for my move, so I'm now on a very slow dial-up connection. I'm on packing my stuff... I didn't realise I had so much! Mainly clothes which are still in plastic bags from the last time I moved!! They'll need washing when I get them up north!

It seems that a couple who currently live in a downstairs room in this house are wanting to take over this room when I move out. That would bevery useful seeing as my landlord is insisting I continue paying rent until my contract expires if someone doesn't take over the room. I've already cancelled his direct debit, so I hope they do take the room!

So, on Saturday I will take the train back to Newcastle, then hire a van from a local company, come back down with my daughter on Monday, load up the van, pick some stuff up from my sisters in Essex then back home. Monday will be a busy day! People keep asking why I don't get a one-way van hire, but they were asking huge amounts of money! Hiring from my local company is only £35 a day, where a lot of the one-way hires were asking about £200! Even taking into account my train fare back to Newcastle and extra fuel, it's still cheaper!

Seeing as I won't be able to do my review of the year, I thought I'd do my six-month review of the year!

Overtime claimed due to late stabling because of signal failure:
74 minutes
(2005 = 723 minutes.)

Overtime claimed due to late stabling because of drunks:
18 minutes
(2005 = 165 minutes.)

Overtime due to incompetent signallers (this is where they put you into Ealing Broadway platform then simply forget about you, or leave you at a red signal for ages somewhere between Ealing Broadway and Ealing Common depot):
128 minutes
(2005 = 508 minutes.)

Trains with broken windows:
Zero!
(2005 = 4.)

Drunks unconscious on train at terminus requiring assistance either from BTP or other station staff:
6 (4 since the World Cup started!)
(2005 = 18.)

Incorrect routes set for me by signaller:
1
(2005 = 5.)

Number of near-misses (people trespassing or pretending to jump in front of me):
Zero!
(2005 = 4.)

So you can see that things have improved since last year! I know that last years figures are for a twelve month period, but even so, there are definite improvements, especially in the broken windows and near misses.
Sadly the signaller incompentence figure is still quite high. Every single night for the past few weeks I've been claiming overtime for that reason.
The other night I got 25 minutes of overtime because of it! Firstly he holds me in Acton Town platform (heading towards Ealing). I call the controller on the radio, he informs me to wait and the signal clears.
On leaving Acton Town, I get held at the next signal, although the adjacent line is cleared (usually used by the Picc line). It is after 1am so the last Picc has departed. I call up the controller, and again he tells me to wait. The signal on the Picc goes back to red, and mine clears.
He holds me in Ealing Common platform. Controller tells me to wait... Signal clears.
He holds me at Hanger Lane Junction. Controller (sounding sick as a chip) tells me to wait. Signal clears.
He holds me at the home signal to Ealing Broadway. Plats 7 & 8 are occupied but platform 9 is empty. I wait a few minutes before using the signal phone (I thought the controller would have a fit if I spoke to him again!). The signaller tells me to "wait for the signal" and hangs up on me before I have chance to ask why he hasn't cleared for platform 9.
Another few minutes pass, then the train in platform 7 departs. I sit for another minute then the signal clears... Into platform 9 which he could have cleared at the start!
Then we (myself and one of my colleagues in platform 8) are held in the platform for ten minutes before he lets me go. Then he held me at Hanger Lane Junction again.

By the time I stabled, I was 25 minutes later than booked, and was very lucky that the staff cab waited for me.

Something needs to be done about this. I mentioned I'll miss my colleagues, but I'll certainly not miss the Earl's Court signallers!!

Anyway, that's it for now, and that's it from London! My next post will be from the North East.

Take care of yourselves.

Been A While!

2006-05-30T03:16:00.000Z

Well, I had a great time up north although I never stopped working! I've laid laminate flooring in the living room, stripped the wallpaper and applied new to two bedrooms and painted the bathroom and laid new lino!! Dealing with drunks on a Friday night has nothing compared to dealing with a heavily pregnant wife who wants the house put right before the big day!!

Speaking of the big day, the baby is due on August 2nd. I have therefore put in my notice to London Underground, and will be leaving the job on June 30th. I will then have a week off and start my new job (in fact it's my old job back on the buses again!) on July 10th.
This will mean a substantial drop in wages and mean I have to work a lot more hours than at present, however at least I'll be with my family again, and I'm sure we'll cope financially with only having one lot of bills to pay instead of two.

I'll keep posting of anything exciting which happens between now and then, and afterwards I'll have to decide on whether to keep the blog going under a new name or just scrap it.

Expect Severe Delays!

2006-05-06T00:45:00.000Z

Just a warning for those of you who usually use the east-end of the District... Metronet have taken an emergency engineering possession to deal with the problem of the overheating rails. Unfortunately, because it's an emergency possession, there is no specific timetable in place, so it will be a very hit and miss service up towards Barking today and Sunday I think.

Friday was a bloody nightmare for me! I managed to stable almost an hour late thanks to some drunken prat at Earl's Court managing to break one of the train doors.
I always get annoyed when people hold the train doors open for their friends, but this dickhead tonight managed to cause a long shutdown in platform 2 while we tried to repair the door. We had trains stuck out in the tunnel coming from Wimbledon and a train in platform one who couldn't go because I had been given the route, but couldn't move because of this door!

Eventually the train technician came over and got it closed and I set off (with the technician in case it happened again). Luckily it didn't, but by the time I got to Mansion House and back to Ealing Broadway then into the depot, I was very late and very stressed!

However, the perfect cure for stress is a holiday which leads me nicely to my next topic: It's holiday time again!
I'm away from today (Sat 6th May) for approximately two weeks, so this will probably be the last entry until my return.

Take care of yourselves and see you all in fortnight!

Metronet Disgrace

2006-05-04T23:56:00.000Z

Well, what a cock-up today was! It wasn't just a few temporary restrictions in place... ALL parts of the District line above ground were subject to a blanket 20MPH restriction.
This was due to the fact that Metronet had failed to treat the tracks in preparation for the hot weather. According to the BBC London News, All LUL senior managers are absolutely furious about it, and I'm not surprised. As usual though, it was us in the front line who got the flack for it.

Can you imagine having to travel all the way from Upminster down to Bow Road (where we enter the tunnel) at 20MPH? The average speed is usually 45MPH so it was taking almost an hour to do this journey.

To make matters worse, the controllers were still sending loads of trains all the way to Upminster. Bearing in mind that trains were opnly travelling at 20MPH, it took a long time for the train in front to clear the signal sections, so we spent more time sitting at red signals than actually moving!
It would have made a lot more sense to reverse more trains back west from Barking rather than trying to keep up their 'mileage quotas'.

It wasn't just the east end of the line... As I said earlier, ALL external sections were subject to this restriction!

I hope someone gets a damn good bollocking for this, but (call me cynical if you wish) but I suspect nothing will happen to anyone at the top of the Metronet tree.

Goodness knows what's going to happen if we have any more hot weather before Metroshite have had a chance to treat all of these rails.

By the way, PLEASE don't blame train drivers or station staff! We can't do anything about it! We don't like running late, we don't like running slow and we don't like being diverted at the last minute but we only do as we're told.

A Bit Of Hot Weather..

2006-05-04T13:54:00.000Z

As I type, the outside temperature is apparently 26 degrees Celsius (which is almost 79 in Fahrenheit for those of us old enough to remember that scale). I'm just getting ready to go to work, but I know I'm going to be running late all day before I even start! How do I know this? According to the TfL disruption info, we have severe delays occurring due to temporary speed restrictions.

These restrictions were also imposed yesterday, which wasn't nearly as hot as today and are caused by the tracks apparently not being able to cope with the heat! This happens every year as soon as we get a bit of sunshine, as it's apparently to do with sections of long welded rail expanding (I'm no scientist!) but surely there must be a solution?

In the winter we get frozen points and the 'wrong type of snow', during wet weather we get track circuit and signal failures due to the damp, and in the summer we get buckling rails! This doesn't just affect LUL, I remember hearing similar tales of woe from the mainline too.

How do they cope in other countries which have extreme temperatures?

Anyway, I'll let you know what happened when I get in from work tonight!

Later Weekends

2006-04-29T00:07:00.000Z

I see TfL have now announced that they will be running later weekend services to cater for the pissheads at the expense of people who need to be out and about early on Saturday or Sunday mornings.
From June next year, the Tube will operate approximately half an hour later than they currently do, whilst starting about an hour later to allow for engineering works to continue.

This all follows a long consultation, although I suspect even if the results had been 99% against later trains, Ken Livingston would have introduced it anyway.

It's the poor early-morning commuters and travellers I feel sorry for. The extra time on a Friday and Saturday night will lose a lot of money for LUL (after all, would you insist on checking a drunks ticket at 1am? I certainly wouldn't. Many of them are incapable of buying a ticket anyway.

I've seen people queueing outside of Acton Town station to catch the first Picc train of the day to Heathrow on a Sunday morning. The train is usually quite busy, leaving Acton at approx 0645. The first train will in future be at 0745, which I'm sure the taxi firms will be quite happy about, but not the punters!

Back to Normal!

2006-04-26T02:48:00.000Z

Well, we've now been booking on and off at Earl's Court again for about a fortnight now, and I don't like it one bit! It's not so much the extra travelling time, it's the fact I have to make sure I read my duty book correctly to see if I'm supposed to be at Acton or Earl's Court to book on!
I still have to go to Acton every day first anyway, as this is where I book off on a late duty (after stabling the train in Ealing Common Depot) and I leave my equipment bag (which is quite heavy) in my locker. So I need to pick this up before I then go to Earl's Court to book on.

One thing I've noticed more lately though is the crap service offered by the Piccadilly line on the Rayners Lane branch where I live! A wait of 15 minutes is not uncommon. As soon as there's a sniff of a problem on the Piccadilly, which is quite regular lately, the Picc controllers divert loads more trains towards Heathrow and seem to forget they have a Rayners branch.
During the signal failures at Arnos Grove last week, I waited almost 25 minutes for a train into work. It's incredible how a failure at the other end of the Picc line can have such a knock-on effect. Obviously I understand how it happens being in the business and having seen it first hand, but it should be the job of the line controller to ensure that there's still a decent service being offered to us Rayners branch punters as well as the Heathrow ones!

Not a lot been happening at work to blog about lately really! I had to run a train out of service on Monday night from Barking to Ealing depot due to some drunk puking all over one of the carriages.
I suspected something was wrong when I was heading towards Barking and people were getting off the front carriage and getting on the one behind, or looking into the car then changing their minds and running for the car behind. This immediately made me think that something was up in the first car, but as I was close to Barking (where I was due to terminate anyway) I just continued allowing for extra time for people to change carriages if they so wished.
Anyway, on arriving at Barking, I went into the first car and was almost sick myself... The overpowering stench of alcoholic vomit literally covering the floor of the entire car!
If the person who did that amount of puking is reading, I'd suggest you go to your doctor: there must have been about 20 pints, mixed with the obligatory 'chunks'!
There's no way I could risk running that back in service due to Health & Safety considerations (passengers slipping or possibly catching some disease from the fluids) so I had to run empty back to Ealing.
On the mainline when I used to run empty, the signaller would give you priority a lot of the time as he knew you weren't going to be stopping anywhere, so I'd go non-stop down the fast line to wherever I was going. Unfortunately on LUL, running down the fast track overtaking stopping trains isn't an option! Therefore I was following directly behind a service train which was stopping at every station as normal, so my average speed running empty was probably about 15mph!
It's nice not having to worry about passengers on the train, but it's a lot of stress having to follow another train and go from one red signal to the next, especially late at night!

By the way, my wife has had her first scan at last! The baby (and my wife) seem to be absolutely fine and officially due on August 2nd. My birthday is on 31st July, and my mums 60th (she'll love me for saying that!) is on August 9th, so it will be a great birthday present for us!
I'm up north in May for a fortnight to sort out various things, including seeing my old boss on the buses to see if I can get my old job back. Shouldn't be a problem, although it'll be a hell-of-a shock going from driving trains and getting reasonably well paid for it to going back to driving buses (which I hated) and getting reasonably well UNDERpaid for it. However I don't have any other vocation behind me, so I don't have much choice and I can't stay down in London leaving my wife and my baby up north!
I'm sure everything will work out nicely, and of course I'll save a fortune in only having one set of bills each month instead of two like at present.

Anyhow, enough ramblings! I'll keep you posted if there are any more developments on my moving back up north or of course if there's anything worth blogging about at work!!

Stitched Up By Our Own Union.

2006-04-14T13:33:00.000Z

Thanks ASLEF.
This month marks the 16th month of the longest-running dispute ever on LUL, namely the Acton Town remote booking on and off dispute.
I'm not going to get bogged down with the details, but as of this Sunday, Acton Town is back to the position we were in before the dispute started! We're back to remotely booking on and off at Earl's Court with no extra pay for doing so. However this is only until June when the new timetable is introduced, then the remote stuff will be abolished, however at the cost of upto 25 drivers being displaced from Acton Town to Earl's Court, losing the middle duties and nightshift duties to Earl's Court and possibly losing the rest of our so-called 'family friendly' rosters at Acton.

We were all invited to a meeting to discuss the latest position, and we duly attended only to be lectured to by president of the ASLEF EC (Executive Committee) that they'd secured a deal already and we weren't going to have a say! HOW THE HELL can they agree to a deal without asking the people it involves for their opinion first?

I could probably write a 10,000 word essay on this subject because I feel so strongly about it, but I'll not, as this is a public blog and you never know who's reading. However let me say that ASLEF have certainly gone down in my estimation and they are very lucky that the vast majority of ASLEF members at Acton Town aren't leaving the union in disgust as we were originally thinking about doing... Instead we are going to attend the branch meetings and actually try and make a difference to our depot's future as well as kicking our current reps out.

The RMT missed a trick as well! At the time of the meeting, they hadn't accepted the deal. After a show of hands, we overwhelmingly voted against what was on offer (a waste of time having the vote seeing as it was a done deal, but we did so anyway to show our disgust at the ASLEF committee). The RMT saw that vote and they could have rejected the offer. As much as I hate Bob Crow, I would have considered switching to the RMT if they had rejected the offer, but no... They followed like meek little kittens and accepted the deal after the meeting despite the result of our vote and hearing how angry we were.

Yes I know I'll be leaving LU in a few months, but it still annoys the hell out of me that we've been stitched up by the union we trusted.

Deal Or No Deal?!

2006-04-08T12:14:00.000Z

During the time I was on the sick, I had the 'pleasure' of watching a lot of evening TV which I normally miss because I'm at work. One such show is Deal or No Deal on Channel 4.
This is a really simple format but is nerve-wrecking for those people sat in the chair! After each round, Noel Edmonds asks the question "Deal or no deal?".

