Preserved line duties

There's a roster, usually based on the individual telling the roster clerk when he or she will be available.

Sorry if it seems like that, I don't know how preserved lines operate in relation to the everyday thing.



I didn't know there were full - time staff on preserved lines. You can tell I haven't been on one since I was five!!!

EDIT: Yes I have been on one since then, I was on the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch about two years ago.

Phil is most definitely correct and of course there is more to it. Preserved lines are subject to just the same Health and Safety Legislation as any other line. I currently do the operating (traffic) rosters for Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland lines (which includes Crossing Keepers, Signalmen, Guards and Controllers) and it is a two stage process. You have the advance roster and the actual roster. The advance Roster or ARO for shows how many volunteers are required to run that service. When people give their availability they go in to the ARO until the roster is produced. This then allows, at a glance to see how full/sparse the weeks and can inform people accordingly. Rather than circulate a list of services, we allow people to just book the times themselves. Guest Driver turns can normally be found at the weekends, but generally the timetable is as published in the leaflet. Where volunteers are in short supply then we will use the paid staff in order of rank i.e. lowest paid first normally to man the turns (as long as they are qualified to do so).

Normally 4 weeks in advance the roster will be emailed out to people who work for the department to show where the gaps are. It will also appear on the volunteer website. Where my name appears it is highlighted to show people that they are quite welcome to take that turn. Volunteers must complete a certain number of turns to retain their ticket each year.

We do have unsociable turns, but generally, apart from Specials, most turns start no earlier than 0730 and finish no later than 2130. There are Specials that don't finish until 2300 and I have found myself still sat in the office at 0200 the following day waiting for a special to terminate. On one occasion we ran for 84 hours continuously and one of my colleagues got the dubious responsibility of being in the Control Office from 2200 until 0800 the following morning.

In terms of which unit/loco to take, it is slightly different for the FR. We have three rakes of six corridor coaches which are standard sets. These are strengthened each morning as required. One of the first jobs for the line controller is to get out his Crystal Ball and gaze into the clouds to work out how many of the great unwashed will descend on the train. We do have a slight bit of help with coach party's that have pre-booked like WA Shearings etc. About six weeks before this, the Operating Manager or myself on the odd occasion will look at the groups booked for the day and submit a locomotive request form. This will ask the locomotive department for a particular size of loco, which is normally one that can pull up to 6, 8 or 12 coaches. This then allows for maitenance to go on.

When a driver comes in for the morning of his shift, the loco supervisor will have used this request form and made a loco of that size available for service. The driver then has to search the works to try and find where somebody has hidden it! Or he looks on the board, which says where it **should** be. Normally, the rostered turn would be two return trips which is around ten hours with prep and disposal times included. At the end of the day, the driver will fill in the fault book if required and flag up if the loco is fit for traffic or not.

Hope that gives an idea of how it all works

Phil

I agree, certainly adds a lot more depth to the preservation scene.