Job change

[LordRaiden84]

Electrician. Flippin' love my job. Just look at my avatar (Mr. lightning hands):

 

"Lord Raiden's the name and Sparking's me game"!!

 

We're never in the same place unless we're going back of course to do remedial work or a job runs over and it's very interesting. They'll always be a need for a decent spark and it's a very diverse career. Look into some training options your not too old to train or see if someone is willing to take you on as a mate or labourer to give you experience and get you on the ladder. That's how I started and tbh, for what I'm expected to do in a day, my wages are rather nice.

 

 

 

 

[VWD]

On 8/16/2017 at 17:54, mac11irl said:

 rail worker -

Get a mate to collect you in a van at 6am with the heater in full and a smell of old sausage rolls.

Drive around aimlessly for 90mins then home, dig a hole in the garden. Get another mate to look into said hole, then fill it in.

Go for another drive..

Repeat the process in different buddys' gardens until13 of friends have looked into the various holes.

Then pick a rainy saturday night and go dig the same hole in Your garden but 5times larger, get 5 different mates to look in it, then fill it in and go home via another 2hr heaters on full drive..

 

 

Its pretty accurate in terms of simulating the different but same futility of the job

 

There's rail workers and Signals blokes. We only dug holes when necessary /because there was less chance of damage to plant than having a hole digger do it ,and a lot quicker. Biggest problem during the week were the coffee drinking handle minders , who creep up as quiet as possible and then sound a deafening horn to see how far you can jump. .

 

[Auric Goldfinger]

18 minutes ago, VWD said:

 Biggest problem during the week were the coffee drinking handle minders , who creep up as quiet as possible and then sound a deafening horn to see how far you can jump. .

 

 

Problem is sometimes they don't jump cos they don't hear you or the horn, a few years ago I amost cleaned a Rail worker up, he was walking away from me, between the rails on a Bi Di section of track, I was catching him up rapidly, hand on the horn but he had a mobile phone glued to his ear, he stepped out at the last minute and yes I stopped and reported him.

[VWD]

meant as a jest ,AG ( forgot you've had a couple of scares).

 

Hope he got sent back on a PTS course ( and got issued  a Blue hat ) ,and of course his COSS was also at fault.

. But in my COSSing days , any one who used a phone within six foot of a live rail got taken off the NR declared on track list and escorted off track. In my day, anyone seen on/near the line ,using a mobile by  NR risked loss of PTS CARD .

 

[Auric Goldfinger]

28 minutes ago, VWD said:

meant as a jest ,AG ( forgot you've had a couple of scares).

 

Hope he got sent back on a PTS course ( and got issued  a Blue hat ) ,and of course his COSS was also at fault.

. But in my COSSing days , any one who used a phone within six foot of a live rail got taken off the NR declared on track list and escorted off track. In my day, anyone seen on/near the line ,using a mobile by  NR risked loss of PTS CARD .

 

 

I once scattered a group of track workers North of York. Imagin the scene 2 tracks going into York on a left handed curve, I'm going in the wrong direction ( Bi Di signalled ) and on my inside ( correct road into york ) is an East coast HST also going in to york, I'm matching his speed about 60mph on Greens. I'm along side the rear power car so all the coaches and the front power car are way out in front. A group of track workers had seen it coming so they all stood in my path not seeing me as I was hidden by the HST, they did when I came into view, I've never seen a group of people move/jump out of the way as quick, yet another phone call to the Signal box.

Things seemed to have worse as loads of jobs are now done by out side contractors.......

 

Glad I'm out of it now

[mac11irl]

@VWD @Auric Goldfinger

Complacency and not understanding the reality of consequences unfortunately..

We have similar problems from time to time esp with new lads in GOp gangs and when we get ALO for early start on bigger jobs, guys used to only working under absolute on all lines forget theres still trains moving...

And the number of people unable to stand still while taking a call!!wandering all over the place...

[Thomson]

Wouldn't mind trying to get into network rail.  No jobs round Edinburgh way tho.  As a track maintenance operative.  How would I go about it? 

[VWD]

A lot of firms ( in my experience ) don't advertise openly( and this is old info). What they do is recruit blokes into agency work. Then if  a firm likes you-they will head hunt you. Get that far, and it's making contacts with NR blokes , so your name hits management levels. Then once you apply, hope that all those contacts and blokes that thought you were the bloke to work beside come good. Weekends- forget that on the track. Diet- be careful- the booze and drugs regime will pick up on the slightest  indiscretion- as the NR bloke who was suspended for eating a seeded bun will tell you. But ( as AG will tell you) ,track life is well paid, not too arduous ,unless you hate walking.Then follow AG and become a handle pusher. ( No offence AG- )

What you do need is a good sense of spatial awareness. As mac said- there's basic three methods of working. Red zone/ green zone and possession.

Red zone is working on track with trains running, with protection provided by lookout.

Green zone ( summarised description) is in a safe place with lines blocked or a fenced/ other method of protection  area ,supposedly preventing you from meeting trains on the lines open.