What's all this got to do with the District line? Well, it's all in relation to the managements offer of a long-term deal for our pay and conditions. NO DEAL say I.
The thing which annoys me is the management want to give us a type of performance-related pay which will depend on certain criteria being met, such as cleanliness, reliability and overcrowding.
Now call me thick if you wish, but how on earth can someone driving a train have any effect whatsoever on those three things?
If the company wish me to clean my train after every trip, then I shall stick a broom up my backside and sweep the train as I'm walking through looking for lost property. Otherwise, how do they expect us to contribute to cleanliness standards? We employ cleaners at all the termini to clean the trains, and if certain punters want to fill the train with crap in between stations, there's nothing I can do about it, so there's one part of my PRP gone.

Then there's reliability. How on earth can we do anything about this either? If a signal fails in front of us, we drivers know how to get around it following the relevant rules and regs. However we aren't qualified to go down on the track and fix it! Similarly, if it's a signal protecting a junction, the points need to be secured. This needs to be done by a station supervisor or similar rank. This all takes time, but is neccesary for the safety of the train and the passengers. There's no way to speed up the process. So there's another part of the PRP gone.

So we have overcrowding left. How do I deal with this? Maybe the company want me to close the doors on people to stop them getting on to my train? Or perhaps I should wander down my train at every station to count the amount of passengers in each carriage and throw off the excess?
OK, so maybe it should be our station colleagues who have to control the overcrowding? How do they achieve this? Obviously they have to stop selling tickets and opening the stations. We'll just run empty trains all day! That should solve the problem.

In all seriousness, how do the management expect us to have any control over any of these issues? I hope the unions will also say NO DEAL. I know I'm leaving in a few months, so it doesn't really affect me, but I'll be leaving behind a lot of very good friends who I know work damn hard (despite what the Evening Standard may say) and I don't want to see them stitched up in a long-term deal by a very cunning management.

By the way, my missus has her first scan later this month. Sadly I'll not be there to see it, but she's promised to get me a photo if she can! Oh no, I'm turning into a baby bore!!

Nearing The End Of An Era!

2006-04-03T12:20:00.000Z

Well it looks like I'll be leaving London Underground in the next few months.

Allow me to explain! My wife and daughter are still living up north while I'm down here earning the money. My daughter is now 18, and after she was born, we were told that the chances of having any more kids was virtually nil. This has remained for 18 years... until now!
My wife has been putting on weight lately, and her mother 'bullied' her into taking a pregnancy test which came back positive! The doctor has this morning confirmed that she is approx 24 weeks pregnant, so I'll be a daddy again in only four months!

Sadly, this means having to leave my job and move back up north to be with them, but that's completely outweighed by becoming a dad again!

Obviously I'll keep on blogging until I leave (probably in a couple of months) and after that I'll have to change my name from DistrictDriver to Bus Driver until I can find something better in the area!

Back to work next week

2006-03-31T00:00:00.000Z

Well, my short time at work this morning to assess if I could climb on and off a train and drive without any further stress to my shoulder went OK. My sick note expires on Monday, so I'll go and see my doctor then and ask him if I'm doing the right thing by returning to work. I'm sure he'll say it's fine.

So by Tuesday I should be back at the pointy end of a train! (I know our trains don't have pointy ends, but that's just traditional train driver speak for being at the front!) LUL are still going to release me for a few hours to allow me to continue my physiotherapy until the problem is completely sorted.

By the way, the more observant of you may have noticed I've now added a clock to the blog! Also the picture showing in lieu of a photograph is the official District line logo.

It's Not Just Us Train Drivers Going The Wrong Way!

2006-03-30T00:57:00.000Z

Lovely story on the BBC Website, although I'm not sure those involved would think it was lovely!

Basically, it's a story about a pilot who landed at a military airfield instead of the City of Derry airport. Train drivers often take 'wrong signals' (for example at Hanger Lane Junction where the Piccadilly heads towards North Ealing and Rayners Lane, and the District goes to Ealing Broadway), but I thought aircraft were fitted out with computers which direct the pilots? And surely the Air Traffic Controller should have seen the plane landing at the wrong airfield?

Anyway, it makes a District line train up at South Harrow seem quite insignificant in comparison, and at least we can blame the signaller for setting the wrong route in the first place! (You know how much I love my signaller colleagues!!)

Just so you know, I'm feeling a LOT better now, and have not needed the painkillers since Tuesday! I am in at work later today (Thursday) for a 'disability test' (at my own request) just to make sure I can still climb in and out of the train cab (it's a long drop down to the ballast if we need to use a signal phone!). Also to make sure that I can drive the train comfortably. The controller on a D stock is on the right hand side, and obviously if it's going to put my right shoulder under too much stress by returning to work, then I'll have to have more time off until it's completely healed. I'll let you know later!

Update.

2006-03-28T22:35:00.000Z

Well, had my next physio session at Richmond Physiotherapy this morning, and I have to say the young lady who is sorting me out, Pippa, is doing a marvellous job!
She's really 'hit the nerve' if you pardon the pun and seems to have almost sorted me out already! I'm now trying to go without taking the painkillers (I hate taking tablets anyway!) and although I still have some discomfort, I feel about 80% better than I did!

I now have feelings in my middle finger which has been virtually numb for four weeks!
Hopefully I'll be back to work before long.

By the way, can I just say it's great to see the Station Master has reconsidered his decision to end his blog! It was he, along with Tube Dude and Great Orme who got me blogging in the first place!

Still sick!

2006-03-22T00:30:00.000Z

Well it's been 3 weeks now. I hate being sick, and the last time I had this problem a few years ago, I was off for almost 3 months. Hopefully it won't take quite as long this time, as LUL are paying to get me private physiotherapy to get me back to work quicker.
My first session is tomorrow. I've also been referred to an NHS physio by my GP, however the waiting lists for that are huge, so I'm grateful to my employers for arranging the private physio.

Apart from anything else, I'm bored rigid staying at home all the time, and it's bloody painful to sit or lie in certain positions.
Let's hope the physio has some effect and gets me back to work soon!

Sick

2006-03-01T02:15:00.000Z

Unfortunately, an old ailment of mine seems to be cropping up again, so there will be no blog updates for a while until I feel a bit better. Sorry!

Hopefully I was right!

2006-02-28T02:15:00.000Z

According to the BBC London News, it looks like ASLEF will be calling off the strike planned for Thursday. Although it's not certain yet, it is looking hopeful. If ASLEF calls off the strike, then the RMT are bound to follow!

I'm still here!

2006-02-27T00:05:00.000Z

I noticed my colleague Tube Dude mentioning the fact that none of us other LU bloggers seem to be making any updates! So just to prove I'm still alive I thought I'd make a new blog entry!

I apologise for the lack of updates, but there has really been nothing of any interest to blog about! In fact, I did make a quite long post about my recent block training experiences just a few minutes ago, but the electricity went off (as per usual in this shit hole) and I really can't be bothered to write all of that again.

Briefly, the training has now changed to include training for the new Connect radio project (I believe originally planned for 2001 so they're running slightly over...). Anyway, the training was a waste of time! The instructor did his best to tell us about the system, but sadly the powerpoint presentation didn't work, nor did the radio sets which were installed in the Hammersmith training room, so I'm still none the wiser as to how the radio system works, although it does promise to be a huge improvement on the current one (which isn't difficult on the District - I can receive German radio stations on a Long Wave wireless more clearly than the District Controller can be heard on the current train radio!)

The strike scheduled to take place this Thursday 2nd March is still on at the moment, but I am fully expecting both unions to call it off again. This particular strike is about the new policies LU are apparently trying to impose without union consultation, but I believe the company and unions are 'actively talking' now, so hopefully Thursday's strike will be called off. Then the pay discussions begin...

Apparently the company are looking for a five year deal, including a no-strike agreement. This will take us up to 2011. Surely they should be looking at a six year deal to cover the Olympics in 2012? Anyway, the unions are certainly going to be tied up with those negotiations, and no doubt there'll be the usual threats of action from the RMT and possibly ASLEF.
I don't think these discussions have been started yet, and therefore I'm not positive on the long-term deal thing, but that's what the rumour mills are spreading, and they're usually pretty accurate!

Anyway, that's it for now. I'd better publish this before the electricity trips out again...

Ghost-Busters Needed!

2006-02-11T02:20:00.000Z

Maybe a case for my colleague Tube Dude who is fascinated by such things:

Last night on arrival in Barking sidings, I shut down my train to change to the west end as usual. As I walk through the train, I slam the inter-connecting doors behind me as I walk through.
Anyway, all inter-connecting doors are closed and I'm sitting just behind the west-end drivers cab reading a newspaper waiting for my departure time and I clearly hear the unmistakeable sound of inter-connecting doors slamming!

Now, those of you who know me (or read my comments on Tube Dude's blog about his ghost hunting) will know ghostly-type things completely freak me out! Here I am in Barking sidings alone on my train, which I've just walked through so I know is empty and I can hear the doors slamming!
I stick my head out the cab door to see if there's another train alongside me, which there isn't. There are a few C stock trains stabled over the other side of the sidings, but I wouldn't have heard their doors slamming.

I wasn't brave enough to have a stroll back down the train to check, I just locked myself in my cab!
It could have been anything I suppose, but the sound of the inter-connecting doors slamming is quite distinctive as I've heard it before when a fitter has been walking through my train. This time there was no-one. There may well be a logical explanation, and I've been desperately trying to think of one!

I'm dreading going back into Barking sidings again now! So Tube Dude, I suggest the next time you pass Barking sidings, see if you feel anything!

Strikes Announced

2006-02-10T01:29:00.000Z

Well, the results of the combined RMT & ASLEF ballot have been announced, and they are in favour of strike action.
This dispute WILL have an effect on the service, unlike the previous RMT station staff strikes as this time the drivers are involved. The LUL management may be able to sneak their own people into stations to keep them open, however they certainly can't get a non-qualified person to drive a train.

The dates of the two strikes announced so far are Tuesday 21st February and Thursday 2nd March.
I'm not sure of the exact details of the strikes yet, however it will probably be a case of the action being from 9pm to 9pm, therefore services will start winding down at 9pm on Monday 20th. I'll update you as soon as I know.

Before anyone posts comments slating me, I've mentioned before both here (and on Annie Mole's Blog comments) that I hate striking for anything other than safety issues, and I don't believe that the current dispute is about safety. Believe me, I'm as sick of strikes as anyone else.

Back From The Grindstone!

2006-02-08T02:34:00.000Z

Back to normal! Had a nice week away although it could hardly be classed as a holiday! In fact, every period of time off work I have is never called a holiday really because there's always something my wife finds for me to do!

Last week I've replaced all of the curtain rails in the house, painted the hallway and measured for the wood flooring my wife has decided she now wants. I'll have the pleasure of laying that during my next 'holiday' in May!

So, it's nice to be back at work for a rest! Very quiet first shift back, although I've managed to get ten minutes overtime because the signallers are still being total idiots. Apparently they're still 'working to rule' which surely should mean they actually do their job properly instead of holding us everywhere for no reason?
Still, if they want to keep giving me overtime I'll not complain! It all helps at pay day.

Irony

2006-01-29T07:00:00.000Z

When I rang my wife during my meal break, she informed me that if we'd put the lottery on, we'd have had 5 numbers and the bonus ball, which would have been about a quarter of a million quid. How bloody ironic that the week we don't put our usual numbers on because we're struggling for money, the damn things come up.
I couldn't afford to enter the works syndicate for the Euro millions rollover either, so I half expected them to win the full hundred million! In actual fact, out of almost 100 lines, they won about £7 total!

I've told my missus a million times not to check the numbers when we can't afford to put it on, but does she listen?!
Ah well, I suppose I'll have to go back to driving trains again in a weeks time!

Yes I say a weeks time, because I'm away for the next week. Will Acton Town still be my home depot when I return? Who knows. There's a lot of politics and arguments going on at Acton at the moment, and morale seems to have reached a record low now. I dread to think what I'm going to come back to.

Anyway, have a good week everyone. Stay safe!

Have To Be Careful!

2006-01-25T03:00:00.000Z

One of my colleagues today entered the smoking room at Earl's Court where I was sitting and said "It's you, isn't it?"
A bit of a strange "hello" I thought, of course it's me!
My colleague then went on to say "I was on the internet the other night, and you're DistrictDriver aren't you?".

Hmmm. I suspect my identity is probably so easy to work out by the posts I've made in the past, but now I know my colleagues are reading, I'll have to be careful about what I say!!!

LASERS
Remember a few years ago, laser pens were the 'must-have' item for yoofs. These devices were designed for teachers or lecturers for pointing out things on whiteboards without needing a wooden pointer, however because they produce a tiny dot of red laser beam, the chavs all decided what fun it would be to have them to shine into peoples eyes. Particularly drivers.
I thought I'd seen the last of those things, but tonight while sitting in my driving cab at Wimbledon waiting for my departure time, I suddenly get a red light in my eye, then flying around my cab.
Obviously I didn't know what it was at first; it could have been a laser-sight for a rifle or anything! Anyway, I worked out it was bouncing from the mirror, and it was being shone by a yoof in the front carriage.
I told him in no uncertain terms if he did it again it would take a bloody good surgeon to remove it from his backside.
He sat down, and off I went thinking no more of it. Then I see the red dot again! This time the train is in motion. The last thing you want to see while driving a train is a red light in front of you!
Anyway, on arrival at the next station, I stepped onto the platform and looked through into the saloon, and he's shining this laser thing through the spyhole on the cab door (the spyhole is simply for security reasons so we can see who is behind the door before we open it!).
As I'd already told this guy off once, I removed him from my train. I told the line controller what he'd done and what I'd done, and he passed the message to the station supervisor, so hopefully he was also thrown out of the station.

This may sound a bit extreme, but a driver is perfectly within his rights to refuse travel to anyone he/she believes could pose a danger to the train or the railway. In my opinion, this guy had been given one chance, and how stupid was he to then shine his toy through the spyhole?!

Hopefully this doesn't mean these laser thingies are coming back into vogue for the chavs.

Here We Go Again...

2006-01-21T20:26:00.000Z

Firstly, I apologise for the lack of updates. I've not had anything remotely interesting to blog about really!

Got my letter from LUL today advising me that I was unsuccesfull in my application for Instructor. Strange, but every male driver I've spoken to at work has also been rejected... It's funny how every female who applied has made it to the shortlists!
Good old 'positive discrimination'. I don't know why the hell I bothered applying, as I knew it would only be females who were picked.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the women I work with! They're just as competent in their jobs as I am. The point is why should they automatically be promoted simply because they're women?
Will I kick up a stink? I feel like doing so at the moment, especially as my wonderful, ever-loving management have now decided that they want to end the remote booking on and off dispute at Acton Town by bully-boy tactics.

Their idea is that they'll get rid of a large amount of drivers from Acton Town by moving them to Earl's Court. Without any choice. Without a say in the matter.
As yet, we don't know who yet, but to be honest if they tell me I'm moving to Earl's Court, I'll be tempted to tell them to stick their job up their arse. I'm already very pissed off with life without someone forcing me to move to a depot I don't want to go to.

