WTT 70 & Hainault to Woodford Shuttle

That's a very funny film. The gags are spot on.

The new timetable has now been published on the Intranet.

Loughton peak reversers indeed in centre platform 2/3.

From start of traffic Epping trains alternately use pfm.1 and pfm.2 to reverse, although between 08.34 and 09.22 all trains use pfm.2 .

Will all drivers on the line retain route knowledge between Hainault and Woodford? I only ask because I'm not sure whether any west end drivers will be rostered to operate the shuttle.

There aren't many (if any) west end duties that go in or out of Hainault depot, Loughton or Woodford sidings, just as there aren't many east end duties that involve going in or out of Ruislip or White City (Leytonstone has the Ruislip nights Sunday to Thursday and one Ruislip stabler on Friday earlies). Normally those moves have to be covered as part of 5-day block.

I've not seen other depot's rosters but at Leytonstone we've got one duty doing shuttles (T171 and T172) on earlies and one on lates, Monday to Saturday, all on the second half of the duty.

Central Line drivers have to be signed off on all the depots and sidings moves, 5-day block/CDP is used as a refresher for those that haven't actually done them as part of their regular duties so everyone should be able to put a train away or get a train out during disruptions.

As I said I've not seen the other depot rosters, just the draft for Leytonstone so I've no idea which other depots are doing the shuttles.

Slightly OT, but do Central Line drivers still also drive the W&C?

Were it not for the fact that the station featured is not a terminus*, I would say that it looks like a normal day at Hammersmith HC & C.



* Oh, alright, and the steam trains, the subways, ...

They do, except for Night tube drivers. However in reality, thanks to the ‘Mafia’ system where drivers trade duties amongst each other to get preferred shifts, preferred days off etc, very few staff will actually follow the roster. I did hear that working the Waterloo & City was very popular so it’s possible that some staff will very rarely, if ever, get to work it.

Presumably,the T-op books on at Leytonstone,has a ride on the cushions or in the cab to Bank, and takes over a train there?

Yes.

As Chris H said the W&C is Marmite, some people love it, others - myself included - hate it. It's like "Groundhog Day", after a few trips you lose count of how many you've done and how many you have left. Most of the time you step back at Waterloo but you only get a few minutes between getting off one train and getting back on another so its not as if you have time to do anything much.

The W&C duties are mixed in with those on the "main" so if you follow the roster you'll work there roughly once a week but if you're in a mafia you can get them as often as you want (or not). Everyone at Leytonstone has to go down there at least once every six months and its up to the driver to make sure they do.

Duties book on and off at Leytonstone but while there are a few that start or finish at Bank mostly you have to travel to and from Waterloo. The dead earlies get a staff taxi to Waterloo while the dead lates get one back to Leytonstone but otherwise there is roughly an hour travelling time at either end of the duty.

And of course its all on the handle, no ATO/ATP, just coloured light signals, tripcocks and automatic emergency brake if you overspeed, very different from the main.

Thanks for the intriguing insider info about what the W&C duties are like aslefshrugged, sorry mods if I derailed (hur hur) this thread a bit.

Duty sheets now available, revealing:

West Ruislip: 920 M-Th, 918 F.
White City: 820 nights M-Th, 840 nights F, 817 F.
Leytonstone: 612 M-F, 627 M-Th, 637 F, 648 nights F (Sat AM).
Loughton: none
Hainault: 406 407 411 433 449 453 M-Th, 404 411 415 419 431 436 442 449 Sat, 404 407 416 418 434 Sun. Unlucky 411 does 4hrs and 433 does over 7hrs!