70013 & 30777 ECML lineside fires 02/09/11.

I tried for these kind of roles when I left Uni and got nowhere with them. When I went for interviews with Network Rail for my first signalling position they were fascinated with my experiences on the Talyllyn and Strathspey Railways, at my interviews I got asked questions that were for internal candidates only. You can use it to your advantage, don't give up - taking an operational job can lead to the management route later.

 

Thanks for the reply. Will take this into consideration.

 

Oh dear. An ECT Class 91 has failed at Hitchin. Seems they don't need any help from steam locos when it comes to screwing up the ECML. I wonder what claptrap their spin doctors will come out with to explain this latest farce.

 

U-boat appeared in the four-foot north of Hitchin? N Power cut electricity off due to unpaid bills? Although the incident of 2 September was serious and has rightly attracted greater scrutiny towards mainline steam, if ECT have been using it to disguise their own failings, then their attitude towards running a TOC seems remarkably similar to FGW during the Forster years. Thankfully, we have put those years behind us, and FGW seems to have formed a positive working relationship with Vintage Trains. Perhaps we shall see the same with ECT.

 

Certainly not trying to gloss over the incident on 2nd September. Later this evening we had an FCC unit fail south of Peterborough and screw things up for a while so the various TOCs seem perfectly capable of messing up without the help of steam. Trouble is, it's so easy to point the finger of blame at steam even though it's responsible for only a tiny proportion of the delays on the network as a whole. I agree that it would be nice if ECT and FCC could embrace heritage traction on the ECML and help facilitate tours rather than press for their curtailment.

 

Doesn't Network Rail compile this information ?, do they publish it ?

 

It's a thought that's occurred to me.

Bulleid Pacific - they took ages with me. I got my application for an end of May deadline in in March, and only heard back from them mid-September. I rang them a couple of times, they said that they'd had over 200 applicants. And they are one of the better considered TOC's in enthusiast's eyes.

 

If I'm reading that right Ralph, then any extra delay on EC would be quite a problem!

Would be nice to see a list of the significant delays they have. Whilst it will never be possible to play down the impact of the steam loco fire, it may just help put it into context.

 

Looks like we applied for the same TOC, if that's the case (judging by the deadline)!

 

I think the biggest problem is that the ECML is highly congested. It hasn't been upgraded again since the 1980s and in that time we've had a massive increase in ridership on Britains railways, with the subsequent increase in services by GNER, NEEC, ECT, Grand Central, FCC etc. Any cause of delay is therefore goign to have a serious knock on effect.

Regards,

Dan

 

I'll second that. The railway is good at promoting from within, and the shop floor jobs often pay far more than equivalent roles in outside industry. As for graduate schemes - well I did one that was supposed to be "award winning", with a household name company. Load of c*** - driving trains is a far more satisfactory existence!