Maybe I should speak to my doctor for some anti-depressants because lately I just feel so bloody low, and getting that rejection letter from LUL hasn't helped. At least now I know that I have no chance of promotion because I'm a white, straight male I'll not feel so bad about giong on the sick if I have to, although that is another reason for me being pissed off.
LUL have decided to introduce new attendance policies without consulting with the unions. These policies are quite harsh compared to previous policies, but really should only affect those people who are regularly on sick or come to work late, of which I am very rarely either.

However, watch out for more strike threats from both the RMT and ASLEF.

New Year - Same Old Whinge!

2006-01-03T13:09:00.000Z

One of my new years resolutions was not to whinge as much. I'm not always whinging, but looking back over my blog, I'm quite embarassed by the amount of whinging I seem to do!

However, I was hoping that the signallers would have had the new years resolution to actually think before routing trains in front of me.
The prime example was last night. The Piccadilly line was completely screwed because of a defective track somewhere at the north/east end of the line. I am approaching Acton Town and am held at the home signal. I notice a Piccadilly line train in our platform. Nothing unusual about that, except I can see he has a green signal and isn't moving. I can also see the platform is VERY full.
I contact the controller who is as frustrated as I am! He informs me that the train in the platform is awaiting relief, but alas there is none.

After about 10 minutes, I notice the train is moving! Hooray! But the sadistic signaller has other ideas! Instead of running me straight in and out of Acton (and by now, District trains are queueing behind me back to Stamford Brook), he still holds me while another empty Picc train comes alongside and promtly get a green signal into my platform again.
The controller again apologises and informs me that there is no relief for that train either!
Another 10 minutes pass and he's still sitting there without a driver. The platforms at Acton are getting busier and busier. I can hear my passengers getting restless (and I don't blame them), and all I could do was apologise to them on the PA.

Eventually, train number 2 moves and I am on my way. 25 minutes I sat at that red signal! Why oh why could the signaller not have routed the two Piccadilly trains who he knew would have no relief through their own platform at Acton to save completely screwing the District as well as the Picc? I will be putting in a 'trainmans report' about that, but as usual, nothing will happen.

Anyway, when I arrived into Acton Town platform, it becomes apparent that there has been no Piccadilly line train towards Heathrow for over half an hour, and no train on the Rayners Lane branch for almost TWO HOURS! I saw one of my colleagues on the platform at Acton who had booked off at around 10.30pm (it was now just after midnight) and was still waiting for a train home. He joked that he'd probably still be waiting on the platform when I'd been to Ealing Broadway and stabled the train in the depot and walked back to Acton to book off. Sure enough, he was right!
We stood for about another 20 minutes before someone decided that maybe they ought to run a train towards Rayners Lane.

This was very poorly handled by the people who should be controlling the railway. I know there was a track defect which caused problems, but surely there must have been a train somewhere which could have filled the gaps in the service a bit? Especially considering that yesterday was the first day of an exhorbitant price rise for anyone not using an Oyster Card.

Anyway, now that's off my chest, I'll try not to whinge as much... However my other resolution was to stop smoking, and I've broken that one already too!

Starting as we mean to go on?

2006-01-02T02:00:00.000Z

The first day of the new year, and already I have some overtime to count towards my review of 2006 (see my last blog (below)). We started the new year as we left the old one... With a signal failure!
Signal A900 between Bromley-by-Bow and Bow Road stations failed at about 10pm, so I had to "apply the rule" to pass it. As did every other train! Not a huge delay in itself, but because we're limited to about 5mph for a while after passing the failed signal for safety reasons, the trains start queueing up for quite a distance behind, so that was the main cause of delays.

Anyway, it's better that it failed at 10pm on a very quiet New Years day than at 8am on a normal rush-hour day! I did say a very quiet day, because I think everyone must be nursing hangovers! I'm lucky if I've carried more than about 200 people during my 8 hour shift! VERY quiet!

My missus has decreed that Christmas is now officially over and has taken down the tree and decorations! Back into the box for another year! Or in the case of shopping centres, only another 10 months until Christmas comes around again! It always makes me chuckle when they put the decorations up in shops almost as soon as Hallowe'en is over!

Welcome to 2006!

2006-01-01T14:15:00.000Z

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I'm very happy to report that Bob Crow's plans to ruin New Years Eve for hundreds of thousands of people were almost completely ruined! There were a few stations closed, but every line had a service running through the night as planned, although I did notice that the numbers were down from what I remember of the last few years.
Now when I say I'm very happy, I don't mean that in any way as a dig at my station colleagues who did go on strike, or who worked despite the strike. I am aware of the reasons behind the strike, but as I commented a few days ago, hopefully the RMT will find another way of getting their point over rather than holding a gun to Londoners heads.

The mood of those using the tube last night seemed to be pretty good, and for the first time ever on a NY Eve, I didn't suffer any abuse! Hopefully this is the same for all my colleagues on stations and trains... There's nothing worse than trying to run a service under difficult circumstances (especially with a strike going on!) and then being harassed for doing your job by knob-heads who think they know everything about our job.

2005 REVIEW
I'm not going to make this a news review etc, as every newspaper and TV channel does that! These are the quirky facts about last year which I have recorded in my 'little red book'!

Overtime claimed due to late stabling because of signal failure
723 minutes.

Overtime claimed due to late stabling because of drunks
165 minutes.

Overtime due to incompetent signallers (this is where they put you into Ealing Broadway platform then simply forget about you, or leave you at a red signal for ages somewhere between Ealing Broadway and Ealing Common depot)
508 minutes.

Trains with broken windows
4 (down from 9 in 2004!)

Drunks unconscious on train at terminus requiring assistance either from BTP or other station staff
18.

Incorrect routes set for me by signaller
5.

Number of near-misses (people trespassing or pretending to jump in front of me)
4.

So there we go! Let's see if we can get lower numbers on all of those for the 2006 review!

I hope and pray that 2006 will be a prosperous and peaceful year for us all.

Happy New Year from the RMT

2005-12-29T14:42:00.000Z

While I've been away, I've been following the ongoing discussions online between the RMT and LUL, and what a surprise: they've called a strike for New Year's Eve!
Now I'm an ASLEF member, therefore will not be on strike (before anyone posts comments flaming me!) however I'm wondering how much of a service we'll be able to run if the station staff are on strike.
Now don't get me wrong, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am always in favour of strike action as a last resort and only for safety reasons. There are always other options open like working to rule, which incidentally the drivers at Acton Town (District) have been doing for almost a year now. This hits the management because we're refusing to remotely book on or off at Earl's Court (Why should we - my depot is Acton Town!) but doesn't effect the travelling public. In fact the vast majority of our passengers probably would never guess that there is a localised dispute ongoing on the District line, however the management are most certainly aware of it (although they don't seem to be doing anything to resolve it, but that's another story!)

So, back to my station colleagues. Over the years that I've been driving trains, I've had to have assistance from station staff on average once a week for one reason or another (usually to assist with evicting unsociable passengers). This works very well: I blow my whistle or call up on the radio, the assistance arrives and the train can be moving again very quickly with minimum delay to my 'proper' passengers.
OK so station staff can't realy help with all situations, but it's always nice to have more than just me trying to deal with situations!

I just feel (as many others do judging by comments left on Annie Mole's blog) that Bob Crow and co have deliberately decided on New Years Eve to have this strike to cause misery to thousands of party-goers and revellers! I know it's not much fun for us staff working NY Eve, with the extra hassle and grief we always get from the drunken idiots, but surely the idea of London Underground is to provide a service?
The very fact that Bob Crow has decreed the strike should begin at midday on NY Eve until midday on NY Day is proof that he's deliberately trying to cause problems. All previous strikes have been from 9pm to 9pm.

I do have some sympathy for my station colleagues - it's NOT an easy job, and they take the brunt of the flack from disgruntled customers. However, in my opinion, they would have had much more public support if Bob Crow had decided on a midweek stoppage rather than NY Eve.
To be honest, I personally think that this ballot was illegal anyway, as they didn't bother to ballot their members who are drivers, yet there are notices up all over the place urging RMT drivers not to report to work! The drivers aren't invoved in this dispute (despite what the Evening Standard would have you believe) and if RMT drivers refuse to book on, they'll be facing disciplinary charges because they aren't officially in dispute because they weren't ballotted! Or maybe that's Bob Crow's plan? To get as many drivers disciplined as possible then have another strike to get those overturned?
I wouldn't put anything past Bob Crow.

A NICE WELCOME BACK
I see the grafitti vandals have been up to their usual tricks during the shutdown on Christmas day. This happens every year without fail, with no trains running, the vandals take advantage of the traction current being off to get into tunnels and other inaccessible places to scrawl their 'tags' all over the place.
These people need to get a life. What possible pleasure can they get from seeing an illegible scrawl on a train or wall?

Speaking of bloody idiots, I almost killed a young boy last night. I was departing Parsons Green station heading towards Earl's Court when a young lad dressed all in black (aged only about 12) ran straight accross the tracks in front of me from the sidings.
I obviously blew the whistle and applied full emergency brakes, and I missed him thankfully but it shook me up. I have no idea what he was doing in the sidings (probably applying grafitti) but when he'd made it to the other side of the track as I was on the radio reporting the incident, he was standing laughing at me making hand gestures.
What a complete dickhead. There have been loads of stories in the media about young people killed on railway lines lately, and this would have been another one if I'd been going any faster. Apart from the trains, he sprinted over the lines and if he'd tripped or touched the live rails, he'd have been fried. These people who trespass on the railway just don't realise how dangerous the environment is. I am a fully trained driver and sometimes need to go on the track in the course of my duties, and I hate it! I do what I have to do with extra caution and then get back onto the safety of my train. If I need to step over the live rails, I do so very cautiously! Especialy last night with the rails and sleepers being covered in frost.

Anyway, that's enough for now! I'm just off to face another night on the District!

Time For Tea!

2005-12-16T01:58:00.000Z

There's a rumour that the Underground runs on electricity. Let me tell you that it doesn't! It actually runs on tea!
I'm referring to a ridiculous, scare-mongering story in the Evening Standard on Thursday. The story featured pictures taken by a commuter who spent four hours on a bridge just taking photo's of Northern Line drivers. The photo's shown included one of a driver apparently bending down to get something out of his bag, one of a driver drinking a cup of tea, one of a driver glancing at a notebook and one of a driver with a young girl in his cab.

Now, the last pic of the driver with the girl in the cab is worrying. It appears that the door to the cab is standing open and the girl is in the doorway. This is a definite no-no for obvious security reasons.
The other pics are everyday occurences!
The driver bending down was probably just putting his duty book away or something. I do it all the time approaching a terminus station. As long as you know the track ahead is clear and the signals are clear, your eyes are only off the track for a few seconds! If someone suddenly jumps in front of the train at the exact moment you happen to have your eyes averted, then that's just bloody unlucky.
The driver glancing at what appears to be a duty book was probably making sure he wasn't running early or late. Again, something I do myself as it only takes the eyes away from the track for a second.
The one which made my blood boil was the poor driver drinking his tea. Almost every driver on the Underground has one of those thermos mugs and we are permitted to drink tea as we're driving! The only thing is that we're not allowed to make the tea on the move, for obvious reasons.

The Evening Standard have always disliked us Tube Drivers, and personally, if I was the driver with the tea (who can easily be identified), I'd sue the Evening Standard for obtaining and printing my photo without permission making it look like I was doing wrong when I wasn't!

As I say, the only worrying picture was the one with the youngster in the cab. That driver needs to be reprimanded, but all the others certainly don't.

Interestingly, I can't find the story on the Evening Standard website.

It's Christmas Time!
Yes, it's that time of year for us all to get into even more debt to please our kids! I'm actually on holiday for Christmas this year, so this will be my last blog until about 28th December.
So, may I take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a
VERY HAPPY AND PEACEFUL CHRISTMAS.

A long weekend!

2005-12-12T23:39:00.000Z

Yes, I've been away for the weekend! Not that it's been a relaxing weekend, as I've been doing the lighting for my church Christmas show. This is something I've done for about 5 years now, and I enjoy it very much! I'd love to have a look at the lighting board of somewhere like the London Palladium or a proper theatre!
I'm not a qualified lighting designer or operator, but (if I say so myself) the lighting always adds that bit extra to any performance! We only had 10 spotlights, but getting the positioning and colours right is an art form, and I always enjoy the setting up!
Anyway, the performances on Sunday went very well with a capacity crowd (about 300 people for each performance, which is good for a church play!) and now I'm back to my proper job of driving trains!

The worrying thing is it only seems like a few months since I was doing the lighting plans for last years play! In fact I still have them in a folder on my desktop! I really don't know where this year has gone!! It'll probably only seem like a few months until the rehearsals start for next years production!

By the way, if anyone knows of any local AmDram groups in West London who want someone to help with lighting, please let me know! I'm always keen to learn from someone who does it professionally!

NEW LU BLOGGER!
Welcome to the DSM! DSM (Duty Station Manager) is the latest addition to our ever-increasing family of LU bloggers!
I look forward to reading your blog, DSM! If you're based on the District, say hello to me when I'm passing through!!

Incompetent Lawyer?

2005-12-03T02:47:00.000Z

On checking my train for lost property this evening before returning it to depot, I found what can only be described as a highly classified file which had been left on my train.
Obviuosly, as soon as I saw 'classified' on the cover, I had to have a sneaky peek, as I thought it was maybe a wind up, but it turned out that this file contained a lot of details about a recent "armed operation" and seemed to contain statements and FULL details of all witnesses and police officers involved.

Obviously I didn't read the file; I simply glanced through it and made sure it wasn't just rubbish. I immediately handed it to the station supervisor with the advice that maybe he should contact the police to tell them he had it. The supervisor was as shocked as I was!

I'd love to know who left this file on a train! You read about such things in the Sunday newspapers! I can only assume it was either a very incompetent lawyer or senior police officer.

Very worrying, especially if the file had been found (and used for whatever reason) by some of the types we usually carry on our last trains.

Hopefully it will be returned to its rightful owner ASAP, or if it was given to the police then whoever left it should be disciplined.

Other than that, a very uneventful Friday night!

No thought!

2005-11-29T02:40:00.000Z

No this isn't a rant at Lu customers, it's a list of REAL URLs of websites who obviously haven't thought about how their URLs could be read before they registered them!

"Who Represents?", a database for agencies to the rich and famous:
www.whorepresents.com

Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange
advice and views: www.expertsexchange.com

Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island: www.penisland.net

Need a therapist? www.therapistfinder.com

Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales:
www.molestationnursery.com

New to Milan and you need electric light? Why not sign up on-line with
Power-Gen? www.powergenitalia.com [This just asked me for my password! Obviously for members only or something]

They are actual websites (I checked!) and they just made me chuckle! I do have a weird sense of humour!!

Time To Talk!

2005-11-27T20:25:00.000Z

That's what these meetings with Tim O'Toole are entitled, and as I said in my last blog, I attended one of these during the week...

