Post by towerman on Feb 27, 2010 22:04:41 GMT
At 07:30 Monday 15th August 1966 a nervous callow youth entered Hainault Depot as a trainee car examiner,little knowing it would be 43+ years before he left.Things were a lot different in those days,all the guvners were called Mr and seniority ruled,on the rolling stock side the senior man in depot had first call on any overtime and higher grade working.It was not that unusual during holiday time for some people to rack up 100+ hours a week.When my training finished I transferred to Northumberland Pk as a car examiner in July 1968,about a year later I passed the 4 week ATO course at White City,which entitled me to an extra 10 shillings a week!!!I remember going for a ride on the first day of passenger service on the Victoria Line in September 1968,Wally Maxwell the Chief Operating Manager was at Walthamstow resplendent in a three piece suit with a buttonhole and bowler hat!!!
After 5 years as a call point man on the Victoria I was promoted to Chargehand at Ricky Sdgs on permanent nights,in those days there was still uncoupling offpeak & weekends and you had to ring Neasden every night to get a list of "block" trains that couldn't be uncoupled so you didn't book them on uncoupling turns.I spent just over a year at Ricky then transferred to Hainault on 2 shifts.I was at Hainault for 14 years then got a Depot Foreman's job at Golders Green,everything was hunky dory till 1993 and Company Plan,every Supervisor had to reapply for their own jobs as they were now classed as manager grade.I got blown out and had to revert to the shop floor,at the time I was gutted but as things turned out it was the best thing that could've happened.A couple of years after this it was muted about Alsthom taking over Northern Line fleet maintenance so I transferred to Stonebridge Pk,even there I wasn't safe and in 1998 when rumours of the PPP coming I was desperate to get out of fleet maintenance and luckily there were adverts for jobs in service control for the JLE,I applied and was succesful and have been at SMD tower ever since.The past 12 years have probably been the best of my career as we've always had a good group of guys here,as you all know it only needs one awkward s*d to spoil it for everyone else.
So,that's basically my history"on the job"the thing that's changed most in my opinion is the massive amount of time off the job,with rest days & leave,that we get now.In the early days on fleet maintenance the 2 shift staff did 40 hour week day shift with Saturday night added on then night shift from Sunday toThursday then half a shift in Friday night,Saturday Sunday off then another day shift with Saturday night added on then night shift Sunday to Thursday with the opposite half of the shift on Friday night.The Saturday nights were classed as "rostered" overtime,if you didn't show up you could be liable for a disciplinary.The 3 shift staff had it worse,only one rest day a week,no Saturdays off,only one Sunday off in 3.When they changed the roster to give more weekends off and brought in 12 hr Saturdays some of the old hands complained,rather than do 2 12 hour Saturdays a month they'd prefer to have no Saturdays off and double back from 23:00 finish on Saturday to a 09:00 start on Sunday and also double back from a 07:30 finish on Monday morning to a 16:30 start Monday afternoon.There really was no pleasing some people
After 5 years as a call point man on the Victoria I was promoted to Chargehand at Ricky Sdgs on permanent nights,in those days there was still uncoupling offpeak & weekends and you had to ring Neasden every night to get a list of "block" trains that couldn't be uncoupled so you didn't book them on uncoupling turns.I spent just over a year at Ricky then transferred to Hainault on 2 shifts.I was at Hainault for 14 years then got a Depot Foreman's job at Golders Green,everything was hunky dory till 1993 and Company Plan,every Supervisor had to reapply for their own jobs as they were now classed as manager grade.I got blown out and had to revert to the shop floor,at the time I was gutted but as things turned out it was the best thing that could've happened.A couple of years after this it was muted about Alsthom taking over Northern Line fleet maintenance so I transferred to Stonebridge Pk,even there I wasn't safe and in 1998 when rumours of the PPP coming I was desperate to get out of fleet maintenance and luckily there were adverts for jobs in service control for the JLE,I applied and was succesful and have been at SMD tower ever since.The past 12 years have probably been the best of my career as we've always had a good group of guys here,as you all know it only needs one awkward s*d to spoil it for everyone else.
So,that's basically my history"on the job"the thing that's changed most in my opinion is the massive amount of time off the job,with rest days & leave,that we get now.In the early days on fleet maintenance the 2 shift staff did 40 hour week day shift with Saturday night added on then night shift from Sunday toThursday then half a shift in Friday night,Saturday Sunday off then another day shift with Saturday night added on then night shift Sunday to Thursday with the opposite half of the shift on Friday night.The Saturday nights were classed as "rostered" overtime,if you didn't show up you could be liable for a disciplinary.The 3 shift staff had it worse,only one rest day a week,no Saturdays off,only one Sunday off in 3.When they changed the roster to give more weekends off and brought in 12 hr Saturdays some of the old hands complained,rather than do 2 12 hour Saturdays a month they'd prefer to have no Saturdays off and double back from 23:00 finish on Saturday to a 09:00 start on Sunday and also double back from a 07:30 finish on Monday morning to a 16:30 start Monday afternoon.There really was no pleasing some people