Possession- one of the most ( IMHO) dangerous places to be.  An area of track is marked out as a no go area for trains and AG & his train driving mates are banned from entering . But inside this space, there's their mate driving a souped up JCB, known as a road railler ( heavyweight JCB /digger with rail & road wheels). Officially classed as a Green Zone, but with red zone limitations. Best entered with several mates equipped with eyes in rear quarter ( ASS in common parlance), TO LOOK OUT FOR YOURS. That's blokes you can bet your life on. Because one day ,they might just save your life by shouting a warning .

 

Edited 22 August, 2017 by VWD
addition

[GTWaites]

On 15/08/2017 at 08:58, Auric Goldfinger said:

Train Driving,  Gets you out and about.

 

Money's good

That's what I fancy doing! I recently applied for the Tyne and Wear Metro, but so did 2700 other people....

[lol-lol]

On 8/21/2017 at 23:24, Thomson said:

Wouldn't mind trying to get into network rail.  No jobs round Edinburgh way tho.  As a track maintenance operative.  How would I go about it? 

 

More and more jobs in airports as this industry grows at 10% per annum whether the economy is doing good or not.  There will be lots of jobs in customs handling coming about in the coming years with BREXIT.  Have not flown to Edinburgh for a while but have used Aberdeen and Glasgow now and they.  Struggle to think of an airport that it not expanding. 

 

[VRS Mike]

I've just started a job in nuclear fusion, even if I spend the rest of my career there the project I'm working on won't have been completed lol. 

[Aspman]

26 minutes ago, VRS Mike said:

I've just started a job in nuclear fusion, even if I spend the rest of my career there the project I'm working on won't have been completed lol. 

 

Bloody tough job there hammering atoms together.

 

 

[gadgetman]

The majority of jobs with network rail will be contracted out. 

 

The big players in construction have most of them. 

[VRS Mike]

2 hours ago, Aspman said:

 

Bloody tough job there hammering atoms together.

 

 

 

The hammering is a long way off. I genuinely think they will come up of some other renewable energy solution before they crack fusion 

[Auric Goldfinger]

24 minutes ago, gadgetman said:

The majority of jobs with network rail will be contracted out. 

 

The big players in construction have most of them. 

 

Even Eddie Stobart dipped his fingers in Track Mantainance, Plus he runs Freight trains  " Stobart Rail "

[gadgetman]

15 minutes ago, Auric Goldfinger said:

 

Even Eddie Stobart dipped his fingers in Track Mantainance, Plus he runs Freight trains  " Stobart Rail "

Yup. 

 

Also seen plenty of NWR branded vans with a subtle "in partnership with....." Many companies do this - water boards, utilities etc. 

 

 

[Auric Goldfinger]

Just now, gadgetman said:

Yup. 

 

Also seen plenty of NWR branded vans with a subtle "in partnership with....." Many companies do this - water boards, utilities etc. 

 

 

 

There's a NWR  stickered up White Van ( Transit Style ) based in York I think, It's got Cameras on all 4 corners of the roof to check Reg Numbers, Camarers out of the rear windows to check motorists jumping red lights at level crossings. It parks up near Level crossings. As far as I know it cannot issue speeding tickets..............YET.

I think it teams up with the British transport Police

[Thomson]

What jobs do you all have? 

 

 

[Aspman]

29 minutes ago, Thomson said:

What jobs do you all have? 

 

 

 

There is a very large old threat all about that

 

 

Suffice it to say it's a mixed bag

[mac11irl]

Balffour beatty CLG 

Working on behalf of

 

GAS NETWORKS IRELAND

 

Is a common enough spot here,

 

along with Transport Infrastructure Ireland on the motorways which are really Egis Lagan as the maintenance contract holder...

[mac11irl]

Im a structural engineer/ health n safety checker / project manager / HR admin / 3rd party liaison / contract administrator / surveyor (think thats everything) for Iarnrod Eireann Infrastructure Manager Chief Civil Engineer Dept looking after both maitenance, upgrade and renewals over my patch of our network.

 

But officially im an "Assistant Engineer" to my Regional Manager...

[lol-lol]

2 hours ago, Thomson said:

What jobs do you all have? 

 

 

 

Customs and compliance.

 

Going to be tens of thousands of jobs in the customs/logistics in the build-up and post Brexit area both at the frontiers and with companies preparing data and docs for customs exports and imports !

Edited 28 August, 2017 by lol-lol

[Auric Goldfinger]

32 minutes ago, mac11irl said:

Im a structural engineer/ health n safety checker / project manager / HR admin / 3rd party liaison / contract administrator / surveyor (think thats everything) for Iarnrod Eireann Infrastructure Manager Chief Civil Engineer Dept looking after both maitenance, upgrade and renewals over my patch of our network.

 

But officially im an "  Tea Boy " to my Regional Manager...

 

**  EDITED  **   Sorry Mac, couldn't resist    

[Auric Goldfinger]

1 hour ago, Thomson said:

What jobs do you all have? 

 

 

 

30 Plus years for British Rail.   Started off as a Plate layer ( Track Maintenance ), Train Guard,  Train Driver....................

[roo]

4 hours ago, Thomson said:

What jobs do you all have? 

 

 

I fix, maintain and test London underground trains.  I've been doing it since 1998