I don't know about time to talk, but it was certainly time to listen! We were given the opportunity to ask questions towards the end of the session, but that was means of a computer on each table, and they only picked out certain questions which they wanted to answer, so I'm still none the wiser what the future holds!
It is nice to get together and have a chat with the management, but the way these meetings are organised, when you go in, you get a coloured card. This shows which group of tables you are sitting at. They must have spent a lot of time ensuring that we were all seperated from each other! I didn't know anyone at the table I was sitting at, which was obviously a deliberate move to stop any chatter etc.

Anyway, Mr O'Toole touched on a number of subjects, but refused to mention anything we were wanting to know, like station staffing levels etc.
All in all, a pretty pointless excercise, but as I say, at least the current management are trying to talk to us which is a big improvement on the previous useless management who were never seen or heard!

One of the things Mr O'Toole was talking about was the long history of LUL, and this prompted me to have a look at the London Transport Museum's photograph collection. They have literally thousands of photographs online from days gone by, and personally I could (indeed have) spend hours looking at the pictures. I love history, and London Transport certainly has plenty of it!

Anyway, dead lates all this week again. Got a long weekend coming up in a fortnight which is taken up doing the lighting for my church's Christmas production, then come back down for three days and then off again until December 28th!
Unfortunately I didn't get picked to work New Years Eve... Because the company are offering extra money for working NY Eve, the people who we never see for the rest of the year (the skivers and the people who only ever do early duties) all suddenly crawl out of the woodwork to work that one nightshift a year!
Personally I don't think they should be allowed to work that nightshift if they only ever do early duties for the rest of the year, but this is all down to union politics. Our union rep has cunningly awarded himself a cushy spare duty overnight (Now that's a surprise) and his mates have all got nice cushy numbers as well!
There's quite a few of us are rather annoyed (to say the least) about this 'old boy network' which operates whenever the union is allowed to allocate duties (as they do over Christmas etc), but sadly there's sod all we can do about it.

Anyway, that's enough whinging for now. Hopefully I'll blog again during the week!

Back again!

2005-11-22T11:44:00.000Z

I've had a thoroughly enjoyable holiday (although a bit on the cold side) but now I'm back and ready for work!
I'm actually at a meeting with our MD Tim O'Toole this afternoon, although what he's going to talk to us about I have no idea yet!

I'll be back here tonight to tell you of what Mr O'Toole had to say (if I'm allowed to say, that is!).

By the way: To my colleague The Great Orme, My fortnight in Kings Cross was very nice!! (Read the comments to my 'holiday time' post if you're confused!)

Holiday time!

2005-11-04T07:06:00.000Z

At the time of posting, it's just after 7am on Friday 4th November and I'm just about to leave for Kings Cross station and the start of my holidays!

I'll be back around 21st (I think!) so I'll catch up with you all then!

Take Care everyone!

Almost a fortnight!

2005-10-30T04:00:00.000Z

I can't believe it's almost a fortnight since I last blogged! I apologise most sincerely, but I've had a lot on my mind lately!
The latest thing is promotion! Well, sort of! My colleague the Station Master has mentioned he's applied for various jobs. Now, let me say that I love driving trains, so I never want to leave the trains grade, so I noticed that in this weeks Traffic Circular [our weekly information booklet with temporary speed restrictions etc listed] they're advertising for Instructor Operators at both Acton Town and Earl's Court!
I meet all of the requirements, and although it's a lot more work and responsibility and not a huge amount of extra money, it's something I'm sure I'd be good at and I'm sure gives a lot of job satisfaction to see someone you've trained still driving on the line years later!
I know the District line inside out, so I may as well apply! I'll keep you informed how I get on. I'm quite lucky in the respect of being good friends with most of the Instructors on the District, particularly Solidbond (not his real name, obviously!) and District Dave, both of whom have offered me advice and encouragement since day one of me coming to the District, so thanks guys and expect the worried phone calls if I get an interview!!

CLOCKS
Yes, it's that time of year when the clocks all go back an hour! So as I type this, my clock is showing almost 4am, but in fact it would have been 5am, before I adjusted everything.
I hate having to adjust everything: clocks, watches, mobile phone, video etc etc. I always discover at least one that I haven't changed about a week later!

HALLOWE'EN
Now, call me Mr Scrooge if you wish, but how the hell has the celebration of Hallowe'en became so popular and commercialised in the UK? When I was a kid we used to hollow out a turnip and make a lantern (we couldn't afford pumpkins!) but we'd never think about going around the neighbours saying 'trick or treat'!
Surely in this day and age this is a very dangerous thing to be doing? I know most of the kids who come around my house are with an adult, but there are still a few who aren't.
While I'm in my 'Scrooge' mood, why the hell do we have fireworks from the middle of October usually until after the new year? Guy Fawkes night is 5th November, and there are plenty of organised displays. I understood that it was going to be illegal to buy fireworks (particulary those bloody loud 'air bombs'), but it seems that if such a law was passed it is most certainly the most ineffective law ever.
All the way from Bow Road (where we emerge from the tunnel at the east end) through to Upminster is like a constant firework display. I don't mind the nice, colourful ones, but what on earth is the point of sending a rocket up which goes up, then just makes an extremely loud BOOM frightening people and animals for miles around.
Apart from anything else, I'm still a bit edgy because of the 7/7 bombings, so I almost shit myself when I hear a loud explosion now.

As well as that, why don't kids put any effort into their 'guys' these days? I can remember making a guy with an old pair of jeans, and old shirt and stuffing it with newspaper. We made a face for him out of papier mache (you know the stuff I mean - I just can't spell it!) but we never sat outside a railway station/pub/bus stop begging 'penny for the guy'!
Kids today seem to put a mask on a black bin bag, and call it a guy! No imagination or effort! Then how insulted are they when I offer them 1 penny for their guy! I do this every year, I raid the copper jar and when the kids accost me asking for 'penny for the guy, mister' I give them a single penny! Just my stingy sense of humour!

Taking The P*ss
I noticed no fewer than four people urinating on station platforms tonight on my way from Upminster to Ealing Broadway. Can these people not hold their bladders? Can they not go before they leave the pub? Can they not find a proper public WC?
If they are caught short, at least find a quiet place. All of the people I saw tonight were quite blatantly pissing on platforms against the wall, or in one case against the OPO CCTV monitors! If they can't hold their bladders then they shouldn't drink so much in the first bloody place. It's no wonder our stations stink.
Unfortunately I've broken my digital camera, or I'd have taken photo's of these people and published them here. I'd also have taken a photo of the state of my train when I arrived at Ealing for the last time tonight.
The carriages were covered in vomit, urine, newspapers, empty bottles, cans, half-eaten food etc. I've never witnessed anything as disgusting in my life, and Ken wants to give these tossers an extra hour at the expense of the serious people who need to use the Tube early in the mornings? The man isn't right in the head.
I also noticed when I arrived at Acton Town to put my equipment bag away that the ticket barriers were still closed and the amount of people who were jumping over them was amazing. So they spend God-knows how much money on alcohol, but then they can't afford another few quid for their fare? We obviously provide a free train service to anyone who is drunk, as well as a convenient place to dump any rubbish they want, a place to piss or vomit etc... So if Ken Livingstone does indeed start these later services, there'll probably be very few people who will pay for their journeys anyway, so it'll be running at a loss, not to mention the extra cleaning costs!

HOLIDAYS (almost!)
Only another week to go! On Friday 4th Novemeber, I'm away for a fortnight. Nowhere very exotic unfortunately, but it will be nice to get out of London for a while!

I'll try and blog a bit more in future instead of bottling it all up for one post! But until next time... Byeeee!

Bored!

2005-10-18T02:00:00.000Z

Firstly, I'm glad to say that it looks like the Northern line will actually start running a 'reasonable' service from later this morning! I assume the trains have been modified and extensively tested so they're safe to run again.
I notice that the drivers have been getting some stick on the Evening Standard forums. This really makes my blood boil! only a few months ago, we were heroes for helping rescue people trapped on trains and evacuating the system etc, and now we're all back to being "overpaid, underworked idiots" (to quote one poster on the forum).
I wonder how it would have been had this problem not been discovered, or the drivers still drove the trains with this problem and we had a crash resulting in many deaths? I assume that would have been our fault as well?
Being a tube driver requires an extremely thick skin these days, because no matter what we do, it's always wrong.

Anyway, now that's off my chest, what a boring few days I've had! I was working on Sunday when we had the engineering works in the Hammersmith area, which meant most Acton drivers were simply operating a shuttle service between Acton Town and Ealing Broadway. How boring was that?!
On the subject of the engineering work (and you can find the official information about it HERE because it's happening again next weekend), what a farce those replacement buses are!
The District is suspended between Acton Town and Earl's Court, and the Picc is suspended between Acton Town and Hyde Park Corner.
The replacement buses are operating from Acton Town to Hammersmith, then if you want to go to Earl's Court you have to plod over a few streets away to get on another bus which doesn't go to Earl's Court, but to West Brompton! Then you have to plod down to West Brompton station to get the train to Earl's Court!
Anyone with luggage has my sympathy! I suggest that anyone heading into central London goes to Ealing Broadway and take the Central line, changing where neccesary to complete your journey... Unless you're feeling particularly brave (and have a few hours to spare!)

By the way, could I say thanks to one of my nightshift colleagues who took me off my train at Acton Town tonight... He stabled my train for me so I could catch the last Piccadilly line train home instead of waiting another hour for the staff cab! Much appreciated, Ray!

Northern Line Closed

2005-10-13T02:15:00.000Z

Yes, earlier this evening, LUL (or more accurately, the staff) decided that enough was enough and that the Northern line was going to stop.

The problem lies with the tripcock system. obviously no train driver deliberately passes a red signal, but just in case we do, there's a fail-safe emergency brake system. This system is basically a lever next to a signal called a Train Stop:

Anyway, this train stop will catch onto the tripcock hanging below the front of the train if a signal is red. When operated, this will cause the train emergency brakes to apply, thus safely stopping the train quickly. If the signal is green, the trainstop is lowered and the trains tripcock passes over the train stop without problem.

(Please note that my description of the system is extremely 'laymans' to avoid confusing non-technical types! If you'd like to discover more about the tripcock system, you can read the 'signalling' pages at District Dave's website, from where the above photo of a train stop came!)

On the Northern line, it has been discovered that some of the trains are not being 'tripped' by this system when a signal is passed. This is obviously extremely unsafe. As I said, no driver will deliberately pass a signal at danger, but if he does and the tripcock doesn't work, then there's a very high probablity that the train will meet the one in front and a collision would occur.

We obviously do not want this to happen, therefore I fully support my colleagues on the Northern line in their actions of refusing to work on the grounds of health and safety. I know it's very inconvenient for you commuters, but I hope that you'll understand why this is happening and will support the drivers.

Sense of Humour!

2005-10-08T23:55:00.000Z

Not much to blog about today, other than I've heard through the grapevine that the District controllers, signallers and even the Duty Ops Managers are extremely pissed off now because they've been told to work their full hours instead of the fiddles that they work at the moment. Apparently the line controllers are also 'working to rule' - Will we notice the difference?
It should make things better, because if they're working to rule, then the rules state that they have to answer the radio when we call them instead of just ignoring it...

Anyway, I have to say thank you to the station staff at Dagenham Heathway for the following:

I particularly liked the "We love LUL" speech bubble! Thanks whoever-you-are, it cheered me up!

Blogger Meet!

2005-10-06T23:55:00.000Z

Unfortunately, I'll not be able to attend because of other commitments, but I'm sure there'll be a good turnout, and I know you'll all have a brilliant time!
For more information e-mail stationlogbook@gmail.com or download a flyer in pdf format.

If Only It Worked...
Have you ever seen something which you wish did something else? I know, that doesn't make much sense, but if you see the photograph below, you'll probably work out what I mean!

The 'Passenger Mute Switch' actually refers to being able to mute a passenger alarm until it can be dealt with and reset, but I thought it would be wonderful if I could just press that button and shut all my passengers up! Particularly the 'hoodies' who sit behind the cab listening to some wierd rave-style music blaring through a tinny speaker on their mobile phone!

Anyway, no whinges today! Friday nights always seem to produce more than a fair amount of trouble on the District, so I'll let you know if any manages to find me!

A Sad Day For Comedy

2005-10-05T00:36:00.000Z

Before I write about what's on my mind to do with work, I'd just like to mention that one of my all-time comedy favourites died yesterday. I was rather upset by the news that Ronnie Barker had died, as I grew up with sitcoms such as "Open All Hours" and "Porridge", not to mention the Two Ronnies.
Ronnie will be remembered with great fondness by comedy fans everywhere.
RIP Ronnie.

(Above picture taken from Open All Hours, co-starring David Jason.)

Fares Fair?
London Mayor Ken Livingstone has today announced that fares are going up from next year.(TfL Press Release HERE.)

Basically, what this means is that the minimum Tube and DLR adult cash fare rises to £3 and the cash single bus or tram fare to £1.50. That's a HUGE increase!
However! There is some good news! The prices will actually be lowered if purchased using an Oyster pre-pay card.
The obvious intention is to get people using the Oyster pre-pay cards rather than cash. Is this a good idea? I'm not so sure. I agree that the fare decreases for Oyster customers will be most welcome, however maybe I'm too cynical, but once everyone swaps to the Oyster, what's to stop Ken then stopping their discounts and everyone will be paying full whack?

Signals (again!)
Two serious signal problems this evening. The first one at Ealing Broadway around 1600ish (just after I'd left!!) and then a little later at Wimbledon, which is actually controlled by Network Rail.
Both caused lots of cancellations, including my train which the controller asked me to leave in Barking sidings to save getting caught up in the chaos in the west! Unfortunately, I still had to catch a train back to Earl's Court to pick up my second train, so I was still late. Ah well, that's life!

Deliberate?
I wrote a while ago about some people who were obviously leaving packages on trains and stations deliberately to see what reaction they could cause.
One of my colleagues was telling me that she had to evacuate the train and Westminster station on Sunday night because of such an occurence.
The train had stopped in the platform when the driver noticed a man running down the platform towards the cab. She opened her cab door to be told of two men who had been acting suspiciously in the rear carriage and had legged it leaving a bag behind. Obviously with this sort of behaviour, no chances could be taken, so the train and station were immediately evacuated and the bomb squad called in.

Apparently the bomb squad were very quick to arrive, and after a short while announced the bag was... full of rubbish. Obviously left deliberately.
I only hope that the police will take the CCTV tapes and try to find the two men, and charge them under the terrorism act. Lock them up for a few years, that would soon knock some sense into them. Bloody idiots.

Anyway, that's it for now!

Booooring!

2005-10-03T19:41:00.000Z

It seems that the last week or so has been almost completely incident free, at least while I've been at work!
However I was interested to read a message sent to me by a friend of mine who is a signaller somewhere on the District (I'll not reveal his location!) informing me of a bit of a cock up on Sunday night on the line. Now I was rest day (thank God!) so I wasn't there to witness things, but apparently a set of points at Tower Hill westbound failed.
These points are set to run into a sand drag when the signal is at danger (red) in case the train should accidentally pass the signal at danger, thereby protecting a train leaving the bay platform at Tower Hill.

