Driver Experience Courses

I am looking for a bit of advice, my wife and i would like to treat ourselves to a driver experience day on a preserved railway in 2012. Have any of you been on the courses and got any good advice/recommendations for us? There seems to be a huge range of courses from a google search. Many thanks

 

Churnet Valley ?
CVR Driver Experience

Fired a few of these courses, and those participating have always enjoyed themselves no matter which course they have done.

 

A few years ago I went on Clive Groome's course - then at the Bluebell Railway, but now at Isfield. I can thoroughly recommend it - he was an excellent tutor and you got plenty of experience. See Drive a steam train in Sussex.

One thing I liked about his course that is a bit different from many others. Lots of courses sound quite glamorous in that you get to drive a significant distance - maybe the length of a line. But in practice this means you get on the footplate; drive for about 30 minutes; have to stop and then start again maybe two or three times at stations. Then thats it - the rest of the day is in a carriage while someone else drives the next trip.

Whereas on Clive's course, you essentially did lots of shuffling up and down a short length of line (on the Bluebell, from the platform at HK up to Leamland Bridge and back. So each time on the footplate was quite short, but the flip side was that you got to do that numerous times through the day. On each time, you'd learn something new (for example, you started just by opening the regulator in full gear, but progressed to notching up etc) and also got more and more confident in using the brake, and better and better at stopping at a specific point. Basically he had 8 participants; 2 on the footplate at any time (one driving, one waiting his / her turn and observing) and you rotated round. So you got numerous visits to the footplate, which I think both prolonged the experience and also gave you time to reflect after one turn how to do it better, so when your time came round again, you could do so. Whereas I think on a "drive a trip up the line type course", you get on, it's an overwhelming experience, but all to soon it is over and that is about it for the day. Remember, the real skill in driving a steam engine is starting and stopping: once you are going there is not much to do except keep a lookout (OK, I exaggerate a bit). So I think a course that prioritises lots of starting and stopping rather than lots of plain running is better value.

Just my $0.02, others may have a different impression.

Tom

 

The Kent & East Sussex can offer you a variety. See Railway Experiences on the K&ESR - The Kent & East Sussex Railway

 

At the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway ( Sittingbourne's Steam Raillway Home Page 2011 ) we usually only have one participant at a time for a half day course. This ensures much time both driving and firing (and loco prep and disposal if wanted) whilst the short length of the line (1.75 miles) ensures that a basic route knowledge is quickly gained. We have run a few whole day courses for 2 people (friends or relatives) which works very well.

It is difficult to compete with bigger railways and locos on the perceived experience beforehand, but our customers invariably comment afterwards on how well the course worked for them.

Having said all this I am not sure when the course are going to recommence - hopefully soon after the line reopens at Easter.

Nigel

 

All the driver experiences offered by the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, both steam and diesel, are available from Gifts, gift ideas and experience days from Buyagift | Unusual birthday presents or follow the link from The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

So far all participants have greatly enjoyed their time with us.

Martin

 

Same here at Peak Rail too, Steam Experience

length around 2-2.5 miles,multiple runs back and forth between Darley and Matlock Riverside

 

The courses at the West Somerset Railway are also very good, see the following link for information and dates:

WSR :: West Somerset Railway :: Steam Engineman Courses

 

Severn Valley has a variety of footplate experiences: The Footplate Experience

 

Depends on your personal interests, finances, what's important to you and what's not I suppose.

 

It depends what your after as others have mentioned. MoSI in Manchester now offer an equivalent half day course under 'Steam School'

Whilst I've not been on a railway experience day myself I know a few who have at various railways and did enjoy it. The nearest I guess -aside from volunteering for me- were two birthday specials at the Middleton Railway which I highly recommend.

Duncan

 

Before I booked a driving course I made a table and listed the lines I fancied going to, the cost, the length of time you got for the money and how many participants there were as I wanted a lot of hands on time on my own. It was also extremely important to me to be pulling a train, I didn't want to drive a light engine or engine and brakevan as is the case at the Severn Valley.

