Main line steam crews

There is something that's been scratching at the back of my mind for a while now, to do with main line steam. Now, I've only been on one main line tour behind 6024 King Edward I in January 2005. By all accounts, it was a great tour. Though it was early-start-late-finish that has prevented me from doing so again, it has brought sights and sounds forward that I'd never have encountered on a heritage railway! (I was 15 at the time, but I can see why the old 1950s trainspotters hold steam memories in such high regard.)

Anyway, on to the "something". Who are the crews who drive these trains? I would take an educated guess that they're not volunteers drafted from heritage lines*, but are they always ordinary day-to-day train drivers most of the time who have to have been driving diesels for so and so years, or do they sometimes get footplate men from the support crews or just recruit them off the street? And are they full time crew or can they be part time as well? ](*,)

Thing is, I've usually assumed that most drivers were old hands who began work in the 1960s on the railways and carried on, but in the Top Gear London-Edinburgh Tornado race, I was a little surprised by the fact that the one with the baseball cap and moustache looked quite young. Also, I heard there's a guy who is a passed fireman in his 20s. (Same bloke?)

If there are any main line drivers present on this forum who can answer any of my questions, I'd be delighted to talk to you and maybe hear about some of your experiences!

Oh, and Wayne, I sent you a message regarding this, if you want to reply, might as well do it on this board.



*Though something appeared in Steam Railway about a team of NYMR people taking a tour to Scarborough or something (wasn't particularly clear! :-k )

 

Hi

Most of the steam crews were EWS men a few years ago, who had regular jobs as drivers, and had voluntered for driving and fireing steam locos on the main line, these volunters had to be trained for the job, we have a member at Didcot who is an EWS driver, but is also a passed fireman for steam trips. Although there are now a few more companies involved in providing the crews for steam hauled railtours, I suspect the criteria is still the same, look for volunteers within the paid staff who would like to do the job, and then train them up

 

A lot of drivers on mainline steam are are regular drivers on the mainline, either diesel or electric and have to undergo retraining on what is known as "new traction"
There is a dwindling band of ex steam drivers but they are becoming few and far between.

 

Didn't Mr.Andrew start his career at Rose Grove a year or three ago?

 

The NYMR can run it's own trains on the Esk Valley line from Grosmont to Whitby and occasionally to Battersby. To do that some of the crews but not all of them IIRC are certified to drive on the national network. Also instead of useing hired in locos the NYMR uses its own locos as much as possible (altough hired locos do run the EVL services as well) such as Repton and once their overhauls are completed Eric Tracey and 80135.
I hope thats made it clearer

 

William is correct about the NYMR - there is a selection process and crews (Driver, Fireman and Guard) can them go forward to learn the Network Rail Rulebook and the routes in question. Ruote is passed in two sections - Grosmont to Whitby (which is part of our daily service) and Grosmont to Battersby (which we run at Galas and on Saturday evenings - see new topic shortly under "What's Going On" section). The crews are drawn from the wider NYMR crew base (when I say wider, we have just under 2 dozen Gaurds in total, so it isn't that wide!) and include volunteers. Recently, we have also worked incoming or outgoing locos between Grosmont and Battersby when EWS/DBS have been working the move beyond that point.

There are, as far as I know, now only two active Companies with steam Safety Cases for the rest of the network.

EWS/DBS have a steam link that I suspect is now almost entirely men passed on steam since 1968. (One of the NYMR Drivers passed on the branch, the famous John Fletcher, was senior fireman at Lostock Hall at the end of steam and just about to progress to driver. John is in his 50's, so anyone who did pass on steam must be approaching retirement now). BR gave refersher courses or trained drivers on steam and it will be these men who form the basis of the current mainline crews.

Almost certainly the operator of the larger part of mainline steam is the West Coast Railway Company. They also use ex-BR men - as some-one commented, their senior Driver Bill Andrew started in the age of steam. They have some full-time ex-BR driver and some who work current Train Operators as diesel/electric drivers and do effectively part-time/as required work for West Coast as well as recently retired drivers working when necessary. For example, a friend of mine started doing part-time work for West Coast while still at Trans Pennine and still works for them now he has retired. He is an NYMR steam driver too.

The firemen are more likely to be trained by West Coast and they include a number from heritage railways, with quite a few NYMR/NELPG people who are West Coast firemen - and often dual-skilled as guards too. It is not unusual for the Scarborough Spa Express to be worked entirely by people also passed as Driver or Firemasn on the NYMR (including the guard)!

The amount of training needed to driver anything (steam or otherwise) on the national network really requires a full time, intensive training programme and hence I think it is unlikely that any mainline operator will be using heritage railway crews on the network as a whole. As any footplate crew on a heritage line will tell you, working through to pass out as a driver can take several years when done at a turn a week!