Unfortunately, the person who went down to 'secure' the points (to allow the train to apply the appropriate rule and continue on his way) decided to secure the points as they were already set (ie into the sand drag). The driver failed to notice his error until he ended up in the sand. This made things even worse, as now the train had to be set back into the platform to have another go!
I've added the photo below showing the sand-drag (indicated by the yellow arrow). Apologies it's such a bad image, but those tunnels are dark, and I've just taken the picture as a still from our route-learning DVD!

To make things worse, there was a train held in the tunnel east of Tower Hill which was there for quite a long time before someone in the 'Ivory Tower' could make a decision on moving the train either back or forwards to at least get part of the train in a platform so the poor passengers could get off and stretch their legs.

Three things struck me about this:
1. Why on earth did the person securing the points decide to secure them into the sand drag?
2. How did the driver of the train not spot that the route was not secured correctly?
3. What is the point of having Duty Operations Managers if they can't make a decsion as to detraining passengers instead of holding them in a tunnel.

As normal, the driver and whoever secured the points will no doubt be bollocked, and have all delays attributed to them, but those in charge of the operation sitting in the control room will be cleared of all blame as usual.

The company keep going on about how we should all work as part of a team. Most of us 'front line' staff do! Train Ops and station staff usually get on fine and work well together during incidents. The people who do not play as part of the team are the controllers and Duty Operations Managers who make the rules up as they go to suit themselves (and to minimise any liklihood of them losing their Performance-Related pay bonus).

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: The words "piss-up" and "brewery" spring to mind!

Back to work tomorrow...

By the way, if you are interested in the history of London Underground, the Acton Museum is open on 22nd and 23rd October. The depot houses a lot of examples of old buses and trains along with loads of other LT stuff. It's a fascinating place if you're interested in this sort of thing (and I have to confess to being a bit of an anorak!).
The prices are Adults £6.95, Concessions £4.95 and accompanied children under 16 go free. This admission is valid for both days.
The description of this months open event is described by the LTMuseum website as detailed below:

"Do your children know how to use London's public transport safely? Learn safety tips and much more with staff from London Underground, London Buses, River Services and Surface Transport. Handle real museum artefacts and take part in poetry and craft workshops and loads more. Suitable for all ages. "

Unfortunately, if you are attending, be aware that bad planning means that the District and Piccadilly lines will be suspended between Acton Town and Earl's Court on this weekend. You can find alternative routes via the LUL website.

Strange start to the day!

2005-09-25T01:45:00.000Z

Well, I think it's about time I got back to blogging!

I'll start by telling you how my day started. Well in actual fact, my bus journey to the station.
I boarded the bus and stood about halfway down the gangway as there were no seats. I could smell cigarette smoke, and was casting my eye up and down the bus to see if someone was having a sly ciggie at the back. I couldn't see anything, but I could definitely smell cigarette smoke!
After about a minute, a big Jamaican guy approached me and in his Jamaican accent told me "Hey mon, your shoes are on fire!"
Now I've been told some strange things in the past, but that's the first time I've been told my shoes were on fire. I was beginning to wonder if it was some sort of code - maybe he thought I was the secret agent he was supposed to be meeting!
I had to ask him to repeat himself, even though I'd heard what he said. He told me again that my shoes were on fire.
Sure enough, I looked down, and found the source of the cigarette smoke! There was a lit cigarette end sticking out from the side of my shoe drifting smoke up the bus!

The shoes we wear are company-issued Doctor Martins with quite good tread on the sole, and I must have stood on someones cigarette as I boarded the bus which had wedged in the tread pattern!
I hastily removed said offending ciggie and stood on it to extinguish it. I felt such a pillock!

The Lost Oyster!

Even though it sounds like the name of a cutesy kids book about poor Ollie the Oyster who got lost, this is the tale of a group of drunken young ladies on the platform at Victoria station earlier this evening.
I had stopped and opened the doors as usual, and I could see the girls looking underneath the carriage. I opened my cab door and asked them what the problem was. One of them had dropped her Oyster card onto the track, and they were working out how to retrieve it.
Apparently one of them was going to jump down when I pulled out of the station. I almost screamed at them not to be so silly!
They didn't seem to realise that the rails are electrified! When I told them I'd summon station staff assistance and that they weren't to attempt to retrieve the pass under any circumstances themselves, one of them asked me "Why? Will be prosecuted?" I told them "No you'll be electrocuted".

I contacted the line controller who informed the station staff who duly arrived with the special tool they use to recover items from the track. So although I may have initially upset them by doing my 'strict headmaster' thing, I like to think that I've educated them for the future.
It's still very worrying that people don't realise that there is 630v running through the rails!

Signal Failures

Yes, it's my traditional whinge time! We went for months on the District without having any signal failures, then we had a load all at once!
I keep a record of every time I've had to 'apply the rule' (to pass a failed signal), and the previous time was several months ago. Then I got three in two days!

The worst one was the signal just beyond Dagenham East on the eastbound line which had failed at danger. The signal is automatic (meaning it is controlled by the passage of trains with no input or control by a signal box). The rule for passing this type of failed signal is wait 2 minutes (to give it a chance to clear) then blast the whistle, pass the signal (which will stop the train instantly thanks to our safety systems). Reset the safety system, then continue at a "speed at which you can stop short of any obstruction" (about 5mph, and the train will not allow you to go faster than 10mph anyway for 3 minutes after being tripped) until you've passed two consecutive signals showing a proceed aspect (ie yellow or green).
Now in most areas, this isn't a problem because signals are so close together, so you can pass the required two signals in a relatively short period of time, but beyond Dagenham, the signals are about half-a-mile apart!
What a pain in the arse it was to drag the train at 5mph for almost a mile until I'd passed the required signals!

By the time I arrived in Upminster, I was about 15 minutes late because of this! I wasn't too worried because the District timetable is quite generous in 'recovery' time, so I should have still got back to Earl's Court for my meal break on time, however this wasn't to be!
I was fine as far as Minories Junction (which is between Aldgate East and Tower Hill where the Circle line services go their own sweet way towards Aldgate). I got held at the signal approaching Minories, which I knew meant I was about to have a Circle train put in front of me. Now this is bad news to any District driver, especially one who is due off for meal relief, because the drivers on the Circle allegedly deliberately take their time to try and run late and miss a trip!
Sure enough, the Circle trundles over the junction and eventually I get a green signal. I was right... The Circle driver was taking the piss, and never seemed to get above about 20mph meaning that I was simply going from one red signal to the next. Not too bad though, he seems to find out how to make the train move after a few stations, and I start to catch up some time... Until I hear a radio message between the controller and a Circle driver who is apparently having door problems somewhere. I think to myself "knowing my luck, that'll be the one in front of me", and guess what?!

I'm now stuck in the tunnel between Victoria and Sloane Square while the Circle line tries to rectify his door troubles. Eventually he gets the train moving and off I go. The outcome? I lost 10 minutes of my meal break! Not the end of the world, but when you're hungry, it's bloody annoying!

Rumours

As any member of LUL staff will tell you, there is always a rumour of some sort floating around the messrooms! The latest I've heard is that when the new Heathrow Terminal 5 opens, the Piccadilly line will not have enough trains to operate a full service to Heathrow whilst maintaining the service on the Rayners Lane branch. Therefore, there is talk about the Rayners Lane branch being given back to the District Line!
Those of you with a knowledge of LU history can probably tell me the year, but the branch was originally the District line anyway!
I have no idea if and when this would happen, but would make the longest run for a driver anywhere on the Underground to go from Uxbridge in Middlesex through the city to Upminster in Essex!

Well, that's it for now!

Thank You!

2005-09-23T04:45:00.000Z

Thanks for all of your comments and emails. I'm fine!

It's been a difficult few weeks with one thing and another, so please accept my apologies for the lack of blog entries.

I am hopefully back to normal now and will post a blog tonight when I'm finished work. I'll have to try and remember everything I was going to blog about over the past few weeks!

Sorry!

2005-09-03T09:25:00.000Z

Other things on my mind at the moment, so there'll be no blogs for a while. Personal problems, combined with rapidly deteriorating health and no money. I sometimes wonder what the point of it all is.

Speak to you all again soon.

Neccesary Evil

2005-08-26T23:56:00.000Z

Unfortunately, due to the amount of spam I'm getting in my comments section lately, I have had to implement a 'word verification' security code.

What this means is that you'll have to type the shown word (or letters) into a box before posting comments. This is intended to fool the spambots.

I hope you will not be put off from posting comments because of this!

Strange Request!

2005-08-26T23:55:00.000Z

Normally when people ask me things at work, it's questions along the lines of "How do I get to x" or "What time is the last train" etc.
This evening, as I was heading towards Upminster, I stopped in the platform at Aldgate East and a rather drunk gentleman knocked on the cab door.
I'm always a bit wary about opening the cab door anyway, however I opened it and this gentleman asked me (in his drunken, slurred way) if I wouldn't mind waking him up at Dagenham East!
I was temporarily gobsmacked to be asked to leave my comfortable cab to wake up a drunk at his stop and I had to bite my tongue from being sarcastic and offering him a nice cup of tea to go with his morning call! Anyway, I agreed - after all, he was kind enough to breathe all over me while he was talking to me... I'd probably have failed a breath test after that!
Anyhow, as we were approaching Dagenham East, I made a nice loud announcement along the lines of "WAKEY WAKEY!", and it seemed to work because he staggered off my train without me leaving my cab!

Had the pleasure of finally having a chat with Tube Dude this evening too! We really must arrange a drinking session at some point, give us more of a chance to talk than the minute or so dwell time in the platform!

I also had the pleasure of being told I had a sexy accent this evening as well! (No it wasn't Tube Dude who told me that!!) A young Aussie lady who I had to evict from my train at Ealing Broadway at 0120 was quite taken with my accent, asking me where it was from etc. Really made my night! Of course she was very drunk!

The answer to my little photo quiz... Thanks to those of you who had guesses, but sadly you were all wrong!
The photo:

Is actually at Kensington Olympia! They are the new(ish) flats which have been built directly opposite the station. I'll try and find another photo to test you with soon!

Boring Rest Day

2005-08-26T01:21:00.000Z

Yes, I've had a day off today and I've done absolutely nothing except catch up on my sleep!
The shared washing machine in the house is broken yet again, so I couldn't catch up with all of my washing like I was intending. I've only got two more uniform shirts left clean, so I'll have to buy some hand washing powder tomorrow.

As a little competition, albeit with no prizes on offer, I've been having a sort of my photo's. I found this one, and it took me a few minutes thinking of where it was! So my challenge today is guess the location! It is somewhere on the District line. I'll give you the answer tomorrow or whenever I next blog. Any guesses in the comments section please!

Brought the weather with me...

2005-08-24T23:55:00.000Z

Hi everyone!
Firstly, my apologies for the longer-than-planned lack of blog entries! This is mainly due to the fact that sod all has happened worthy of note in the few days I've been back!

Spent almost three weeks in Newcastle (my home town) visiting family. The weather almost all of the time was wet and cool! I noticed on the forecast that London has been enjoying a lot of sunshine and high temperatures again, so I thought I'd bring the Newcastle weather back down with me! Almost every day since I've been back it's been raining, and today was pretty cold too!
Still, at least it gave me an opportunity to take a (rather naff) photo of a rainbow earlier this evening approaching West Ham (taken from a moving train).

It also provided an opportunity to take a photo from the roof terrace at Barking of the sky. I am often struck by how amazing our weather is, and the way clouds move etc etc. In the photo below, you can see completely black sky over Barking, but away to the west, the sky is still light. I thought it looked artistic anyway!

Meanwhile, back to earthly matters, it seems that nothing has changed since 7/7 on the Underground.
I am amazed daily at the amount of people who are kicking bags etc out of the way. My colleague, Tube Dude, mentions in his blog entitled Oh What A Day about a driver who handed him a plastic case which apparently had been left on his train. I've tried in vain to trace the driver concerned to kick his arse! The mind boggles! Less than 2 months ago, more than 50 people died in several bomb blasts. Yet we still have punters and (more worryingly) staff who are becoming complacent again.

PLEASE if you see something left on a train DON'T TOUCH IT! Ask around if it belongs to anyone (I know it's a sin to talk to people on the Tube, but you can make an exception in emergencies). If no-one claims it, press/pull the emergency alarm! Move away from the bag/case. Inform the first member of staff you see. BUT FOR GOODNESS SAKE DON'T TOUCH IT.

Anyway, that's off my chest now... Back to looking at my soothing weather pictures to calm down!

Holiday time again!

2005-07-29T05:00:00.000Z

Yes, after what has been a pretty horrendous few weeks on London Underground, it's time for a break.
I'll be away until 16th August, so until then may I wish you all a peaceful and happy time.

Ignorance and Stupidity

2005-07-25T23:00:00.000Z

Firstly, before I go into one of my rants, I apologise it's been a while since I last blogged. This is due to a number of reasons including PC probs (again!).

Anyway, the title of this blog is a big clue to what I'm going to have a whinge about! It's those ignorant, stupid, thoughtless people who are helping the terrorists achieve their objectives of bringing fear and chaos to London by leaving bags on trains and stations.

I can understand people accidentally leaving a bag on a train. We're only human and accidents do happen, but surely once you realise you'd go back to a member of staff and tell them!
Many people seem to be embarassed by the fact they've left a bag on a train and won't admit to it. They'll be a lot more embarassed when the train arrives into a station which is then evacuated because of that bag.

This is now a DAILY occurance on the District Line alone! Goodness only knows how many alerts other lines are suffering from which I don't know about.
One day last week, we had Mile End, West Ham, Fulham Broadway and Victoria all evacuated at some stage.

The people who REALLY piss me off though are the ignorant gits who seem to deliberately leave bags in provocative positions on trains. Again this has happened a few times lately, and happened to me on Friday.
I arrived into Upminster and was changing ends when I noticed a sports bag, which hadn't just been left, but had been TIED to a seat.
I immediately cleared the train and contacted the line controller who arranged for a duty manager to attend. Luckily, I spotted a police officer on another platform, so I beckoned him over and explained the situation to him.
It took him a few minutes, but very gently he managed to open the top of the bag enough to peek inside and declare it was just rubbish... DELIBERATELY left to try and cause an evacuation etc.

Whoever does this is no better than the terrorists themselves, but with armed police now regularly patrolling, they will have to be careful. We've already had one innocent person killed (why did he run? That's another debate for another place), but I'm sure an armed police officer who saw someone tying a bag to a seat then running off the train may well give chase.

It's also "nice" to see the kids haven't bothered to give us a break. As if we're not stressed enough from bomb threats etc, the little bastards in the Dagenham area are still having fun by shooting at trains with an air rifle or catapult. Several trains over the past few days have had windows put out.
This is another thing I hate about some of our customers.... They won't report a window having been shot out! They simply move to another part of the carriage and let us find out for ourselves! The problem being that they know for health and safety reasons, the train will be immediately taken out of service and the poor things will have to wait another few minutes for the next train.

Anyway, that's enough ranting for one day!