Courses at the West Somerset, Severn Valley, Great Central and North York Moors were ruled out on cost grounds. I wasn't bothered about driving main line engines and boasting I'd driven something famous was not a requirement! The industrial locos like an Austerity have such well laid out cabs that the controls are all readily to hand and make operations like shunting and buffering up a pleasure and it is well worth checking which loco you are likely to get. A course with a smaller loco and train is far more of a challenge and satisfying than a big mainline loco without a train. The sound of getting underway on a steep gradient like at the Gwili and East Somerset is more of a thrill I think than going to a flat line on a mainline loco.

You have to be prepared to be assertive if you want to fire, and I kept saying can I prepare the fire or can I do that. Some lines like the Swindon & Cricklade offer freight train driving experiences. Be careful what you actually end up getting, I booked one course being assured I'd get a 3 or 4 coach train, I got 2! Courses can also end up finishing earlier than stated, make sure you get what you paid for. You may well be with others who know nothing about trains and just want to blow the whistle so bear that in mind. Make certain you have someone taking photos of you as a reminder of what will hopefully be a great day.

 

On the K&ESR we run an introductory course that teaches you the basics and then the world is your oyster. All courses use Terriers or similar which work very hard - almost flat out on Tenterden Bank. Advanced - 21 miles driving and then 21 miles firing with a two coach corridor train or a five coach Victorian set. Double Headed Advanced - as per the Advanced but with two engines and a four coach train. Goods - 17 miles driving and 17 miles firing on a loose coupled train, plus an hour or so of intensive shunting to make up a new train half way. We are also happy to consider any sort of course that you wish to suggest, as long as it is safe. For example we have four men who have done the Introductory, two Advanced, a Diesel Goods using the BTH diesel from Ford of Dagenham and a Class 33 passenger train. They are contemplating a whole day shunting with the BTH diesel at Bodiam. In each case we changed the syllabus to suit 4 people instead of two, thus reducing the individual cost. We have also run a day where somebody drove in the morning and then fired with about 50 of his friends on board after lunch.

 

I was treated to the Steam Loco Experience at Llangollen for my 60th
Llangollen Railway - Driver Experience

Highly recommended -- a black 5 and rake of coaches - marvellous experience.

Just need to start saving for the next one !!

 

Of course the ultimate Railway Experience is to join a heritage railway and join the footplate roster! We have quite a number of people on the K&ESR who have come for an experience day and stayed. At least five of them are now active in running experiences. I always tell the people that I am instructing on experiences that as a working member it only costs me £12.50 a year to play trains!

 

I've done about 6 (I think) on the West Somerset, and can strongly recommend it. the courses are graded, and start with a "taster", but I would go for the 2 day Stage 1. Its not cheap but very good. At stage 4 you drive and fire the whole line, also there are celebrity locos (like King Edward1, Tornado) you'll get very full days and a real feel for being a driver/fireman. The instructors are great, and the line is quite a challenge. One memorable trip was a stage 4 with 5553. We'd had three coaches on all day, but they wanted three more taking back from Minehead to Lydeard on the last trip. I drove from Minehead to Williton, but then fired on the drag up to Crowcombe, and then on to Lydeard. We just about made it up to Crowcombe! I got help from the firing instructor, but he didn't just take over. I've enjoyed every one, and they're all a bit different. After you've mastered the basics, the next bit is working to the line, and getting the fire and water right at each stage is quite difficult. Firing is definitely more difficult than driving.

Rob

 

I have a lot of sympathy with what Respite says. I have often looked at footplate courses and thought of doing but I have been put off because for the price I do not want to spend half the time in a classroom or on the cushions. This is largly because I have done the past I did a bit of footplate work on narrow gauge lines and I really want to do a footplate course just to really experience and compare to narrow gauge.

A lot will depend on what you and your wife have an interest in, how much time you have and how deep are your pockets. I admit to being slightly biased towards narrow gauge and appreciate that many have little interest away from standard gauge but to me they still have some offerings around as you are basically straight into driving the equivalent of a full service train at line speed over the whole line length. In addition the loco is working as designed for and not at a small percentage of its capacity. I know the Welshpool and Talyllyn do and in the past the Ffestiniog did but I do not think they do at present

 

Can only echo Rob's comments about the courses on the WSR - I have done 4 and thoroughly enjoyed them and liked Rob I enjoyed the firing as much as the driving - last one I did was with 5553 last year and firing from Bishops Lydeard to Minehead was a great challenge including building up the fire before the first run as I was lucky enough to be first fireman of the day. DH