Well hello everyone and first of all let me wish everybody a very happy and prosperous New Year. 2012 has now passed into history and fortunately the Mayan calendar prophecy was proved wrong and for the umpteenth time the end of the world never turned up, similar to much of the train service on the much maligned West Coast Main Line. After a short illness I am pleased to say that 'a view from the cab' is back to thrill and amuse everyone of you with tales from Britains passenger railway. And what tales we have to share, so with expectation til next time, take care.

Woohoo !!!!!!!!!!

STOP PRESS !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just received a phone call telling me I got the job of Instructor.......More to follow

Can we do it again............

Well, powerpoint presentation safely on USB stick, I went for my interview for the Instructors job. It went well, so I thought, so you can imagine how disappointed I was not to be asked a single question on my 5 minutes in the frame. I spent most of the rest of the interview wondering what it was about my powerpoint that they didnt like. It looked visually fantastic, thanks to my 14 year old technical expert at home, it was informative, funny and just the right length. I delivered it in a firm, authorative, yet friendly voice, it contained just the right amount of factual information and personal views, yet not one comment. At the end of my time I asked for questions to be met only by a wall of silence that organised crime would be proud of. I carried on through the interview contemplating what mistakes I had made, but I always came to the same conclusion, it was perfect. As for the rest of the interview, well pretty routine really. I was given a variety of scenarios and asked to give my opinion as to what I would have done if I had been in the said situation. So now it is a case of sit tight, keep hands, legs and anything else I can, crossed. I did speak with the other interviewee's for their own very personal interview experiences and found them all to be similar to mine. We have all been promised a quick decision especially as the new trainees start with us in just a couple of weeks. and, I shall, as ever, keep all my readers informed of the outcome. Til the next time, take care riding the rails.

All the news.............

Well as promised here is my review of the film Cop Out. It was good, really good, no honestly it was. OK, the truth, I fell asleep. The trouble with working nights is, wait for it, stop press, you get tired.  It is so hard to stay awake when you are sitting in a warm room, you have eaten well and it's 3am. Unfortunately, Cop Out was not enough to make me stay awake.
I am also pleased to report I got my interview for the Instructor job and have an interview date later this week. I have to do a presentation on the subject of customer service, so I shall be composing a powerpoint presentation to hopefully give me the edge.

As ever, I shall keep you posted.

What time does the matinee start...............

Just starting a week of nights this week so should be some interesting characters riding the rails. I don't mind working at night, of course I would not want to do it all the time. Once every four months is plenty, however, there is never much to do on the night shift. Normally it is one trip and back to the capital and then sit and watch a film, tonights offering is Cop Out starring Bruce Willis, bought for only £1 at a car boot sale.................bargain ! I shall let you know what I think about the film.

Meanwhile much has been quiet on the trains this week. Mind you, my friend, we call him Igor, I dont know why but he has an awful lot of facial hair which might have something to do with it but he has been called Igor for as long as I can remember, anyway back to what he did. While working on an old fashioned type 321 unit, he came out of his cab and started to carry out his revenue duties, all was going well until the next station appeared on the horizon. He made his way back to the cab only to discover, to his horror, that he had locked himself out. Now for a guard this is the height of embarrassment because in an instant the passengers are aware of what has happened. Feeling like you want the ground to open  and swallow you up, your pride takes a further hit as panic sets in. In Igors case he opened a small window and had to shout for help waiting for a passenger to hear his somewhat desperate cries who then somewhat tentatively agreed to go and inform the driver of the situation that had developed within the rear units. Accordingly, his driver came and rescued him and his passengers from their makeshift prison. However, poor Igor,  his acute embarrssment was not yet over, as he had to make the walk of shame along the platform to the rear of the train, open the train from the outside and finally reunite himself with his long lost key. I understand at the end of his shift his first stop was the locksmith to get a spare key cut.

I was never really interested in becoming a driver of a train, indeed I am quite sure I would be useless. However, an opportunity for promotion has arisen and the role of conductor instructor is now up for grabs, so this week I shall be updating my CV and writing a formal letter of application to my employer which hopefully will warrant me a candidate worthy of an interview. Watch this space for any developments.

Anyway off to bed now for the afternoon, so I shall be ready for another hard night watching a film or two.

All quiet on the western front

Well, Easter has come and gone and, if like me you took time off you no doubt are back to the grindstone by now. I spent several days away from the job visiting the East coast of England. I am sorry to say that in keeping with most Bank Holidays the weather was TRULY AWFUL. Is there anything sadder than a holiday resort out of season in bad weather. How sad it is to see the little children playing on a windswept beach in shorts, sandals and a thick winter coat, their legs looking like stilton cheese, Mum wrapped up as if experiencing a nuclear winter and Dad, trying to cheer everyone up by clowning near the sea in just his T shirt. i am pleased to say I spent most of the time in the local coffee shops as we moved from one promenade to another. During my time away from the job, the only train I saw was the one that gave pleasure rides up and down the sea front. I decided to pass up this opprtunity.

Until next time, keep riding the rails.

Special orders............dont fall aseep

What a strange day today was. When I left for work in the morning it was freezing and I had to scrape the ice from my car. Yet by the time I got home it was such a beautiful, hot day. Sadly, I had to carry my winter coat round with me all day. Apart from the differences in the weather nothing worth reporting happened today. I did have a special stop order at Wembley Central because of the football, which meant I had to disable the train doors on the back half of the train but fortunately even this passed off without incident. It is funny though that even though you have followed the correct procedure for disabling the rear train doors your heart is in your mouth just in case it doesn't work. I am not sure why we stopped at Wembley because no one got off and no one got on ! But as that was the most that happened during a 9hr 57min shift on hot sunny day I think I did well to stay awake. It is interesting though how much busier Sundays have become. Of course yesterday there was, as mentioned, football at Wembley and a big concert was taking place in Birmingham.

Well. I'm working afternoons this week so we'll see what the next few days bring, hopefully something worth reporting.