Got an early finish today after my second train was cancelled. Brilliant! I'll get home, have a beer and a Chinese! unfortunately, just as I arrived at Acton Town, the Piccadilly line was suspended due to a suspicious person on the track, so by the time I got home, it was almost my normal time anyway!

Hopefully I'll be back again tomorrow, but as always, it's dependent on having a working PC!!! Only another few days until my hols anyway, so a fortnight away from London will certainly settle my stress!

Thank You M&S!

2005-07-15T14:26:00.000Z

All LUL staff recently received a lovely box of M&S Belgian chocolates as way of a thank you for working through the recent events.
We were originally led to believe that, like the doughnuts recently, these were a gift from Tim O'Toole. However it turns out that they are in fact a thank you gift from Marks and Spencers.
While I'm sure all of my colleagues will agree with me that we do what we can when we can, it's a very nice gesture by M&S which has certainly helped boost morale.

On the subject of recent events, Geoff and Neil are two guys who you may have seen on the ITV series 'The Tube' running around like mad people trying to cover the entire LU network in the shortest possible time. They hold the current world record for doing this, and have thought of a novel idea to raise money for the Bombings Relief Fund.
You can read about the 'Not Afraid Tube Challenge' on Geoff's website. I'm hoping to take part providing I'm not rostered to work on the date. If I am working, I'll keep an eye out for you all running about!

We're Not Afraid

2005-07-12T14:47:00.000Z

Inspired by the pictures and support sent to the 'We're Not Afraid' website, I've been doodling with MS Paint to create my own pic. I'm a complete PC Dunce, but I think this sums up my feelings towards these cowards, and I believe will also reflect the feelings of my colleagues and customers.

Ignorant Git

2005-07-11T00:18:00.000Z

I came within a few seconds of actually hitting one of my customers today. As you may have gathered by now, I'm very much a peace-loving person and pride myself on my customer service skills etc, however this one particular drunken person really tested me.

I was changing ends at High Street Kensington on the Olympia service, after I'd announced via the PA that there was no Circle line service and no District service beyond HSK.
This drunk staggered off my train and started effing on at me calling me all sorts! I asked him what the problem was and he announced that "LUL were a bunch of c*nts and were always cancelling trains".
I asked him what he was talking about, and it turns out he's trying to reach Paddington. He starts swearing at me a bit more, and I start to lose my temper. I asked him if he'd been pissed for the past few days or slept through them. He then accused LUL of deliberately keeping the track closed to save money!
My blood was boiling and I could feel myself clenching my fists (and I'm not a little bloke either!) so I literally had to walk away from him. As I started walking away, he spotted a station assistant up the stairs so decided to have a bit whinge at him too. I lingered near the foot of the stairs because this bloke was getting closer and closer to the SA, but eventually I had to go as the signal cleared.
I sincerely hope that this bloke was thrown out of the station, or even better that the BTP were around to have a friendly word with him. Tosser.

Anyway, I'm off tomorrow, then dead late on Tuesday. If any of my District-blogging colleagues are working nights on Tuesday, I'll be driving train 4, so don't be shy in saying hello as you show me the green!!

Back To Normal?

2005-07-09T23:55:00.000Z

It's been a pretty normal Saturday night on the District line and the customers have started slacking in their security already.

I changed ends at Richmond and was shocked to see someone had left a coat rolled up stuffed into the side of a seat. Thankfully, I could see it was harmless, but it makes you wonder whether some people are deliberately leaving things to see if they can cause a security alert. Maybe they were watching and were hoping to see the bomb squad or whatever.

Another train had a window shot out up the east end again this evening, and got all the way to Blackfriars before someone bothered to tell the driver.

It's less than 3 days since bombs changed the way we think about public transport in London for ever, and people are already being stupid. Very sad.

With grateful thanks to Seth (a member of District Dave's Forum) for producing this roundel which I think sums up my thoughts perfectly!

New Layout

2005-07-08T23:59:00.000Z

My blog was looking rather messy compared with many of my colleagues, so I've changed the way it looks!
I hope you agree it looks a lot smarter.

Very Quiet Friday

2005-07-08T23:55:00.000Z

Firstly, may I thank all of those people who have taken the time to share your reflections and to offer your prayers for all of those affected by the events of yesterday. I must admit to still being a bit shocked by it all.

The District line was running a near normal service today (or at least trying to) with the obvious exception of the Edgware Road service.
When I booked on at about 1600, we were running quite well! I have to say at this point a huge thank you to all of my colleagues and the police who worked through the night to make sure that trains which had been abandoned in stations were checked and returned to depots for the start of service this morning. I know our customers appreciated it.

Anyway, as I got into my shift I hear over the radio that the service is being suspended because of a security alert at West Ham. Sadly the first of several this evening.
After a while, the area was declared safe, only to be followed by a suspension of service due to another alert at Victoria. Again, eventually trains were allowed to run after being declared safe by the police.

I was being held at a red signal on Putney Bridge (I was actually admiring the view along the Thames) when I got a message saying we were now suspended on the Wimbledon branch (where I was) due to a security alert at Parsons Green. I called the controller to be told this was a serious incident involving lost property which had been hidden on a train and could be some time.
I obviously kept my passengers informed of the circumstances, and even (after gaining permission) walked through the train and spoke to everyone informing them of the problem.
Eventually, I had to move my train forward right behind another train which was already in the platform at Putney Bridge station, and had to detrain everyone via the cab. Thankfully, all of the passengers (without exception) were fully co-operative and even thanked us as they left the train.

The sad thing is that the incident at Parsons Green seems to have been a deliberate attempt by a member of public to cause a security alert. You always get some sick bastards, and sadly it will probably keep happening. We really cannot afford to take chances on these things now, and I hope that the passengers will continue to understand that we need to suspend the service etc for their own protection, we're not trying to be awkward.

Can I make a plea that if you're travelling on any form of public transport and spot ANYTHING which you are suspicious about, please tell someone. You won't be made to look stupid and I guarantee that you will be taken seriously.
It amazed me that just a few weeks after the Madrid bombings, I witnessed some passengers go to move an unattended bag from a seat so they could sit down! DON'T TAKE ANY RISKS.

I have to say that this was a strange night to be at work. It was certainly the quietest Friday night I've ever experienced. I picked up a grand total of 23 people travelling through the city late tonight. It would usually be ten times that amount.
I hope that this is just because people simply didn't want to go into town and get pissed out of respect... I hope that people simply aren't scared to use the Underground now.
I've been asked several times by members of the public whether I'm scared to drive my train now. I answer that we can't allow ourselves to be beaten.
I admit that while I was driving through the city, the events were constantly in the back of my mind, but we can't let these cowardly bastards win.
Maybe if I'd been driving one of the affected trains, I'd be thinking differently, and I can only pray that my colleagues involved are ok and do eventually summon the courage to drive trains again.

A Sad Day

2005-07-07T22:30:00.000Z

We've been expecting it for a long time, but today it finally happened. Terrorists hit the London transportation system, with three explosions on trains, and one on a bus.

As I work late shifts, I awoke to hear the news on my clock radio about 1pm. Needless to say, it didn't take me as long as normal to wake up. I first of all had to ring and text everyone who'd been leaving me messages to assure them I was OK. Then I rang my duty manager.
He informed me that I should just report to my local station and help where I could. This I did, but as it turned out, there was very little I could do, other than assist answering questions from passengers about how to reach their destinations.

To be honest, I think I'm still quite shocked. As I say, we've been expecting it, but now it's actually happened, it still seems like a horrible nightmare.

Needless to say my sincere condolances, thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who were killed, and with those who were injured by these terrible atrocities.

Live 8!

2005-07-03T03:00:00.000Z

Well, at the time of writing, it's just coming up to 3am on Sunday morning. The London Live 8 concert went on until midnight.
Oops.
That's an awful lot of people who'd be stuck in central London with the last trains just about ready to depart. Make poverty history? It certainly would have done for thousands of cabbies tonight!

However, LU to the rescue! We decided to run trains upto an hour later than the usual finish times to get as many home as possible. However, this over-run had not been thought of by LUL, and no plans had been made. Therefore at about 8pm, the DOM (Duty Operations Manager) decided to appeal for volunteers to work a bit extra!

As it turned out, they got all of the volunteers without a problem and the trains were still coming through Acton Town at about 1am quite full!

The District line has been very quiet lately, at least on my train! I find this worrying, as it isn't normal to get through an entire week without changing ends at Upminster and finding a fire extinguisher discharged all over the saloon, or a window missing or the cab broken into or urine all over the saloon etc.
Maybe the BTP initiative is actually working! I know they have been putting plain-clothes officers in the back carriages of trains to try and catch offenders, and word of this has obviously got around among the chav community!

We did have a fun day last Monday with the heavy rain, causing signal failures all over the place, however I had a few PC probs so couldn't blog about it!
At least the Wimbledon Tennis Championships should finish later today (Sunday) so those people who live east of Southfields will actually be able to get a seat on the train again!

Anyway, that's about it for now. We now have three refurbished D stock trains running around on the line, although I have yet still to drive one! Hopefully sometime this week!

What a day!

2005-06-23T23:55:00.000Z

If you were a passenger on the District Line today, you have my sincere symathies.
When I booked on at about 1530, there were 'minor delays' reported on the Wimbledon branch because of a signal failure at East Putney.
About 10 minutes later, the Wimbledon branch had been suspended because of a fire alert... Not good heading towards the peak, and with Tim Henman playing at Wimbledon.

Anyway, the fire alert clears up, but the signal failure remains.

Then it is announced that there is a signal failure in the Mansion House area causing delays to the Circle and District lines.

Then, just as I'm arriving in Barons Court eastbound, there is a major problem at West Kensington, and I'm stuck in the platform for FIFTY minutes while it is sorted. In retrospect, I'm glad I was in the platform, because at least my passengers could jump on the Piccadilly line, whereas if I'd been between stations, we would have been very hot and sticky by the time we got into a platform.

It took me over four hours to get from Acton Town to Upminster and back to Earl's Court!

Then this evening, Tower Hill had a mjor signalling failure, meaning a shutdown and suspension of service between Earl's Court and Whitechapel.
Eventually this was also cleared, but then just as I was booking off, I heard the controller mention a signal failure at Barking!

I can only assume it must be the heat and humidity which is causing so many signal failures.

Anyway, I'm off until Tuesday now (cue the cold weather!) so that will probably be the next entry! Have a nice weekend!

Fashion!

2005-06-21T23:55:00.000Z

Maybe I'm just getting a bit old now, but I do tend to laugh at the way some of the 'yoofs' dress these days.
One young lad at Dagenham East was wearing a baseball cap sideways, then a hoodie, then on top of them, another basedball cap! Eh? Has he got bad hair that he's ashamed of? I can accept a baseball cap or a hoodie, or maybe a combination of both, but surely the extra cap is going a bit far?

I had to stop myself taking a photo of a lad on the bus going to the station this afternoon, or I'd have been branded a pervert!
The lad (probably aged around 18 or 19) was wearing a pair of jogging bottoms which were hanging below his arse! I must have looked a right idiot on the bus because I couldn't help laughing! The guy gets off at the station with me, and I think "ah, maybe they just came a bit loose with sitting on the bus", but no! He walks into the station with his arse (thankfully covered with a pair of boxer shorts) hanging over the top of these jogging bottoms!

You certainly see some sights!

OLYMPICS
I see the powers that be have decreed that the C stock in the 'Back The Bid' livery should be running on the Wimbledon service for the next fortnight instead of going round and round the Circle. It was like being a celebrity driving that train, with loads of peeps taking my (or rather the trains) photograph!
.
The above photo was taken in an underground station, so is quite dark, but just so you know what I'm talking about!

Whether London will actually get the Olympics is another debate entirely!

I Can't Win!

2005-06-20T23:55:00.000Z

Yesterday I mentioned the countdown thing at my local bus stop which tells me how long I'm going to have to wait for my bus.
Well, this afternoon I arrive at the bus stop and amazingly enough, the display shows my bus is the 2nd one due in 3 minutes! Great!
The first bus came and went, and my bus duly stepped up to being number one on the scrolling list, now due in 2 minutes. The display then changed to 'due' which normally means it's just around the corner. I waited... And waited... The display updated itself and my bus just disappeared off the face of the Earth! Where the hell did it go?! I can only assume it did a U-turn round the roundabout at the top of my road and diddled back the other way!
My next bus (remember this is a 'ten minute frequency service' was now showing as number 5 to arrive... 18 minutes away. Yet another walk to the station!

SMOKING
I was driving my train this afternoon enjoying the sunshine (although with both doors closed and the vents closed because of the amount of insects which I seem to attract) when I arrive into Becontree on the east. As soon as I've opened the doors, a lady comes banging on the cab door pointing furiously. I have no idea what she's trying to tell me, so obviuosly I open the cab door.
"That girl was smoking on the train" she informs me, now pointing to a young chavette who was halfway up the stairs now.
"Hmmm" I reply politely "At least she's off the train now."

However this isn't good enough for this woman. She says I'm not doing my job and my attitude stinks!
What the bloody hell does she want me to do? Shut the train down and chase this girl up the stairs? I explain to the lady that if she'd told me sooner, I could have had her met by station staff or police, but as she was now leaving, there was nothing I could do.
She's still not happy and demands my name and number. I instead give her my train number and the time and inform her that the company can easily trace me through that. She re-boards my train and off I go.
At the next station (Dagenham Heathway) the woman gets off, but not before banging on the cab door again and trying desperately to make my life hell.

My station colleagues will certainly know what I'm talking about here, but do you ever get the feeling that no matter how polite you are, no matter how out of your control the situation is, that these people just see a uniform and expect you to do something?
Maybe I should have chased this girl with a fire extinguisher to stop her from smoking?

You can't win in this job!

Heat Stroke!

2005-06-19T23:55:00.001Z

I'm sure by now, you all know how much I enjoy a good whinge.
About anything.
Well, it's time to whinge about the heat again! Had a late shift this afternoon and I was soaked with sweat within 10 minutes of getting out of the shower. Not a good start!
Anyway, I cover myself in deodorant and put on my uniform. Luckily, Train Operators don't have to wear a tie at all these days, in fact we're currently being issued with polo shirts instead of the normal shirts... Most lines have them now, but being the District, we're going to be last again. We'll probably get them just as we head into the winter.
Anyway, I set off down to the bus stop to catch my bus to my local station. The bus stop is one of these with the electronic countdown timers which tell you how long the next bus will be (no jokes about being 32 feet, I've heard it before!).
The scrolling information shows the next six buses. Unfortunately none of them is mine. This is actually a regular occurance now with this particular route. The timetable says 'every 10 minutes' but the bus stop tells me that the sixth bus is still 18 mins away, and that isn't mine!
I wonder if the Trades Descriptions Act relates to bus services?

Anyway, I have no choice now but to walk to the station (it's only about a mile, but feels a lot further in the heat!).
Arrive at the station just as a train is pulling in. Unfortunately, my staff pass decides it wants to be awkward and not work on the Oyster reader on the gates. There's a big crowd at the ticket window so I can't attract attention to open the 'wide gate' for me. Sadly the train pulls away just as the gates finally realise that I'm a member of staff and that my ticket does not have a negative balance!

Finally arrive at work. I'm supposed to be spare, which means just covering anyone who is absent etc. As is the norm these days, I'm given a full duty to do... Apparently there had been about 4 people phoned in sick with heat-related illnesses!
Just as I pick up the train, I hear a radio message saying there are problems on the Wimbledon branch. Apparently a set of points have failed, probably due to the heat. The tracks are regularly checked during the hot weather by the infrastructure companies anyway, as they have a tendency to buckle in extreme heat like today. If the temperature at ground level was 30 C, the rail temperature is a LOT more than that!
Anyway, I realise I'm not going to Wimbledon so I'm not too concerned. However, I am between Sloane Square and Victoria when I come up against a red signal. This particular signal is very rarely red, so I'm quite surprised to be held there... And held there...Eventually the controller breaks the news that the starting signal at Victoria has now failed. This means that we've been stuck in the tunnel in ridiculous temperatures now for ten minutes (although I've been making plenty of announcements to reassure the passengers) but finally we're moving.
We got through Victoria eventually, by applying the appropriate rule to pass a failed signal and got to just outside of Tower Hill only to be offered the wrong signal by the signaller! I'm supposed to be routed into the bay platform, but am given the route to the main (through) platform. This means another few minutes delay while I call the controller and he informs the signaller who then has to 'take a release' on the signal in order to change it. For safety reasons, if a signaller takes a release on a signal in front of a train, it takes two minutes before he can then set up a different route.
Anyway, we eventually get into Tower Hill bay platform 15 minutes late, which meant I was also 15 minutes late leaving and getting off for grub at Earl's Court.

You would not believe the temperatures in the driving cabs! It's bad enough in the passenger saloons, but the cab has glass on three sides and the sun makes it so unbearably hot, I get through gallons of water! Thanks to the SS at Tower Hill for allowing me to keep topping up my bottle from his water cooler!

WIMBLEDON
Yes, it's that time of the year for Wimbledon fortnight! Thousands of people descend on SW19, alighting at Southfields to watch some people hitting a ball around. Let's hope that the signals on that branch don't fail for the next two weeks! It would be sods law to have failures down there for the start of Wimbledon!

THANKS!
To those people who e-mailed me about my near-miss last Monday evening. It did indeed shake me up at the time (as you can probably tell by my blog entry), however I managed to get some sleep, and returned to work the following day.

I don't know how I'd have felt if I'd seriously injured or killed someone though. The human brain is a strange device!

I also apologise for the fact I haven't made a blog since last Monday! I can only assume I must have had a very boring week!

I thought Mondays were quiet!

2005-06-13T23:00:00.000Z

Usually, Mondays are one of the quietest nights of the week. The normal, working population who like to enjoy themselves at weekends are obviously working the following day.
However, this doesn't stop the 'yoofs' from buying cans of lager and causing problems.

This evening, I've had to finish work early and be given a special taxi home after suffering a double 'near miss' on the Wimbledon branch.
A group of youths (complete with cans of lager) were standing on the edge of the platform when I was approaching. One of them decided it would be hilarious to pretend he was going to jump in front of me, but I've seen that a million times, so it didn't bother me too much. However, another member of the gang decided to stick his leg out as I was passing him.
I have no idea if I actually hit his leg or not. I put the brakes into emergency, allowing all the air to escape from the system so I didn't hear a bang, but it certainly shook me up - In fact it's shaken me up a lot worse than I would have thought!

Obviously the incident was reported to the BTP, and the stations CCTV tapes will be watched.

I have no idea why people think it's so amusing to pretend to jump in front of a train, but as I say, I'm immune to that now having seen it so many times. But how thick do you have to be to stick your leg out in front of 200 tons of train?

Hopefully I'll have calmed down enough to get back to work tomorrow.

Friday Nights

2005-06-10T23:30:00.000Z

Always worrying for me, as someone who always does late shifts!
Incidentally, you may notice that these blogs are published at around 11pm or so each day... In fact, I'm still working at that time! Like this blog for example: At the time of writing it's actually 0230 on Saturday morning, but I always save it at a random time on the previous day, so that the relevant dates are displayed. Hope that makes sense!
Anyway, as I was saying, Friday nights are always a nightmare. People always have too much alcohol and end up puking all over the place, falling all over the place, fighting each other etc. The worst thing they do, though, is think they can beat 200 tons of steel hurtling towards them.
I was approaching Earl's Court tonight when one of these drunken idiots (seemingly showing off to his girlfriend and mates) decided just as I was entering the platform, he'd like to wave one arm and one leg over the edge of the platform. Obviuosly I slammed on the brakes and blew the whistle, and thankfully he moved or it could quite easily have cost him more than just an arm and a leg. Bloody idiots. Goodness knows what it will be like when Uncle Ken introduces the extra hour of Tube services at weekends.

OUT IN FORCE
It was a great joy to see so many police officers out and about at the east end of the District line this evening! It's the first Friday night in a long time I've passed through the likes of Elm Park and Dagenham East without having gangs of chavs sitting smoking on the platforms!

ALARMING!
I had a passenger alarm activated this evening at a station at the west end of the District. You never know what you're going to encounter when you walk back to investigate and reset the alarm, so I approached the carriage cautiously.
As it turns out, there's only three Australian people in the carriage, one of whom is looking very sheepish.
I asked them if everything was ok, and he replied "Yeah, sorry about that mate, I thought it was a bell, like you get on a bus!" The poor guy had wanted the next station and decided he'd better press the bell!
Classic! You couldn't make it up!!

Worrying

2005-06-09T23:15:00.000Z

A very worrying new 'craze' revealed on todays ITV news. Apparently kids are now recording themselves on mobile phones playing chicken with trains. How stupid can you get?
Railway trespassing is extremely dangerous anyway, but deliberately standing in front of an approaching train until the last second, and being recorded doing it just defies belief.
There are some very worrying statistics about the number of people killed or injured on the railways each year on the website TRACKOFF.
Quite apart from the dangers they are putting themselves in, there's also the stress and worry it places upon the train driver and anyone else who witnesses such foolishness.
Mainline trains can travel upto 125mph, and at that speed take over a mile to stop, even in full emergency braking. Add to this the risk from overhead cables or electrified rails.
Which kid in their right mind would want to play on a railway line? I'm trained how to avoid tripping hazards and avoid electrocution etc on the railway, but I still hate having to walk near the line. It's only a matter of time before one of these kids jumps out of the way of one train straight into the path of another one.

HUMAN NATURE
Yes, my faith in human nature was boosted today by a little old lady who offered me a bag of peppermint humbugs for helping her to board the correct train at Earl's Court! Bless her! I'm one of these people who genuinely enjoys helping others, and when someone takes the time to say thank you, it makes it all the more worthwhile.

MIND THE... TRAIN
After reading a very kind article by my colleague on his blog (The Station Logbook), about having sympathy for us train operators, I felt I would share this story which occurred a few months ago at a busy station in the rush hour.

One of my colleagues was called into the Duty managers office where two British Transport Police officers were waiting to interview him about a lady who apparently got her leg trapped in a door on his train and he pulled away with her dangling there.
Now before I go any further, let me tell you that this is impossible! Anything wider than a few millimeters caught in the door would cause the door interlock not to illuminate, which in turn would prevent the driver from moving even if he wanted to.
Anyway, this woman had said she had then fallen backwards onto the platform and hurt her back. Obviously she was considering suing London Underground.
Luckily, the BTP, station staff and Duty Managers reviewed the CCTV and found that the driver was totally innocent. What they did see, however, was this woman running straight into the side of the train as it was already moving, then bouncing back onto the platform. Obviously the driver had passed the mirrors etc, so was completely unaware.

We may whinge about CCTV, but it certainly saved one drivers job, and maybe even a prison sentence. This is just another side to our job which the Evening Standard still insist we are being overpaid for. Would they like to have allegations made randomly against them and just pray that the CCTV clears your name or risk being sacked and arrested?

Spitting...

2005-06-08T21:37:00.000Z

I know you see footballers spitting constantly, and many people feel the need to spit their germs onto our pavements, stations and trains, but there are a minority of people who seem to prefer spitting at people.

Spitting is a disgusting habit and is a notorious way of spreading disease, but LUL (and many mainline train companies) have recently been introducing 'spit kits' to stations. Basically, these kits contain sterile equipment and swabs so that if a member of staff is spat on, they can take a swab and seal it, and the police can then attempt to match the DNA to anyone listed on their files.

During the year 2004, London Underground recorded more spitting offences than any other BTP area. There were 54 swabs submitted, resulting in 16 being prosecuted, 38 with no match or still awaiting results, and a total of 23 matches.

This may seem like a minor crime, but if you've ever been spat at by an unknown person, you'll know how disgusting it is. Apparently, this is classed as an assault by the police.

SIGNALLERS
If you've ever travelled on the District line heading westward towards Acton Town and been held outside for a few minutes at a red signal, the chances are that the Piccadilly line train approaching on the adjacent line was given priority over the District train into the District platform!!
I was held for almost ten minutes outside of Acton Town today while the signaller put two Piccadilly trains into my platform at Acton. This is a regular occurence, and after a bit of research, I discovered that since PPP, the signallers for that area are actually employed by the Piccadilly line (or the JNP group)... No wonder the District rarely get a clear run!

LETTING OFF STEAM
No, this isn't going to be another rant by me! It's a story I was told today by one of my colleagues concerning a steam special excusrsion on the District they were running a few years back from Upminster to Ealing Broadway.
Loads of people had bought tickets for the event, but as the train was heading west, LU were getting complaints from loads of people (including the fire brigade) that the steamer was setting fire to allotments, garden sheds, grass, in fact anything alongside the track as it was going,
The line controller made the decision to "get that piece of junk of my railway", so it was shunted back to Upminster.
Now the passengers were all understandably upset at not getting their trip on the District hauled by a steam train, so they came up with a novel solution... They attached a battery locomotive on the front of the steamer to haul it to ealing Broadway, but so the passengers wouldn't be disappointed, they still pumped smoke up the steamers chimney!!
Wouldn't happen these days!

Electrifying!

2005-06-07T23:50:00.000Z

When I first started out on the long and winding road which is blogging, I intended to post at least every other night that I was working. Sadly this hasn't happened!
My latest excuse is that every time I start to blog, the bloody electrical trip switch trips out. Someone in one of the flats below me is using something which is causing the main switch to trip out, instantly plunging us into darkness. Obviously this is now being investigated by an electrician, as there's a serious fault somewhere, but he seems to work similar shifts as me, so when I get in from work and put my PC on, he does something shortly afterwards which blows the switch!
It's really annoying either waking up and realising I've slept in because the clock is simply flashing 00:00 at me, meaning the power has been interrupted while I've been sleeping, or coming home from work and having to reset my video, clock etc. In fact, I've now given up resetting everything until the fault is traced.

WORK
Not much to report really, which is good! I haven't experienced a signal failure, points failure or any type of failure for quite a while!
I did have a pratt of an SA at a station (which I'll not name) somewhere in the City who waved a red handlamp at me as I was approaching a platform. This is an emergency stop signal, so I dropped the deadman's handle applying full emergency brake, and stopped about quarter of the way into the platform.
I refused to move my train forward until I got an explanation and a green hand signal in front of the CCTV cameras (to cover my own arse, you understand - I don't want allegations of ignoring an emergency stop signal made against me!). As it turned out, I got the green handlamp, but no explanation.
I didn't make a complaint this time, but if it ever happens again, I most certainly will. Drivers always fear the worst when they see an emergency stop signal, and it certainly gave me a surge of adrenaline!

REFURB
Yes, the new refurbs have indeed started running this week! They're still confined to the Olympia service, but at least they're in service. Within three hours of the first train entering public service, it had already been vandalised by some form of sub-human, braindead scum. But, as I mentioned in a previous blog, the new trains have various hidden CCTV cameras on them, constantly recording to a hidden hard drive. Hopefully LUL can provide the police with a nice photograph of the vandal.

DISPUTE
The Acton Town remote booking on and off dispute is still ongoing. Sadly it seems there is no obvious solution, with the staff refusing to back down and the management saying it would cost too much to get rid of it. Hopefully, the travelling public are unaffected by the dispute as we aren't trying to disrupt journeys. We're trying to make a point to the management.
We held a meeting last week to decide which way the action should go (either step it up to one day stoppages or continue as we are) and thankfully we unanimously voted to continue as we are.

Anyway, that's enough rambling for now! Electricity allowing, I'll be back tomorrow!

Hello Again!

2005-05-31T23:55:00.000Z

You may recognise the title of this entry as the name of a Neil Diamond song! I use it very deliberately this evening after having a trainload of Neil Diamond fans on board this evening! They were certainly a different crowd from the Kylie fans I referred to a few weeks ago, but at least when the singalong started in the saloon behind me, I could actually join in because I knew the words!! In fact, my kareoke song (very rarely used these days and I have to be very drunk to volunteer to get up!) is "Love on the Rocks" by Mr Diamond, although I think anyone who has ever heard my version would certainly agree that Neil's version is slightly better!

MOBILES
I noticed in this evenings Evening Standard that mobile phones could be used underground before too long. To quote the report: "All 275 London Underground stations are to get full mobile phone coverage within three years."
God help us.
Much of the District line is overground, and it's guarenteed that someone sitting behind my cab will either have that awful Crazy Frog ringtone, or will hold a conversation so loudly it competes with the train PA system to be heard over all six carriages! At least the tunnel sections are a break from that... For now.
I can see it will have advantages, in an emergency, but for the vast majority of journeys, surely people can manage without a mobile phone for just a short while?
Interesting that they reckon this technology will be network-wide within three years... We've been waiting about five years for a decent (and essential) train radio system! The new train radio (known as the 'Connect' project) was originally due to be unvieled in about 2001, and is now scheduled for later this year, at least on the District line. I'll not hold my breath.

BIG BROTHER
I don't want to sound like a total whinging git, but is anyone as sick of Big Brother as I am?
I very rarely buy newspapers these days, because there are enough left on the trains to start my own branch of WH Smiths, but glancing through the Sun and the Mirror etc over the past few days, they've been full of Big Brother stories. Who gives a toss? Presumably someone must be interested or they wouldn't keep running the show, but let's face it: They're a bunch of wannabe-famous people in there simply to try and get a modelling/singing/presenting job out of it.
Good luck to them, but I certainly wouldn't want people watching my every move live on TV! It's bad enough having your every move tracked on CCTV at work!
I notice on E4 (which was previously a premium channel, but now is free) they relay BB live through the night! What is the bloody point?! They're all asleep! If I want to watch someone sleeping, I'll watch my wife!

REFURB
Apparently the refurbished D78's are indeed still scheduled to make their first public debut tomorrow (Wednesday 1st June). They will be running on the Olympia to High Street Kensington services all day, and if you get a chance, they're well worth having a look at to see what's new... You won't even recognise them compared with the old silver beasts which are still running around on the line! Apparently HM Railway Inspectorate have now approved them to operate in passenger service, so there should be no reason to delay them again! By the time I write tomorrows blog, we'll know if they ran or not!

We apologise for the delay...

2005-05-30T01:45:00.000Z

Yes, I'm back from my holidays! Actually, been back for a week, but I returned to find my BT landline was completely dead. The first thing I thought of was "did I pay the last bill?", but thankfully it was paid and it was just a technical error at the little green junction box outside. Still, it's taken them all week to repair it, but I'm back!!

My holiday was very nice since you ask! I returned to work on the hottest day of the year so far, which is very uncomfortable. I know it's bad travelling as a passenger in a packed train during the rush hours, but at least the average journey is only 10 minutes or so. Compare this with the 4 hours which we drivers could be sitting in a sweat box for! No air conditioning, although (as I think I mentioned in one of my earlier entries) we do have a 'Norvent' which sucks in the air directly from outside without any sort of filter, so you end up with a cab full of insects, leaves, dust etc. Strange how wasps tend to be rather upset at being sucked into a boiling hot cab! Bees are ok(ish) because they just bounce off the windows trying to find a way out, but wasps are nasty, vindictive insects who set out to make my life hell! I knew there was a good reason for carrying my working timetable with me!

Apparently the newly-refurbished trains will be finally making their debut this Wednesday on the Olympia service, but I'm not holding my breath... We've been given dates so many times which have then been cancelled for some reason. At least the new refurbs have proper air conditioning in the drivers cab.

As I write this, it is now officially bank holiday Monday. The LU network is closed all over the place for engineering works. The District line is suspended Earl's Court to Whitechapel for the ongoing rail replacement works through the city. The new track is certainly much smoother than the old track - I didn't think there would be much difference, but even travelling as a passenger I can instantly tell the new sections. Hopefully they won't leave them for another 50 years before they replace them again!

I'm actually off today (the first bank holiday I've had off for quite a while!) so it's probably going to be cold and wet all day... Good old bank holiday weather!

Next update on Tuesday...

Woohoo!

2005-05-07T01:00:00.000Z

As I mentioned previously, this will be the last entry for a few weeks as I am now officially on holiday!
Normally the last shift before my holidays throws all sorts of problems at me, but today was actually very quiet!
I did think things were going to go 'up the wall' at one stage when there was a power cut at east Hame which caused a signal failure. Luckily the signal started working again, although East Ham station was closed for a while because it had no lighting.

I also mentioned previously that politics bores me senseless, however I noted with interest that the Putney constituency has voted in a young conservative by the name of Justine Greening. One of the things she campaigned for is a better service on the Wimbledon branch of the District Line.
I wish Ms Greening good luck in trying to improve the service, but to be honest, the capacity on the Wimbledon branch is pretty much fully used anyway. In other words, the infrastructure couldn't cope with any more trains unless there is a huge investment in new signals etc to provide more signalling sections, therefore allow more trains to follow each other.
The Wimbledon branch gets an excellent deal as it is, with trains every five minutes for most of the day. I know it's a very busy branch but it already gets a better service than the Ealing Broadway or Richmond branches, which only have trains every ten minutes.
Obviously this is affected by any number of problems which can cause gaps in the service, not least on the Wimbledon branch where there is a long-standing problem of signals failing in the Southfields area every time it rains. The signals between Putney Bridge and Wimbledon are actually owned and operated by Network Rail rather than LUL, as South West Trains also use the line for empty train movements to/from their depot at Wimbledon Park.

So if Ms Greening could somehow persuade Network Rail to fix the signalling problems on the Wimbledon branch, maybe my faith in politicians could be restored! It would also save my blood pressure levels, because the nature of the signal failures means that the signal is showing a green aspect right until you are about to pass it, then it suddenly reverts back to red! This obviously stops the train rather abruptly, and causes stress to the driver and of course the passengers who are thrown down the train.

Anyhow, I wish you all a happy fortnight while I'm away! No trains for a fortnight (at least not London Underground trains anyway!).

By the way... Keep your eyes open for the refurbished D stock trains which should start running on the District Line on Tuesday 10th May. They will initially run only on the Olympia services, but they're worth having a look at! Digital displays inside and outside the carriages, a digital voice announcer to annoy you at every station, CCTV constantly recording every carriage... Very nice!

05/05/05

2005-05-06T02:00:00.000Z

A day which only comes around every 5,000 years apparently. It's also the 5th day of the week (Thursday), which makes it apparently a one in 7,000 years event. I can't confirm those figures, so don't quote me! I just heard something about that on LBC earlier this evening listening to the election coverage while on a short break at upminster.

As I write this (2am on Friday morning, having just arrived in from work), it looks like the Labour party is heading for a third term in office, although with a reduced majority. To be honest, I find politics so boring, but I like to know who is going to be (legally) robbing me blind for the next 4 or 5 years.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we had a major signal failure in the Turnham Green area, meaning trains coming from Ealing Broadway were having to run down the fast (Piccadilly) line instead of the local (District).
This is fine, although means trains can't stop at Chiswick Park or Stamford Brook due to there not being any platforms!
The trains must also be routed back over to the District at Hammersmith, otherwise we end up going down the 'pipe' which isn't big enough for a District train... We do have safeguards in place to prevent an oversize train from going down the pipe, but luckily they didn't have to be used!

I stabled quite late this evening because of the knock-on delays caused by this, however it can't be helped.

Only one day to go to my Annual Leave... Two wonderful weeks away! Therefore my Friday blog will be the last for a fortnight!

Insects!

2005-05-04T06:45:00.000Z

Many of my colleagues do not like going all the way to Upminster, because of the trouble we tend to get at the east end of the line. Some duties have a trip to Upminster on both halves, as was my luck today.

To be honest, I'd rather do a long trip like Upminster and back rather than lots of small trips like Olympia to High Street Kensington (which is one of my most hated duties!).
My first trip out east was mid-afternoon. Very sunny and very warm. Now, at this point I should mention that you'll quickly discover I like to have a bit whinge about things... The problem is with the warm and sunny weather is that it brings out all sorts of insects. I'm not too worried about little flies, but the wasps and bees seem to get bigger every year... And more aggressive!
I'm a big softy when it comes to wasps and other stinging insects, and today being rather warm I was driving with the offaside cab door open to provide a slight breeze of ventilation. Unfortunately, on that breeze flew in the biggest bee I've seen in my entire life! With no exageration it must have been about 2 inches wide!
I apologise to any of my customers reading this who may have been on my train between Dagenham East and Dagenham Heathway, but I dropped the deadmans handle and cowered out of the way of this beast. I thought it was a humming bird at first until I spotted the yellow and black stripes (and probably the 'love' and 'hate' tattoos on its' arms).
My train came up in an emergency brake, and I cautiously tried to grab a copy of the Metro newspaper which I had in my bag. At this point, the bee was bouncing off the drivers windscreen, and my blood pressure was up beyond the safe level. Goodness knows why, but I am so terrified of these things!
Anyway, I opened the other cab door and at arms length, I managed to persuade the bee it would prefer to be outside on such a nice day.

I quickly closed both cab doors again and proceeded on my way, having been delayed for about a minute. Obviously I did make an apology over the PA, and I'm sure I heard people laughing behind the cab when I told them I'd been fighting a bee!

The other problem with the insects is they have a nasty habit of splattering themselves all over the windscreens. Unfortunately, the powers that be decreed that screenwash was not needed, so when we have windscreens with a better display of insects than the Natural History Museum, it becomes a safety hazard as we can't see the signals or any person on the track etc.
I always carry a bottle of water and an old rag with me for cleaning the windscreens, but surely in this day and age they could actually retro fit the trains with screen wash?! I've discovered that even the refurbished trains which should be entering service in a few weeks haven't got screen wash. Typical. They've made them nice and attrractive, but haven't bothered with safety things like screen wash or a light on the speedometer so we can actually make sure we're travelling below the speed limits at night or in the tunnels.

Rest Day tomorrow (Wednesday) so next update probably Thursday!

Normal Service on the District..!

2005-05-03T06:50:00.000Z

One of the things I love about our beloved leaders are that they are forever thinking of ways to get the message over that we are actually running a decent service.
Not-so-very-long-ago, the expression was "A normal service is operating", but many customers rightly assumed that the normal was to have signal failures and no trains for ages! We now use the term "Good service" to differentiate between a decent service and a 'normal' service.

On booking on for my duty bank holiday Monday evening, I was informed that there were severe delays to all destinations due to a signal failure at West Kensington. Hmmm.
It worked out ok for me though, because instead of running to Upminster and back, I ended up going to Earl's Court and running to Wimbledon and back.

The second part of the duty was what I call boring... Earl's Court - Ealing - Tower Hill - Ealing - Tower Hill - Ealing - Depot. Exactly 4 hours and 15 minutes of work, which is amazing seeing as that is the maximum amount of driving we can legally do without a break anyway! Good old schedules department work everything out to the second!
Anyway, on arrival at Ealing on the first trip, I exit my cab and spot two sealed shoe boxes which have been left directly behind the cab. Now (and excuse my ranting here, but it needs to be said) Who in their right mind, in this day and age of terrorism, leaves two sealed shoe boxes on a tube train? It really makes me wonder whether some of these people should actually be out on their own.
So I called in to the station supervisors office and explained the problem to him. As far as I'm concerned, they're suspicious, and the Supervisor is trained to deal with them better than me.
He comes out of his office and takes a quick look. He goes towards them as I run the other way. "All clear, just rubbish" he announces. That man must have x-ray eyes! There's no way I was going to pick them up and shake them!
Personally I'd have waited for the police, but thanks to the supervisors bravery (or stupidity, depending on how you look at it) we weren't delayed or anything.

The rest of the shift goes without any problems (other than the Kylie fans again!). However on my last trip to Tower Hill, I notice the describer on the platform reads "Parson's Green" instead of "Ealing Broadway".
I ring the controller up to query it, and he informs me that my train is being reformed at Earl's Court.
This means that another driver takes my train, and renumbers it to what he's should be doing. In fact it is renumbered to 152, which has been cancelled all day because of the signal failure. This train is one of the last eastbound trains, so has to run.
I have no complaints, it means I get off at Earl's Court and just hitch a ride back to Acton... Saves the walk out of the depot!

Kylie Mania!

2005-05-01T09:00:00.000Z

No, I'm not referring to Bob Kiley, I'm talking about the little Aussie lass with the nice butt!
As I went to Earl's Court to pick up my first train this evening, I was wondering where everyone was heading, then I noticed the sign outside of the Earl's Court Arena announcing Kylie Minogue - apparently on for a week!

It certainly boosted the passenger numbers! Normally Sundays are quite quiet! My last train heading back to Ealing Broadway was packed with Kylie fans who had been to the concert and insisted on giving me (and the first carriage) a rendition of every song! They actually brightened my journey, and I thanked them for the 'in-flight entertainment' via the PA system when they got off my train!

I'd rather have singing teenagers than drunks anytime!

Not a lot else happened today. I noticed when I was at Ealing Broadway about 2330 waiting to go to the depot that the Central Line alongside us had traction current discharged and a few people with high-powered handlamps were walking along the track. Must find out what that was! I know it didn't affect me, but I'm nosey!!

My First Entry!

2005-04-29T16:35:00.000Z

Hmmm, Where do I start?
I am based at the west end of the District line, and at the present time we are in dispute with LUL management over the archaic practise of 'remote booking on and off'.
What this means is that although my home depot is Acton, we are expected to travel through to Earl's Court to book on in our own time (unpaid travelling time).
OK, so this may not sound like a big issue to you, but to most Acton drivers, we mainly live west of Acton, so have to leave our homes a lot earlier than when we book on at Acton!
Not only this, but we are now the only depot on the entire Underground who still has this ridiculous agreement in place. I should state that management did agree to scrap the remote booking on and off quite a few times, but they've reneged on it every time.
The dispute consists of refusing to remotely book on or off. This should not affect the travelling public in any way.

So that's the basic outline of the current dispute. I have to say that morale and general good-feeling at Acton has been a lot higher since we don't have to travel to Earl's Court every day!

Thursday 28th April 2005 I started at about 1630 with a duty which was supposed to book on at Earl's Court. As I say, we don't do that now, so I arrived at Acton at the time I was due at Earl's Court.
My first train was due to go from Earl's Court to Upminster and back, but there are no spares available to cover the trip, so the train has to be 'reformed' into another train, and my trip is cancelled.

It turns out that the Duty Manager Trains (DMT) has a cunning plan to prevent me sitting around relaxing for a while! He asks me to bring a train out of the depot and run it to Tower Hill and back to Earl's Court.
No problem!
A reasonably quiet journey from the depot through to Tower Hill, but when I'm waiting to depart Tower Hill on the return, once I get the green signal I make the usual PA announcements including "stand clear of the doors". I press the door close button and realise that I still don't have a 'pilot light'. This is a blue light (also known as a door interlock) and the train cannot be moved if this light is not illuminated as it means one of the doors on the train has not been proved closed properly.

I check the CCTV monitors again and notice a guy in a suit standing with his hand in the door. Now this is one of the things which annoys me more than anything on LUL: Customers who are too arrogant to wait all of 30 seconds for the train behind and decide to delay me (and therefore everyone else on my train) by holding the doors. He can't open the doors any further than an inch but he's refusing to move.
I make another announcement, but he's still refusing to move.
I sound the whistle to attract the station staff to see if they can help. I secure my train and walk down to hear the station Supervisor threatening him with removal from the station by the police. (It IS illegal to hold the doors).
Eventually the supervisor has to resort to prising the guys hand out of the doors.
I eventually get the train moving some four minutes later than planned, subsequently causing delay to all of the trains who are queued up behind me waiting at red signals for me to move.

I can hear you asking why I didn't just re-open the doors. The simple answer is Why should I? There are trains through that station every thirty seconds or so at that time of the evening, and he'd missed my train fairly and squarely! It was a point of principle.
I'm not heartless, if it had been at a station which has a reduced service frequency or late at night, I would have re-opened the doors.

A pretty quiet night followed, considering I was going up and down between Wimbledon and Edgqware Road all night! Nothing unusual to report other than at Wimbledon at 2355 a guy comes rushing up to me and asks how to get to Paddington. I inform him he's missed the last Edgware Road train by a few minutes, and he'll have to get a night bus from Earl's Court. He decides that it's my fault he missed the last train and gives me a mouthful of abuse. I just walk away and enter my driving cab, and he get's on the train.
I can hear him behind the cab talking very loudly into a mobile phone explaining to whoever is on the other end of the phone (and indeed the entire carriage) how LUL runs a "sh*t service" and the staff are all "w*nkers". Very charming customer.
At Earl's Court, the train was terminating and the guy was still shouting into his phone as he ran up the stairs for a night bus!

It takes all sorts, and you certainly see them all in this job!

Rest days today (Friday) and tomorrow. Not much planned other than a bit of shopping. Back to work on Sunday late shift, so that'll be my next entry!